UT UT - Dylan Rounds, 19, wkg on farm, “weird run-in” with a guy walking on gravel rd, no phone & CC activity, Lucin, Box Elder Co, 25 May 2022

[NervousNellie]

Hi @Idahofarmer,

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[Tealgrove]

I’m confused about the lack of LE assistance.

Can someone explain why Land Management would be sent to check out areas of interest and not LE?

I don’t understand.

 

[citizen_sleuth]

I’ve known Dylan for a few years . The farm he purchased in lucin was Barron dessert up till around 2020 when Dylan tore out the dessert and put up irrigation equipment. It won’t show on aerial unless it’s up to date . You can see in the fox13 report the video of the irrigation pivots .

Family desperately searching for missing son living in rural Utah

The family of a missing teenager from northern Utah is asking for the public's help in the search for their son.

www.fox13now.com

I'm assuming he has the financial support of his family in developing and maintaining the farm, as that irrigation equipment isn't cheap and certainly would be beyond the means of a 16-19 year old to purchase themselves (a quick search shows that a standard 160 acre system and end gun with an actual irrigated area of 132 acres costs $78,000).

Did he have a bank account and/or credit card? Or did he keep most of it in cash? Just trying to figure out what role, if any, money might play in his disappearance.

 

[Tealgrove]

Interesting about the positioning of the truck seat and the truck being in 4x4 when the 4x4 doesn’t work.

Could a woman be involved?

Could there be two people involved?

This sounds very targeted.

MOO

 

[GMS]

6/7/22 PM Update posted by DC on Official page:

Dylan's maroon colored Ford 4x4 4-door pickup was found parked at the farm, freshly pressured washed on the outside and in the bed. The tires were also pressure washed and did not have any mud on them. Given the muddy roads from the thunderstorms the day prior, the pickup and pickup tires should have had a large amount of mud on them. This indicates that the truck and truck tires were pressure washed at the farm where the truck was found.
[..]

In regard to the pressure washing, did Dylan have this equipment, hoses, easily accessible at the trailer he was staying? And if so, did whoever wash it know this? or did the person/s have to bring a portable power washer to the location after the fact?

 

[OldCop]

Like everyone else, I have been trying to come up with a theory given the information we have so far. Do we know what day the family went to the farm after they realized no one had heard from him since he spoke with his grandmother on the morning of the 28th? This would be when they realized his truck was there.
Did they initially ask LE to do a welfare check or did they drive out there themselves? I know his boots were found on the 30th. If that was the day the truck was found at Dylan’s trailer, that leaves Dylan’s activities on the 29th unaccounted for.
If it is true that the strange barefoot man was asking about Dylan in Montello on Saturday, the 28th, and later got a ride to his trailer, could Dylan have already left for Montello when the man arrived at his trailer and was subsequently assaulted by him when he arrived back home? This part of the story has a lot of holes. I do believe that Dylan had some kind of encounter with a barefoot stranger on the 25th, but if that same stranger was in town asking about him on the 28th and was known to have gotten a ride to the trailer, I think LE would have sent out some kind of pr asking this individual to step forward.
That leaves the 29th. Did Dylan run into trouble that day? Perhaps the barefoot stranger was still in the area and accosted him near where the boots were found as Dylan worked his farm. Were the boots left as some sort of symbolism by whoever caused harm to Dylan?
If the person who is responsible for Dylan’s disappearance is the person who power washed the truck and obliterated any signs of his own presence, how did that person leave the area? It doesn’t really make sense to me unless as a previous poster stated, there were 2 people involved. But since nothing was taken, what was their motive?
If you caused harm to someone, then took them somewhere in their vehicle to dispose of them, would you then take the vehicle back to the victim’s home, wash it completely, then walk away?
Perhaps the power washing was done by Dylan himself on the 29th. The seat could be pushed forward if he was vacuuming or cleaning the inside. I have done that myself. It is described as a 4 door truck. Maybe some harm befell him later in the day.
So many questions here.…..

 

[azure]

Am I correct that Dylan encountered the barefoot person who made him anxious enough to call multiple family members and afterwards went to a bar in NV?

Edit: @OldCop and I were posting at the same time. So he saw the man May 25, called family that day, and was last seen on the 28th in Montello. This case could use a timeline, though as OldCop pointed out, there would be some holes.

 

[citizen_sleuth]

Perhaps the power washing was done by Dylan himself on the 29th. The seat could be pushed forward if he was vacuuming or cleaning the inside. I have done that myself. It is described as a 4 door truck. Maybe some harm befell him later in the day.
So many questions here.…..

RSBM. Could Dylan have been outside cleaning/power washing the truck and was approached by someone who saw he was outside and approached him (either someone he knew or a stranger asking to use his phone/get a ride/borrow fuel/etc)?

 

[OldCop]

On the official FB page, Dylan’s mom, Candice Cooley, is an admin. She was asked if a friend could have picked Dylan up. She replied,
“I wish that was a possibility, but the answer is no.”
???

