I so agree .....
And if MR was angry enough with Dylans complete attention towards texting, and temporarily took/disabled Dylans phone/charger and refused permission for Dylan to use his own phone or computer, then Id think that Dylan would certainly have been angry enough to fall asleep on the couch watching TV rather than interact with his father, and refuse to stir when MR tried to get him up to go to bed at night or get him up in the morning.
Jumping off of your thought - just because we have nothing new to talk about.
Dylan wants to go to his friends that night. Dad says no. Dylan (knowing his dad has appointments the next morning,) texts his friend that he can come over at 6:30 the next morning. He does this without clearing it with MR first. His friend says that it's okay, and then Dylan tells MR he's going there early in the morning.
MR doesn't want to take him that early. They argue, MR takes the phone, turns it off, damages it, whatever... it is now no longer working. They get to the house, Dylan wants his phone back, wants to use the computer, Dad is really mad. He just got there and he wants to spend all his time online or with his friends. MR won't let him use the computer (is it password protected?) or his phone. Dylan gets mad and turns on the TV and falls asleep on the couch. MR goes to bed. Gets up, leaves without waking Dylan.
Dylan wakes up, locates his phone wherever Dad set it - it is either in need of a charge, or broken. He grabs a quick bowl of cereal, packs up his stuff, and takes off walking, intending to hitch a ride or get to a phone where he can call for one. He's mad at his dad, he doesn't want to stay and talk to him when he gets back. He catches a ride with the wrong person, and he's gone.
MR gets home, no sign of Dylan. He figures he got a ride to his friends house. Decides to let them both "cool down" and he'll pick him up later. The rest of the story goes as MR has said. He eventually goes to the friends house, finds him not there, calls ER, heads to the police.
But MR doesn't want to say they fought. Doesn't want to say he took his phone and broke it, or whatever. He changes the story to make himself look "better." Says they got home, tossed around the football for a bit. That Dylan was tired, and so went to sleep early. That he was going to take Dylan to his friend's, but Dylan didn't want to get up.
I don't know... it's a stretch, I freely admit. But since we were looking at some alternatives last night... I thought I'd throw it out there.
And as to the fishing pole... from what a friend told me when her child ran away for a brief time, the police asked her to look around the house and see if anything was missing. She was panicked, noticed some stupid figurine wasn't sitting in it's usual place. She was convinced that figurine was gone, had been taken either by her child, or whoever took her child - she didn't know if he had run away or not. Turned out later that another child had broken it and tossed it out, and forgotten to tell the mom. So maybe they asked MR, he noticed a fishing pole was missing and in his panic, decided Dylan must have taken it and gone fishing. In reality, maybe it had been lost some time before, and he had never noticed it. But he became focused on that, and decided in his mind that Dylan going fishing was what had happened.
Again, I'm not saying this is what happened. I'm just trying to keep an open mind and look at all possibilities, until we have some more solid evidence to point us one way or the other. Until then, I continue to sit on the fence. As always, JMO.
