Dr. Insanity - Secret Killer Leads Cops Into His Murder Shed

Episode Date: December 7, 2025

Going to therapy is a sign of strength, not weakness. My sponsor BetterHelp makes therapy simple, with 10% off your first month to help you get started: https://betterhelp.com/DrInsanity ---- 19-year-old Dylan Rounds left his family to go work on his farm… But after being spotted buying supplies at a local shop, he would vanish without a trace… Strangely, no one in the small, quiet town seemed surprised… Apparently, this was not uncommon… As days stretched into weeks, detectives chased a mounting list of suspects….. Thieves, violent criminals, drug dealers…. Yet from the very beginning, the truth was there… hidden in plain sight, by someone no one suspected…. ---- This video was made for educational purposes only. The video is presented to provide genuine footage of police incidents to promote transparency in government while providing educational, informative and newsworthy content allowing viewers to examine and assess public safety material. This is a fact-checked documentary using authoritative sources. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He was in a hurry and because I guess it was raining and he wanted to get this undercover. So you weren't here when Dylan came down here? He's a friend of mine. Sure. He'll get rid of friends. This is Jim Brenner, a farmer living in the remote Utah desert. Police don't know it yet, but he's showing them the exact building where a missing teenager was murdered just days earlier. 19-year-old Dylan Rounds had left his family to go work on his farm. But after being spotted buying supplies at a local shop, he would vanish without a trace.

Strangely, no one in the small, quiet town seemed surprised. Apparently, this was not uncommon. I told that kid, stay the hell out of Montello. That whole town is a crazy place. Some other guy pointed a gun in my freaking face. As days stretched into weeks, detectives chased a mounting list of suspects, thieves, violent criminals, drug dealers, yet from the very beginning, the truth was there, hidden in plain sight, by someone nobody suspected. It all began on a question. quiet evening, when police received calls from a concerned family member reporting their son,

Dylan Rounds, missing from his farm in Utah. They hadn't heard from him in over two days, and when they went to his property to check, there was no sign of him anywhere. A deputy was dispatched to Dylan's farm to meet with his family, but on his way there, he was stopped by a neighbor of Dylan, claiming he might know what happened to him. He's been hanging out over that bar in Montello, and I could give him. I could give him. He's some names of some scumbags over there, but he's been shooting his mouth off about how much money he's making. And there's one guy, Chase Vectra, Ventra. He's over there, and he can do anything he wants. You've been robbing, steel, and everything, and Yolko County Sheriff won't do anything

about it. And if you talk to his mother, she knows more about it, but he run into Chase on the Tacoma Road the other day, and Chase kind of scared him a little bit. What's your last name again, Jim Brenner. Jim Brenner. Well, I'll let you get down there before they disturb the crime scene. Thank you. As the conversation ended, Jim Brenner's strange remark about a crime scene left the deputy curious, since no crime was yet confirmed.

It was an unsettling comment that would soon become a disturbing reality. For now, though, the deputy took note of this information and continued towards Dylan's farm to speak with his family. No guns in there? No guns in there? Like he said, he carries us, he has a 40 that he puts in the door. He heard the sign.

Did you just pop the back window? I broke it out. At first glance, Dylan's red Ford truck appeared oddly abandoned, bearing signs of minor damage. But what concerned his father the most was that Dylan's guns had mysteriously vanished from the trailer, a detail that was strange on its own. Wanting to learn more about Dylan, the deputy turned to speak with his mother. She had her own troubling information to share about Dylan's recent run-in with a local criminal. What is he farm for out here?

What is he farm for? Grain or... Yeah, grain? Yeah. James stopped me when you guys were around me. was talking to me. He said that you knew something about a running he had with a guy named Chase. Yeah, on Wednesday, but they told me that's normal. I know a lot of the people that he named from Montello are not good people. I only know of them from what people say. Dylan's mother

confirmed her son had, in fact, encountered Chase Ventra recently. The same person Dylan's neighbor had earlier described as a local thief and criminal. Given what the deputy learned so far, it seemed like Dylan might have unknowingly placed himself in danger. At just 19, he purchased 640 acres of land with his grandfather for an estimated $200 to $300,000 and built a reputation for his ambitious dreams of running a huge farm. But according to his neighbor, Dylan's confidence may have made him a target, as he often frequented rough local bars and talked openly about his financial success. After rehashing some more details with Dylan's parents, the neighbor, Jim Brainer, and his close friend, Donald Pately, arrived to help.

