Deceased/Not Found UT - Dylan Rounds, 19, Lucin, Box Elder Co, May 2022 #2 *Arrest*

So the truck was pressure washed, and cleaned, but the tire wells were still dirty. Assuming that there is foul play, and another person is suspected to have driven the truck to and / or from Dylan’s trailer, shouldn’t there also be another set of footprints around the truck as well as tire tracks from a getaway vehicle driving through the desert? Fingerprints on a pressure washer? Also if Dylan himself was hidden or is in a second location, why not just dispose of the boots in a place where they won’t be found? If the car cleaned, why not clean or burn boots to hide evidence? The fact that he always wears the same pair of boots, and doesn’t wear anything else since he was a child, per mom, doesn’t seem like something a stranger would know to leave behind boots as a decoy or whatnot. The boots, the isolation of the trailer, and the fact that his car wasn’t stolen, but pressure washed and left behind, doesn’t make much sense to me unless it were someone who knew him well. Mom said friends don’t out to trailer- wonder if they’ve checked for fingerprints inside the trailer anyway, even if things look normal inside.

IMO, whoever pressure washed the truck must have been rushed and got sloppy after there appeared to be great care to get the exterior, truck bed, and even the tires and rims sprayed clean but the perp didn't think to get down and direct the nozzle towards the wheel wells where several inches of mud was caked. Hopefully, samples from the wells can be matched to where the truck traveled before making its way back to the farm and parked in its usual location.

Relative to checking for prints --I'm afraid this will always be a haunting, sore spot between the parents and investigators after LE didn't find any signs of foul play on May 30 when they first visited the farm and failed to process the area as a potential crime scene, and preserve or collect evidence, including fingerprints.

On June 15, Box Elder County Sheriff issued a press release where for the first time, the term criminal investigation was used in this case. From the most recent interviews by the parents, citing FBI involvement, we've learned that authorities finally collected the trailer and camper as well as DR's Ford truck.

The boots left behind are indeed a mystery.
Maybe even a red herring. o_O MOO
 

6/22/22

“Dylan’s been working on this farm, in Utah, his own farm, on getting the ground torn out and getting prepared for his crop,” said Cooley. “This year was going to be his first crop. That farm was his whole life.”

[..]

Private investigator Jason Jensen is also looking into this case. He told NewsNation during a live stream Wednesday night the truck is suspicious.

Cooley said despite recent rains before his disappearance, it appeared not to have been moved, raising more suspicions.

“It’s like it never moved in the rain or took it anywhere on Saturday like they originally thought,” she said.

[..]

Cooley said they found at least three persons of interest on their own. Two were former employees of Rounds. She forwarded the names to the sheriff’s office.

Meanwhile, the family has a $20,000 reward for any information that can help solve where Dylan Rounds is. If you have any information, you are asked to call 208-604-3838 or 208-604-3839.

[News Videos at the link above].
 
Bringing the timeline to the new thread.

