Idaho
10 years after he vanished at an Idaho campsite, the question remains: Where is DeOrr Kunz Jr.?
LEADORE, Idaho — It’s a mystery that has baffled people around the world for the past 10 years.
On July 10, 2015, Idaho Falls toddler DeOrr Kunz Jr. vanished from the Timber Creek Campground in Lemhi County. Over the past decade, investigators have visited the remote campsite dozens of times, multiple searches have been conducted, private investigators have performed their own analysis, and countless theories have emerged about the case.
To this day, nobody has been arrested or charged in connection with his disappearance, and the question asked 10 years ago remains the same: Where is DeOrr?
The camping trip
DeOrr and his parents, Jessica Mitchell and Vernal DeOrr Kunz, left Idaho Falls the afternoon of July 9, 2015, for a camping trip in Lemhi County.
Deorr’s great-grandfather, Robert Walton, and his friend, Isaac Reinwand, drove in a separate vehicle and met up with the young family at Timber Creek Campground, a remote area about 125 miles northwest of Idaho Falls near Leadore.
By the time the two groups arrived, it was dark. Reinwand slept in a tent, Walton slept in his camper and DeOrr slept with his parents in the back of Walton’s blue Chevy Blazer.
The next morning, July 10, Reinwand recalled seeing DeOrr as everyone ate breakfast. The child was wearing large cowboy boots and “clumping around” the campsite, Reinwand told EastIdahoNews.com in a 2016 interview.
Around noon, Mitchell and Kunz said they took DeOrr to the Stage Stop Junction store in Leodore, around a 30-minute drive on rocky terrain from the campground. They returned to the campsite, and the parents went off to explore.
“They left DeOrr in the care of the grandfather. They went fishing for a little bit and then came back, and he was gone,” former Lemhi County Sheriff Steve Penner told EastIdahoNews.com this week. “(Walton) thought he was with them. Isaac was off in the creek fishing.”
Kunz and Mitchell began looking for their son. When they couldn’t find him, Kunz jumped into his truck and drove down a dirt road so he could get cellphone reception to call for help. Mitchell’s phone was able to get a signal from the campground, and she called 911 at 2:28 p.m.
“My 2-year-old son … we can’t find him,” Mitchell told the dispatcher. “He was wearing cowboy boots, pajama pants and a camo jacket, and he’s got shaggy blond hair.”
Nobody else was camping near the family that day, and the site has a large hill on one side with an 8- to 10-foot descending hill leading to a creek on the other.
“It’s such a small area – that’s what a lot of people don’t understand. They just assume, ‘How could you let your kid out of your sight?’ Well, this area is pretty well blocked in and there’s no way you couldn’t not see him,” Kunz told EastIdahoNews.com in 2015.
Search efforts
Over the next 48 hours, search and rescue teams scoured the area on foot, ATVs, horses and in helicopters. K9 dogs were brought in, and divers focused on a nearby reservoir and the creek.
“We searched that real intently. It’s not very deep, but we put divers in there on their bellies and removed all the log jams and brush piles and things like that,” Penner said.
John Bennett, who is now the Lemhi County sheriff, was one of the divers. He recalls over 200 people showing up around the third day to help look for DeOrr.
“Search and rescue coordinated grid search efforts. Basically, you could hold hands — and we went in a line, walking step by step through the campsite,” Bennett said this week.
In the days after his disappearance, Kunz and Mitchell said they believed their son had been kidnapped and made a public plea for him to be returned.
“Who would harm us this way?” Mitchell said. “Especially knowing how much he means to us. He’s everything to us. … If somebody has him, please don’t hurt him. Just bring him home safely where he belongs.”
Posters and billboards featuring DeOrr’s photo were plastered across eastern Idaho. The Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI were brought in to assist the Lemhi County Sheriff’s Office. Tips poured in from across the country, including a possible sighting of the toddler at a Motel 6 in California that turned out to be false.
Mitchell, Kunz, Reinwand and Walton were interviewed by law enforcement and have been cooperative since the beginning, according to Penner. Kunz and Mitchell voluntarily took lie detector tests, and then-Sheriff Lynn Bowerman said in July 2015 that investigators did not suspect foul play.
But in January 2016, Bowerman named DeOrr’s parents as suspects and told EastIdahoNews.com they had been “less than truthful” in interviews and polygraph tests.
