Search Captions & Ask AI

DeOrr Kunz /// Part 1 /// 304

May 21, 2019 / 01:06:41

This episode covers the disappearance of two-year-old Dior Coons in July 2015, the search efforts, and the theories surrounding his case. Hosts Nick and Captain discuss the timeline of events leading up to Dior's disappearance, the 911 calls made by his parents, and the various theories proposed by investigators.

The episode begins with a detailed recounting of the camping trip taken by Dior's family, including his father Vernal Coons, mother Jessica Mitchell, great-grandfather Bob Walton, and family friend Isaac Wren Juan. The family arrived at Timber Creek Campground in Idaho, where Dior was last seen playing near the campsite.

Listeners hear the 911 call made by Jessica, who reported her son missing after searching for about an hour. The hosts analyze the discrepancies between Jessica's account and Vernal's later statements, as well as the extensive search efforts that followed, which included volunteers and search and rescue teams.

The discussion also touches on the various theories regarding Dior's disappearance, including the possibility of an animal attack, abduction, or involvement from someone within the family. The hosts highlight the lack of evidence found during the search and the emotional toll it took on the family.

Finally, the episode concludes with reflections on the parents' interviews and the evolving narrative surrounding the case, raising questions about the truth of what happened to Dior Coons.

TLDR

Dior Coons, a two-year-old, disappeared during a camping trip, prompting extensive search efforts and various theories about his fate.