April, 2022
  • DR has an argument with Don, a family friend who works on the farm and they decide to part ways.
May 25, 2022
  • DR calls family members about ‘weird run-in’: a man, CV, is walking barefooted down the road and acting erratically. The man asks to use DR’s phone and for a ride. DR thinks the man may be dangerous/high. [He tells his mom he DID NOT give a ride, but his mom later states that CV himself admitted DR gave him a ride, changing story and possibly unreliable] [CV is in a nearby county jail for unrelated charges, booked June 4, 2022]
May 26, 2022 [Last known sighting]
  • Visits Montello, NV.
  • DR gets groceries at Montello Gas & Grocery. [confirmed by LE and bank statements].
  • DR has lunch at Saddle Sore Bar-Cafe. [confirmed by phone and bank records]
  • DR calls each parent on the phone and talks about his upcoming farming plans. Dad mentions spotty service. [confirmed by phone records]
May 28, 2022 [Last heard from]
  • Presumably in Lucin, UT.
  • 6.51am: DR calls grandmother to talk, but hangs up early as he needs to cover his seed truck for the upcoming rain. [confirmed by phone pings to be at the farm at this time]
  • There is heavy rain during day.
  • 3.41pm: DR’s phone gives off its last confirmed ping, covering a 15.4 mile radius which includes DR’s farm.
  • 10pm: Erratic man seen 200 miles away.
May 29, 2022
  • DR’s grandma calls Don, to checks on DR, but Don cannot find him.
  • The man that DR gave a ride to and that was acting erratically, is spotted in town. [presumably in Montello, NV, but unconfirmed and presumably unrelated.]
May 30, 2022 [Reported missing]
  • Don and Jim (another farm hand) can’t find DR and call DR’s grandma, who calls J.D. (his best friend) to ask if J.D. has seen DR.
  • ±11am: Mom recieves a phone call from J.D. if she has seen DR, which she hasn’t. Mom calls around, but nobody has seen DR.
  • ±4pm: Mom and DR’s dad travel to Lucin, UT, from ID and file a missing persons report.
  • ±5pm: Police arrive at DR’s property in Lucin.
  • DR’s residence/trailer is searched: himself, his phone, wallet, car fob/keys and 0.40 pistol are missing. His trailer is not ‘ransacked’. DR’s truck, a maroon Ford, is found locked and parked near the trailer. It has been recently cleaned on the outside, in the back tires and the inside bed. The seat is pushed forward and 4WD switched on, despite having been inoperable. DR’s dad breaks the truck back window. [this is allowed by LE present]
  • ±6pm: DR’s boots are found 100 yds from the ‘shop’, where his grain truck is stored.
May 31, 2022
  • A fake call is made to DR’s mom and grandma that DR is being held hostage in Montello, NV, by an older gentleman. The call is made by Kurt, a former farm hand with DR and owner of the Saddle Sore Bar, who helped search during the day. [as told by the mom]
Jun 2, 2022
  • Family is told there was a spot of blood found on the boots found on May 30th.
Jun 6, 2022
  • DR’s boots, previously held by police, are finally sent to the labaratory.
  • DR’s brother Colton and best friend J.D. are called in for DNA testing. [presumably routine]
Jun 13, 2022
  • Equusearch Midwest, a horse-mounted volunteer organization, joins the search.
Jun 14, 2022
  • DR’s pickup truck is taken in by Bonneville County, ID.
Jun 15, 2022
  • Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office (Lucin, UT) releases a statement labeling DR’s case as a “Missing Person/Criminal Investigation” for the first time.
  • FBI and Rigby, ID police (DR’s hometown) join the search.
Jun 17, 2022
  • Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office (Lucin, UT) names the case as a criminal investigation.
Jun 18, 2022
  • DR’s 2 trailers/camper homes are taken into police custody.
Jun 18, 2022 – Jun 19, 2022
  • No public/volunteer searches are held to allow LE and Equusearch to search.
Jun 20, 2022
  • A PI hired by DR’s family to assist is fired because of his weird and disrespectful behaviour, the family citing a “difference of opinion” in a press release.
May 30, 2022 — Ongoing
  • Daily searches, both by LE, family, volunteers and search organizations.
  • Family, especially mom, interviews with the media.
 
Mothers are frequently the staunchest advocates for missing people. They are also emotionally involved with the cases and protective of their children. I do not expect complete objectivity from them. Unfortunately, when a parent is the primary source of public information, it leaves the public with an incomplete picture of the missing person.

Most farmers I know have some advanced education. The business of farming requires knowledge of futures, options, finance and the tax code. Hopefully someone was helping DR with this. Possibly the rumored "older man" was acting as a mentor of some sort with this.

The partially cleaned truck makes me wonder if he was somehow interrupted while cleaning the vehicle himself, possibly preparing to go on a date or some sort. The front seat may have been moved up to clean the back seat area. Although that wouldn't explain why the truck was a 4WD mode, that may have been accidentally engaged while moving the seats. He may have locked the truck and gone with the mystery person.

The hostage hoax leaves two possibilities:
1) He really was detained by an older man for completely unknown reasons
or 2) This was a diversion to buy time to dispose of evidence elsewhere.

My gut feeling is that LE likely knows, or strongly suspects, what has happened but needs more evidence to make an arrest. Possibly they need evidence that criminal activity has occurred. I doubt he left the bar/restaurant quietly without interacting with anyone. As no-one from the bar appears to have come forward for 15 minutes of internet fame, I suspect LE has asked them to remain quiet.