 

[carterkatt]

I surely don't know the ins and outs of this like many of you do, so don't even know if the location/time/facts would fit with this.. .but could he have GIVEN the boots to the barefoot man... and maybe the barefoot man wore them a while, but they didn't fit right, so he left them by the dirt pile???
Thanks

 

[MrsWatson]

I'm curious as to how the boots were found. Were they sitting up, were they laced, were they together, like placed there, or did they look like they were just tossed?

I hope someone got a picture.

 

[montegrl]

Yes, but the parcel I showed is owned by Dylan’s grandfather. In checking the county records I found no land owned by Dylan.

Maybe since he was a minor when he started farming it the grandfather assisted by putting his name on the land too?

 

[citizen_sleuth]

Do we know if Dylan graduated HS? Or did he withdraw from school at 16 when he moved to the farm? MOO I can't imagine living alone in the middle of nowhere at 16 and running a farm by myself with my family over 3 hours away.

 

[MassGuy]

This is such a weird case, for countless reasons. If his truck was in fact washed by a perpetrator, then that indicates to me that he knew this person (statistics alone indicate that too).

But then you're dealing with the issue of motive, and there doesn't seem to be anything obvious.

So I'm open to this strange encounter here had factoring in, as what are the odds?

I just wish we had more info.

 

[Knitty]

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[OldCop]

The official FB page has changed the last seen date to 5/27. I presume the last person who spoke to him is still his grandmother on the morning of 5/28. He was supposed to call her back later but never did.
So does this mean whatever happened happened after he spoke with his grandmother that morning?

 

[Seattle1]

I’m confused about the lack of LE assistance.

Can someone explain why Land Management would be sent to check out areas of interest and not LE?

I don’t understand.

When adults go missing, it's not unusual for LE to accept a missing person report, conduct a search around the residence, often relying on the assistance of others, and not provide dedicated assistance sought by the family if they do not believe there's evidence of foul play to open a criminal investigation. IMO, LE sees this as a suspicious missing person investigation. We know authorities took Dylan's boots, allegedly found with blood on them for testing, and perhaps the results of the test may change the course of the investigation.

I believe Lucin is located in Box Elder County, an area with limited resources. Relative to the comment on the Official Page that Land Management could be available for assistance, the BLM is responsible for managing all federally owned property in the U.S. Reportedly, nearly half of all land managed by BML is primarily found in two states: Alaska, 29%, and Nevada, 19%. I'm not yet familiar with the territory surrounding this case other than Lucin being located at the NV border but I suspect property managed by BLM is not too distant from Dylan's ranch or the area he's believed to have last been seen. MOO

https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/IF10585.pdf

 

[Mistree]

The official FB page has changed the last seen date to 5/27. I presume the last person who spoke to him is still his grandmother on the morning of 5/28. He was supposed to call her back later but never did.
So does this mean whatever happened happened after he spoke with his grandmother that morning?

Thanks for posting this @OldCop, I was just coming to update this.

 

[Seattle1]

From the Box Elder, County Sheriff -- last update on 6/3/22:

Box Elder County Sheriff's Department​

May 31 at 6:23 PM ·
Update 6/3/22 - This continues to be an active missing person investigation. We are working diligently to locate Dylan and continue to follow up on tips that we receive. We currently have no updated information on new locations to search, but are still searching the Lucin area. We would like to thank all those who are and who have assisted us during this week, including Box Elder County Sheriff's Search And Rescue, Box Elder County Sheriff's Horse Posse, Weber County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue, Elko County Sheriff's Office, Utah Department of Public Safety Aero Bureau, and Utah Search Dogs. This is a public post that any person, business, or government agency is encouraged to share.

 

[katydid23]

The official FB page has changed the last seen date to 5/27. I presume the last person who spoke to him is still his grandmother on the morning of 5/28. He was supposed to call her back later but never did.
So does this mean whatever happened happened after he spoke with his grandmother that morning?

IDK. He may have just forgotten to call his grandma back that day.

I really resonated with this earlier post of yours:

Old Cop: If you caused harm to someone, then took them somewhere in their vehicle to dispose of them, would you then take the vehicle back to the victim’s home, wash it completely, then walk away?
Perhaps the power washing was done by Dylan himself on the 29th. The seat could be pushed forward if he was vacuuming or cleaning the inside. I have done that myself. It is described as a 4 door truck. Maybe some harm befell him later in the day.
So many questions here.…..

Maybe he power washed his truck sometime on the 28th, and the perp caught him in a vulnerable position at that time?

But I don't see how anyone could 'sneak up' on him way out there. Anyone would be seen approaching by vehicle or on foot, in such wide open, flat land, with a long entry road.

It would have to be at night, or when no one was home. Did Dylan have dogs out there? I've never seen a working farm that didn't have watch dogs. They are indispensable.

So many questions, I agree...