KTVB Special Report: DeOrr Kunz Jr.'s parents speak candidly about their son's disappearance

candid never-before-heard comments from the parents of baby Dior who rarely talked to the media but after four years have so much to say I'm Kim fields and this is a KTV be exclusive the search for Dior Koons Junior four years later still no answers not a trace of baby Dior the worst nightmare a parent could ever go through really just want to want my boy this on my boy in a Katy B be exclusive your Koons juniors parents confront the accusations head-on what is it like to be accused of murdering your son it's sickening it is sickening how quickly people will turn and all the rumors surrounding the investigation where you offer immunity yes there have been rumors of drinking or drugs Robert never none of that how after four years there could finally be a break in the case if finally it feels like okay we're starting to move forward on this and get to the real facts and truth about this and why the parents seems so confident the case will be solved and soon just bear with me I promise I'll be able to prove my and my son's mother's innocence and be able to give everybody answers soon enough I've always called him goober goober that's just been my nickname for him that's because he just the stuff he does the kids stuff he does I've always been very proud of him I didn't really cry about much he he just wouldn't I was just easygoing just a good kid mm-hmm it's just little things like the smell of lavender baby wash I can't smell that because it takes me back to giving him bass some days it's like I feel like I just saw him like he was just with me and then other times it feels like bettan forever it was July 2015 on a camping trip to Timber Creek Campground nearly d'Or Idaho four people made the trip Dior's mom Jessica Mitchell his dad Vernal D or Coons his great grandfather Bob Walton and Bob's friend Isaac Rhine wond they were the last to see baby Dior alive he vanished on the second day of camping when Jessica and vernal left the campsite to go fishing at a nearby reservoir the parents said maybe Dior was kidnapped from the campground or that an animal had gotten him there's one more theory that's someone on that camping trip did something to him do you have anything to hide no absolutely not we had nothing to do with this and we don't know anymore I understand how it looks and how it is how it sounds we just don't know anymore and we wish we did trust me we wish we did this is not a way for anybody to live accusations and rumors about the parents involvement began to emerge not long after baby Dior disappeared and after one year of no answers now retired limb high County Sheriff Lim Bowerman named the parents suspects we give them too many opportunities to tell us what happened it's always an accident and there's been no interest in going that direction that typical ed told me there's only one other Bowerman told me in 2016 it was highly unlikely baby Dior was kidnapped there's one Road in and one Road out to the remote Timber Creek Campground and if an animal or person had taken him there would be evidence left behind like Dior's boots that were too big for him Bowerman believed they would have fallen off but after days and weeks of searching not a trace of Dior found at the campground Sheriff Bowerman he thought he said I don't even know if you're was up there at that campground you know eventually I'll be able to prove a lot of this these Theory's wrong but what do you mean by that that's just a theory that is wrong you know my son was very Bowerman also told me vernal D or and Jessica couldn't keep their story straight were you changing your stories and why I believe that a lot of it is like blocking things out you know you're so emotionally or so you're trying to remember everything as they're asking you all these questions a thousand times and being drained and not sleeping and you know everything all at once you block things out or you forget it wasn't just Bowerman who thought the parents were hiding something in November 2015 four months after baby Dior disappeared the family began working with Phillip Cline a private investigator they hired out of Texas after about six weeks on the job Cline made his announcement and I was very clear I said look you're not gonna like what I had to say and it was like oh my god these two people are suspects are you lying absolutely not I just yeah I have nothing good to say about Cline in all reality because he was there for the money he didn't care about my son the minute he got that money he was hope its parents I'm surprised by your reaction really because I mean in in not so much words he essentially called you a murderer Jesse yeah yeah and that I just think about the truth is gonna come out and you know like other people they're gonna eat their words because I have nothing to hide your name's destroyed your life destroyed and unfortunately the minute he come out and said that he believes that my son is deceased people stop looking for him they just automatically can him too to being deceased and condemn me and his mother as branded killers is something were not and it was wrong it really was and then the social media thing just exploded it and everybody has their conspiracy theories Bernal Dior says Klein accused them without any evidence of proof his attorney tells me they've asked but they say Klein has never provided them with one factual piece of evidence to back his claims Klein is now off the case but why why would he do this though why would he just so that he can solve the case what is your balloon you get to solve the case it was just to be able to be right in front of them yeah David just to be able to have more more media coverage coverage to be in front of a camera to try and get more clients for a business nothing to do with finding my child Klein even said Jessica confess