On a whim, parents Vernal Kunz and Jessica Mitchell decide to take their 2-year-old son, DeOrr, camping near Leadore, Idaho.
Mitchell invites her grandfather, Robert Walton, and Walton’s friend, Isaac Reinwand, to join them. The group arrives at the Timber Creek Campground after dark and sleeps in the next morning. Kunz, Mitchell, and DeOrr go into town for gas and groceries, returning to camp around 1 p.m.
By that time, DeOrr should be settling in for a nap, but his parents decide to explore the campground. Reinwand is off fishing upstream, so Walton agrees to watch DeOrr while Mitchell and Kunz take a walk downstream. A few minutes later,
Kunz returns to camp to show DeOrr a school of minnows. However, the toddler is nowhere to be found. Walton says DeOrr started following his parents on their walk, and he assumed they had him. After searching for several minutes, Mitchell and Kunz call 911.
Investigators quickly rule out kidnapping, as the campers would have seen a car leaving the area, and focus on searching the Timber Creek Campground. Both Lemhi and Bonneville County sheriffs, along with hundreds of volunteers, search for days.
Dive teams spend hours combing the creek near the campsite and Stone Reservoir, a shallow body of water feeding the creek. Foot searchers spread out over a three-mile radius, checking even animal dens, but find no sign of DeOrr.
Just over a year into the investigation, Jessica Mitchell and Vernal Kunz are named suspects in their son’s disappearance and presumed death
Joining Nancy Grace Today:
Additional Guest
David Marshburn – Kunz Family Private Investigator, Director of Investigations for ‘Search for Me Foundation’, Former Bounty Hunter
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[Feature Photo: Family Handout]