I am frequently amazed when cases like this are actually solved that LE has known almost from the beginning what actually happened.
 
If somebody is involved with Dylan’s disappearance, they need to know we're not going to go away," Chief Deputy Cade Palmer, of the Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office, told Fox News Digital Wednesday. "If this takes months, if it takes years, we'll keep knocking on doors."

”If he was OK, then he should have turned up by now," Palmer said. "So we can't rule out that he's not OK, or that somebody may have been involved in his disappearance."

The surrounding area on the Utah and Nevada border is full of old mineshafts, caves and tunnels, and Rounds’ mother Candice Cooley said a professional cave diver had volunteered to help search some of those spaces.

"We need a direction, evidence, something that’s not a wild goose chase, because it’s not good terrain out there, and it’s not for people who just leisurely just want to come out and search," she told Fox News Digital. "[It’s] over 100 degrees, winds get blowing, and people don’t want you there."

 
Bringing the timeline to the new thread.

April, 2022
  • DR has an argument with Don, a family friend who works on the farm and they decide to part ways.
May 25, 2022
  • DR calls family members about ‘weird run-in’: a man, CV, is walking barefooted down the road and acting erratically. The man asks to use DR’s phone and for a ride. DR thinks the man may be dangerous/high. [He tells his mom he DID NOT give a ride, but his mom later states that CV himself admitted DR gave him a ride, changing story and possibly unreliable] [CV is in a nearby county jail for unrelated charges, booked June 4, 2022]
May 26, 2022 [Last known sighting]
  • Visits Montello, NV.
  • DR gets groceries at Montello Gas & Grocery. [confirmed by LE and bank statements].
  • DR has lunch at Saddle Sore Bar-Cafe. [confirmed by phone and bank records]
  • DR calls each parent on the phone and talks about his upcoming farming plans. Dad mentions spotty service. [confirmed by phone records]
May 28, 2022 [Last heard from]
  • Presumably in Lucin, UT.
  • 6.51am: DR calls grandmother to talk, but hangs up early as he needs to cover his seed truck for the upcoming rain. [confirmed by phone pings to be at the farm at this time]
  • There is heavy rain during day.
  • 3.41pm: DR’s phone gives off its last confirmed ping, covering a 15.4 mile radius which includes DR’s farm.
  • 10pm: Erratic man seen 200 miles away.
May 29, 2022
  • DR’s grandma calls Don, to checks on DR, but Don cannot find him.
  • The man that DR gave a ride to and that was acting erratically, is spotted in town. [presumably in Montello, NV, but unconfirmed and presumably unrelated.]
May 30, 2022 [Reported missing]
  • Don and Jim (another farm hand) can’t find DR and call DR’s grandma, who calls J.D. (his best friend) to ask if J.D. has seen DR.
  • ±11am: Mom recieves a phone call from J.D. if she has seen DR, which she hasn’t. Mom calls around, but nobody has seen DR.
  • ±4pm: Mom and DR’s dad travel to Lucin, UT, from ID and file a missing persons report.
  • ±5pm: Police arrive at DR’s property in Lucin.
  • DR’s residence/trailer is searched: himself, his phone, wallet, car fob/keys and 0.40 pistol are missing. His trailer is not ‘ransacked’. DR’s truck, a maroon Ford, is found locked and parked near the trailer. It has been recently cleaned on the outside, in the back tires and the inside bed. The seat is pushed forward and 4WD switched on, despite having been inoperable. DR’s dad breaks the truck back window. [this is allowed by LE present]
  • ±6pm: DR’s boots are found 100 yds from the ‘shop’, where his grain truck is stored.
May 31, 2022
  • A fake call is made to DR’s mom and grandma that DR is being held hostage in Montello, NV, by an older gentleman. The call is made by Kurt, a former farm hand with DR and owner of the Saddle Sore Bar, who helped search during the day. [as told by the mom]
Jun 2, 2022
  • Family is told there was a spot of blood found on the boots found on May 30th.
Jun 6, 2022
  • DR’s boots, previously held by police, are finally sent to the labaratory.
  • DR’s brother Colton and best friend J.D. are called in for DNA testing. [presumably routine]
Jun 13, 2022
  • Equusearch Midwest, a horse-mounted volunteer organization, joins the search.
Jun 14, 2022
  • DR’s pickup truck is taken in by Bonneville County, ID.
Jun 15, 2022
  • Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office (Lucin, UT) releases a statement labeling DR’s case as a “Missing Person/Criminal Investigation” for the first time.
  • FBI and Rigby, ID police (DR’s hometown) join the search.
Jun 17, 2022
  • Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office (Lucin, UT) names the case as a criminal investigation.
Jun 18, 2022
  • DR’s 2 trailers/camper homes are taken into police custody.
Jun 18, 2022 – Jun 19, 2022
  • No public/volunteer searches are held to allow LE and Equusearch to search.
Jun 20, 2022
  • A PI hired by DR’s family to assist is fired because of his weird and disrespectful behaviour, the family citing a “difference of opinion” in a press release.
May 30, 2022 — Ongoing
  • Daily searches, both by LE, family, volunteers and search organizations.
  • Family, especially mom, interviews with the media.
Excellent summary, thank you for this. The only thing that REALLY stands out here to me is the fact that the person who owns the bar that DR was last seen, who is very familiar with DR’s property and DR himself, was also the same person that made a phone call with false information. I am not pointing any fingers, all MOI but why would someone who cared enough to assist in a search also offer false information in said search? It definitely begs a lot of questions
 
