I really hope that Jarrett got tired of what he may have felt were unreasonable constraints/rules in the home (not saying there were any OR that they were or were not unreasonable) and chose to leave home. I have a farm boy of my own who was working on farms his whole life and was getting an almost full-time paycheck (due to COVID online school) working for a custom home builder by his sophmore year of high school so I know a lot of these kids are - at least in many ways - much more mature and responsible than the average kid. My daughter has a guy friend (another farm boy) that came from a very dysfunctional family and left home (in NJ) at 17 y/o and went to work on a ranch in Montana.
I hope Jarrett did the same thing.
The taking of the gun could be concerning but I don’t think it was for self-harm (at least I hope not). I feel like if he was going to self-harm his body would have been found by now since it’s rather difficult to hide your own body after you’re dead. I also feel (IMO) that if he were to self-harm he may have done so away from the house in order to spare his siblings, but I think he may have wanted his parents to know he killed himself so they would feel guilty for being (in his feelings) so hard on him.
So WHY did he take the gun? Was it for protection from wildlife, protection from other people he may encounter, to defend himself if his parents tried to bring him home, etc? Was he was planning on being out in the wilderness even for a little while - maybe to clear his head, think of his next steps, make his parents worry, etc. But then what happened before he could return home? The sudden ending of his scent is very concerning and makes me feel he was picked up by a vehicle, ATV, horseback, etc. Or did he know enough about tracking to backtrack so it would appear as if his trail suddenly stopped?
I hope the area has been extensively searched for any ground openings (Mining shafts, caves, animal dens, old wells, etc).
I hope that he is safe out there somewhere - working on a ranch in Montana, living off the grid in Alaska, etc. But I also hope that if he is doing any of these things he reaches out to a trusted person to let his family and LE know (and be able to verify) that he is truly OK.