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

[katydid23]

I take offense to that with all the teenagers that I personally know. When you live or work on a farm there’s nothing suspicious about that. And NO no one I know has special needs. Kids that are raised on a farm are some of the hardest workers I know. Not to mention they’re raised with respect and shown how to work hard. All the young farmers I know and there’s A Lot, none of them are like you assume they are. Moo

I don't think it is suspicious to be a hard worker and be devoted to your farming. Not at all. My Dad was raised on a dairy farm. My cousins were raised on farms in Northern California and worked from sun up to sun down, during the summer months.

What I am questioning is the description of DR, saying he ONLY has interest in working on the farm---7 days a week, all day---and has no interest in friends, dating, hobbies or a social life.

I have a hard time accepting that as 100% certain. It makes me wonder if he does have some interests that his family is not aware of. It wouldn't be the 1st time a teen ager has surprised their parents with friends or interests they have kept private, IMO.

 

[katydid23]

One thing I read is that there's lots of old mine shafts in the wider area that he could have fallen down, but surely if he'd left on foot he can't have been intending to walk far from his house. I hope I'm wrong but my guess is he's gone off with someone he knows and things went wrong.

Praying he's found safe.

I am thinking he may have gone off with someone he knows or just met. There are very few people in that remote area so who could that be?

He seems like the kind of kid that would help someone local who might have a problem on their own property.

One thing my uncles and cousins did a lot was go into town for supplies and occasionally to the diner, to speak with local ranchers and farmers. Makes me wonder if he had a breakfast or dinner cafe he would sometimes visit?

Could someone have said they needed an extra pair of hands for a quick job?

 

[Argonaut]

One thing I read is that there's lots of old mine shafts in the wider area that he could have fallen down, but surely if he'd left on foot he can't have been intending to walk far from his house. I hope I'm wrong but my guess is he's gone off with someone he knows and things went wrong.

Praying he's found safe.

I was wondering about water wells in the area. People do fall down them sometimes. Some are placed there.

 

[citizen_sleuth]

Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but the family are the only ones who have stated the possibility of foul play, and not law enforcement.

I’m really hoping this is a voluntary disappearance, and I think there’s a good possibility of that being the case (although it’s also possible while he initially left voluntarily, he met with foul play). IMO it seems Dylan’s family has a very strong and rigid idea of who he is as a person: that all he wants to do 24/7 is work on his family’s farm, where he’s seemingly been living alone since he was 16. He’s been removed from his family for most of his teenage years, so I question just how well they could realistically know what Dylan does or doesn’t do with his time. It’s a lot easier to keep tabs on what is going on in a teen’s life when they are living under the same roof, even if they try and hide it (like sneaking out, drinking, smoking, seeing a girlfriend/boyfriend, etc).

Do I think Dylan is dedicated to farming and working on his family’s farm? Absolutely. Do I believe Dylan had absolutely no interest in anything besides working on the farm? While it’s possible, I don’t think his family could possibly know the full scope of his interests and activities when he is so far removed (physically) from them.

MOO.

 

[katydid23]

With all due respect , that’s an odd assumption to make of a person you’ve never met. Especially by just looking at a photograph.

It is not just from looking at a photograph. It is from following hundreds of missing person's cases over a few decades----and seeing what the friends and families say, compared to what we sometimes see later.

It is just a feeling I have, that maybe this 19 yr old does have other interests and concerns at this point in his life. Expecting anyone to be happy just working 7 days a week, all day, with no friends or social life at all, does not seem likely, IMO.

 

[Joshw2022]

As I'm based in the UK, can I just clarify the difference between 'missing' and 'runaway'? It might sound obvious, but in the police over here we don't really have such a distinction.

If someone is treated as a runaway, which I am assuming means missing of their own accord, do the police generally not look?

The fact they're classing him as missing, are we to assume there's some element of foul play or serious concern?

