SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – It doesn’t seem as if the Box Elder County Sheriff wants to turn over the investigation of Dylan Rounds to another agency.
The 19-year-old vanished on Memorial Day weekend and endless searches for him have produced little evidence of his whereabouts.
Rounds’ parents have been frustrated with the lack of transparency by the Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office. The couple even urged the Sheriff’s Office to let another department take over the case.
Monday, they got their answer. Justin Rounds and Candice Cooley met with the county sheriff and detective in hopes of improving their relationship.
“We got no extra reassurances,” said Cooley. “Nothing. The detectives wouldn’t even look at us in the eye.”
It was the first time the two groups met face to face since a brief meeting with the Sheriff’s Office in early June. Since then, Cooley said they’ve been cutoff from any information.
“They won’t even respond to my emails,” she said.
Rounds vanished from his farm near Lucin in western Box Elder County. His boots were found on his property. His pickup truck was also parked and had been power-washed.
Deputies eventually took a missing persons report from the parents but wouldn’t go to the farm to search for clues. It took several days before they appeared. Cooley said the Sheriff’s Office has not been interested in solving her son’s disappearance. But they won’t turn the case to anyone else, according to Cooley.
“They’re not going to relinquish control,” she said. “They’re not going to let go of the case. I don’t know if they want to come out in public and say that because there’s so much publicity about it.”
Cooley went on to claim that Sheriff Kevin Potter read from a press release the agency had prepared. Potter stated they would continue to work in collaboration with the FBI and another agency. Cooley said Potter was going to post that information on the Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page. As of Friday afternoon, there was no mention of the post on Facebook.
“That meeting Monday, it was nothing,” said a frustrated Cooley. “Justin and I didn’t get anything more.”
Dylan’s father, Justin Rounds didn’t mince words on his Facebook about his and Cooley’s meeting with the Sheriff’s Office.
Justin has urged the family’s supporters to vent their frustrations too.
“I am exhausted, this fight that never seems to end,” Cooley said. “It’s unreal.”
Meanwhile, numerous volunteers have been conducting their own searches for Dylan.
Cooley explained that these individuals are getting more help from the public than the from the Sheriff’s Office. One group concentrated their searches in abandoned underground mines.
James Brenner, the suspect in Dylan’s disappearance allegedly told close friends that underground mines would be his choice if he wanted to get rid of a body.
According to sources, Brenner, who remains in jail on unrelated weapon charges, failed a polygraph test. The Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office failed to share this information with Dylan’s parents.
“The public is furious, the world is furious,” said Cooley, addressing the Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office. “The whole world wants to bring Dylan home and you guys are sticking your head in the sand. I don’t get it.”
ABC4’s calls to Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office were not returned.
At this time, a $100,000 reward is being offered by family members of Dylan Rounds for information about his whereabouts.