The body of a 19-year-old farmer who disappeared nearly two years ago has been found in a remote part of Utah not far from the Nevada line.
The Box Elder Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that “skeletal remains presumed to belong to Dylan Rounds” were found in the same area of Utah where he disappeared in May 2022.
“The remains are in the possession of the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner for confirmation of identity,” the sheriff’s office said. “Our hearts go out to the family of Dylan Rounds. We offer our sincerest condolences for the loss of their family member. We understand that the pain of their loss is immeasurable, and we want to express our deepest sympathies to them. It is our hope that they can find peace moving forward.”
The sheriff’s office said no further information would be released “so as not to compromise the ongoing legal proceedings.”
The sheriff’s office charged James Brenner with Rounds’ murder in March 2023. Brenner, 60, was squatting on a property near Rounds’ farm.
Rounds was last heard from at about 7 a.m. on May 28, 2022, when he told his grandmother by phone that he was “putting the grain truck in a shelter.” His family reported him missing two days later, as CrimeOnline reported.
Investigators found a pair of Rounds’ boots during the search for him on his property, one of which contained a blood stain that was confirmed to belong to the missing man, but no sign of Rounds himself has turned up.
In June, Brenner was arrested and charged with a federal gun charge, and a few days later, investigators named him a suspect in Rounds’ disappearance. Brenner had been squatting on the land where Rounds was taking the grain truck to the shelter.
The murder charge, along with a charge of desecration of a dead body, came after investigators found Rounds’ phone in a pond near the property and a timelapse video on that phone — time stamped at about the time of his’ disappearance — showing Brenner “with blood stains on his arms and shirt as he is cleaning a gun.”
Investigators said they located the shirt Brenner was wearing, and that an analysis found Rounds’ DNA on it.
Rounds’ mother, Candice Cooley, provided a statement to EastIdahoNews.com.
“We thank everyone for their support and love,” she said. “We are grateful we now have Dylan’s body and can bring him home as we continue our fight for justice.”
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[Featured image: Dylan Rounds/family handout]