Episode

1:06:41
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is enough of the business alright everybody gather round grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true
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crime [Music] [Music] what's the address of your emergency I'm definitely champion red one goes
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outside of bloodless uh-huh my three-year-old son um we can't find them how long has he been missing
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about an hour yeah are you by water yes do you know which campground you're in it's stone
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reservoir Timber Creek stone reservoir yeah we're Timber Creek hold on we need search and rescue Jessica
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Jessica yeah what's your son's name okay what is he wearing he was wearing cowboy boots a blue hair
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like pajama pants and his handle jacket and he's got yeah you belong here this has been calling to like all down where
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we were camping out and we can't find him at all okay we need you to stay within cell service we have people going
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on on the way thank you the 911 call that you just heard came in at 2:28 p.m. on Friday July 10th 2015
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the caller is Jessica Mitchell she is calling because she cannot find her two-year-old son D or Coons she was
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calling from a campground near lador Idaho you see the day before D or Coons jr. his father mother great-grandfather
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and a family friend traveled 120 miles from Idaho Falls to the Timber Creek Campground in lador the campsite is very
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remote and takes about two and a half hours to drive from where they live in Idaho Falls the day before the evening
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of Thursday July 9th the family packed up their things and got ready to make the drive out to Timber Creek along for
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the camping trip we have two-year-old D or Coons we have his father vernal Coons
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and the mother Jessica Mitchell and her grandfather Bob Walton and his friend Isaac Ren wond yeah the great
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grandfather and the friend are gonna ride together in a truck the couple with their child are gonna ride in a separate
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truck here's some important things to know and we want to do this right here before we move on because this is a
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confusing case with a strange timeline but it is crucial to have a decent understanding of the four adults at the
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campground with little D or and that timeline okay so first vernal Coons little D or
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Coons his father also goes by D or at times I believe this is his middle name but to keep everything nice and tidy
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when we speak of the father we will refer to him as vernal and when we talk about the little two-year-old boy he is
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D or now Dior's parents vernal Coons and Jessica Mitchell are not married in 2015
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they were engaged to be married the old man on the trip is Jessica's grandfather
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so little Dior's great-grandfather his name is Bob Walton and he is elderly and he has some health issues he was on oxy
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24/7 in 2015 he had a lug around an oxygen tank everywhere with him Jessica works for her grandfather as his
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caretaker it's it's unclear if this is a paid position you know paid in cash under the table or if this is just her
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helping him out well based off of interviews I would assume that she's actually getting paid because one of the
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reasons why they took the trip was this is kind of also a celebration of her working for six months where she never
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has stayed at a job that long yeah that was my vibe to that I got that she is being compensated or paid in some manner
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for this work that she's doing but there's no real paper trail of such right the fourth adult on this trip is Isaac
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Wren Juan he is a friend of the Old Manse a friend of Bob's yeah Isaac before the trip has never met vernal
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Jessica or little D or this friend situation has been deemed online as strange or odd Isaac is much younger
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than Bob in fact Isaac is probably closer much closer in age to vernal and Jessica than he would be to Bob Bob and
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Isaac have been friends for about five years leading up to this camping trip they at one point were next-door
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neighbors or neighbors Bob hired Isaac often to do yard work and then they became fishing buddies so let's get into
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this timeline and this has been difficult to put together for reasons that will make sense later but I used
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multiple sources to try to piece this together so this was constructed using statements from the four adults on the
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camping trip and the sheriff from the lead investigative agency after they packed up and left the group went to
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Isaac's house to pick him up the group made the trek and they traveled in two vehicles as the captain mentioned Vernal
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Jessica and D or are in vernal 's black pickup truck Isaac and Bob are in Bob's and I believe this was a Chevy Blazer or
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a Chevy SUV again this is taken from statements from the family and Isaac and these
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statements are not very thorough we do know there was a camper involved as well but I'm not sure who was pulling this
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camper the grandfather was okay it was his he owned it they all arrived Thursday evening first they started
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setting everything up they built a fire and started it started to get dark shortly after they arrived mm-hmm
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the next morning they all seemed to have woke up at different times and it's very
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unclear as to the order in which they woke up well let's start with where they slept the friend is going to sleep in
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the tent the grandfather sleeps in the camp ever it seems like the couple with their
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child's sleep in the Blazer and we have Isaac who says he got up at least once or twice that morning and then went back
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to bed so that adds to the confusion of the order in which they woke up yeah now
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they did have breakfast at some point Vernal and Jessica and D or leave the get in Verna's truck and they drive to
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the door the door is a very small town and it's near where they are camping I think it's like a ten maybe fifteen
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minute drive I think it's seven miles just to get into their campsite like a singular Road now on this trip into town
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as we'll call it they are going to hit up a couple of stops Vernal says they went to get diesel fuel for his truck
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jessica says they go so she could buy some tampons it's unclear what time they exactly left or how long they were gone
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but going off of what Vernal says they returned to the campsite at approximately 1:00 p.m. and while
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they're gone bob is taken around his friend to show him some different fishing sites and
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different fishing holes that he fished in when he was a kid now we have Jessica vernal and D or all back at the campsite
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and it seems like everybody wants to go fishing at this time and Bob and Isaac are back at the campsite as well Jessica
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asked Isaac to show her where her and vernal could catch some fish Isaac walks Jessica to a fishing spot he says he