to knowing where the body was did you know where the body was were you going to do Lena I'm pretty sure that I would have been arrested a long time ago if that's what I said it's one thing for a private investigator in Texas who you say is media hungry to name you as a suspect - as you say kind of throw your name through the mud but it's another to have a sitting sheriff call our newsroom and say you know I am naming them as suspects I think this is a case of homicide well that doesn't mean it's how it was that was just in his opinion that's we were suspects correct limb High County Sheriff Steve Penner does not call the parents suspects and if they say they had nothing to do with baby Dior's disappearance then who did after all there were two more people on that camping trip including Isaac Rhine wand do you think he had anything to do with son's disappearance I feel like yes he does I felt it from day one Isaac's response next what happened to baby Dior the parents say the two-year-old disappeared while camping near Lederer Idaho in July 2015 that maybe he'd been kidnapped or an animal had gotten him retired limb High County Sheriff Flynn Bowerman didn't buy it he named the parents suspects in 2016 he said he believed Jessica and vernal Dior know where their son is and whether he is dead or alive they could not pass the section on do you know work your Kunz is at this time and do you know what happened to him they could not pass both to parts of the Florida Jessica has said she believes Isaac Rhine want is to blame Isaac and Jessica's grandfather Bob Walt were also on that camping trip Isaac was Bob's friend the parents say they didn't even know Isaac until that trip they say Bob wanted him to come I felt it from day one just a lot of red flags come up for me and what was it can you share that what were the red flags he was gone longer than anybody else was from the campground didn't help us search at all for my son was drinking stayed in his tent the whole time people were searching factoring resets on his phone three different times just odd things I have to ask did you do something to deal no Jessica says she and vernal Dior walked away from their campsite to go fishing at a nearby reservoir she says they left baby Dior with Bob Isaac was also there but why would Isaac do something to do York he was upset that my son was there and the night that we got there on Thursday night he said why would you even bring a kid up here at two and a half you know and I said because he's my son and he goes everywhere with us why would we not bring our child camping he loves camping it's not his first camping trip you know so there's just a lot of things that did not add up to me and I Billy and my gut that's something is not right all I know is yours up there with this wheel camping next thing you know I was gone and there was four adults of up there and for some reason none of us know went down somebody does but I can't point fingers at somebody when I don't have and I don't know you know Isaac says he was questioned by the FBI limb High County and Bonneville County detectives he also took a lie-detector test but wouldn't tell me if he passed or failed what do you think happened to baby Dior I have no idea maybe it was an accident or something I don't know do you think he's still alive I don't have a comment on that do you think Jessica had anything to do with his disappearance come on out either I just feel like I just want to stay neutral in this situation you know I don't want to point fingers I don't think it's nice or it's right do you think Colonel Dior had anything to do with baby Dior's disappearance bomb there was one other person at the campground maybe to yours great-grandfather Bob Walton Bob died of cancer in June 2019 Trina Bates Clegg is Bob's daughter and Jessica's mom she says a Bonneville County detective talked with Bob one last time the day before he died about what happened did your dad talk about that day a lot sometimes yes and sometimes no he he talked about it that you know it he just doesn't remember a lot you know hearing remember staring at the mountains and staring at the birds and you know he remembers the baby playing in the dirt and you know he remembers the baby getting candy and he would say that all the time is you know I'm I am sorry you know I'm sorry that I took my eyes off of him you know he felt really guilty because you know he he was the last one to see baby Dior and and my dad went to his grave I'm very very sorry for for this for taking his eye off that little boy I know that this needs to be solved I know the parents need closure and I know everybody just wants to know what happened I wish I could tell everybody exactly what went down simply but I don't remember everything Bowerman never named Bob or Isaac a suspect the current limb High County Sheriff Steve Penner does not consider any of the four people a suspect instead he calls them uncleared persons of interest he told me quote other people have called them suspects but I'm not committed to that theory you can't just pursue one theory Penner has been the lead investigator on the case since Dior cooze jr. disappeared and after four years of searching could there be a break in the case just bear with me I promise I'll be able to prove my and my son's mother's innocence and be able to give everybody answers soon enough next why baby do yours parents seemed so confident the public soon learned the truth okay address of your emergency in the days after two-year-old Dior Koons jr. disappeared from Timber Creek Campground in East Idaho search and rescue law enforcement and dozens of volunteers scoured the area looking for any sign of him they never found a thing they haul in baby Dior Bobby bird searched for three days he's lived in nearby letter or his whole life and knows these mountains well so you guys scoured is it fair to say every inch