On June 11, 2022, volunteers gathered along with friends and family members at Centennial
Park in Montello, Nevada ready to search for missing nineteen-year-old Dylan Rounds missing
since May 28.
Rounds has been living in Lucin, Utah also known as Umbria Junction.
Lucin is a ghost town in the Northwest corner of Utah, near the Nevada border that was abandoned
in 1990 and has a population of one.
Rounds was farming grains while attending Rigby High School in the remote area where
he lived alone in a small travel trailer.
It was reported that police found Rounds pickup truck outside his trailer but his wallet and
phone were missing and presumed to be with him.
On May 26, Dylan Rounds was last seen in a restaurant and later returned home where he
talked to his family later that night.
This was the last time Rounds was seen.
In an unrelated incident, a hostage situation was called in by another family.
When Elko County Sheriff’s Office arrived to check the call out, it was soon realized
that the call was a false alarm.
However, while authorities were on the scene, they learned that the missing teen Dylan Rounds
was last seen around the same area.
Other police agencies joined the hunt shortly after, including Box Elder County Sheriff’s
Department, the FBI, EquuSearch and several K-9 units.
Several days of searching turned up nothing.
Then days turned into weeks.
Authorities were using every piece of equipment they had to look for the missing teen.
Several days were too windy to use arial drones, but operators were able to use them a couple
of times.
Volunteers logged more than three hundred hours of searching over a three-thousand-mile
area.
This is in conjunction with the over six hundred and fifty hours the Sheriff’s Department
put into the search.
Dylan Rounds was a very responsible young man.
He had been living in the area for over three years, working the farmland and harvesting
grains.
“Dylan had a farm, Dylan had a goal, and he had a drive in life so that he would absolutely
not let anything, anything, take him away.
This is a kid that the last three years has been out in the desolate desert tearing out
new ground,” stated Candice Cooley, Rounds mother.
She also said that Dylan had farming in his blood and was working his land when other
guys his age were out partying, dating, plating video games, and on social media.
Not Dylan though.
He was very determined to succeed as a farmer.
Rounds farming boots were also found near his home, one hundred yards away from his
truck by police.
These boots were his favorite footwear, and he was always wearing them.
For the boots to be found without Rounds was not a good sign.
By June 16, 2022, authorities were seeking help from the public locating the missing
teen.
Cooley said she suspected foul play but said, “(she) doesn’t know who would want to
harm her son.”
Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office released a statement asking, “if you have knowledge
regarding the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Dylan Rounds, or his current
location, to contact them.”
Rounds family left Idaho and headed straight for the farm in Utah after realizing no one
had heard from him in a few days.
After arriving and contacting the authorities, the family decided to start looking into people
that could have a vendetta against their son.
Cooley passed along two former employee names along with another person on interest to the
Sheriff’s Department.
The employees worked for Rounds, although it was never said in what compacity.
In an interview with Dateline, Justin Rounds, Dylan’s father said of his son, “He (Dylan)
had a lot of goals.
He had a future in mind.
The day he went missing, Rounds spoke with his maternal grandmother but cut the call
shirt as it had begun to rain, and he needed to get the farm equipment put away as well
as his grain seeds.
The grandmother said Dylan’s last words to her was, “I can’t talk right now.
I need to get my seed truck.”
Dylan’s grandfather had helped the teen purchase the property in 2019.
Family stated that Dylan had grown up around the farming life and knew how to “drive
a tractor before most kids knew how to ride a bike.”
Dylan Rounds knew he would be living and working the land alone and that was part of the allure.
Living off the grid is becoming more and more popular these days as people are leaving cities
for more rural areas, a trend that became more appealing to people since the health
scare that happened in 2019 (COVID).
“This was his first crop,” Dylan’s mom said.
“He’s one of those people that was born to be a farmer.
It’s a sandy desert.
It’s for people that want to be off the grid,” she went on to say.
Dylan returned home to Idaho to visit family often and to shower as the trailer he was
living in didn’t have running water.
However, Rounds hadn’t been home in a while as his crop was about to start sprouting.
“He was so excited.
He said, Mom, I’m about to get my first crop this year,” Cooley recalled her son
saying.
May 26 was the last time either parent spoke with Dylan.
On May 30th, Candice received a phone call from one of Dylan’s best-friend by the name
of J.D.
Wilde.
He told the mother of the nineteen-year-old that no one had heard from Dylan since Saturday
the 28th of May.
“That’s when I knew we had a problem,” Candice said.
The family immediately left Idaho for Utah.
When the arrived, all seemed to be in order at first glance, but Dylan was no where to
be found.
Candice contacted authorities later that day and the search was on.
Dylan’s boots were found in a field, which concerned both parents as Rounds was very
particular about his boots and only wore one kind, same brand, same style.
“When they (the boots) wear out, he would go buy another pair, exactly the same kind,”
Cooley said of her son.
“They were just casually tossed out there.
That’s when our hearts dropped.
A kid doesn’t go walking in the desert without his boots” Candice told East Idaho News.
It was reported that red substance was found on one of the boots and would be sent to the
lab for further testing.
Also, when looking closer at Dylan’s truck, his family said it looked like it had recently
been washed and the seat was moved forward, suggesting someone shorter than Dylan had
at the very least sat behind the wheel.
“I’m 4.11 and Dylan is 5.11.
I always have to move the seat up to drive it but when I got in, the seat was scooted
so far up, I didn’t have to move it to drive,” Candice told reporters.
The truck was also found to have the Four-wheel drive engaged, which didn’t work.
The whole family knew it didn’t work and Dylan often complained about it.
Police haven’t released everything that they found and marked as evidence to keep
the scene as secure as possible.
Dylan Rounds went missing on May 28, 2022.
No one has heard from nor seen him since.
Box Elder County Sheriff, Elko County Sheriff, and the FBI are asking the public that if
you or anyone you know may have seen Dylan or talked to him in the days before he was
reported missing, to please contact either of their offices.
Box Elder County Sheriff's Office (435)-723-5227.
Elko County Sheriff’s Office (775)-738-3421.
Or the FBI Salt Lake City Branch (801)-579-1400 reference Dylan Rounds.
You can also call James (family friend) at (813)-993-2242.
Email address FindDylanRounds@gmail.com.
There is a $20,000.00 reward for information leading to the whereabouts of Dylan Rounds.
Dylan Rounds is described as Age 19.
Height 5.11, weight 160 lbs.
Brown Hair and Brown eyes.
Foul play is suspected but Dylan is still listed as a missing person as of the time
of this writing.