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thought vernal and Dior were right behind them Isaac shows her the spot and he continues on to another fishing spot
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vernal joins Jessica and now they are fishing casting and looking at the water you know just enjoying themselves this
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is only about a 10 to 15 minute time frame here so very very small window of time right
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vernal says he saw some tadpoles and wanted to show D or the creek so he walked back up to the campsite with
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Jessica Bob is still at the site little D or is nowhere to be seen Jessica asked
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Bob where is the or Bob says I thought he was with you Jessica says no we left him with you
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okay so now panic the parents start looking for their boy calling out his name as a search and then the search
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widens we have Bob who stays he's the one that stays at the campsite while the parents are looking they look for D or
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for some time and then the call is made to 911 we said this is like a seven mile
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to five mile road just to get to the campsite you're in the middle of nowhere mmm you would be freaking out
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yes yeah and so the the call comes in as we said earlier at 2:28 p.m. and it's Jessica
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on the call and you heard that call and she gives their location she gives a description of her son who is missing
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and she says we've been looking for him for about an hour she's told that they're going to send search and rescue
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out to help and assist in locate the boy yeah now one thing that we need to point
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out here that is interesting about this call and this is we've reviewed many 911
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calls but one thing that's kind of stood out for me that at some point the dispatcher asked if her husband if
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Jessica's husband is calling as well and to which she says yes so what's going on
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at this time is we actually have even though they're not they're not married I think
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the dispatchers making an assumption there but at the same time we have both Jessica the mother and vernal the father
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they're both attempting to call 911 yeah now vernal couldn't get signal so he drives about a mile and a half down the
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road to try to get signal and she actually had signal so a little strange to me though I think from the outside
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looking in there's there's a couple things here so one yes I could I could see it being a little strange because
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it's difficult to think that you would leave that area I don't know exactly what jessica is doing at this time we
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know that vernal drove off in his pickup truck right and look the father could have panicked
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and took off without trying to you know he looked at his phone let's just assume
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he looks at his phone there is no signal panics jumps in his truck drives to try
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to get a signal meanwhile his fiance has signal on her phone hmm it could be as something as simple as that but again
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the two calls to me I'd be if I didn't have signal or I'd be asking everybody else does anybody else have signal yeah
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so I think here you could look at it two ways either we have a father who's leaving the area to make the call and
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they're both going to call and this is a very thorough manner of making sure that
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you do get a hold of rescue efforts or you question the movements of why is somebody leaving the general area in
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which you believe this boy you know where you last saw your son and maybe it doesn't matter either way but I believe
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they're able to corroborate his story by cell phone ping technology mm-hmm saying
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that wherever he made the call from was roughly about a mile and a half away from the campsite right so both of them
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are calling from where they say they are calling from or at least there's some evidence to back that up right search
00:16:03
crews arrive and they begin to look for the toddler they searched until about 4:00 a.m. they don't find him
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then on Saturday July 11th searchers look on horseback ATVs foot and in the water for Dior they
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focus on a two and a half mile radius around the campground one area of concern is a creek this is one of the
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fishing spots right this is about 15 yards away from the campsite the area is searched numerous times Sunday July 12th
00:16:36
the leme High County Sheriff's Office reports nearly 200 volunteers show up to look for Dior on Monday July 13th the
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ORS parents do a TV interview in this interview they explain what happened the previous Friday afternoon
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now they at this point say they no longer believe that Dior is lost but think that someone may have abducted
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their son and they make a plea for his safe return that evening around 200 people gather in Idaho Falls for a
00:17:11
candlelight vigil Tuesday and Wednesday July 14th and 15th search efforts continue near the campground dive crews
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focus on the stone reservoir located about a quarter mile from where the family was camping this is because the
00:17:26
creek near the campsite runs to this stone reservoir yeah Dior's parents remain camped near the site as deputies
00:17:35
search the creek once again and determined that Dior is not there Friday the 17th the Bonneville County Sheriff's
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dive team is called in to help search the reservoir divers use a sonar robot to assist in foggy waters crews on
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horseback returned to the hills near the campground Saturday the 18th it's Dior's father's birthday he spends
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the day camped just yards away from where his son disappeared and the search efforts continue on Sunday July 19th
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it's now been ten days since Dior was last seen the timber creek campground has been searched dozens of times
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crews have scoured the stone reservoir and Creek investigators release few new details
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and to yours family remains desperate for answers up to this point now this is a statement released from the searchers
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they say that after 10 days up to this point no evidence has been found to suggest where the two-year-old boy may
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be yes so we have this little baby boy what are our options of what possibly could have happened to them so the lead
00:18:51
investigative agency the Sheriff's Department that'll leme - they state that they are working under three
00:19:00
possible theories one that it was some type of animal attack so wolves was the main concern yeah
00:19:09
there were wolves in the area some had suggested maybe a bear but we also eventually this case is difficult in the
00:19:17
sense that we have a lot of statements from different people that are involved in this case and then later not involved
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we've had a lot of people come in and out of this investigation from 2015 to current day so later on somebody would
00:19:33
suggest that a bald eagle would be the main threat but it seems like the Sheriff's Department and I'm gonna go
00:19:40
with them because they know the area better than anybody else right their main concern was a wolves in the area so
00:19:48
animal attack is one possible theory and their second theory is possible abduction and then the third theory is
00:19:56
that either a family member or friend was somehow involved in the disappearance of this child yeah this
00:20:04
this drove me notes because I kept on saying there's three options and then they give you four options drove me nuts
00:20:10
all time researching this case and then the third thing that drove me nuts was what was the fourth option well no they