“Their timeline keeps changing, where they were at keeps changing, and movements and statements about DeOrr Jr. keep changing,” Bowerman said at the time. “Their statements don’t match, and it’s frustrating because we have absolutely no idea where DeOrr is. There have been so many inconsistencies that it’s hard to tell the truth from everything they’ve said.”
Penner and Bennett do not consider Mitchell and Kunz suspects; rather, they say everyone at the campsite that day is a “person of interest” because they were the last people to see DeOrr.
Rumors, national media and private investigators
As the search for the young boy heated up, so did rumors and online speculation.
Theories were shared on social media, and commenters attacked Kunz and Mitchell on websites, YouTube videos and other platforms. In response, officials issued a statement reminding the public that “details regarding this case will come from the Lemhi County Sheriff’s Office, and we will not release information based on speculation or unverified facts.”
In June 2016, DeOrr’s face was featured on the cover of People magazine with the headline “Without a Trace” and documentaries, television shows and podcasts have been produced about the case.
In 2017, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children released an age-progressed photo of DeOrr, showing what he could have looked like when he was 4 years old.
Over the past 10 years, three private investigators have conducted their own examinations into the case.
Frank Vilt worked with the family early on and believed initially that DeOrr was abducted. But, in early 2016, he ended his involvement and said Kunz and Mitchell lied about their son’s disappearance. Vilt died in August 2023.
Philip Klein, a private investigator based in Texas, then joined the case. He spent months interviewing the parents, Walton, Reinwand and other family members. Klein concluded DeOrr was the victim of an accidental homicide and that Mitchell and Kunz were involved.
The third private investigator, David Marshburn, is currently working with the family and has a different theory. He believes the parents had nothing to do with the disappearance and says Reinwand knows more than he is saying. Reinwand insists he had nothing to do with the disappearance.
Penner and Bennett told EastIdahoNews.com they will not comment on other investigators but appreciate tips that are shared with the sheriff’s office.
Where the case stands today
Penner and Bennett visited Timber Creek Campground with EastIdahoNews.com on Wednesday. They both walked around the campsite, stared into the creek, lifted up rocks off the ground and then drove around the reservoir.
Penner estimates he’s been here 100 times over the past 10 years and has repeatedly said, “When someone is lost, you look for them.”
Even though he is no longer sheriff, he remains on the Lemhi County Search and Rescue team. He and Bennett are close and neither one of them plans to stop looking for DeOrr.
Over the years, bones have been found at the campsite. Investigators send photos to anthropologists at Idaho State University, and in each case, they’ve turned out to be animal remains. In one instance, a bone was sent to the FBI in Quantico, Virginia, for testing; but again, it was from an animal.
Other possible evidence has been processed, but so far, there have been no solid leads.
“Everything that we have sent to the lab has been analyzed and it has not produced anything. None of the evidence has had a positive outcome,” Penner said.
The four adults at the campsite have tried to remain out of the spotlight over the years. Walton died in 2019, and when contacted for comment this week, Reinwand said he was trying to “put this behind him and move forward.”
Kunz declined to comment, but his attorney, Allen Browning, says his client “1,000% had nothing to do with his son’s disappearance.” He says Kunz and Mitchell have endured nonstop vitriol from the public over the years, forcing Kunz to leave Idaho Falls. The couple is no longer together.
In a statement to EastIdahoNews.com, Mitchell said, “Each of the 3,647 days have felt the same. The pain of him missing is still as real as day 1. I love and miss my son every day.”
Trina Clegg, Mitchell’s mother and DeOrr’s grandmother, says she and her family still visit Timber Creek Campground because the peace of the area gives her hope that she will see her grandson again.
“Our family is still grieving every day and does our best to stay positive for something to develop in this case,” she tells EastIdahoNews.com. “We still pray every day for an answer to what happened 10 years ago that still haunts us with heartfelt pain and grief, missing our sweet Baby DeOrr.”
Clegg adds, “If Baby DeOrr hears this, please know, sweet handsome DeOrr, you have a very devoted family that loves and cares for you every day and hopes one day you will come home.”
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
Idaho
Idaho Senate introduces new bill to give local municipalities authority to control rat populations
BOISE, Idaho — A new bill in the Idaho Senate aims to let local municipalities take action to control rat populations. This, after a previous bill to combat rat infestations across Idaho, died in the House.