As I say, may be a silly question but I just want to clarify for my own understanding!

 

[PawneeDew]

Something that I read on the 1st page has niggled at me:


“We don’t believe anything was ransacked,” Wells explains. “Dylan is missing, his phone is missing and his wallet.”

Noting Dylan’s age, Wells says some people seem to think Dylan ran off, but she suspects foul play.

“He is an old soul, farm boy at heart. All he wants to do is get up and work all day every day. He isn’t interested in partying, he isn’t interested in travel. He never dated in high school. He’s not your typical 19-year-old,” Wells says.



Okay, I look hard at his picture and I find it hard to believe that the ONLY thing he ever wants to do is get up and work all day every day...

Maybe that is what his family believes and maybe that is what he was like as a child, but I think there might be more to his story that he hasn't shared with his family. Not anything bad necessarily, but maybe something sensitive or hard to discuss with them?

I don't know why, but the word 'ransacked' is what was niggling me...why throw that word out there?

 

[Joshw2022]

I don't know why, but the word 'ransacked' is what was niggling me...why throw that word out there?

Strange one, but maybe just a poor choice of wording. There is a comment on the FB page (I can't for the life of me find it now!), but it did clarify that there was nothing at all to indicate any disturbance or struggle inside the trailer he lived in. Just Dylan, his phone and wallet missing.

 

[ClaireNC]

As I'm based in the UK, can I just clarify the difference between 'missing' and 'runaway'? It might sound obvious, but in the police over here we don't really have such a distinction.

If someone is treated as a runaway, which I am assuming means missing of their own accord, do the police generally not look?

The fact they're classing him as missing, are we to assume there's some element of foul play or serious concern?

As I say, may be a silly question but I just want to clarify for my own understanding!

To answer your question directly - No classifying him as “missing” does not necessarily mean there is an element of foul play. Generally anyone who is reported missing is “missing”. Some jurisdictions do make the distinction between voluntary vs. involuntary missing when reporting to the media. Others do not.

 

[katydid23]

As I'm based in the UK, can I just clarify the difference between 'missing' and 'runaway'? It might sound obvious, but in the police over here we don't really have such a distinction.

If someone is treated as a runaway, which I am assuming means missing of their own accord, do the police generally not look?

The fact they're classing him as missing, are we to assume there's some element of foul play or serious concern?

As I say, may be a silly question but I just want to clarify for my own understanding!

In terms of 'missing' vs 'runaway' ---it depends upon the circumstances.

If the missing person is an adult, who is capable and voluntarily 'missing' ---then LE does not actively interfere with the situation. They say that an adult has the right to disappear if they want to, whether to escape partners or family or business relationships, etc.

But if the circumstances appear suspicious---like a mother suddenly disappears, leaving her children, and not telling her parents, yet her spouse claims she walked away angry one night---or a teen girl has a fight with her boyfriend and says she wants out of his car and she vanishes, according to him, ----then LE will do a missing person investigation in the hopes of finding what happened.

 

[katydid23]

Strange one, but maybe just a poor choice of wording. There is a comment on the FB page (I can't for the life of me find it now!), but it did clarify that there was nothing at all to indicate any disturbance or struggle inside the trailer he lived in. Just Dylan, his phone and wallet missing.

I think LE will have a hard time deciding between him being voluntarily missing and him being a crime victim.

I am on the fence between the 2 options myself. I can see the possibility that he was lured away by someone and things went sideways.

But I can also see the possibility that working 7 days a week, in a remote area, with no social life, w/no breaks, could make someone snap, and just need to get away. Maybe he felt pressure to keep doing the job because it was up to him as the son---but it was just too much?

 

[OldCop]

Do we know if Dylan’s phone pinged from his trailer when he spoke to his grandmother on the 28th? Do we know if the family or PI can get his phone records? If he is on the same plan as one of his parents, they should be able to get records. However, if he has his own phone on a personal plan, they may not be able to get records unless LE gets a warrant for them.

