ON THIS DAY: Child Vanishes on a Family Camping Trip- Where is DeOrr Kunz Jr.?

DeOrr Kunz Jr., also known as ‘Little Man’, was a curious little boy in 2015. He was just two years old that summer, and we all know how 2-year olds can be. They love to explore, have an inquisitive nature, and love their family unconditionally. This is all they know.

In July of that year, DeOrr’s parents, Jessica and Vernal (also known as DeOrr to some), decided to take a spontaneous camping trip up to a remote area in Idaho.

Jessica’s grandfather, Robert Walton, and one of his friends, Isaac Reinwand, decided to tag along.

They had plans to do some fishing, roast some marshmallows, and enjoy nature away from the hustle and bustle of their everyday life.

On July 9, the five of them headed up to Leadore.

They made it there in a couple of hours and found a very remote spot to set up camp, near the river. That night they roasted marshmallows around the fire, and then went to bed with plans to do some exploring and fishing the next day.

On the morning of July 10, everyone woke up and started their day as planned. They ran some errands that morning, and later, back at the campsite, they all went their own ways.

Jessica and Vernal went for a walk. Grandpa Robert and Isaac split up near the river to do some fishing.

Each party thought DeOrr was with the other.

About a half hour later, Jessica and Vernal came back to the campsite and shouted down to Grandpa for DeOrr. But he didn’t have the boy.

Isaac didn’t have the boy either. In fact, they never did. They thought the boy was with Jessica and Vernal. It was quickly apparent that “Little Man” DeOrr was missing.

After a frantic search, they called 911 to report their son as missing.

Where is DeOrr Kunz Jr.?

*********************************

DeOrr Kunz Jr. was born on December 30, 2012, to parents Jessica and Vernal — also known as DeOrr Sr.

They were a young and engaged couple, who struggled financially for a while. They both also had on-and-off struggles with drugs.

But they seemed to be able to get themselves together for the sake of their son.

In July of 2015, DeOrr Jr. was 2 ½ years old. He was curious. He was loving. He took his blankie and his toy monkey with him everywhere he went. He loved collecting rocks and getting his hands dirty.

By all accounts, DeOrr Jr. was a happy and healthy 2-year-old boy.

On Thursday, July 9, Vernal and Jessica decided to take a spontaneous camping trip for the weekend. They wanted to go somewhere quiet and remote, get some peace and quiet, have campfires, and do some fishing.

They decided to head up to Timber Creek Campground in Leadore, Idaho. This would be a 2-hour drive from their home in Idaho Falls but seemed to be just what they wanted. What they needed.

They packed up their camping gear, and they asked Jessica’s grandfather, Robert Walton to tag along. He agreed, despite his somewhat failing health and fragile state. He asked his friend, Isaac Reinwand to go with them also.

Isaac was much younger than Robert, but they were friends. Jessica and Vernal didn’t know Isaac, they had never met him, but they agreed that he could go with them too, especially if he could be a help to their grandfather if he needed it.

Jessica and Vernal were careful to pack all of DeOrr Jr.’s favorite things, including his blankie and the toy monkey that he took everywhere.

That afternoon they set off to Leadore, Idaho.

The road to the campground is a bit treacherous, and once on that road up the mountain, cell service is limited and there are no stores.

They made it up to their campsite that afternoon and set up camp in a remote spot. They thought the place was perfect. There was no one else around, the river was nearby for fishing, and there was plenty of space for all of them.

After camp was set up for the evening, they built a campfire and roasted marshmallows.

The evening seemed to be everything that they had hoped for.

THE DISAPPEARANCE.

On the morning of July 10th, the family woke up for the day early.

There are some discrepancies as to what happened that morning. Some reports say that Jessica and Vernal realized they needed something at a convenience store and decided to make the drive into town. It was 45 minutes one way.

They went to a store- and authorities did say they verified their visit to the store with receipts- and bought what they needed, including buying DeOrr Jr. some candy.

Then they went back up the mountain to their campsite. Their grandfather and Isaac were said to have stayed behind.

It’s worth noting, that some reports state that this visit to the store happened the night before.