Both men knew Dylan well. Jim was living in a trailer near Dylan's farm and occasionally helped him with chores. And Donald was a longtime friend of the family and a supportive mentor to Dylan's farming ambitions. But unbeknownst to everyone at the time, both men knew something more about Dylan's disappearance, something they weren't ready to do. share yet. I did get a few. Okay. Last location was 15.4 miles from the boat line tower, which puts him on this back road. So I want his walk, it, would that hit him walking? Okay, that's, I really, I know my son and that's the shortest route to his camp. If he walked, that road am's right out there. If he walked, he would have come to this

corner cut across this field. But that's as close as cell phone, Pete. Not, In town, I'll not, it's out here. Mm-hmm. Off of that road, the back road into the compound. Then we go down to where it is? Yeah. What time was that, does it tell you? That was at 1558.

So right after he dropped. Just before 3 o'clock. Right after you left. So he must have pulled in right behind you, he dropped off the grain truck, and I'm telling you, I bet you he took off walking. Well, how do you get to that road from... Oh.

I... So we don't have to go all the way back. to lose in on and over. No. No, I guess we're gonna, okay. Following this lead, they quickly headed to the shed area to investigate. That's when they discovered the first troubling sign of foul play. Dylan's boots were found, stained with blood,

discarded about 100 yards south of the shed. The deputy immediately secured the boots to send them off for DNA testing and called another deputy to help search the shed and the surrounding property. However, they had no way of knowing that the biggest clue they were looking for was submerged 20 feet deep in a pond nearby. There's just some boots out there that are, they've only been out there for a day or two. You didn't see anybody else around here? I left here about 1.30 went over Don's.

Yeah, I was there until about 9 o'clock at night. And when I come back, that truck was here. It's just one thing after another. But he's a friend of mine. Sure. He'll get rid of friends. Those two boots out there, they're brand new. Like they're, they've only been out there. They're the same.

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Color leather is your boots, and they're the same ones he wears, so we're just curious of why his boots would be out there. Same size he wears, they've only been out there probably for a day or two. He might have threw him out there. Yeah, maybe he did. Does he know that's a dump out there? Yeah, he does. He's got electronics and shit in there.

I'd be... Because I say he was here. He had to have been here. Rock the truck here. Yeah. That would make sense. Based on Jim Brenner's timeline, whatever happened to Dylan likely occurred between 1.30 p.m. and 9 o'clock p.m.

The hours when Jim left the shed to visit his friend, Donald Hately. Police quickly verified Brenner's timeline with his friend Donald, who confirms that they had dinner together during that time. With Dylan's exact movements still unclear, deputies requested a helicopter to scout the area from above looking for any trace of Dylan. Who owns this right here? Um, that's the guy that he is a partner with.

This is where he dropped the great truck off. Where's this great truck? It's back to that silver building there. So the big one? Yep. Do you want to go up higher, Mike? Are you? Hey, good, please.

Do the nice high orbit. You can look at everything with the camera and then we'll come back down and see anything with her. After a full sweep of the surrounding area, no sign of Dylan or any indication of where he might have gone was found. In the following days, the search efforts continued, and Daniel's family alongside local volunteers joined in. But despite their best efforts combing through the area, they too came up empty. Attention soon turned to the local criminal, Chase Venstra. Both Dylan's mother and his neighbor Jim mentioned a recent encounter between the two, making Chase one of the last people to see Dylan alive.

Additionally, Chase already had a history of violent run-ins with the law, including a 10-hour armed standoff with police in 2016 and was well known in the area for all the wrong reasons. Luckily for police, Chase had an active warrant related to domestic violence. It was their perfect chance to bring him in for questioning. But when officers arrived at the house to arrest him, Chase was nowhere to be found, potentially already on the run from police. Officers quickly began searching the town asking if anyone had seen Chase recently. Locals directed them to the Montello Cowboy Bar, a place known to be frequented by Chase. Following this lead, officers headed to check the bar,

where they would soon learn that Dylan and Chase's encounter may have been more dangerous than anyone realized. Let's get back to the officers at Montello Cowboy Bar, where a conversation with the locals was about to reveal how Dylan's encounter with Chase may have turned violent. Island. We're trying to find a kid named Dylan Rout. Oh, I know. We got locals out here right looking at him too. They went out that way because he was out to loose in.