of this campground I would go definitely every inch of this right here for sure multiple times walk clear up to the reservoir five feet apart down that way for a couple miles and no sign no net people died even in the water - Bobby says he never talked with the parents or Isaac or Bob he remembers seeing them he says they were told to stay back away from the search it's kind of a you can tell the ferrets were kind of scared kind of a little bit just it's kind of off filling I mean I see him on the side stand there watching and thinking everybody that come up but I didn't really talk to them just seen it from the distance baby Dior disappeared on a Friday by Sunday Bobby says law enforcement didn't ask for any more volunteers after the first day or two and we didn't see nothing it just seemed off to me kind of the whole situation what do you mean seem off like that like if he was here for sure because we've scoured enough if there were so many people if something was there I think something would have been spotted my opinion so kind of as the hours in the days when they started getting skipped start of the story it was told a little bit the parents Jessica Mitchell and vernal D or Koons said maybe an animal had gotten to him I've seen bear I have seen bear just right up here on multiple different occasions I guess there's a chance but with loose cowboy boots and stuff if a bear was carrying I don't see how shoes and stuff his tail the parents also thought baby Dior could have been kidnapped law enforcement has said that's highly unlikely given the remoteness of the campground there's only one Road in and out you know how rough the road is coming up here and you can hear traffic trucks coming from balancing the stuff if the family was right here and I would think you'd hear somebody coming this was their campsite this is where little baby Dior was reportedly last playing around where he was last seen where he was last sleeping their campfire pit was right there their tents were probably set over there next to those trees and this was their picnic table do you go back to that campground often I try to go up there at least once a year I absolutely hate it up there but at the same time it makes me feel closer to my son go vernal D or just went to the campground in mid-june in 2019 with North Carolina based private investigator David Marshburn he'd asked David and the search for me Foundation to get involved after four years could there finally be some answers I'm pretty confident we've we feel we have got what we need him David says his cadaver dogs made a hard over a specific area of the campground he says they detected a scent indicating the presence of a body or remains I believe the way that my dogs acted that when they hit the water they they could sense it and then went to it can we 100% say it's Dior no can we say us an Indian from way back no we don't know what's a hundred percent there we just know the confidence in our dogs that there is human remains of some sort what was your emotional reaction to that to that news it was a lot of hope like maybe this is it maybe we're getting answers you know we waited so long and it would just that's the hardest part about all this is not knowing if he's alive or if he's gone and I need to grieve and mourn the loss of my son but I had every emotion like anxiety you know sadness I cried I was hopeful that we were gonna get some sort of answer some you know this is the start of some closure if David and his amazing team are correct it's not the answer I want but it is an answer I can at least lay my son to rest where he which is what he he needs he needs to be found we need the answer a lot of people would think that it would be just your heart would sink and it's honestly it is a form of hope because again like I said it's not the answer I'm I want but it is an answer and after four years an answer is better than nothing if there is finally an answer what is it about this time this search with David and his dogs when others scoured the area and didn't find a thing I want to say they did I believe some of them did based off of information you're talking some dolls did probably alert further down the stream but you know if you know how to divert dolls work pretty much if you're going downstream and it all comes down from below and and something's up here well the waters totin up to the smell so they follow it and you know it's all in how the trainer does with the doll how they read their dog but at the time when our dog goes down there and I'm trying to take him to a break my dog kept working he just wins and it's like there he is you know there's something here david says sheriff Penner was there when it happened Penner closed down the campground two weeks later so far the sheriff won't say what if anything they uncovered in the area of the heart alert he says the closure was simply part of an annual search effort but David believes it was to further investigate the area his dogs alerted to we got an area well now the Sheriff's Office has to do like they say it due diligence to follow up on it and if it's there it's there if it's not it's not next baby - yours parents answer all the rumors surrounding the investigation and what they're doing now four years later two year old baby Dior vanish from Timber Creek Campground nearly tore Idaho in July 2015 he was with his mom Jessica Mitchell his dad vernel Dior Koons his great grandfather Bob Walton and Bob's friend Isaac I think that he somebody took him I still believe that I still hang up the Flyers I still do what I have to do it's the only thing I'd left to do even though other options we have vernal D or says they used to get a lot of tips and calls of possible sightings but after four years not so much anymore he blames Philip Klein a Texas private investigator for a lot of that the family hired Klein four months after their boy