A Washington state man who once went on the “Dr. Phil” show to proclaim his innocence in his 13-year-old son’s disappearance and death has been charged with the boy’s murder.
Mark Redwine, of Bellingham, is charged with second-degree murder and child abuse knowingly or recklessly resulting in death, according to an indictment handed down by a La Plata County, Colorado, grand jury. He is being held in lieu of a $1 million cash-only bond, according to the La Plata County Sheriff's Office.
Dylan Redwine was last seen alive on Nov. 18, 2012, the day he arrived in La Plata County for a court-ordered Thanksgiving holiday visit with his father. According to the indictment, the teen did not want to see his father, with whom he had argued on a previous visit.
Dylan, who lived in Colorado Springs with his mother, Elaine Hall, planned to spend most of his visit with friends in Bayfield, near the Vallecito home where his father lived at the time of his disappearance. Text messages showed that Dylan asked to stay with a friend instead of his father the night he arrived, but his father refused.
After stops at McDonald’s and Walmart, the pair went to Mark Redwine’s home, the indictment said.
"Surveillance video from the airport and Walmart show little to no personal interaction between Mark Redwine and his 13-year-old (son) Dylan," the indictment read. "Dylan Redwine was never seen or heard from after that evening."
Click here to read the entire indictment.
Dylan made plans to visit a friend the next morning around 6:30 a.m., but he never showed up. When the friend texted him, asking where he was, the boy got no response.
According to the Durango Herald, Redwine told authorities that he last saw Dylan around 7:30 a.m. that morning. After running errands, he returned home to find Dylan gone, Redwine said.
Dylan was reported missing that evening.
During the time Dylan was missing, his parents went on “Dr. Phil,” where Hall confronted her ex-husband about their son’s disappearance.
“I really have a concern that you hurt him, and his bones are out there just laying, and you don’t even care,” a tearful Hall said during the television appearance.
“No, Elaine, I wouldn’t hurt him,” Redwine responded. “What kind of mother are you to even think that I was even capable of doing something like that?”
Despite extensive searches by law enforcement and volunteers, no sign of the teen was found until June 2013, when his partial remains were found on Middle Mountain, about eight miles from his father’s house.
Redwine was named a "person of interest" in his son's death in August 2015, the Denver Post reported.
Dylan’s skull was found that November, about a mile and a half from the spot where the initial discovery of remains was made. Redwine was familiar with Middle Mountain and the locations where his son’s remains were found, the indictment said.
Forensic anthropologists determined that Dylan's skull showed signs of blunt force trauma. The skull also bore small marks consistent with a knife, indicating that his head was removed and moved to a separate location to make it more difficult to identify him and determine how he died, the indictment said.
The court document indicated that Dylan’s blood was found in multiple locations in his father’s home, including on a couch, the floor in front of the couch, a love seat, the corner of a coffee table and on the floor beneath a rug.
A K-9 officer and her dog searched Redwine’s home in August 2013, at which time the dog alerted the officer to the scent of a dead body in the living room and the washing machine. The dog, Molly, also alerted the officer to the bed of Redwine’s pickup truck and the clothing Redwine told investigators he wore on the night before Dylan disappeared.
The indictment also revealed suspicious conversations that Redwine allegedly had with people, including after Dylan's remains were found.
Redwine’s ex-wife, Betsy Horvath, told authorities within days of the boy’s disappearance that she was afraid her ex-husband had hurt Dylan.
“Ms. Horvath reported that Mark Redwine had previously said that if he ever had to get rid of a body, he would leave it out in the mountains,” the indictment read. “Also, during their divorce and custody proceedings, Mr. Redwine repeatedly violated the custody agreement and told Ms. Horvath that he would ‘kill the kids before he let her have them.’”
Horvath’s sister heard the threat, the indictment said.
Dylan’s half-brother, Brandon Redwine, also told investigators that after Dylan’s partial remains were found in June 2013, his father mentioned blunt force trauma multiple times and said that detectives would have to find the rest of the body, including the boy’s skull, to prove the cause of death, the document said.
Some of Dylan's remains are still missing. The Durango Herald reported that Redwine, who earlier this year criticized the La Plata County Sheriff's Office's investigation, was organizing a seven-day search for the rest of his son's body. The search was scheduled for August on Middle Mountain.
Shelly Watson, a volunteer who was coordinating the search on Redwine’s behalf, said the search is still on.
"The search wasn't to vindicate Mark," Watson told the Herald. "It wasn't to put him in jail, it wasn't to do anything. I has nothing to do with Mark. It has to do with Dylan, finding Dylan's remains."
Hall told the Herald after Redwine's arrest that she credits a new sheriff and new district attorney with finally obtaining her ex-husband's arrest.
"I'm glad this day has finally arrived," Hall told the newspaper. "It's been a long, arduous journey. There will never be closure, because my son will still be dead, unfortunately. But it's encouraging we're taking this step in the right direction."
When asked what Redwine might be thinking or feeling in jail, Hall declined to guess.
"He killed my 13-year-old son," she said. "His discomfort is not my concern."