00:20:18
would always say so there'd always say you know the first one is he who was taken by an animal second one was he was
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abducted third one was that it was either accidental or homicide so see what I mean that's true they're all yeah
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with option so I always drove me nuts when there we have three theories like why actually
00:20:40
have four yeah I don't think I said that clearly I think I went off it went away
00:20:44
from my paper here you're exactly right the third theory was that either a family member or friend was involved in
00:20:52
the accidental death or homicide I don't know if it's because of the search efforts that they're ruling out the
00:21:00
possibility that he just went off and possibly something with the water I know those all those little fishing
00:21:10
holes were searched extensively and so maybe that's why that theory is not on the table but again when you start
00:21:17
looking into this case my first thought was okay he walks off and what happens then hmm and then he walks off and
00:21:26
there's an animal attack and those are two viable options but when I think because of the extensive amount of
00:21:34
searching they did and then the searching to the water they were able to actually actually rule that out as a
00:21:39
theory yeah they aren't giving current-day they don't give much weight to the possible animal attack theory
00:21:46
well that's because there's no evidence there was no item of clothes that closed
00:21:52
that were left behind there was no blood left behind there was there's no evidence of any kind of attack right
00:21:59
there general thought is this that if there were some kind of snatch and grab by an animal there would be evidence of
00:22:07
such and they search such a vast area that that would have turned up something they would like you said piece of
00:22:15
clothing some blood or something else and I do want to point out this item here as well because I think this is
00:22:21
extremely important so regarding the missing person's flyer for little D or Coons says missing since July 10th 2015
00:22:31
missing from lead or Idaho his date of birth was December 30th 2012 so he's about two and a half at the time where
00:22:41
he's last seen blond hair brown eyes three foot tall about 28 pounds so small little guy and the flyer says Dior
00:22:51
was wearing a camouflage jacket and blue pajama pants what it does not include is
00:22:57
in the 911 call Jessica says that he was wearing cowboy boots yeah and the cowboy boots are really
00:23:05
something that I think are very important because these boots have never been located no the general thought of
00:23:11
these boots is this and this is from the the searchers and from the Sheriff's Department they simply say these boots
00:23:19
as described to them by everybody that knew the little boy and knew of these boots wear boots that he loved to wear
00:23:25
he loved to walk around in them but they were many sizes too big for him you know
00:23:31
we've all seen this it's very cute when a tiny little kid puts on adult shoes or
00:23:35
or a teenager shoes or something that's made for something much bigger than the little boy or girl right very cute he
00:23:43
wore these a lot and they said that it was described that they were so big that he would often come out of the shoes
00:23:49
when he's just walking his feet would would pop out of the shoes and you'd find these boots lying around whatever
00:23:56
yeah so one they're probably hard to walk in so he wouldn't get that far right - if if he walked far enough he'd
00:24:04
probably come out of them three if somebody snatched him or if animals snatched him then he'd probably come out
00:24:12
of the boots pretty easily mmm no matter where the animal grabbed a mat right and
00:24:17
their argument to suggest that the animal grab is not likely the biggest argument is there for the boots because
00:24:25
they're they're saying look yeah you could you could present a case that in this huge area that maybe we missed a
00:24:32
drop of blood right but we're not going to miss these boots and the thing with the water is it was searched so
00:24:40
extensively yeah the creek and that reservoir the stone reservoir I've had I've I've seen some statements to also
00:24:49
suggest that that water is not necessarily that deep so it wouldn't be we're not talking about something that
00:24:56
would be incredibly difficult to search right so there's no evidence of this boy
00:25:01
in the water there is no piece of clothing that they're fine they do not find any blood
00:25:09
and in one report it states the dissent dogs never picked up a scent of this little boy at the campsite bringing into
00:25:21
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Apple App Store or on Google Play today all right cheers mates cheers to you captain we wanted to take this time to
00:27:38
play for you that interview that TV interview that we discussed during the search timeline for little Dior here you
00:27:46
are going to hear his parents discussing how he went missing and what they hope they can find in their search for him
00:27:53
this is from East Idaho news.com I'm not sure what date is today Friday about 2 to 26 is one I was it to 26 to 36 when I
00:28:11
called to us to 36 is when she called and I was in the truck hauling down to the road try and get serviced because I
00:28:17
didn't think one bar would get it so she got very very lucky I was blessed that she was able to get service because I
00:28:22
didn't I didn't want to try and risk getting halfway through my talking to the 911 and have it cut off so I went
00:28:29
down to where I knew I can get all service about a half mile down the road we searched for after about 20 minutes
00:28:36
and in a dead panic not knowing where he was in such a small area and not knowing
00:28:42
never being there I knew I was in trouble so we decided to call search and rescue and that's when I drove down she
00:28:52
tried getting a signal out as soon as I got a hold of them they come to they told me that she was on the other line
00:28:58
with them and they had our location and they were on our way they they were amazing they are amazing and they still
00:29:05
continue to be Lima High County Sheriff and Sam in search and rescue you could not ask for a better group of people
00:29:12
volunteers and search and rescue and just everybody you couldn't ask for better people so sincere so concerned
00:29:23
and they were everybody was so emotionally attached to this as you anybody would be of a two-year-old he's
00:29:31
pretty small for his age but he moves pretty good and that was our concern he he was right with us I've where it's at
00:29:42
is I mean I thought it would be perfect to go camp in there because it's in by walls of mountains and there's not
00:29:48
much space around there that he could go and our biggest concern was the the creek which was neat knee-deep few feet
00:29:56
wide but he's a little guy they finally yesterday that we were able to put that dressed and Lehigh County
00:30:04
Sheriff sheriff Dave and the rest of the sheriff's have put out that there is they assured me there is 100% in that
00:30:11
chance that he is not anywhere in that water around that water they have torn that Creek upside down and in now four
00:30:18
divers have gone through wet suits along with the helicopter that was the world's
00:30:23
most advanced search and rescue helicopter I've volunteered out of Montana and those guys were just amazing
00:30:29
the accuracy they had with the night-vision ability it has and the heat range they can see they were what the
00:30:39
one guy I can't remember his name I've met so many people so many good people but he was his own safety he was he was
00:30:51
more or less he was strapped in and he was on the side of that helicopter looking and I he was looking down I
00:30:57
remember them telling me that they asked a search rescue to go look over because
00:31:01
there was an orange insect repellent can they think by the bank and they were dead on that's what it was that's how
00:31:06
accurate these guys are I thought it was it might have been like a part of us they might work or something they said
00:31:11
go check that out that these guys searched miles is so the mile radius they have is it is a very rocky terrain
00:31:20
it is very open but it's not the helicopter that used ISM is used to back very deep Montana it is designed for a
00:31:28
lot worse situations than this and there was not a trace of my son found there still isn't but there's through the
00:31:34
searches on that's they here say of things has kind of gotten way out of hand the search is so far has been put
00:31:45
on that has been suspended and that is not entirely sure or true Sheriff Dave of Lima High County I just spoke with
00:31:52
him on the phone this morning he has got horseback riders and trackers up there right now
00:31:57
and very very advanced professional I'll be guy I'll be going up with and I've just come down to get any resource I can
00:32:06
get to go back right up back up today what questions you guys have friends family and says what I know keeping me
00:32:24
together because if we didn't have all of our family the minute I called my mom and she was up there in a matter of
00:32:32
hours and same with the rest of our family they were just up there those 1s now luckily we I had a few phone calls
00:32:40
is all it took at first and we had just as sheriff Davis sit at a news it was 175 plus people up there in the grid
00:32:48
searches volunteers professionals and anybody I called it there's the service up there is very here say here there