disappeared to help find him Klein asked them all questions in separate rooms he handed over ten hours of interviews to our news group my mind tells me at first my mind told me at that time this killed my son after about six weeks on the job Klein named Jessica and Vernal Dior suspects they say when that happened the public stopped searching for their little boy they say Klein accused them without any evidence of proof they've asked but they say Klein has never provided them with one factual piece of evidence to back his claims Klein is now off the case he essentially said you you had something to do with his disappearance I feel like Klein's a joke honestly he he makes statements about like me saying I knew where my son was but I wasn't going to tell them if that was the case I would have been arrested in my opinion I wouldn't hire him to find a lost dog in an empty parking lot both Klein and retired limb High County Sheriff Lynn Bowerman said they doubted the child was kidnapped who would go to a remote campground to kidnap a child they also found no evidence an animal took him if someone were all of them on that camping trip knows what happened to baby Dior would they eventually turn on one another law enforcement tried that tactic where you offer immunity yes I was and I told them no because they they offered me immunity if I told them where the body was every Thursday Bonneville County FBI and I believe it was LEM Hyatt County - so did they they then thought you did it they wanted to offer you immunity if you confessed and showed them where the body was or if I had any any knowledge of somebody doing it and me knowing where the body was and I told them yeah I would love to sign this but I don't have any information for you so I'm not signing anything what was the immunity again was it out a get out of jail card it well I said like child endangerment or something like that and probation something super small and I said well that's all great and fine but I don't have anything to tell you I don't know I would have come out with it a long time ago if I knew have you ever been offered immunity there was talk of that and I was crying but again yeah Cline did but somebody comes to you and offers you immunity you don't have any more information to give him it really doesn't do any good both Klein and Bowerman said the parents kept changing their stories they said Jessica infernal couldn't pass parts of a polygraph test jessica says she took two polygraphs one with Bonneville County the other with the FBI she said she was never told she failed them you know it amazes me because when I took my polygraph test they said they were inconclusive passes and I asked the guy what that meant and he said as a grieving mom you know he said you're a grieving mom this is an inconclusive pass but they never gave me the results it's the FBI they don't have to it's not there that's not what they do I took a lie-detector test I'm not calming if it was positive or negative the fourth person on that camping trip Bob Walton has since passed away he died in June 2019 from cancer for those of you who have don't know his father's Bernal D or Coons life we've really appreciate the support to help the communities that have come together for us we will find him one way or another we will find him no matter what it takes the parents also came under fire from the public for not grieving enough during the first few days oh you're not grieving the way that an innocent parent would grieve in those days right after he disappeared yeah it's it actually is comical because how is a person supposed to grieve like there's no set you know there's not a book on oh if you lose a child or they're missing this is how you're supposed to deal with it because I'm more of an internal person I try not to cry I try to numb myself and that's what I did but I couldn't leave my apartment at four months I didn't interact with people I still have a hard time interacting with people and having friends and things like that because it's so hard to know who to trust and who is there for the right reasons and who's not and I grieve in my own way and just because I'm not involving every day does not mean that I'm not hurting those people don't understand that when you lose a child there's only so much greeting you can do and you're still in fine Tim mode you ain't got time to grieve you don't have time to your whole goal your whole idea is your mind is running a million miles an hour you will never feel so mentally exhausted there's no pamphlet on this there's no book that's been written there's nothing you can you ever think this is what I would do in that situation or this is what I would do you're wrong it is this most sickening and lost feeling you'll ever find in your life the public had another theory based on Jessica's custody of her two other children that was one public theory out there on social media that you had either given up or lost custody of two of your other children and that you no longer wanted D or jr. I never signed over my rights at the time it was I lost my job Ferno lost his job we just had a little man and because I knew my ex-husband was more stable I asked him can you have more custody of the kids because this is what is best for them Bowerman named the parents suspects in 2016 but never filed charges he told me then he planned to take his time to make sure the case was solid Bowerman retired later that year one of the lead investigators on the case Steve Penner became sheriff he's never called Jessica or vernal D or suspects he calls the four people at the campground uncleared persons of interest he told me quote other people have called them suspects but I'm not committed to that theory you can't just pursue one theory but can you understand why some people in the public might think that you are guilty of course I have to remember that if I will plug in my shoes