Special to The SUN
Photo courtesy Daniel BenderThe La Plata County Sheriff’s Office received a report from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today stating that items sent to them for tests had been identified as human remains and that the remains were identified as Dylan Redwine. The family has been notified.
A variety of items, including bones, were collected during a five-day search of Middle Mountain Road.
Middle Mountain is located north and within sight of Vallecito Lake. The search area ranges from 8,000 to 11,000 feet in altitude and consists of deep canyons and dense forest.
About 45 personnel from law enforcement and search and rescue deployed and worked over 1,600 man hours during the five-day search, which concluded Wednesday afternoon. Groups taking part included La Plata County Sheriff’s Office; Durango Police Department; Bayfield Marshal’s Office; Dept of Homeland Security; U.S.Forest Service; La Plata Search & Rescue; La Plata Mounted Patrol; AZSTAR K-9 teams (Arizona); members of the Southwest Drug Task Force; Necro Search; Upper Pine Fire Protection District; Durango Fire and Rescue Tactical Team; anthropologists and archaeologists from Fort Lewis College; and the FBI.
Search teams negotiated steep drainages with extensive ground cover as they looked for clues. Sectors were treated as possible crime scenes. At times, the searchers were almost shoulder to shoulder as they moved up and down the difficult terrain.
The searches began last Saturday and ended Wednesday afternoon. The searches were not based on any recent tips nor on any new information. They were part of a series of follow-up searches conducted in the Vallecito area since snows melted this spring.
Dylan Redwine arrived at Durango-La Plata County airport on Nov. 18 and was picked up by his father, Mark Redwine, for a court-ordered Thanksgiving holiday visit. Elaine Redwine, Dylan’s mother, reported him missing to La Plata County Sheriff’s Office the following day.