00:32:57
it's camping you know work work trying to hold up the best we can but with we have hope is the thing hope is what
00:33:05
keeps it going hope is because the search is not over search is not done we will find him even matter what no we
00:33:16
both did I you said we after 20 minutes of up and down the creek and up and around
00:33:20
the camp and he wasn't there that's what I got in my pickup truck and drove down
00:33:24
the road trying it of some service especially after screaming his name we have nicknames for him no sound the snow
00:33:31
boys right he's a he's a goer and a mover but he's not he does not go away from his parents he does not yeah he's
00:33:38
very very very very unusual sir and we didn't hear people around us we didn't see anybody who we have yeah I know it
00:33:53
socially it can be a good thing but it cannot that's that's we just don't buy anything
00:33:58
we don't want to twist it so clear up any rumors that you've seen or heard we've won one thing that we want to get
00:34:07
to that what's the most of the biggest rumors that are going around is I mean I have heard everything from the I mean
00:34:14
why you would make a rumor it has to do with a three year oldest if you're not gonna help please don't if it's not
00:34:19
helpful yeah it's just this is a this is a two almost three year old we're talking about please help us but I've
00:34:25
heard everything from I am sure I am a truck driver I've heard everything from my companies won't let me come home off
00:34:32
the road to look for my son I was there the entire time and my employer for hours after my son went missing has been
00:34:38
up there day and night has not slowed down I've not that one bought that one bothered me and then it they just came
00:34:47
they got worse and they got worse and they got worse but there that's a handful of bad with a bunch of good the
00:34:52
amount of support is very overwhelming and it's good I just so many at those store letter said it was one of the
00:35:09
ladies that I had worked at the store said that they saw a gentleman and a younger blond boy matching our
00:35:19
description of our son really filthy buying candy for him and he was just bawling in a black truck that is the
00:35:27
only there's a brawl other my pickup truck as a family we went down to get some get a few things
00:35:33
earlier it was me but it when they claimed it was a six o'clock that that evening and I had we with sort of search
00:35:39
and rescue until what a quarter before yeah we didn't we know we haven't left the camp since want two o'clock that
00:35:46
afternoon so it's just a lot of hearsay and was anybody can't be around you that
00:35:53
we don't know is I come to find I didn't know the area and I didn't know there's
00:35:59
it's very open but you can't see much there's a road that goes up and along the top by we're camped underneath the
00:36:07
reservoir basically right below it and you can go up above the reservoir I didn't even know the
00:36:11
Road was did the I didn't old road was up there and as I traveled up there myself I come to find out I can see
00:36:16
everything going on in that campsite but you can't see out you can't see up you can't see you round and if anybody comes
00:36:22
to the bottom of your campground you can't see they are they could have came in you couldn't never never know it and
00:36:27
with the water was not very it was not a fast running its a creek but it is quite
00:36:32
loud moving through the blogs and things like that so hearing range is not all that far either so you couldn't hear
00:36:38
anybody coming up either so he was just kind of playing he was playing yeah he was he was playing with Grandpa he was
00:36:47
over he's getting ready for a nap I say it was almost by that time it was almost
00:36:51
two and he usually takes his nap um we we were just yeah we decide we're gonna go a little swig explore and he was
00:36:58
gonna be good with Grandpa by the campfire we weren't more than 50 50 yards away in ten minutes
00:37:04
well but the time we I seen him to the point I figured out he was gone and I come back up in the creek and I've
00:37:11
actually seen there was some things down by the little minnows and thighs just love so when I come back up to get him
00:37:17
and I yelled over to Grandpa of where is you know where's little D or he immediately shock he says I thought he
00:37:26
came up to you because it's such a small area that's what a lot of people they don't understand is they just assumed
00:37:30
how could you let your kid at your site this area is pretty well blocked in and you can see you could there's no way you
00:37:37
couldn't not see him in what we thought and in just in a split second your whole
00:37:41
world is upside down hanging vanished there's not a trace found that's the other reason why this has been called on
00:37:49
the news is a suspension because it is not a suspension but there's not a single trace of him this this child
00:37:55
loses stuff he sees two almost three anybody who has a child in that age range knows he leave they leave trails
00:38:00
they lose stuff they she was nothing nothing there's just nothing and that's where
00:38:07
we're starting to move is there's might there's a possibility that he may be with somebody and that's what's giving
00:38:13
us hope that it's it's a bad thing that he will be not with us right now but it also means that there is a good chance
00:38:19
that he is alive and with somebody so we are drying every aspect we can any aspect we can
00:38:26
yes as his father I believe and I think after being up there and a lot of people
00:38:32
agree with me a lot that he isn't no longer up the mountain anymore this searching advanced as they used and was
00:38:42
just very thorough for miles yeah not ever it wasn't a stone left unturned there still isn't and still
00:38:51
work I'm gonna continue to search but being his father also that's where my art my gut tell me but I'm not sure so
00:38:57
that's where I'm asking the public's help anything believe a high county sheriff is who's handling this but
00:39:06
they're not designed for systems quite like this they've got two phone lines and please be patient they're doing the
00:39:13
best they can we all are and we will find him that's what we're not real sure I don't yet again as a father who's very
00:39:31
concerned with the whole family will tell you yes if we can get the whole state of Idaho out there we would love
00:39:37
to but in such a small area that has been combed and combed and combed something may have been missed but I
00:39:44
don't know I've been trying I'm gonna be getting with the leave a high county sheriff of snake births sorry the salmon
00:39:51
snake and rip salmon searchers rescue to see what their thoughts on everything is
00:39:57
and trust me with such a small area 175 people there was nowhere to park nowhere
00:40:03
to walk they were grid searches up from one end that's there's ridges on one side of you
00:40:08
and the other and they're not very far apart and that was all searched all the way down to the bottom all the way the
00:40:13
bubble of above the reservoir the reservoir itself I don't a lot a lot of people know the place the reservoir
00:40:20
itself isn't but maybe a few feet deep you can see if you're up on top you can see the bottom of the center if you're
00:40:24
looking at the middle the reservoir you can see the bottom of it so everything has been 100% thoroughly checked but I
00:40:31
nobody can guarantee me 100% so I'm gonna keep looking well continue to until he's found we don't care how long
00:40:39
it takes we and we think as many people have that have shared the story and continue to share his pictures and
00:40:47
things like that if somebody has him bill eventually somebody will come forward wondering where this child can
00:40:53
cover it with some sort of this that may not be the case but it's it could be so
00:40:58
that's why we're trying to look at this aspect as well yes geez please keep sharing his photo please keep him in
00:41:05
your mind your hearts and your prayers and just keep looking keep your eyes open please social media in general and
00:41:11
public just keep your eyes open and keep sharing this is his blanket he doesn't go anywhere without his blanket his cup
00:41:21
or his monkey and all three of them were left at the campground and very since he
00:41:27
all three has to be with him he will trip over them if he has to but they are going with him and this is the first
00:41:32
time since he's been born pretty much he hasn't been without these things another
00:41:39
reason why we're wondering yes because and that is the main thought we brought him home in from the hospital this is
00:41:44
his this is what comforts him any and all times this is an exact replica of a security blanket for everybody this is
00:41:53
his actual blanket he does not go anywhere without it that's or another could our other concern of why yeah
00:42:04
we're looking for you son and we will find you and we love you more than anything in the world you have a lot of
00:42:11
people who love you and are looking for you buddy we'll find you daddy was fine looking until we get you
00:42:17
a home just if somebody has him please don't hurt him just bring him home safely - no
00:42:32
matter what it breaks belongs even if you have to just leave him out of store where somebody else will see him and
00:42:40
bring him home safely to us I know yeah just drop him off somewhere that's not the case somebody is out so that they
00:42:48
can see him and bring him home if that may not be the case I'm we will search for you and search for you and search