Rats have been spreading throughout the Treasure Valley in recent years, but previous attempts at legislation to deal with the problem have failed.
WATCH: Senior Reporter Roland Beres provides an update on the new rat bill
New bill would allow local governments to combat rats
Residents in Eagle and Boise have been tracking an alarming rise in rat populations recently.
Rep. John Gannon (D – District 17) introduced new legislation today that would essentially permit local governments to act in order to control rat populations if they want to, without creating a mandate.
Gannon said some cities complained that they did not have the authority to do the job themselves.
The bill was introduced with a dose of humor.
“I’m going to support this. It’s very late in the session, but I think this might just squeak through,” said Sen. Ben Adams (R – District 12). “Well. Unless it encounters a trap along the way.”
ALSO READ | ‘I’ve never seen something that big’: Boise neighbors finding rats in their backyards
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been, in part, converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Send tips to neighborhood reporter Riley Shoemaker
Have a story idea from Downtown Boise, the North End or Garden City ? Share it with Riley below —
Penny Lee Brown, age 72, of Idaho Falls, formerly of Ririe, passed away Wednesday, March 25, 2026, at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls.
Penny was born October 18, 1953, in Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada, a daughter to William and Luella Cooper Artemenko. She attended schools in Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada. She earned her Certified Nursing Assistant Certificate from Eastern Idaho Technical College.
She married Donal A. Brown in Fort St. John, British Columbia. Their marriage was later solemnized in the Idaho Falls Temple. She was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
She enjoyed attending her children’s sporting events, puzzles, collecting cat memorabilia, crafting, baking, and caring for others.
She is survived by her husband Donal A. Brown, children: Jared Brown (Krystal) of Boise, Marcus Brown (Misty) of Weippe, Idaho, Scott Brown of Idaho Falls, Douglas Brown of Idaho Falls, Jamie Brown of Williston, North Dakota, Steven Brown (Claire) of Idaho Falls. A brother Kenneth Artemenko (Nancy) of White Horse, YK, four grandchildren and one great grandchild.
She was preceded in death by her Father William Artemenko and her mother Luela Cooper and a brother Levern Artemenko.
Funeral services will be held Monday March 30, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Perry Ward Chapel 285 2nd West, Ririe, Idaho. The family will visit with friends on Monday from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. at the church. Interment will be in the Ririe-Shelton Cemetery.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho lawmakers are considering a bill that would make it a crime for transgender people to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity — even inside privately owned businesses.
At least 19 states, including Idaho, already have laws barring transgender people from using bathrooms and changing rooms that align with their gender in schools and, in some cases, other public places. The LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Movement Advancement Project’s tracking of the laws shows that three other states — Florida, Kansas and Utah — have made it a criminal offense in some circumstances to violate the bathroom laws.
READ MORE: Ohio Gov. DeWine signs bill restricting transgender students’ use of bathrooms
But none of the others apply as broadly to private businesses as the Idaho bill, which covers any “place of public accommodation,” meaning any business or facility that serves the public. The state’s Republican supermajority Senate is expected to vote on the bill this week, deciding whether to send it to Gov. Brad Little’s desk.
Felony bathroom use?
If the law is passed, anyone who enters a public facility like a bathroom or locker room designated for the opposite sex could be sentenced to a year in jail for a misdemeanor first offense, or up to five years in prison for a felony second offense. That’s a longer sentence than Idaho imposes for a first drunken driving conviction or for displaying offensive sexual material in public.
Protecting those spaces is a “matter of safety” and “decency,” said Republican Sen. Ben Toews told a Senate committee last week.
“Private spaces such as restrooms, changing areas and showers are sex-separated for a reason,” Toews said. “Individuals in these vulnerable settings have a reasonable expectation of privacy and security.”
The bill does carve out several exceptions. Athletic coaches, people responding to emergencies, people supervising inmates, custodians, and people helping children who need bathroom assistance get a pass. So does someone who is “in dire need” of a bathroom, if the bathroom they use is the only one that is reasonably available at the time.
Law enforcement groups say it’s a bad bill
Law enforcement groups including the Idaho Fraternal Order of Police and the Idaho Chiefs of Police Association oppose the bill, which they say would place officers in impossible positions, tasking them with visually determining someone’s biological sex or their level of “dire need.” The Idaho Sheriff’s Association asked lawmakers to require that people first ask any suspected violator to leave the bathroom before calling authorities, but lawmakers refused.