Regardless, that afternoon, Robert and Isaac decided to head to different sections of the nearby creek to fish.

Jessica and Vernal had wanted to go for a walk. DeOrr Jr. wanted to be by the water, so Jessica hollered down to her grandfather to keep an eye on DeOrr.

Jessica and Vernal headed out on their walk and were gone for approximately 30 minutes.

When they returned, they went down to the river where Grandpa Robert was fishing. They noticed that DeOrr wasn’t around and asked him where he was.

Robert was confused. He said little DeOrr was never with him.

What Jessica learned, was that Robert had never heard Jessica hollering down to him that DeOrr was going to be with him. And Robert said he never saw DeOrr.

They ran down to where Isaac was fishing to check with him.

But he hadn’t seen DeOrr either.

They frantically searched for DeOrr around the area for about 20 minutes before they decided they needed to call 911.

THE 911 CALL.

Dispatchers received the 911 call around 2:40 p.m. Actually, this was the first 911 call.

Vernal had jumped in his truck and started racing down the mountain, believing he would get better cell service at the bottom.

Jessica called 911 right from their campground.

Listen to the call here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDq-nJs17xQ

Vernal also called 911 and was speaking to another dispatcher at the same time. If you listen closely, you can hear that call in the background on the recording of Jessica’s call.

There would be a lot of questions raised about these calls.

Did they sound sincere? Were they worried enough? Was it odd that they both called 911 from different locations?

There would even be an analysis of where their cell phones pinged during those calls.

But regardless, DeOrr had vanished, and all four adults looking for him couldn’t find him.

THE SEARCH.

Search and Rescue soon showed up, prepared to search the tough terrain. They brought ATVs, search dogs, and even drones.

The search for ‘Little Man’ DeOrr Kunz Jr. was intense from the beginning. Search and Rescue teams are trained in that area to deal with all the obstacles, and they know all the dangers that are out there- places one can fall, how easy it is to get lost, and the presence of wild animals out there.

Knowing they were searching for a 2-year-old boy, the searchers didn’t hold back. It was all hands on deck for DeOrr.

Trained search and rescue teams showed up, and utilized all the resources they had, including search dogs, drones, ATVs, and even helicopters.

All the people at the campsite that day- Jessica, Vernal, Robert, and Isaac- were interviewed.

Immediately the sheriff thought some of the behavior of the family was off-putting. And it was learned that Jessica and Vernal had gone on that walk just prior to Deorr vanishing, to use drugs. It was never specified, to my knowledge, what type of drugs they were using.,

Then, Grandpa Robert suddenly changed his story during one of the interviews. He said that Deorr was with him while he was fishing, but then he took his eyes off of him for a minute or two, and the boy disappeared during that time.

Earlier, Robert had said that he didn’t even know DeOrr was with him at all and said he never heard Jessica tell him that DeOrr was going to stay with him.

Jessica was very defensive of her grandfather, stating that she did not blame him at all for what happened.

But what exactly did happen?

The physical search of the area lasted 10 days for little DeOrr before authorities scaled down the intense search. They had found no clues of little DeOrr.

DeOrr had left behind his prized possessions too- which was concerning to law enforcement. Jessica and Vernal both said that DeOrr wouldn’t go anywhere without his favorite blankie, his sippy cup, and his toy monkey. But all of those items were found at the campsite.

Another interesting thing that searchers took note of, was that DeOrr was wearing shoes that his parents said were way too big for him. If he had fallen into the creek, or perhaps attacked by a wild animal, they would have expected to find those shoes. They said they were big to the point that the boy would have had trouble walking, let alone running.

LEADORE, IDAHO.

Leadore, Idaho is a small town. Very small. And very rural. In 2010, the population was just 105 residents.

Just on the outskirts of town, you’ll find the Salmon-Challis National Forest. Within that forestland, is Timber Creek Campground, the campground where Deorr and his family were camping.

It does seem the campsites are close together by looking at photos of the area, and we know there were at least two other people or families camping there at the same time, but they must have been a little spread apart.

This campground does not take reservations, you just show up and claim your spot on a first come first serve basis.

There are a total of 12 available campsites.