Re: the bar owner’s phone call to DR’s grandmother and CC (as related by CC):

All jmo

It’s one thing for the bar owner to contact DR’s grandmother and mother on 5/31 and make up a story about DR being held hostage even if - as implausible as it may sound - he wanted to raise alarm to DR’s mom and LE (all three states) that DR was in danger. Why not just call the cops?

It’s another thing entirely to specifically name two individuals (barefoot man and another person) and claim that they are currently holding DR against his will (involved in a crime).

And, why would the bar owner further allege (if he did, not sure this has been confirmed) that somebody gave barefoot man a ride to DR’s on Saturday?

Why would the bar owner make any of this up?

Imo, the only reasons for the bar owner to specifically implicate anybody in DR’s disappearance (including the suggestion that somebody gave barefoot man a ride to DR’s on Sat) would be:

1.) he thought or knew that what he was telling CC was the truth

2.) he had a vendetta against barefoot man and / or the other person he named and wanted them to be falsely accused of a crime

3.) he was attention seeking

4.) he was trying to preemptively misdirect the family and LE (all three states) in the event that the investigation into DR’s disappearance intensified.

Maybe there are other explanations for the bar owner’s phone call, but IMO there is way too much there for it to have simply been a “hoax”.

It seems logical to me that either the bar owner, the barefoot man, or the other person named by the bar owner - or some combination of the three - would have to know what happened to DR.

All jmo
 
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Mothers are frequently the staunchest advocates for missing people. They are also emotionally involved with the cases and protective of their children. I do not expect complete objectivity from them. Unfortunately, when a parent is the primary source of public information, it leaves the public with an incomplete picture of the missing person.

Most farmers I know have some advanced education. The business of farming requires knowledge of futures, options, finance and the tax code. Hopefully someone was helping DR with this. Possibly the rumored "older man" was acting as a mentor of some sort with this.

The partially cleaned truck makes me wonder if he was somehow interrupted while cleaning the vehicle himself, possibly preparing to go on a date or some sort. The front seat may have been moved up to clean the back seat area. Although that wouldn't explain why the truck was a 4WD mode, that may have been accidentally engaged while moving the seats. He may have locked the truck and gone with the mystery person.

The hostage hoax leaves two possibilities:
1) He really was detained by an older man for completely unknown reasons
or 2) This was a diversion to buy time to dispose of evidence elsewhere.

My gut feeling is that LE likely knows, or strongly suspects, what has happened but needs more evidence to make an arrest. Possibly they need evidence that criminal activity has occurred. I doubt he left the bar/restaurant quietly without interacting with anyone. As no-one from the bar appears to have come forward for 15 minutes of internet fame, I suspect LE has asked them to remain quiet.