Heron Greenesmith, deputy policy director at Transgender Law Center, said the “dire need” exception could be especially hard to assert — and that the idea that a person can use a public restroom only in an emergency is dehumanizing.
“How does one prove that one was going to poop on the floor?” they asked.
Opponents fear vigilantism
John Bueno, a transgender student at the University of Idaho and a member of the student group Queer Inclusion Society, said the school has lots of single-use restrooms, which helps mitigate the logistical impacts of the bill. But the legislation would likely lead to more unwanted “profiling” of people, whether they are transgender or not, she said.
“It’s this cultural attitude of getting other Americans to habitually be narcing on one other and doing this sort of ‘transvestigating’ — that is what these kinds of bills promote,” Bueno said.
It all comes down to an effort to disenfranchise transgender people, Bueno said.
“This will increasingly deter queer individuals from Idaho universities and the state as a whole,” she said. “Which to be fair, is probably the primary purpose.”
Bill could impact employment opportunities
Nikson Matthews, a transgender man with a beard, told a panel of lawmakers last week that the bill would force him into the women’s restroom, where his masculine appearance puts him at risk of aggression from people who think he’s intruding.
“It creates a crime — but that is not based on conduct or harm,” Matthews said. “It is based on presence, and to justify that you have to accept that someone’s presence alone is traumatizing and harmful enough to criminalize.”
It could also make it difficult for transgender people to work, said Boise resident Laura Volgert.
“People might be able to hold it for an hour if they’re at a restaurant for lunch or at a grocery store,” she told lawmakers during a committee hearing. “They can’t be expected to hold it for a full eight-hour shift.”
That’s the point of these types of laws, said Greenesmith, to “make it untenable to go to the movies, to go to the doctor, to go to the bank.”
Proponents say that isn’t the case.
Proponents say safety and privacy is key
Suzanne Tabert, a Sandpoint resident, said the bill is about “maintaining, clear, enforceable boundaries” so that women and children can feel safe.
“If we lose the ability to protect based on biological sex, we lose our most effective tool for preventing harassment, voyeurism and other sex crimes before they occur,” she said.
She later continued, “This legislation is not about how an individual identifies, nor does it seek to target or malign the transgender community. Rather it upholds a universal standard of privacy.”
Bathrooms are not the only place where lawmakers have been placing restrictions on transgender people in the name of protecting women and girls. At least 25 states bar transgender women and girls from some women’s and girl’s sports competitions. And at least 27 states have laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors.
Expanding all of these policies are priorities for President Donald Trump, too.
The only widely reported arrest of someone on charges of violating transgender bathroom restrictions was part of a protest in Florida last year.
Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, New Jersey.
A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy.
Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue.
DHS attorney said agents in Los Angeles should have ‘started hitting’ protesters, emails show
Lakers beat Nets, but Luka Doncic is facing suspension again after 16th technical
EU Parliament unblocks key political hurdle in digital euro talks
Man arrested in plot to firebomb Palestinian activist’s home after undercover op
Video: We Analyzed the Deadly Crash at LaGuardia
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
EU Parliament unblocks key political hurdle in digital euro talks
Man arrested in plot to firebomb Palestinian activist’s home after undercover op
WATCH: Senate hearing goes silent after Angel Father confronts top Dem over daughter’s death
US diplomat Marco Rubio denounces settler violence, tolls in Hormuz strait
Iran-linked hackers have breached FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal emails | CNN Politics
-
Detroit, MI1 week agoDrummer Brian Pastoria, longtime Detroit music advocate, dies at 68
-
Movie Reviews1 week ago‘Youth’ Twitter review: Ken Karunaas impresses audiences; Suraj Venjaramoodu adds charm; music wins praise | – The Times of India
-
Sports7 days agoIOC addresses execution of 19-year-old Iranian wrestler Saleh Mohammadi
-
New Mexico5 days agoClovis shooting leaves one dead, four injured
-
Business1 week agoDisney’s new CEO says his focus is on storytelling and creativity
-
Technology6 days agoYouTube job scam text: How to spot it fast
-
Tennessee4 days agoTennessee Police Investigating Alleged Assault Involving ‘Reacher’ Star Alan Ritchson
-
Texas1 week agoHow to buy Houston vs. Texas A&M 2026 March Madness tickets