00:42:56
for you until we find you okay so a lot to unpack here with that interview mind you
00:43:02
this is just days after Dior is missing so that opening statement where Vernal says I don't even know what day it is
00:43:12
today mm-hmm let's keep in mind that that seems like an odd statement to me when I
00:43:17
first saw this interview but then I look at the date of the interview and realize
00:43:21
all this is just within hours and days of this boy being missing right there's a good chance he may not know what day
00:43:29
it is and if he's been actively looking for his son this entire time which we know from the other searchers involved
00:43:36
that the parents did remain up at the campsite for for a very long period of time yeah looking for their boy
00:43:44
and I would say that their demeanor seems a little frantic as far as you know he's not waiting for his fiancee to
00:43:55
answer the questions he's jumping right in talking over her and she obviously seems pretty
00:44:05
distraught I mean her tone is much lower and much softer and much more worrisome
00:44:14
but they definitely seem frantic about the situation and so to me that would point to them telling the truth not
00:44:24
knowing what happened to Dior and I agree with you Vernal not only does he you know
00:44:30
interrupt his his fiance from time to time he doesn't fully let the inner viewer finished the question he's so
00:44:39
eager to kind of jump in and offer his words in his thoughts and as you said frantic it seems this is in no way a
00:44:48
scripted statement that they're giving this is very all over the place and vernal is really just saying what pops
00:44:55
into his mind at that very moment now and and they talked about their minds racing for you know days and weeks and
00:45:05
months just constantly trying to figure out this puzzle in your head we walked up to see this little fishing hole we
00:45:15
thought we were clear with grandpa hey you are now watching him right mmm when they come back where's our son I
00:45:26
thought he was with you because you know the grandpa was also known to doze off from time to time and so you're then
00:45:36
wrapping your head you start looking and you're thinking we're gonna find him within minutes and so what's your
00:45:44
thoughts on they say they they looked for their son for about 20 minutes and then called 9-1-1 so that that's a
00:45:53
difficult thing because we have jessica's 9-1-1 call where she very clearly says that they looked for Dior
00:46:00
for about an hour before she called and then we have just days later where Vernal is very clear saying that we
00:46:07
looked for about 20 minutes and then called that's I say it's difficult because it is really tough to track time
00:46:17
if you are in full panic mode right but at on the same on at the same token here
00:46:23
we have a situation now where the two stories there's something that could be significant that is not lining up with
00:46:32
both of their stories yeah but see I wonder if it's a fall back on I call 911 how long have you been looking for your
00:46:40
child if I say 20 minutes do they tell me to hang up the phone and keep looking or do I say we've been looking for an
00:46:48
hour and if I say an hour they're gonna go oh [ __ ] we got to do something and so
00:46:54
that's what I wonder or is it manipulation nine-one-one how long have you been looking Oh 20 minutes
00:47:04
but we'll tell you you an hour to seem like we're so concerned and then when we're interviewed by it about that
00:47:11
situation we're going to say less time to show that we're we're panicking even faster than then we told 9-1-1 right is
00:47:21
it controlling the narrative and you know what's also interesting about this is you don't know that we don't know if
00:47:29
they've had time to change their story because they have right what if what if they're confronted by law enforcement at
00:47:36
some point during the course leading up to this interview and they're told why did you say an hour right on the phone
00:47:43
to nine one one we have grandpaw and somebody you know and the family friends saying it was more like 20 minutes right
00:47:52
you know what I would be very curious to hear is how far along did Vernal get in
00:47:58
his 9-1-1 call because i couldn't find anywhere where they were stating that Vernon's call was released to the public
00:48:05
we know that Jessica's 911 was released to the public I believe within a week right of this case so I would love to
00:48:14
hear his 9-1-1 call as well to to kind of verify what it was that he was able to tell the dispatcher in his call yeah
00:48:23
maybe he told the dispatcher how long you been searching for him 20 minutes you know maybe the story didn't change
00:48:30
and again I think you have to put into context the idea that there are frantic and so now they're doing an interview a
00:48:39
couple days later they don't know what day it is they said 20 minutes mm-hmm is it something that should not even be
00:48:45
looked at as as a evidence that they're not telling the truth the other thing regarding Vernon's 9-1-1
00:48:55
call he says there that he had a bar a signal you know his phone is indicating to him that he has a
00:49:04
single bar of service right and then decides to get into his truck and drive to where he knew he would have service
00:49:13
again later he does say hey we were camping the the service is spotty at best out there so I don't know that
00:49:21
that's really something to really hone in on but it is it is just one of those old by the way kind of things to note
00:49:30
that he he references at the time when he looks at his phone that his phone is indicating he does have some type of
00:49:37
service before he drives away right and I think again put everything into context you're in Walmart walking around
00:49:46
with your kids and you turn around and one of them's gone you will push people out of the way you will act like a
00:49:55
maniac until you see your son or your your child and I think we've all been there
00:50:03
anybody with kids we help you turn around they're gone all no and then you just go into freakout mode and so some
00:50:11
of these reactions and some of their actions I think can be explained away by your and panic mode mm-hmm yeah I had a
00:50:24
situation once and this this is weird and it's the only way I can really relate to this but like you said you you
00:50:32
go into this survival type mode and you're your reactions and your movements might not always be logical to others at
00:50:43
a later point right but I was in a situation once where somebody had a horrible accident in a lower level and I
00:50:50
was the only person there this person was bleeding and was not conscious and so I had to call 911 now this was many
00:51:01
years ago and I can't remember if it was a flip phone or what but for whatever reason I couldn't even make the
00:51:08
emergency call to 911 level right so I had to go up to another level of this building and call 911
00:51:26
tend to the accident victim right and stay on the phone with you it's not humanly possible I have to make a
00:51:33
decision right now being the only person here is it more important that I drop the call and just trust that you are on
00:51:41
your way and you know my location and or do I leave this person alone that may need some kind of assistance now I know
00:51:49
CPR and stuff like that I don't know how much assistance I was really going to be
00:51:54
able to offer but in the moment I felt that it was more important to be with the person silver screaming I'm not a
00:52:01
doctor I'm not a job it was it was stressful nice soft crying I never want to relive that moment again but some
00:52:09
other things here that were brought up in this interview so we have her missing her 9-1-1 call sorry and then we have
00:52:17
the missing Flyers so 9-1-1 call is said that dior was wearing camouflage jacket
00:52:22
blue pajama pants and those cowboy boots which we've already discussed and then also in this interview they bring up a
00:52:30
blanket a cup and a monkey like a stuffed monkey right these were his Dior's prized possessions these were
00:52:37
things that he always brought along with him and these items were left behind all
00:52:43
three of these items were located somewhere at that campsite yeah and a lot of people then start saying that
00:52:50
this is where they start shifting the blame maybe he's lost at this point they don't there they ruled out the water
00:53:00
they're kind of rolling out that he just wandered off they're almost wonder you know ruling out that he was wandered off
00:53:09
and was attacked by an animal pretty quickly in the search and they start going hey we possibly he was abducted
00:53:21
mm-hmm and I think again your brain is frantic and you're searching everywhere and you have
00:53:29
all these people on horseback you have a lot of dogs searching you have you have
00:53:37
a lot of people in this small area looking for your son and they're not finding anything so does your brain go
00:53:45
to you know are they shifting the narrative again by pointing out that he could have been abducted or is the brain
00:53:55
going okay we can't find him we're trying to solve this puzzle in our brain maybe somebody else was up there so it's
00:54:05
very difficult because on one hand you go okay maybe they're shifting the narrative or on the other hand you go
00:54:13
they sound so panicked that they are grabbing at straws to figure out the answer we also have in that interview
00:54:20
where Jessica references that a possible eyewitness may be seeing Dior later with
00:54:27