I am frequently amazed when cases like this are actually solved that LE has known almost from the beginning what actually happened.
Dylan's mother said that he never washed the truck. IMO the truck was washed after he was taken away and was not moved after being washed. If Dylan was surprised when washing the truck, how does that explain his boots five miles away on the farm in the opposite direction from town? What type of visitor would go there? Regarding the hostage hoax, IMO the person really believed there was a hostage situation. If they made made it up they'd know that the distraction wouldn't work.
 
I am trying to follow, but have been working. Can someone explain why the fired farmhand would still be on the farm and one of the first people looking for DR?
I think if IIRC in one of the recent interviews with CC she said something to the effect that when she’d been first informed no one had heard from Dylan, she asked (? I might not have this exactly right) if Don could check on Dylan because she lives about 2 hours away. He and Dylan parted ways employment-wise amicably, mutually agreed upon, so I think she was just reaching out to people nearby who might check on him faster than she could either get there or perhaps still not thinking anything was seriously wrong, just wondered if Don could pop over to see if Dylan was around the farm.

I’m going to say MOO plus some speculation because I didn’t take notes so I’m just stating the gist of what I remember. Someone please correct me if/where I’m wrong.
 
There has to be a motive. What? Nothing points to DR being an aggressor. I just don’t see that. I think it will be someone well known to him. Somebody that had time and felt the need to cover their tracks. Nothing of value, that we know of was taken. What if he had a cash stash that somebody else knew about? I suppose his family would know but I haven’t seen it mentioned, so I might be off base. Are there banks nearby? This seems more likely to me than a lover’s quarrel or a kidnapping. Only speculation here.
 
In a town of 50 people how do you possibly get to this point, Missing Person, Confused Timelines, Hoax's??? I lived in a town of 2,500 that was much more spread out and I couldn't buy cigarettes at the corner store without someone calling my parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles.... I spent 18 years in that small town, and I knew everyone's business, who was having affairs with who, who did drugs, whose dad to avoid at the bar when we turned 21, like this just doesn't make sense that in a town of 50, 49 people don't know who did it or what it even is....
 
Excellent summary, thank you for this. The only thing that REALLY stands out here to me is the fact that the person who owns the bar that DR was last seen, who is very familiar with DR’s property and DR himself, was also the same person that made a phone call with false information. I am not pointing any fingers, all MOI but why would someone who cared enough to assist in a search also offer false information in said search? It definitely begs a lot of questions

Yes, and his mother's comment that "people don't want you there". Why?

I've been on Websleuths for a good many years now and this case it probably the most heartbreaking to me. I've tried to get a handle on "who Dylan was" and I still don't really know, but as far as I've gotten, he sure seems like a singular, wonderful, human being. And loved by many.

I think it's most likely that he's not alive any more, but there is something, with all the rumors, that suggests to me that perhaps this is different than most of these cases. I so, so hope that is the case.
 
There has to be a motive. What? Nothing points to DR being an aggressor. I just don’t see that. I think it will be someone well known to him. Somebody that had time and felt the need to cover their tracks. Nothing of value, that we know of was taken. What if he had a cash stash that somebody else knew about? I suppose his family would know but I haven’t seen it mentioned, so I might be off base. Are there banks nearby? This seems more likely to me than a lover’s quarrel or a kidnapping. Only speculation here.
His mother said in one interview that he put money he earned (working for other farmers) in a bank, so it's unlikely that he had big sums of cash lying around. If the perp(s) didn't know that and money was the motive, they would have ransacked his place while looking for it.
 
I think someone has been nursing a grudge against him and has the time and energy and resources to carry it out.

That is why I'm hoping he was kidnapped rather than killed immediately.
If somebody merely wanted him dead and knew they had time and a rainy forecast to cover tracks, they could have just shot him where he was with an unregistered weapon and left him there to be found.
Why did they not?

The 'grudge' may be real or imagined.

That's been my feeling almost from the outset.

I think the demented one with the real or imagined grudge has assistants. Dylan was 160 lbs and tall, 5'10 or11.

There is something utterly compelling about this case. I had not looked at a case for months and months when I accidentally found it on chasing truth u tube.

All above purely speculative and not based on known facts.
 

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