I was hearing Kurt say something about he had a conversation with that Chase kid. Yeah, that's who I'm looking for. Where do we find him? I'm kind of worried about it because if Dylan did walk back from where he left the grain track And Chase got a hold of him unulnerable, you know what I mean? Mm-hmm. He was walking back. Something bad could happen because there was a bad injury with a kid just out here that got his face smashed in by the butt of a gun.

And his, all his, the whole camper show was all bashed in and stuff. Where do we find Chase? Is he from here? Does he live here? Yeah, he does. He doesn't. He's from around here. This is where he hangs out.

Yeah, staying out here and he was... Where was he staying at? A thief in town, and so everybody was after him, and they finally told him to get the hell out of town and stay around. Of course, he came back, because he was just seen out here. The bar owners recap only further implicated Chase Venstra, suggesting that a violent confrontation between Chase and Dylan was more likely than ever.

But something else caught the officer's attention when one of the bar owners briefly mentioned another recent incident involving Chase. Sensing there might be more to this, the officer decided to pull her aside for a private conversation. At this point, police still considered Dillon's case a missing person, but what the bar owner detailed next would soon shift this case to one of potential homicide. Why was Chase and him having an issue, do you know? So Kerr told me, and I was overhearing part of the conversation, saying that Dylan was just driving down the road and Chase stopped it.

and so hey got some water he was like hey do you know Kurt and I guess they got an altercation about that because Chase is like Kurt's an asshole da-da and Dylan was like no he's not you know he's a good guy I work for you know I do work for him blah blah blah there's an altercation then he went on his way and I

believe if I'm not mistaken the conversation that was the same day that he drove the greater the griner over to wherever he and then whoever was there couldn't give him a ride back so he possibly want that's all I know about the conversation. How does the kid getting hit with a butt of a gun? Does that figure into this at all?

I can get dead. I think there is some because now we're talking violence. So, this kid let his property go and stopped making payments on his property because he's so scared. But he woke up to the button and of a gun into his face. They smashed his chamber. I don't know, 30s. Has a family, has kids. He's out here. Botland out here. So I'm in trying to home stead. He's not out here. And you know, or if we want to imagine. No, he left. he left to be, just probably go, was gone. With this troubling insight, it became clear that Chase Ventra was fully capable of extreme violence. If he attacked someone else recently, he easily could have done the same to Dylan.

But what no one had realized yet was that police were looking in the wrong direction the whole time, while someone far more dangerous and guilty was hiding right under their noses. The next day, while the search for Chase continued, Dylan's family reached out to police. They were conducting their own investigation and wanted to share new information they'd uncovered. Information suggesting Chase may not have acted alone. So this is the family? Yes. Okay.

So tell me again what you have suspicion to believe right now. So on 525. is when Dylan ran into chase with the desert and called in the desert and called me right after. He had no shoes on. Dylan wouldn't let him take his phone or give him a ride, but he did allow him to call his dad on speakerphone in Ogden, Utah. Okay. Dylan allowed Chase.

Dylan allowed Chase to, and then he gave him some Coke, and then his dad called Dylan back, and Dylan sent the pin from his phone to where Chase was. Okay. So then we fast forward to 528, which was Saturday. Dylan was heard from in the morning. He talked to his grandma, and he was going to take the grain truck to the shed to put it in shelter because it was raining. So at this point, we assumed he was walking back across the desert to his camper because he didn't have a ride.

This is in no, no one. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Is that ours? Lusin. Yeah. Okay. So then 529, they continued to look for in 530.

We all got here to Dillon's last known location in Loo, sin, filed the police report, got search and rescue out. That's the night we found Dillon boots about. 400 yards from where his last known location was tossed out behind a dirt pile, just out in the desert. So then today we kept searching and that's when these guys got us the information, what, about 3 o'clock today? We know that this Robert guy took Chase out to the desert where Dylan is the day Dylan went missing.

