Dylan Rounds, 19, has been missing since May 28, 2022. The teenager, a farmer, was last heard from when he called his grandmother while working in the town of Lucin, Utah.
Now, according to The Sun, volunteer searches believe he may have been killed and hidden in one of the unmarked mineshafts.
Where is Dylan Rounds?
Nobody knows what happened to Dylan after that phone call and he was reported missing two days later. After his property was searched, a pair of bloody boots dumped behind a dirt pile were found that looked like they belonged to Dylan. His truck was parked next to his trailer and had been pressure washed. The driver’s seat was moved forward much further than it would normally be. The fob was missing and the truck was locked, which was unlike Dylan.
His pistol was missing from his trailer and no tracks or footprints were on the ground.
Very few leads have come up, but a man named Lance Kelley has been searching for him for months and he spoke with The Sun. He happened to meet Dylan’s father and spoke with him about the topic before deciding to start searching the Nevada Desert with his friend. Both belonged to the fire department at the time.
Lance and his friend have spent every single day searching for Dylan and documenting them doing so on YouTube. Their page is called Earthworm Entertainment.
Whether Dylan is dead or alive has not been revealed, but his mother has stated she believes someone murdered her son. She explained that he had wanted to start his own farm and spent years working on his own land, even getting water rights.
Suspects in the case
While nobody has been charged, there have been suspects linked to the case. The bloody boots and the location of Dylan’s phone may give investigators clues.
Both pieces of evidence appear to point at a man named James Brenner, 59, one of the two men believed to have had contact with Dylan before he went missing. He and another man, Chase Venstra, 41, have been arrested on unrelated felony gun crimes.
Police are treating Dylan’s disappearance as a homicide investigation and his parents believe Brenner knows what happened. His mother even stated that Brenner admitted to putting Dylan’s boots by the dirt pile. She said he said he found them and picked them up to set them by the trailer, but decided Dylan wasn’t coming back for them.
Dylan’s phone was found at the bottom of a pond in June. His call records show he called Brenner the day he went missing. Brenner was also at the pond that day, according to Dylan’s dad.
Brenner wasn’t interviewed by police until June 7, ten days after Dylan spoke to his grandmother.
Brenner’s trailer was searched by the FBI where they found ammunition, ignition caps, and black powder.
Strange things that make the case look criminal
Dylan’s parents have stated that the truck appeared to be tampered with but police didn’t seem to care. They said the missing key fob to the truck appeared to be brought back. It was placed in Dylan’s trailer, but investigators did not seem to care.
Dylan had told his family about a man walking barefoot down the gravel road near his farm. He was acting erratically, asking to use his phone and for a ride. Dylan declined to give him a ride.
Box Elder County Utah Sheriff’s Office now says the case is credible. They say they are doing what they can to locate Dylan and protect the integrity of the investigation.
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