Child Murdered By His Father For Discovering Disturbing Images
In 2012, Dylan Redwine was a 13 year old boy living with his mother Elaine and brother Cory, in Monument, Colorado.
His parents had divorced and so he had court ordered visits to his father Mark Redwine, who lived in La Plata County, a rugged and mountainous area of Southwest Colorado.
However, Dylan did not enjoy these visits and in fact had avoided seeing his father for months. This was due to an incident which had occurred at his father’s home the year prior, this incident had ruined both the relationship and the image that Dylan had of his father.
In June of 2011, Dylan had visited his father’s home with his older brother Cory and had been using their father’s laptop, when the boys had accidentally discovered some disturbing images on there. As Mark Redwine slept, the boys locked themselves in the bathroom to look more closely at the shocking images.
There on the screen was their father Mark dressed in a wig and women’s lingerie; in his hands, he was holding what appeared to be a dirty diaper. As the boys flicked through the images, it became clear that their father was eating the contents inside the diaper... read and view photos
Mark Redwine’s Dysfunctional Relationship With His Family
Mark Allen Redwine was born on Aug. 24, 1961. At the time of Dylan’s 2012 visit, Redwine lived in La Plata County, a rugged and mountainous area of Southwest Colorado. Twice divorced, Redwine had two children with his ex-wife, Elaine, and was involved in a custody battle over their 13-year-old son.
Dylan Redwine didn’t want to visit his father and told his brother Corey that he was upset and uncomfortable with him — likely because, in 2011 both brothers had seen photos on their father’s computer that horrified them.
The photos showed their father dressed in a wig and women’s lingerie, eating what appeared to be feces from a diaper.
Dylan and his father’s relationship declined over the months, and Dylan asked Corey to send him the sordid photos of their father prior to his November visit, so he could confront his dad.
Elaine Hall, Dylan’s mother, was concerned about the visit, seeing how upset he had been around Redwine. However, her attorney told her she could face prosecution if Dylan did not fly out to see his father.
Before Dylan’s trip, Redwine was aware that his older son, Corey, had seen the compromising photos, according to The Durango Herald.
Worse, in the middle of a text argument with Redwine, Corey had revealed that he knew about the photos, and antagonized his father, saying, “Hey beautiful, you are what you eat, look in the mirror.”
Dylan Redwine’s Fateful Trip To See His Father
On Nov. 18, 2012, Redwine collected his son at the Durango-La Plata County Airport, and surveillance footage from the airport, and a Walmart in Durango, showed hardly any personal interaction between Redwine and his son. Dylan had wanted to spend the night of his arrival at a friend’s house, but Redwine had refused, and they both stayed at Redwine’s house that evening.
Through text messages, Dylan had arranged to visit his friend’s house at 6:30 a.m. the next morning, and his last communication with anyone on his phone that night was at 9:37 p.m. When Dylan’s friend texted him at 6:46 a.m. on November 19, asking where Dylan was, he received no response.
Redwine later claimed that he left his house that morning to run some errands and returned home to find his son missing. Dylan’s mother, however, immediately suspected that Redwine wasn’t telling the full truth according to The Associated Press. and a large-scale search of the woods and mountains surrounding Redwine’s home began.
Within days of Dylan’s disappearance, another of Redwine’s ex-wives told investigators of a previous disturbing conversation with Redwine, in which he said that if he ever had to get rid of a body, he would leave it out in the mountains. Redwine had also chillingly told her during their divorce and custody proceedings that he would “kill the kids before he let her have them.”
Mark Redwine’s Suspicious Behavior
More than seven months later, on June 27, 2013, Dylan Redwine’s partial remains were located on Middle Mountain Road, roughly 100 yards off an ATV trail, and about eight miles from Redwine’s house. Interestingly, a witness had observed Redwine driving alone in te area in April of 2013, after which he left town, failing to return to search for Dylan in June 2013. Redwine was also very familiar with Middle Mountain Road and owned an ATV.
Upon the discovery of the boy’s remains, Redwine had a suspicious conversation with another son, discussing how the rest of Dylan’s body, including his skull, would have to be found before investigators could determine if blunt force trauma was the cause of death.
Then came Redwine’s bizarre appearance on the Dr. Phil show in 2013, where he and Dylan’s mother, leveled accusations at each other — and Redwine notably refused a polygraph test.
In August 2013 police detected the presence of Dylan’s blood, and human cadaver scent in multiple locations of Redwine’s living room according to court documents.
A canine also indicated the presence of human remains in the living room, and a washing machine, as well as on the clothes Redwine had reported wearing on the night of Nov. 18, 2012. A later search of Redwine’s vehicle in February 2014, by the same dog handling team also indicated the presence of cadaver scent in several areas of the Dodge truck.
Then on Nov. 1, 2015, some hikers found Dylan Redwine’s skull further up Middle Mountain Road. The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Division confirmed the locations of Dylans remains, and later his skull. No animal known to the area would carry a body that distance up the mountain, and no animal would then transport the skull an additional one and a half miles through that terrain.
Mark Redwine Is Convicted Of Murdering His Son
Mark Redwine was arrested for second-degree murder and child abuse, following a July 17, 2017, grand jury indictment, and finally went on trial in 2021 after several COVID-19 restriction delays. A forensic anthropologist testified that Dylan suffered a fracture above his left eye, and that two marks on his skull were likely caused by a knife at or near the time of death.
The prosecution said the photographs triggered a fatal rage in Redwine, and revealed some telling details of Dylan’s first night missing.
As rescue crews scoured the nearby woods, all the lights in Redwine’s house went out around 11 p.m. — “at a time when most people would have been out in the woods with a flashlight. A time when most people would know to leave the light on in case a child was lost in the woods. At 11 p.m., the defendant’s house went dark.”
On October 8, 2021, Mark Redwine was sentenced to the maximum term of 48 years in prison, with the sentencing judge summarizing Redwine’s appalling actions: “As the father, it’s your obligation to protect your son, keep him from harm. Instead of that, you inflicted enough injury on him to kill him in your living room.”
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