DeOrr Kunz Jr. timeline
July 9: DeOrr, his father, mother, great-grandfather and a family friend decide to take a trip to the Timber Creek Campground near Leadore. They arrive at the campground in the evening.
July 10: The family takes a mid-morning trip into Leadore to pick up supplies. A driver of a black Jeep Wrangler Rubicon looks at the boy while in Leadore and makes DeOrr’s mother, Jessica Mitchell, uncomfortable. At some point in the afternoon DeOrr Kunz Sr. and Mitchell go for a hike, leaving the then 2 1/2-year-old in the care of his great-grandfather, Robert Walton. Walton later tells investigators he thought the child went over the bank to meet with his parents. About 15 minutes later the parents make their way to a part of a creek where friend Isaac Reinwand was fishing for minnows. The parents go to grab DeOrr and show him the minnows, but cannot find him. Due to miscommunication Walton thought the child was with his parents. A search for the child begins and lasts about 45 minutes. Mitchell calls 911 at 2:28 p.m. Search crews arrive soon after the 911 call and begin looking for the boy
July 11: Searchers on foot, ATVs and horseback scour the campground and surrounding area. The creek near the campground is vigorously searched, as well as Stone Reservoir.
July 12: Hundreds of volunteers arrive to help with the search. Volunteer efforts are suspended due to the overwhelming number of people and lack of coordination, Lemhi County Sheriff Lynn Bowerman has said. Search efforts continue for many days with the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office dive team looking through Stone Reservoir near the campground. Use of drones, dogs and planes expand the search into the surrounding woods. A set of cadaver dogs show interest in the reservoir but it was determined an unrelated woman’s cremains were dumped there. In mid-July search efforts are scaled back.
July 22: Social media posts about tips and information swirl around the case as investigators try to pin down clues.
July 30: The FBI begins assisting investigators.
July 31: DeOrr is entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons
database.
Aug. 3: Several news media outlets pick up reports of a found toddler in Minnesota and assume it is DeOrr. The reports are determined to be false. Frank Vilt, a former U.S. marshal and private investigator, begins working with the family and sets up a tip hotline, which is later shut down.
Aug. 11: Vilt details some of his investigations into the child’s disappearance to news media and suggests abduction could be the cause. Law enforcement officials early on ruled out abduction in the case.
September: Several GoFundMe pages are set up to raise money to support the family of the missing boy and aid search efforts. A couple of Facebook pages are created in an effort to find DeOrr. Comments and tips flood in from across the U.S., Canada and as far away as the United Kingdom. Fliers and posters are distributed.
Sept. 11: Vilt offers a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the discovery of DeOrr’s whereabouts.
Sept. 13: A tip about a lost child who looks similar to DeOrr goes viral across the Internet. The child was reunited with his mother in Stanton, Calif.
Sept. 14: Vilt has the family re-enact the day DeOrr vanished.
October: The family parts ways with Vilt. Vilt said it was a disagreement over posting a large reward for finding the child. The family seeks help from a private investigation firm in Texas. The firm at first declines to take the case but reconsiders in late November. The FBI is unable to come to any conclusions from evidence, which included polygraph tests of everyone at the campsite, provided to them.
Oct. 14: A woman unrelated to DeOrr begins an effort to establish dozens of billboards across the state.
Oct. 23: Friends and family join searchers over the weekend for one last look near the campground, prior to winter weather arriving.
November: Klein Investigations and Consulting of Nederland, Texas, agrees to take on the case. Philip Klein, lead investigator, said payment for the man-hours spent investigating is coming out of a fund set up by his company for circumstances such as this where the family would not be able to afford the cost.
December: Klein requests that Facebook accounts about DeOrr be shut down so the investigation won’t be hindered. At least eight Facebook
pages, several geared toward speculation on the case, remain open.
Dec. 30: Family members hold a candlelight vigil for DeOrr on his third birthday.
Jan. 16: A Dutch oven potluck and raffle auction is set, with proceeds going to Klein Investigations.
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