Mark Redwine, whose 13-year-old son Dylan disappeared while visiting him at his home near Durango in November of 2012, was arrested on Saturday in connection with the boy’s death.
The arrest, made in Bellingham, Wash., came after a La Plata County grand jury issued an indictment for second-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death. Mark Redwine, who works as a cross-country trucker, had been named as a person of interest in the case nearly two years ago.
He is being held on $1 million cash-only bond.
Throughout an investigation that has encompassed nearly five years, Mark Redwine has denied any involvement in his son’s death.
Some of Dylan’s remains were discovered about 8 miles from Mark Redwine’s Vallecito home in 2013, months after Dylan had traveled to be with his father for a court-ordered Thanksgiving-week visit. Nearly two years after the disappearance, hikers found the boy’s skull about a mile and a half from the first set of remains.
Mark Redwine and Elaine Hall, the boy’s mother, went through a contentious divorce and custody battle and eventually filed lawsuits against each other connected to Dylan’s death, though both eventually were dismissed.
They leveled accusations at each other during appearances on the Dr. Phil show in 2013 as the case went national. TV host Nancy Grace also explored Dylan’s disappearance.
From early on, blue rubber bracelets imprinted with “Find Dylan Redwine” sold for $5 each to raise money for the search. Volunteers scoured the forest near Lake Vallecito. Vigils were held. A benefit dinner, Crime Stoppers and assorted donors raised $50,000 in a single month to offer as a reward.
Speculation continued to swirl after discovery of Dylan’s remains, but Saturday’s arrest marked a major shift in the saga.
The grand jury indictment describes a curious sequence of events following Dylan’s arrival for the Thanksgiving-week visit, plus a strained relationship with his father and a variety of forensic evidence.
Several witnesses testified that Dylan had not wanted to visit his father and surveillance video from the airport and a Walmart showed “little to no personal interaction” between father and son, according to the indictment.
Text messages indicated that Dylan had wanted to stay with a friend upon his arrival but his father had refused. Dylan made plans via text to visit a friend’s house the next morning in Bayfield, but that was the last that was heard from him. When Dylan didn’t arrive, the friend texted him — “where are you” — but got no response, the indictment said.
Mark Redwine has said he left Dylan at home alone while he ran errands that morning and returned to find him gone. He has said that he didn’t worry about his son because he knew he wanted to spend time with friends.
Dylan’s mother reported him missing, prompting an intensive search effort.
Investigators found evidence of Dylan’s blood at several places within Mark Redwine’s home, and a canine search also indicated a “cadaver scent” at various locations inside the home, as well as in the bed of his pickup truck and on the clothes he had been wearing the night his son disappeared, the indictment said.
Following discovery of Dylan’s skull, investigators suspected that it most likely had been moved from the site of the first remains by a human, rather than wildlife roaming the area. Forensic anthropologists described injuries to the skull consistent with blunt force trauma at two locations, and referenced markings indicative of a knife rather than an animal or other natural causes.
At the time the first remains were found in 2013, Mark Redwine reacted with apparent shock. “I cannot wrap my head around it,” he told The Denver Post. “You can never be prepared for something like this.”
Since discovery of the remains, a multi-agency team from the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the FBI have continued the investigation that led to Saturday’s indictment and arrest.
Although Mark Redwine entertained a variety of possible scenarios behind his son’s disappearance and death, from being picked up hitchhiking to abduction to being killed in a bear attack, he denied any involvement in a 2014 interview with the Post.
“What is out of the realm of possibility is that I would do anything to my son,” he said at the time.
Following extradition to La Plata County, Mark Redwine will be advised of the charges against him at a hearing before District Court Judge Jeffrey Wilson.
