ID - DeOrr Kunz Jr, 2, Timber Creek Campground, 10 July 2015 - #1

[wendybtn]

I do not know how old or new the picture of him in the first post is, but all that water behind him makes me sick to my stomach.

 

[Sporky]

I sadly think that this baby is in the water near there. Toddlers are so curious and love water. Going to give my kid a extra hug tonight.

 

[wendybtn]

The father said,"I was buying a filthy, bawling kid a candy bar."??? Is he talking about Deorr? What an odd choice of words. To me, anyway. Sounds like the kid should have been laid down for his afternoon nap. Once asleep, another adult stationed out side his tent so the parents could hike alone for a short bit. But if the adult stepped away to clean fish, organize supplies, etc., all bets are off.

 

[AnnaGrace]

I'll be the first to admit, I'm more than a little biased now, when it comes to missing children. It's because we see so often where it comes back to parents. I'm trying hard to believe in these parents and grandfather. Was it only this family camping at this location? It seems the dogs would have picked up his scent. I have little hope of him being found alive at this time. Still hoping...

 

[katydid23]

The father said,"I was buying a filthy, bawling kid a candy bar."??? Is he talking about Deorr? What an odd choice of words. To me, anyway. Sounds like the kid should have been laid down for his afternoon nap. Once asleep, another adult stationed out side his tent so the parents could hike alone for a short bit. But if the adult stepped away to clean fish, organize supplies, etc., all bets are off.

To be fair, the father used those words because those were the same words used by the shopkeeper. It was reported that a man in a black truck came in to the store with a filthy, bawling kid and bought him a candy bar. The father said that he stopped into the store with his son around noon. And he said the time was wrong but the description was correct.

 

[sallye818]

This is really a tough one. I am praying many times a day for little Deorr, his family, and the search and rescue personnel. I can't imagine how they must feel at the end of the day when they must stop searching b/c it's dark and this little guy is still not home. No matter what happened, I know the searchers must be overwhelmed. Where to even start??

 

[huckleberryhound]

I'm not familiar with this particular campground, but most Idaho forest service campgrounds near my home would be full up on a Friday afternoon in mid-July. It's hard to believe they would be the only people there. I wonder if there were other kids and dogs running around that might have drawn Deorr away from his campsite.

 

[teeandcee]

Regarding blood and a struggle, if it was a mountain lion the answer to that would be no with a child that size. A lion would clamp down on either the skull or neck, killing the victim instantly, hence no blood or struggle and then easily carry the body somewhere. If the ground was hard it'd be very difficult to see any evidence if there was any. Any eventual blood drips or drag marks would be very difficult to find in ALL that terrain too. A lion attacking an adult will produce a struggle and blood (most of the time), but not with a child this size. They are so easily taken down.

I truly hate typing all that, and I'm still hoping by some miracle he's alive whatever happened to him. At the very least I'm praying they find some evidence of what happened to him.

 

[ninij9]

I find it interesting how we are starting to look at the Dad again but I haven't heard much talk about Grandpa. DeOrr was with him. Do we know anything about him? Has he given an interview? I would like to hear about him. Firstly he has given 2 accounts. 1. He turned his head for a moment. 2. He thought DeOrr was with mom and dad. Which was it Gramps? If Grandpa is DK sr he's not the bumbling old guy I imagined him to be. Not at all.

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[ClaireNC]

There was a possible sighting reported yesterday but it was ruled out. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/15/deorr-kunz-idaho_n_7801696.html

 

[katydid23]

I find it interesting how we are starting to look at the Dad again but I haven't heard much talk about Grandpa. DeOrr was with him. Do we know anything about him? Has he given an interview? I would like to hear about him. Firstly he has given 2 accounts. 1. He turned his head for a moment. 2. He thought DeOrr was with mom and dad. Which was it Gramps? If Grandpa is DK sr he's not the bumbling old guy I imagined him to be. Not at all.

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I have been wondering the same thing recently.

 

[Inthedetails]

I am sitting on the fence with this one so far.

On the one hand, I can picture my own father watching a toddler, turning his back for a moment, and then assuming the toddler wandered off to me (the mother). I can totally envision this on a camping trip when my dad would be busy with gear, etc. And that is why I never asked my dad to watch the kids when they were toddlers!! So, I can believe the grandpa's story.

On the other hand, why did the mom and dad take a walk and leave the boy with g-grandfather when the boy was probably fussy (he had just been fussy at the store and given a candy bar). That seems like a really weird time to leave a toddler with the grandpa - that's the time for mom to settle the kid down, take a nap, eat lunch. So the scenario in the campsite right after the store-meltdown seems off to me.

And I'd like to know why the 2yo was at the store in the first place with dad. Just an outing? Why did those two leave the campsite for the store? How does Dad usually react to a fussy child?

