Here's everything I can think of about the case, as chronologically as possible. Some of this information is second or third hand, and might not be entirely accurate.
On Saturday night, April 17, 2010, Tyler was talking with a known friend around 10:30PM, making plans for the next day.
At about 11:20PM, Tyler was recorded on the local Walmart security cameras. He had bought a gas can. We don't know if he bought anything else at Walmart, or anywhere else. This was, as far as the coroner knows, his last purchase. If the police have other information, they haven't told us or the coroner.
Tyler may have received one other call that night, before or after shopping at Walmart. Speculation about the order of events here was getting large, so I have split it into another post. For here, it should suffice to say that my mother either heard the 10:30PM phone call with the known friend, or she heard another call with an unknown person closer to 11:30PM. This second possibility would require that he returned home for some period of time after shopping at Walmart.
At 6AM the next morning (Sunday, April 18th, 2010), Tyler's alarm clock went off. After several minutes of it ringing, my mother went to his room to turn it off and wake my brother, and found that he was not there.
At approximately 11PM that night, the police and a detective showed up at our door to tell us that "Tyler's car has been found in a strange place." They were very cautious, wanting to know how many people were in the house, and who they were. They explained where the car had been found (out near Salmon Dam), and asked for pictures of Tyler, and if we had any information where he had gone. At this point, they didn't tell us that the car was burned up with a burned body in the back seat, and led us to believe that Tyler had simply left his car there for some unknown reason. They asked if he had ever been out there before, if he liked to camp or hike or anything.
I got on Tyler's computer, and examined his facebook page. I found the same note that nmr did, that he had arrived home around 10PM. The only thing running on the computer when I sat down at it was the Lunia online game client, or more specifically, some kind of error message. Tyler played Lunia a lot, and ran a guild called MMOKami, I believe. I don't know if he had been playing before he disappeared that night; my mother says that the game client is running on his computer at all times, even if he isn't playing. I still wonder if maybe he said something to his guildmates before he left that night.
The police and detective came back the next day along with several other people. I believe at that point they explained the state of the car, and the presence of the body. They also told us not to talk about it with anyone, lest we disrupt the investigation. They took pictures, as well as anything in Tyler's room that could store data: computer, flash drives, external hard drive, etc. They also took pictures of our cars' tire treads. Apparently there were other tire tracks out by where Tyler's car was found, which they took pictures or a cast of. None of our tire tracks matched those found at the scene.
Around 6:30PM, my two remaining brothers, my wife, and I, all went down to the detective's office to answer some questions about Tyler and the case. They talked with each of us for about a half hour, and told us again not to talk with anyone about the case.
The police have acquired and examined my brother's cell phone call log, and asked us for all of our phone numbers. According to my mother, when my parents finished listing our numbers, they were surprised, and asked if we were sure there wasn't any others. They then rattled off an unfamiliar phone number, and asked if it was one of ours. Unfortunately, my parents did not write down the number, and that section of time is suspiciously missing from the phone records available to them online. The police claim to have checked the number out, and that it was a dead lead.
May 3rd, 2010. The coroner called us and confirmed that the body found in the back seat of Tyler's car was Tyler.
Articles published by the local Times-News, either online or in the printed paper:
April 20th, 2010:TF Co. seeks info on vehicle, body found near Salmon Dam
April 21st, 2010:Sheriff seeks info on burned vehicle, body
April 27th, 2010:Body remains unidentified
May 4th, 2010:Body from burned car identified
May 6th, 2010:Burned body identified as 21-year-old man
May 7th, 2010:Burned body identified as 21-year-old man
May 8th, 2010erson still sought in burned body case
This is all I can think of at the moment, other than a bunch of speculation and file timestamp stuff I'll elaborate on in another post.