The man Dylan's mother mentioned would turn out to be Robert Avelace. He had an active arrest warrant and reportedly gave Chase Venstra a ride to Dylan's place on the day he disappeared. The family also suspected that Chase could be at Robert's house, so finding him became a priority in locating their prime suspect and hopefully Dylan himself. Officers quickly moved to track down Robert Avelace, and their first stop was Robert's residence,

where they came into contact with his mother. I don't know who that would be. Okay. I'm sorry, but I have no idea. He's supposed to be. hanging out with a guy named Chase and Robert and Robert okay i don't know chase might have an idea but my son's been homesick and he's been in bed all day and he's been home all night i don't know i'm just wondering so who's all in your house nobody nobody's in there right now no my son is in his

trailer and where's that at in the backyard in the backyard yeah well we're just trying to we're just trying to find him and no no one came home with him nobody came home with him no okay is chase here no i don't let chase on my property after i found him inside my home and i was at home we were we were told that there's possibly a kidnapping missing kid oh being here yeah no you can feel free to look around hostage situation like he's not being here no i see that's why we're here ma'am i'm not about a card look around if you want to but there's no I don't care about my son and he's sleeping. After speaking with Robert's mother, officers conducted a thorough search of the property,

but found no sign of Dylan or Chase. But they soon located Robert inside his trailer, and he was quickly arrested and transported to the police station for questioning. When detectives placed Robert in the interrogation room, they expected resistance and lies, but instead, Robert didn't hold back. So you said that Chase had taken guns from somebody, Did he admit to you, like, where he got his gun?

No, this is what I thought he got arrested for the first time. What he was in jail for when I came back. I asked Chase that. I was like, hey, man, I heard you got arrested. He's like, nah, that's just all Montello gossip, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? So I'm kind of weary after giving him a ride. I tried to show one of my mom's friends being out there in the community for a long time. He gave me his scenario.

He thinks Chase did it too. Okay? Now, I don't know the time frames because I'm not good with time, like I told you guys. I did the best I could by contacting the store lady and asking her what day I gave Chase a ride. No, because I didn't even know what day I gave Chase a ride. I didn't even know what day the kid came up missing. I didn't even know there was a kid missing until the Nevada police came knocking on our door and wanting to search our residence. You know what I mean?

And that's the truth. Although Robert admitted giving Chase Venstra a ride, he couldn't provide any clear information on Chase's current whereabouts and maintained his innocence throughout the rest of his interview. However, Robert made one thing clear. He believed Chase was involved and might have even killed Dylan. The following night, something strange happened at Dylan's trailer in the Lucent Desert. It seemed someone had quietly returned and tampered with items inside.

An officer was quickly sent out to photograph and document the scene, accompanied by Dylan's father who'd share more details about the troubling discovery. Okay, a shotgun is in a house in Riqui. Okay, that is my grandfather's that I bought, and he has a room up there, and that was the 40. It's not in here. We looked in his camper, didn't find it. No key fobs of the trucks when I broke the window, the alarm went off. we undid the battery.

No key fob. We looked in his tampering, all the cupboards and stuff, looked in the bathroom, nothing. My mother came here, she was real bad arthritis, so my sister was here, we were all out searching. She used the bathroom. Dillen had flush to go see him here. It was really nasty.

So my sister went in and cleaned it. Still no gun. Later, my son and J.D. came in, and the gun was sitting on a sink. It's outside of the bathroom, but right by the bathroom door where the toilet and the shower is, but it's not in the bathroom. The gun was sitting right there with the clip outside of it.

Okay. So my son and JD didn't think much of it. They grabbed the gun, put it in my truck. I didn't think much of it. Although they found the gun, I don't know. Then we started realizing that it wasn't there when my sister cleaned the bathroom for my mom to use and all that, and it was there. This discovery was an alarming indication that someone was actually.

trying to cover up their involvement in Dylan's disappearance. But his father had one more thing to share. Something about an old confrontation with someone police hadn't yet fully considered in their investigation. What was Chase's ties to out here? I don't know about Chase. Okay. But the whole town knows him. The whole town, they're just, it's a crazy place.

They're just all like, they're all nutty for one thing. muddy for one thing. The only people that I know of that really were in contact with Dylan is I hear the chase guy, I didn't know it, but Don and Jim. Jim was the guy you, the place you guys were up. Okay. Jim came out here and helped. Jim came to Rigby where I live. I live in Rigby and Idle Falls area. Dylan bought like 800 pigs or something from the Midwest when the pandemic hit whatever the Jonah. They brought them to my farm last test. And, Jim was there, and I, I unleashed him to get the hell out of here. He called Dylan, told me he's going to blow my head off.

Dylan called me. He got all mad. So when I found out he's going to blow my head off, I had to go see. And he's walking down laying on the farm with a big old pistol when my dad called him down and called me down. Then he came back to this winter to my shop to work on that seat truck. Fine, everything was fine. And I realized it's Dylan's friend. I'm not going to worry about this. You know what I mean?

I got to bend Tyson and stuff. According to Dylan's father, there were no further escalations after his confrontation with Jim Brenner at the time. At this point, no one had any real reason to suspect Jim Brainer or Donald Hately. After all, they'd been actively helping the family, joining search and rescue efforts, and fully cooperating with police. However, the confrontation described by Dylan's father was serious enough for the officer to take note of it. After leaving the scene, he passed this information to detect. prompting a deeper look into Jim Brenner's past and what detectives uncovered wasn't entirely unexpected.

A criminal past including convictions for aggravated assaults and multiple weapons charges, as well as a pre-existing federal active warrant for being a restricted person in possession of a firearm. Brenner's violent history and his close proximity to Dylan's farm were enough for detectives to flag him as a person of interest, alongside their primary suspect, Chase Venstra. The following day, officers moved quickly to serve Brenner's arrest warrant and bring him in for questioning. They soon spotted him casually heading back towards the grain shed

with his close friend, Donald Hately. What could I do for you guys? Well, we just had a couple things we wanted to talk to you about. We're still trying to figure stuff out, you know, and... Um, just, have you guys heard or seen anything these days? Anything new? This trash over here. Yeah.

I know names. I know people. I know, they, I, that nobody seems to want to listen to me. I get you going to see them. They're the ones coming over stealing shit. Are they? Yeah. Chase Vestra. Chase Vestra and Robert Avelis.

Oh, the one that robbed, uh, Michael Moore up here. But everybody keeps saying, and that's, you know, we need five. We need fire pulling. You need your bus to kick freaking rats nest over there. And people are going to start talking. That's the only way you're going to find out about Dylan.

There's a warrant for your arrest. I'm going to let you know about it now. From Maryland? So we're going to pick you up and take you to jail with us. Oh, God damn it. So what I want you to do, I know before you know, and place your hands on your head for me. You're going to lock your fingers.

Okay? Jim pointing fingers at Robert and Chase was understandable, given which, witness statements and allegations. But Jim's own criminal past and proximity to Dylan made him equally suspicious. Detectives transported him to the police station, planning to use the unrelated warrant charges as an opportunity to question him further about Dylan. Though they didn't expect much new information from Jim, this routine questioning was

about to lead to an unexpected breakthrough. The warrant is, it has been issued, and we're obligated by law when we found in the service. I don't know if you realize this, but there's other bigger problems going on over there than this. I'm not here to talk to you about that warrants. You just got broad. Not that Warren. Okay. We would like to talk to you about the other things that are going on Apple.

When we back you, I understand that. I know them better than you do. I work for them. That's why you're wondering if you like a simple one. like I said to one. Yeah, because I know he's known. Dylan used to go in the bar and you'd been bragging about how much money

he's made. Dylan never carried money on them. Whatever thing was credit card. But if he did have one dollar in his wallet, he wouldn't give it up. And I think this is a strong armed robbery. Somebody thought they'd see this little 5-foot-five kid.

And I think they figured, we're going to get this guy. We're going to rob this guy. We're going to intimidate him. Dylan don't intimidate with the strong armed robbery. Who do you believe in this? Chase and Robert of Villas, is there any reason anyone to say you did it?

If I did this, I'd be one of six of them. Well, there's gotten somebody that's some six of them. Some land. What about Don? But I've known Don for over two years. Don's gone out of a way to help Dylan, just like I was. As expected, Jim Brainer's statements remained mostly consistent, and he appeared genuinely convinced Chase Venstra and Robert Avilis had something to do with Dylan's disappearance.

But Brinner had more details to share, details about Dylan himself and the dangerous individuals he was attracting. Another one, Robert Lee just did 10 years in prison for strong armed robbery. And lo and behold, about three weeks ago, a fellow from Salt Lake that bought 10 years. Anchors land over Montello. Two guys went into his trailer, beat him up with a pistol with him, robbed him, took his cell phone, and made it so his vehicle wouldn't run. He had to walk into town to call the police. There's a lot of shit going on in Montello. Is he the one that they talk about being pistol whipped with the veteran down? Is that the one? Is that something different? I need to see that person.

Brenner would go on to mention several other people, mostly convicted criminals from the area who could have had strong motives to rob or even kill Dylan. Clearly, he wasn't exactly narrowing things down for detectives, but at least he appeared fully cooperative. However, in just moments, Brenner would let something slip, something that would unintentionally place him right at the center of the suspect pool. Dylan's the shy kid. His world revolves around tractors, farming.

I mean, he had a couple guns as his dad gave him, and he never, he had a shotgun and we found that. That's up in Rigby. But he always carried that in the backseat. And the pistol he had, they found that, and he was afraid to keep that loaded. He used to keep the gun in the console and keep a loaded magazine. And I told him, I said, Dylan, either need to learn how to use that thing or put it somewhere. I said, that's going to get you killed. and

late for that I was telling the dad that too Needless to say Jim's choice of words wasn't ideal and this wasn't the first time his statements had raised eyebrows as he'd previously made a similar

remark when Dylan first went missing speaking about him as if he was already dead although several days had passed and the possibility of foul play was growing detectives still found his comments odd. But with the rest of Brenner's interview, yielding nothing new, investigators booked him into jail on his unrelated firearm possession warrant,

giving them time to further investigate any possible involvement. Shortly after Jim Brenner was taken into custody, officers finally located Chase Venstra and arrested him on his unrelated warrant out of Montana. Detectives wasted no time bringing him in for questioning. But in this first interview, Chase flatly denied any involvement, insisting locals were spreading false rumors to frame him. With no hard evidence, investigators booked him into jail, but with a strategy in mind. They placed him in a cell directly above Jim Braynor, quietly hoping they would interact and at one point, one of them might talk or slip up. Pretty quickly, this tactic paid off, when Chase reached out to detectives for another interview, claiming he knew

exactly what happened to Dylan and could solve the entire case. I need to talk to you. John Ken's called you. She actually didn't call me, Ross called me, and said that you were looking to talk about, with him, talk about Brenner. Was it Brenner and just the case, basically, right?

They put me in there. I'm going to sell above Brenner. I've got to talk to him. I've talked to other cellmates. I know a lot. Okay. I know a lot. Well, I can put this thing to bed for you. Well, I mean, honestly, to be straightforward with you, I can't do anything about the charges.

Me and myself, right? They've got to be federal, right? No, they're state. I didn't even know that there were any. I want the charges drop, and I'll follow this case for you. I'm not able to do it. So I just came to talk to you to see if you had something you wanted to tell me. I got everything to tell you, but I was not.

when I'm out of these chains and in my clothes. Well, and that's what I'm saying. I can't make that kind of deal with you. So it's fine if you don't want to. That's what I want. That's fine. I want to do, I just want to be left alone. I want, but we got an ultrasound on my new baby tomorrow.

I want, I want to go be there with her. This is the first baby. I'm applying for a job with the state out there. I hope you get it. I'm done with this thing. I've been drugged through the mud with this thing with Dylan. I know how it happened, where it happened. When, I know what was used, where it's at.

Okay. I put this whole thing to bed for you guys. Well, and I... And I hate to... I wish you could, but there's not anything I can offer you. Yeah, I hate to be that way with you, but I've got to look out for me. Unfortunately for detectives, their strategy backfired. Now, Chase wanted to bargain his freedom in exchange for information he claimed to have.

But investigators had little reason to trust Chase. And without an agreement to drop his gun charges, the interview ended without providing any new leads. On June 28th, exactly a month since Dylan went missing, police were called out after a witness reported finding something suspicious in the desert, a burial site with clear signs of something dead inside. Oh, I smell something. Somebody came in an opening. It wasn't like this.

This wasn't here either. Okay, go ahead and step away. There's something dead in there. Yeah. Yeah, he killed it. Poor baby. He killed him. Yeah, so this is the only one that you found, huh? Okay. Yeah, but it wasn't like this yesterday though.

yesterday though. Okay. Somebody came and opened it. Yeah. So how did it look like? It, this was flat. So this was on top and then and then there was another wood. Amen. So there is a grave, but it's There appears to be maybe two dogs, maybe two or three dogs. Yeah, that's not a human dog. Yeah, two or three dogs inside. It looks like it's been here for some time. But the person, the RP, is telling me that it didn't look like this yesterday,

that somebody had come over and opened it up. for some reason. I will, I do have some, uh, some footprints around this too. The burial site contained dead dogs buried beneath. Not exactly what police were expecting, though it meant there still might be hope for Dylan. Just as the investigation began to settle back into a frustrating standstill, police received a call from someone they knew well.

Jim Brainer's close friend, Donald Hately. He'd been around since the early days of the search, helping the family and cooperating with officers, but now, weeks into the investigation, he wanted to speak with investigators claiming he had important information to share, something he'd kept hidden ever since Dylan vanished. Detectives immediately arranged to meet with Donald,

where they would finally uncover one of the first truly damning clues in the case. Oh, I'll tell you something. Okay. I really don't think it has anything to do in anything. You guys found ammunition and his stuff with Gios. Yeah. I used in white powder and fission. Yeah.

But he figured that would be a reason to poke you or something to stay or say whatever. So he brought us black coder, rights us over black cars. Okay. Me too. I appreciate that. Where are those? I put one behind my bed, my bedroom, the other one's leaned up in the corner next to the table on the couch.

When did you bring them after billing? Oh, yeah, definitely after. Why? Basically safety. What did you talk? Well, last time, you know, they had them in the holding for over a year, and when he got out, everything he had was gone, everything. I can't ask you what's going through.

inside of that time. But what's going through yours, when he brings you his rifles and a six gun? Honestly, it looked like he was scared that, you know, he was going to be detained for six months or a year and who was everything he had? He said, no, but he had no idea what happened to his horses last time. All his gun, everything in the own disappeared. So why do you think he's going to get detained? Or why does he think he's going to get detained for six months? Just because he's a felon and he could be held for him. So he knows he's going to be. So he knows he's the felony knows he shouldn't have them, and so he... Well, all right. I don't know. I don't know.

You know, according to him, a black powder primitive weapon is not considered firearm. Now, if he'd brought me a firearm, I said no. Okay. So sometime after, Dylan, do you remember how long after? I mean, it's only been three weeks now. That it seems like forever. I wish that kid had just gone walking down the road starting to kick his mud.

I wish to, but the longer this goes, the Lesleck did that books. Yeah. mission couldn't have come at a worse time for Jim Brainer. Although Donald explained that Jim hid the guns at his place out of fear of losing them, the timing was deeply suspicious. And for detectives, this was enough to place Brenner at the center of suspicion alongside Chase Venstra. Following this discovery, the firearms were seized and Jim Brainer picked up an additional firearm possession charge, keeping him in jail as the investigation continued. But detectives still All lacked concrete evidence against anyone, and crucial DNA results from the bloody boots

found near the shed were yet to return. It seemed like the case might stall for a while. Over a year would pass, with detectives quietly making progress, including crucial DNA results, but still no sign of Dylan himself and no one held responsible. It is until December 2023, when investigators got a call that would change everything. Jim Brainer's cellmate, who'd spent months locked up alongside him, claimed to know exactly what had happened to Dylan. Detectives quickly arranged an interview expecting another bargaining scenario similar to

Chase Venstra's, but what the cellmate would reveal instead was a chilling murder confession. It was your problem. How are you doing you, sir? Yeah, thank you. So they had said that you wanted us to come back, that you had more information? Yeah. Or did you have information before they just didn't give us all of them?

No, I didn't really have a whole lot of information then. Okay. I got plenty of information now. I got information that would probably help maybe even keep him cut the deal that he wants to cut a deal with. on his right hand nobody has noticed he's got a bite mark

he's got a bite from Dylan rounds the 22 is what till Dylan's two shots yeah the 22 did you tell you that yeah the story telling that

like two days ago three days ago go yeah go straight he said it was like six o'clock in the morning he was in there taking shit and then he heard a decent

truck drive by the place he was standing in and when he got out there he had had his 45

a gun that he put in a bolt overhoaster and Dylan had picked it up off the saw horses

that he had thrown his stuff all around moved it so he could put the truck in the shit

okay yeah and Dylan was holding the 45 and he said he got really pissed off

at him started yelling that and get the fuck out of there and Dillon's took the gun and fired it right beside his ear. That's why he came here out of his right, right side here. He said he grabbed, he grabbed the gun, he was fighting for it.

He said, and they ended up on the ground. And Dylan, Dylan ended up shooting himself in the leg with the, with the 45. And then he said that while they were fighting, the gun got fired like two or three times. He said, there's a bullet hole in the side of the building out there you can see. He said, when you guys was out there talking him, he said, he said, when you guys was out there talking to him and standing in the shed or something standing out there he said he was sitting there looking at it um and then uh he showed me a scar on his thumb too where he had stuck his hand in in the gun that was trying to keep going from firing it again but he was clicking and clinging

and it was in it his whole right hand was damaged at one time okay um but the bite mark is evident very seeable and the body is somewhere right there close by um he said he seemed tire marks over it where you guys have been driving somebody's been driving on it just give you any indication of where there's a it's just there's a lot of country out there

yeah he says in the high desert did he say that it was close to where he killed him yeah it's close it's close somewhere there where he killed him he gave him he gave like a 25 mile circumference

oh highways yeah okay so he heard Dylan drive by in his truck Dylan had backed the truck into the grain shit No, he said the truck was still parked out So it wasn't back in yet Yeah, no, it wasn't back in, and that's when they had the fight They had the fight, never went on in there

He said the round on the gun got turned He said he heard it turning Like that was a revolver? Yeah, it was a revolver He said he got to the chance where Dylan had quit biting him on his wrist he had latched on to him he said he got up and he took off out and that's when he got the 22

Dylan told him to bring his ass back in there or he was going to shoot the horse the horse was standing outside into the grain shed yeah talking about eating the horse was standing out there eating grain out of the back of the truck and then from what you're saying

did he run back of the trailer and get the funny too there's a they know that he said it was behind the bags some of grain bags he said he took three shots at him And they were all headshots. He said one of them, Graves Dylan on the side of the face. He pointed just like this to the side of the face, so it could have been red.

You know, I couldn't tell you if it was right side of us. Then he said two more shots, shot Dylan, and then that killed him? Yeah. And then what did he do? Then he got, he said he burned all his clothes. He said after he took care of everything, he burned all the clothes. The revelations from Brainer's cellmate were chilling to say the least. According to him, the argument that ended Dylan's life

stemmed from Braynor being irritated with Dylan for repeatedly using the shed he considered his own workspace. After killing Dylan, Briner attempted to cover up his crime by loading Dylan's body onto a backhoe, burying him deep in a remote stretch of the desert nearby. He then concealed the guns at Donald Hately's place and discarded Dylan's phone in a nearby pond, unaware it had recorded a damning, irrefutable,

proof of his crime. In addition to this confession, detectives turned back to the bloody boot DNA evidence they received a few months earlier. The state lab report confirms the blood belonged to Dylan, but they also found touch DNA matching Jim Brenner on the boots. Using this evidence, investigators then secured a search warrant for Brenner's phone, and by analyzing its data, they confirmed his device had traveled toward a nearby pond, the day Dylan vanished.

After searching the pond, they retrieved Dylan's phone containing crucial evidence. A video, clearly showing Jim Brenner in a blood-stained shirt cleaning a gun. At this point, there was no longer any doubt. Jim Brenner killed Dylan Rounds and had been hiding in plain sight all along. Despite the overwhelming evidence, Brenner still sought to negotiate. Prosecutors were preparing for an aggravated murder trial, but still lacked Dylan's body, so Brenner offered prosecutors a deal. He would reveal the location of Dylan's body in exchange for reduced charges.

In spring of 2014, Brenner guided law enforcement to Dylan's remains in the Lucent Desert. The burial site was several miles from the greenshed property and was so well hidden that investigators had driven over the spot during earlier searches without noticing it. Inside the grave, they located Dylan's skeletal remains, only bones and fragments of his clothing survived. On May 15th, that same year, Brenner pled guilty to second-degree murder and two counts of firearm possession in exchange for dropping charges of desecrating remains and an unrelated aggravated assault case. On July 1st, Brenner was sentenced to 1 to 15 years for second-degree murder

and two additional one to 15-year sentences for the firearms charges.