I don't know. I think this could be a tragic accident when a toddler wanders off and succumbs to the wilderness. Or, it could be a cover-up for something else. I want to believe it was an accident.

JMO with the facts as we know them know. I hope the K9 unit is successful today.

 

[flourish]

From what I've found on familytree.org Deorr is the first name of the missing little boy, the first name of his father, and the middle name of the father's father. HTH

As an aside, it came to my attention yesterday that the media is apparently calling every Kunz-related phone number in Idaho and Utah they can find, clearly not realizing how common that name is in those parts. So....good luck with that, reporters!

I was hoping for some good news this morning [emoji53]


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[ClaireNC]

I find it interesting how we are starting to look at the Dad again but I haven't heard much talk about Grandpa. DeOrr was with him. Do we know anything about him? Has he given an interview? I would like to hear about him. Firstly he has given 2 accounts. 1. He turned his head for a moment. 2. He thought DeOrr was with mom and dad. Which was it Gramps? If Grandpa is DK sr he's not the bumbling old guy I imagined him to be. Not at all.

DK sr. is the missing child's father. The "grandpa" is actually a great-grandfather. He is the father of the grandmother with the initials TBC. She is the mother of JM. (The missing child's mother's initials are JM.)

 

[flourish]

DK sr. is the missing child's father. The "grandpa" is actually a great-grandfather. He is the father of the grandmother with the initials TBC. I can't tell if she is DK sr's mother or JM's. (The missing child's mother's initials are JM.)

Thank you for the clarification, it gets confusing! So we've got DK jr. missing, DK sr. is his father, and then the man in question is either DK senior's grandfather or JM's grandfather.

Do we know the grandfather's full name? Sorry if I missed it...


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[Aeronomy]

I find it interesting how we are starting to look at the Dad again but I haven't heard much talk about Grandpa. DeOrr was with him. Do we know anything about him? Has he given an interview? I would like to hear about him. Firstly he has given 2 accounts. 1. He turned his head for a moment. 2. He thought DeOrr was with mom and dad. Which was it Gramps? If Grandpa is DK sr he's not the bumbling old guy I imagined him to be. Not at all.

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A big question I've had is whether or not DeOrr's g-grandfather had actually seen DeOrr prior to turning his head or if he was only told DeOrr was napping.

 

[Inthedetails]

A big question I've had is whether or not DeOrr's g-grandfather had actually seen DeOrr prior to turning his head or if he was only told DeOrr was napping.

Bingo.

 

[paris_paris]

I'm trying to understand the trip to the store. Was the child fussy so Mom told Dad to take him to the store for a candy bar? Nothing else was purchased at the store? I think I would have cleaned him up at least enough for him to not be seen as filthy. At almost 3 years old the little guy would understand he's going to get candy and he shouldn't be bawling.

I haven't watched the video yet.

 

[ClaireNC]

I am sitting on the fence with this one so far.

(respectfully snipped)

On the other hand, why did the mom and dad take a walk and leave the boy with g-grandfather when the boy was probably fussy (he had just been fussy at the store and given a candy bar). That seems like a really weird time to leave a toddler with the grandpa - that's the time for mom to settle the kid down, take a nap, eat lunch. So the scenario in the campsite right after the store-meltdown seems off to me.

And I'd like to know why the 2yo was at the store in the first place with dad. Just an outing? Why did those two leave the campsite for the store? How does Dad usually react to a fussy child?

I don't know. I think this could be a tragic accident when a toddler wanders off and succumbs to the wilderness. Or, it could be a cover-up for something else. I want to believe it was an accident.

JMO with the facts as we know them know. I hope the K9 unit is successful today.

Really good point Inthedetails about the timing and it being nap time, etc. I keep going back and forth as to what I think happened. First watching the long video I did believe the father and felt really sorry for both mom and dad. But when people point out things like this, I go back onto the fence.

So the timing looks something like this:
-Around noon dad takes fuzzy DeOrr to the store and buys him a candy bar.
-Around 1:00? Mom and dad leave DeOrr with great-grandpa and go off exploring
-About 10 minutes later they notice DeOrr is missing.
-Search for an hour and call LE/SAR at 2:36.

Did I miss anything?

Typing that brings up more questions. When did they start this camping trip? Was it the first day or had they been there overnight? If it was the first day, why was DeOrr already dirty/fussy, etc at noon? Who else was camping with them? Was it just Mom, Dad, DeOrr and Great-Grandpa? Was the campground full? Other campers around?

 

[flourish]

I watched the video again and it was Jessica's grandpa who was with Deorr.

I also want to know what this is about an emt bag. The person offscreen in the raw video asks about it in the context of clearing up rumors that were going around.

Was anyone able to map how far away this store is?

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Bumping as it answers a query I just made...flourish read back a couple pages, lazy girl!

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