 

[Joshw2022]

Do we know if Dylan’s phone pinged from his trailer when he spoke to his grandmother on the 28th? Do we know if the family or PI can get his phone records? If he is on the same plan as one of his parents, they should be able to get records. However, if he has his own phone on a personal plan, they may not be able to get records unless LE gets a warrant for them.

As far as I know that's not been clarified. However, you did just get me interested in where the nearest cell towers are...having had a quick look, there appear to be no cell towers anywhere near Lucin (unless someone knows any different?). So, I assume even if they were able to ping his phone they'd end up with a huge area. I know from experience of trying to track phones in the area I work in (UK police, currently awaiting verification on here!), quite often if the area is rural we can end up with huge areas to search even after we've established which mast the phone has been pinging off. I assume it'd be even worse in an area such as Lucin which is so vast.

 

[MrsWatson]

I find it very difficult to believe that a 19 year old young man would do nothing but work. On his FB, he has a picture of what I'm assuming is himself (he has on a full face helmet) on a snowmobile, so apparently he did do something recreational at least once.

Such a rural area, what did he do after dark when he's put the farm to bed for the night? Watch sports? Game? Read? Listen to music?

I'm curious about the situation of him farming that land for three years and how that came about.

 

[Tealgrove]

I get the feeling that he left with someone, in someone else’s vehicle. Thus the reason his truck is there but his wallet, his phone and himself are not.

Things may be as they seem or not.

I don’t believe he is voluntarily missing. I also don’t think he “ran away”.

Something smells rotten about all of this.

MOO

 

[Trebor5591]

<snip>

Such a rural area, what did he do after dark when he's put the farm to bed for the night? Watch sports? Game? Read? Listen to music?

I'm curious about the situation of him farming that land for three years and how that came about.

Lot's of farm people go to bed very early, because they are up before first light. Here in Tennessee first light is around 5 a.m. sunset is 8 p.m., it doesn't leave a whole lot of time for play, especially because farm work tends to be rough and tiring.

From what I understand, he is farming a 40 acre plot owned by his parents. That's a lot of land for one person to work. He sounds like a good son, and I hope he is found, but I feel bad about this one. Just saying, MOO.

 

[Tealgrove]

I just have to throw this out there. Whatever has happened has nothing to do with farming or his farming life.

This is about relationships good or bad or soured.

I believe something bad has happened here and we will know soon.

MOO

 

[bykerladi]

I thought the family said his wallet was at home. What EXACTLY is missing and what was left at home?

 

[Trebor5591]

I thought the family said his wallet was at home. What EXACTLY is missing and what was left at home?

Dylan is missing, along with his wallet and cellphone. Everything else is accounted for, apparently.

Family offering $20,000 reward for man who disappeared after 'weird run-in' with stranger - East Idaho News

IDAHO FALLS – A 19-year-old man with ties to eastern Idaho has been missing since Saturday morning and his family is working with law enforcement to find him. Katie Wells of Rigby tells EastIdahoNews.com her nephew, Dylan Rounds, was last seen Saturday in Lucin, Utah, on the farm where he is...

www.eastidahonews.com

 

[Knox]

It is not just from looking at a photograph. It is from following hundreds of missing person's cases over a few decades----and seeing what the friends and families say, compared to what we sometimes see later.

It is just a feeling I have, that maybe this 19 yr old does have other interests and concerns at this point in his life. Expecting anyone to be happy just working 7 days a week, all day, with no friends or social life at all, does not seem likely, IMO.

JMO, maybe the expectations and isolation of working the family farm got to Dylan. I think it's a possibility that has to be considered. Like you, I have seen many cases over the years where families refused to consider that their loved one needed to get away for myriads of reasons.

To be clear, I'm not saying that happened in this case. Dylan may have either had an accident or have met with someone who disappeared him. I give all three possibilities equal weight.