I know how it looks I know how it sounds I know where they're coming from and the only difference is is I wouldn't much like most people that I've actually met I wouldn't be voicing my opinion without any fact I wouldn't be condemning somebody or judging somebody without any fact just based off of some guy's opinion with no milk back back back again can you understand why some people would point the finger oh yeah I absolutely understand that next four years in the spotlight takes its toll on the parents what is it like to be Jessica Mitchell missing from a remote campground in Idaho for years and still no answers where could baby Dior be in 2017 the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children released this composite sketch of what Dior might look like at four years old he would now be six and a half he was only two and a half when he went missing and now it's four years that he's been missing he's been missing longer than he's you know he was with me you know and so that's really sad to me he'd be working on stuff with me working on his own stuff riding a dirt bike riding four-wheelers he'd be building stuff with me that's exactly what he be doing you look like there might be a little tear in your eye it's not the easiest thing to I think about this stuff and it's good stuff but it's not the easiest thing what do you think about just to paui be now I keep positive and it is positive but the best thing I ever did was been a father and I've missed out on that now it is what it is sorry okay take your time Vernal Dior says he hasn't given up hope he carries with him his son's favorite stuffed animal monkey and his favorite toy truck he showed them to us out of his truck we just called him Mike we've run this poor thing through the mud and everything else and I've never watched it and ever he just goes everywhere he'd be holding this in the monkey oh yeah I said this all this damage done from him all the where that's all done from him Vernell Dior says over the past four years people have threatened him in public called him a baby killer he says he's even had death threats lost jobs and when he tried to rent an apartment in Las Vegas to be closer to family a landlord turned him down saying she googled his name and you become lost in the world and his mother and I Jessica and I have both become lost in this world but we've learned I've learned how to find myself I was heavily drinking extremely heavily drinking after I lost my son so I I decided I start living my life as if he walked through my door right now what would he think of me what would he think of my what I become and that's that'll straightening up quick Vernal Dior now lives in Bear Lake Idaho he's self-employed and has worked in oil fields driving truck and most recently a custom paint and upholsterer for cars the two high school sweethearts have moved on from one another jessica is married and lives in Idaho Falls I know that I still have to move forward in life and you know have a job and provide for my kids and do what I need to do for myself too she says she's also lost jobs been threatened at her workplace and in public and at a vigil for baby Dior last year she says someone yelled murderer at them what is it like to be Jessica Mitchell some people are very supportive some people look at me and instantly hate me people that haven't even met me before I think I hurt my son and that's the worst thing in the world because I just wish that for a second they could feel what I feel and no you know what I know that I didn't do anything to my son you still have a good relationship with her how often do you guys still talk I try not to get I have to respect Jessica has she's she works she's got a husband I have to respect that so I try to be as respectful to her and her husband as I can but I still try and when it comes to our son we still try and communicate and be very civil because at the end of the day she's my best friend for years for a lot of years for people we're at that campground when baby Dior disappeared only three of them are still alive could one of them know something happened I wish I could tell everybody exactly what went down completely but I don't remember everything what is it like to be accused of something like that what is it like to be accused of murdering your son it's sickening it is sickening how quickly people will turn it I just think about the truth is going to and you know like other people they're gonna eat their words because I have nothing to hide I didn't murder my child I didn't see him get hurt in any way possible the new private investigator David Marsh burg with the search for me Foundation has his theory when you work these cases you have to really concentrate on what what is fact and what it's fixed and you know everybody's got their own saying what happened and you know I can I can pretty much say in in what we've done I can 100% say I don't believe the parents had anything to do with Jessica and vernal d'Orsay they haven't been formally questioned by law enforcement in quite some time sheriff Penner says he talks to them every few months or when something comes up he says they are cooperative and we do know the FBI has been and is currently still involved in the case it is very much an open investigation the question still unanswered what happened to baby Dior hopefully soon I will be able to know with Lemhi County Sheriff's Department with Penner with the search army foundation hopefully I'll be able to answer that question for you and all the public very soon with the help of some very good people just bear with me I promise I'll be able to prove my and my son's mother's innocence and be able to give everybody answers soon enough [Music]

Channel: KTVB

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Id: iJ-fkvfDGnY

Length: 34min 50sec (2090 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 23 2019