Timber Creek runs alongside the campsites, and just above Timber Creek Campground is Stone Reservoir, a small lake.

Both were thoroughly searched for any signs of Deorr- none of which were found.

The campground, and the National Forest in general is popular for day visitors as well. There are ATV trails throughout and hiking paths.

During the investigation, there were at least two other people camping at Timber Creek that raised some eyebrows.

One of them had an interesting rap sheet, which caused some concerns. Both were camping nearby at the time Deorr disappeared.

However, it’s important to note, that there was absolutely zero evidence that these two campers had anything to do with Deorr’s disappearance, or even that they had even seen Deorr at all that day.

After the search was scaled back on July 20, 2015, a family friend, Frank Vilt, who is also a private investigator, came in to help.

For some reason, however, Vilt announced in September 2015, just 2 months later, that he was resigning and not taking part in the search for Deorr any longer. Of course, there was much speculation as to why that was.

The following month, October 2015, now three months after DeOrr’s disappearance, authorities organized another big search. They wanted to find DeOrr before winter set in, and winter was coming up quickly.

But again, nothing was found.

In November, the family hired another private investigator, Phillip Klein. In fact, Mr. Klein was hired by Vernal. Phillip Klein has a successful track record as a private investigator.

December came and went with still no additional clues.

But by January, there was a shocking announcement.

Law enforcement announced that they believed the case of DeOrr was a homicide, and that all four adults with DeOrr that weekend were considered persons of interest.

But they weren’t all equal persons of interest.

Isaac, Grandpa Robert’s friend, is an ex-convict. He has a criminal history. He’s also considered somewhat mentally disabled.

And I’ve seen interviews with Isaac. He seems sincere, and I’m not sure if he could pull something off if he had indeed done something to DeOrr. Authorities think he is less likely to be the culprit.

Grandpa Robert also had a history of violence and was known to have quite a temper. His was the first story to have changing elements to it.

But Robert wasn’t in the best of health, and in fact, that was part of the reason Isaac went camping with them, to help Robert. Robert was on oxygen and had trouble getting around well.

He might have been a jerk, but was he a killer?

Then there’s Jessica and Vernal. And authorities now were quick to say that they believed Jessica and Vernal knew more than they were saying.

For starters, they each failed multiple lie detector tests. And little details of their stories would change.

Phillip Klein, the private investigator hired by Vernal, also voiced some concerns that one of the adults at the campsite that day might have been involved.

In March 2016, Phillip Klein was fired.

Phillip became very vocal with various media outlets that he believed little Deorr’s parents knew where he was and what happened. In fact, he even released a video of an interview he conducted with them in which they said some very interesting things and behaved quite strangely

The year 2016 brought even more bombshells.

Jessica and Vernal would be evicted from the home they were living in. Somehow, during this eviction police were able to search through their belongings. And they found DeOrr’s camo jacket. The jacket that Jessica and Vernal said DeOrr had been wearing when he disappeared.

Also in 2016, Vernal and Jessica split up. Authorities thought this might be the break they had been waiting for. All they needed was for one to implicate the other and start talking.

But Jessica and Vernal stuck to their stories and maintained their innocence.

Vernal’s attorney has released statements proclaiming his client’s innocence. He reminds everyone that there is really zero evidence pointing to Vernal and Jessica as being involved in any way. He also states that there is nothing worse than losing your child, and on top of all that suffering, you are also dealing with public scrutiny and law enforcement accusations that you were somehow responsible for it.

The question here is- are Jessica and Vernal innocent? Or, could they be responsible for DeOrr’s disappearance? Could it have been Robert or Isaac? Or, were they all involved?

What do you believe happened to DeOrr Kunz Jr.?

Deorr was just two years old when he vanished, and would today be ten, almost eleven.

It’s hard to provide a description because from 2 to 8 years old, a child changes so much.

DeOrr is described as a Caucasian male, with blond hair and brown eyes.

DeOrr’s nickname is ‘Little Man’ and he has a birthmark on the back of his neck

Anyone with any information on the whereabouts of DeOrr Kunz Jr, or what may have happened to him, please contact the Lemhi County Sheriff’s Office at 208–756–8980.