a man buying candy and as they indicate in the interview this would have been been in like the six o'clock 6 p.m.
00:54:36
timeframe yeah this is kind of strange and I'm gonna jump ahead a little bit and the story but we have the situation
00:54:46
being that they go to town to get gas or because she had her period so it's one or the other right and well I think it
00:54:58
could be both right but it seems like when you hear it from one part of the story it's this and when you hear it
00:55:06
from the other part of this you know when it's coming from the father he's saying we need to get gas when it's
00:55:11
coming from her it's no we you know I had a female emergency right so but they stopped at multiple places when they go
00:55:21
back to interview those people now it takes them a while to go back to interview those people but they don't
00:55:26
remember seeing the mother with the child mm-hmm so then again that leads to the speculation of is this child
00:55:37
even at the campground was even there at all and you claimed that you went to all
00:55:46
these spots and there's no eyewitnesses saying that they saw this child mm-hmm but that is factually incorrect because
00:55:53
we do have a situation here where we have eyewitness days after you know you know the search begins saying hey I saw
00:56:04
this child with a messy man so one was it a child with a messy man black truck there's a lot of black trucks there's
00:56:15
also sightings of a black Rubicon Jeep so is this eyewitness mistaken the Jeep for a truck was this a messy man giving
00:56:30
candy to a kid around six o'clock possibly or was the time wrong and but either way it is an eyewitness that is
00:56:44
claiming they saw this boy in that area which would put him at that campsite a small blonde boy crying right would be
00:56:54
going off of their interview that's the the statement as far as we know so that's tough it's it's really that that
00:57:03
part of the interview might be the weirdest part mm-hmm and I say that because look we now have a situation
00:57:11
where the parents are saying in this very same interview we've now shifted our personal belief that he's not lost
00:57:18
up there that it was not an animal attack these searchers are doing a damn good job and they can't find any trace
00:57:24
of our son right so now we're shifting gears and our beliefs that he was abducted I would love to know how I
00:57:32
would have loved to have been a fly on the wall there and to figure out how this conversation went down when they
00:57:37
were presented with this thought and with this eyewitness account that someone saying hey I saw a guy two drove
00:57:47
up in a black truck with a with a small blonde boy who's crying the guy is buying candy for this
00:57:53
boy and this took place about 6:00 p.m. on the day that this child went missing so roughly three to four hours after
00:58:01
Dior is last seen right but then we have the parents very quickly going here's the problem I have a black truck and we
00:58:11
went to probably that same location mm-hmm and so that is very very difficult because now you either have a
00:58:20
you have this information where you can go oh that's a breadcrumb it follows along with what we now personally
00:58:27
believe could have happened to our son but they dismiss it right but again they're trying to add an ALICE they're
00:58:34
trying to analyze all this stuff with a frantic brain and so it's like are they grabbing at straws too quickly to go no
00:58:43
no no no that's not that that wasn't some shady man that was actually me you know I just got the time wrong that's
00:58:51
where I question it I don't I question is is it in fact that they are grabbing at straws or is it such that they are
00:58:59
trying to put the boy with one of them and one of their locations again was later we have people that can't put the
00:59:07
boy with them and any of the locations right but the mother later says that when they were at one of the stores that
00:59:16
she saw a creepy older man kind of staring blankly at her son which they called little man and again is the Hat
00:59:29
it's one of those things where it's like is she just trying to remember everything that's possible
00:59:36
so she can give you as many pieces of the puzzle for for law enforcement and for the public to to figure this out or
00:59:44
is it shifting the narrative and was there even a creepy man that was staring at her son well and at some point in the
00:59:53
investigation as an investigator you're left with with looking across the table talking to a person that may have been
01:00:01
one of the last people to see little Dior and you're asking mother or the parents at some point when
01:00:06
you've run out of questions this is where you go you go okay now I need you to think really hard and really think
01:00:12
about that day and tell me was there anything anything anyway that was out of the ordinary
01:00:22
seems strange or odd to you about anybody or anything that day you're left with that really kind of dumb open-ended
01:00:32
question right right but but when you can't find any trace of this person that's all you're left with and you have
01:00:38
to ask that question and now you have a situation where you say okay do we have parents that are going okay I'm thinking
01:00:46
really hard oh wait oh I remember this dude he was kind of creepy he was staring down my boy and mmm okay that's
01:00:54
that's a possible lead or is that an opportunity again for the parent to deflect away from themselves
01:01:02
to deflect possible guilt and suspicion away from themselves and on to just another possibility of what could have
01:01:11
happened well the snitch-uation and the poly D and the t-shirt time what look what drives me nuts about all these
01:01:22
scenarios and I don't know how it exactly went down but to me it's like okay we have these parents that say our
01:01:32
child is missing from this spot and to me it needs to be it almost seems like they just went okay we're gonna take
01:01:40
their word for it we're going to search the area and that's all we're gonna do where it's like on some level it's like
01:01:47
you have to then like pull these individuals aside questioning them right away we got cadaver dogs and scent dogs and
01:01:58
in that truck and and the other truck into the camper you see what I'm saying like I think you know I think sometimes
01:02:09
we assume too much we go okay these parents are telling us the truth and we're gonna do all that we can and then
01:02:16
it's it's the days that pass you know like if she was question right away about this would she bring up this
01:02:25
creepy guy that was in the store and so I mean I know that's difficult and you can't go into every situation and go
01:02:34
well what's all the possibilities and we need to explore all those possibilities
01:02:38
right now and not focus on the search but it just seems like I don't know this one this one is very difficult well in
01:02:48
regards to this creepy guy my belief is that this is not information that was presented to the investigators early on
01:02:56
it was presented at a later time and what we do know according to the leme - they say that at some point now mind you
01:03:07
they do specifically say it did take a good deal of time to track down who we think this individual that she saw was
01:03:16
that she's referencing as staring at her boy right and they say look we've we've
01:03:20
tracked this individual down there they are a local we question them we investigated them and we don't believe
01:03:28
that this individual had anything to do with the disappearance one and then on top of that this individual does not
01:03:34
remember seeing the boy they and we got to be clear about that because the sheriff's statement is not that the the
01:03:41
man did not see the boy right the statement is the man does not remember seeing the boy right so then on that
01:03:50
level you go okay well this man did exist so she's not just making up some random person so to me that is trying to
01:03:58
remember everything you can and put out as many pieces of the puzzle out there for people to to be able to find the
01:04:06
answer to but this guy doesn't remember look there's a lot of times you're in the store you're at a restaurant kid
01:04:14
walks by you they do something silly you kind of smile and that's it and if somebody asks you about it two weeks
01:04:20
later you'd be like I don't know what you're talking about but this this person took months to find but so again
01:04:28
I to me the person existed she wasn't just making up this person and out of thin
01:04:35
air so that makes me want to believe her more not me cuz I feel like she could have just she could have saw this guy
01:04:45
and remembered him and she's now just throwing another another variable out there what's interesting about the
01:04:53
sheriff's statement regarding this creepy man is he never once says that the man does not remember seeing Jessica
01:05:03
so it that doesn't mean that he he did say he saw Jessica that day but the share just going off the sheriff's words
01:05:11
is simply that the man doesn't remember seeing the boy well and again that goes back to the people that Jessica said hey
01:05:19
look I ran into this lady at the store she was working there I weren't ran into this other lady she saw me with my son
01:05:26
and the two people that she claims saw her with her son in town when they went to go get gas
01:05:35
claimed that they never saw her with her son [Music] so much more to get to so join us
01:05:52
tomorrow in the garage make sure you tell a friend and share on social media yes sir and until next time be good be
01:06:00
kind and don't litter [Music] [Applause] [Music]

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Episode Highlights

  • The 911 Call
    Jessica Mitchell calls 911 after her son goes missing, describing his appearance and the situation.
    “We can't find him!”
    @ 03m 50s
    May 21, 2019
  • Search Efforts Intensify
    After ten days of searching, investigators release few new details and the family remains desperate for answers.
    “No evidence has been found to suggest where the two-year-old boy may be.”
    @ 18m 31s
    May 21, 2019
  • Theories of Disappearance
    Authorities consider three main theories regarding the disappearance of Dior Coons: animal attack, abduction, or involvement of a family member.
    “What are our options of what possibly could have happened to him?”
    @ 18m 45s
    May 21, 2019
  • A Father's Desperation
    Vernal shares the emotional turmoil of searching for his missing son, Dior.
    “Hope is what keeps it going.”
    @ 33m 05s
    May 21, 2019
  • Plea for Safety
    Vernal's emotional appeal to anyone who may have his son, urging them to return him safely.
    “Just bring him home safely, no matter what.”
    @ 42m 30s
    May 21, 2019
  • The 9-1-1 Call
    The parents' 9-1-1 calls raise questions about their timeline and reactions.
    “How long have you been looking? Oh, 20 minutes.”
    @ 47m 01s
    May 21, 2019
  • Eyewitness Accounts
    Conflicting eyewitness accounts complicate the narrative of Dior's disappearance.
    “I saw a guy with a small blonde boy who's crying.”
    @ 57m 51s
    May 21, 2019
  • The Creepy Guy
    Jessica mentions a creepy man staring at her son, raising suspicions.
    “He was kind of creepy, staring down my boy.”
    @ 01h 00m 51s
    May 21, 2019

Episode Quotes

  • We can't find him!
    DeOrr Kunz /// Part 1 /// 304
  • What are our options of what possibly could have happened to him?
    DeOrr Kunz /// Part 1 /// 304
  • Hope is what keeps it going.
    DeOrr Kunz /// Part 1 /// 304
  • We will find you, buddy, we'll find you.
    DeOrr Kunz /// Part 1 /// 304
  • You will push people out of the way until you see your child.
    DeOrr Kunz /// Part 1 /// 304
  • I would love to have been a fly on the wall there.
    DeOrr Kunz /// Part 1 /// 304

Key Moments

  • Missing Child03:50
  • Search and Rescue16:05
  • Emotional Plea42:30
  • Frantic Search44:17
  • 911 Confusion47:01
  • Eyewitness Sightings56:04
  • Shifting Narratives57:29
  • Creepy Man1:00:51

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown