Unseen - Son Discovers Father's Bizarre Obsession | The Disturbing Case of Dylan Redwine | UNSEEN

Episode Date: May 28, 2024

"Did you hurt him?" -- February 2013: Dr Phil is sitting with one of his guests backstage, Mark Redwine, who appeared on the show with his oldest son Corey ,and ex-wife Elaine Hall, in an effort to find his the youngest boy Dylan, who has been missing for the past three months. Mark was the last person to see Dylan, and yet, on Dr Phil’s set, he has no answers to any of Elaine or Dr Phil's questions. As the show goes on, Corey and Elaine reach a grisly realization: Mark is hiding a disturbing secret, and he is not who he seems. External Footage From: 9News: Elaine Hall's Interview, Elaine Hall & Cory Redwine Verdict Interview CourtTV: Bizzare Photos Leads To Murder A&E: Killer Cases - Murder on Middle Mountain (S2E9) Crime Watch Daily: Diaper Leads To Death News Coverage: Denver7 News, KOAT Action News, KRQE 13 News Dr. Phil: The Search for Dylan Redwine (2013), Cory Redwine and Elaine Hall Update (2022) Durango Herald: Mark Redwine Murder Trial Court Coverage Kusa: Elaine Hall Interview ID: Still A Mystery - Down The Hill (S1E2) TruthSeeker: Dylan Redwine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You don't think that we gave enough attention to finding Dylan yesterday? This is Dr. Phil. He's confronting the father of a missing child, upset about how his son's case was handled on the show. Are you kidding me? I devoted two hours of national television time to try to find your son, and you won't do one damn thing to help. For three months, Mark Redwine refused to collaborate in this search effort to find Dylan. I am here to find your son, and I frankly don't give a damn whether you like me or my television show.

I care whether or not we find this boy. And if you've got information about where that boy is, you need to tell us. 24 hours earlier, Dr. Phil interviewed Dylan's mother, Elaine, and his brother, Corey. They too seemed to be convinced Mark was hiding something. No one can find him. You were the last one to see him, and now he's just gone. I strongly think that he's involved. How dare you point the person?

fingers at somebody when you have no proof. Little did Mark know that this footage would be used as evidence by the FBI 10 years from now. Well, I just struggle with this whole thing. If you know how many fathers with missing sons have ever refused to take a polygraph? Do you know how many have done what you've done? Zero. You, Mark, you're it. February 26, 2013, Elaine and Mark are on the set of the Dr. Phil show. their son Dylan disappeared three months ago, and the divorced couple haven't talked since.

Well, Dylan's mother Elaine says nothing her ex-husband Mark says adds up, and his explanations seems suspicious. Mark claims that on November 19th, he left home early to return around 11 a.m. Inside, he noticed that the TV was on Nickelodeon and that Dylan's backpack and fishing pole were missing. Mark talks about his backpack and a fishing pole. Dylan is not a big fisher. person. Dylan was not watching Nickelodeon. Dylan watched MTV. He doesn't know his kid well enough to make up a good lie. So your son has been missing for three months and his mother and father have not talked. Dr. Phil, I'd like to make a comment. I personally have a lot of suspicions that Elaine could be involved in this, but I don't have anything to back that up and I don't have anything to support that. Mark continued

by accusing Elaine of being the mastermind behind a grand conspiracy to kidnap Dylan. Do you honestly believed that she and a team abducted him. I was trained as a forensic psychologist, and I'm curious whether you're interested in fighting with her or if you're interested in finding your son, because since you've been out here, you haven't said one word about your son. Dr. Phil wasn't the only one thinking something was wrong. Behind the scenes, Dylan's brother Corey, who led the search effort, also began investigating on his own. At only 16, Corey was convinced he could still save him before it was too late. It's my little brother. If anybody could make it out, it'd be him. We were not going to stop until we found the sick bastard that did that to my little

brother. It all began three months ago. Thanksgiving was approaching, and the family court granted Mark Holiday visitation from his youngest son, Dylan. He did not want to go. My mom was pretty sick with cancer and we knew it would probably be her last Thanksgiving and Dylan really wanted to spend it with my mom. I called my lawyer and, you know, said, what can I do? And she said really nothing. It's a court order. You know, you really need to put him on the plane. Immediately after landing, Dylan started texting his friend Ryan. From his cell phone records, we see that Mark refused to let his son meet with his friend that evening. So Dylan planned to see him the next day, unusually early, at 6.30 a.m.

So Dylan's already asserting himself to say he's there on a mandated visit, but he doesn't want to spend time with that. The following day, Ryan woke up early and waited for Dylan to arrive, but he never showed up. Dylan wasn't seen by anyone during the entirety of the day. Later, in the evening, Mark texted Elaine to ask her if she had heard from him. The distressed mother didn't lose a minute and immediately called the police to declare Dylan missing. Please start a dispatch.

Hi, my name is Elaine Redwine. and my son, Dylan Redwine, was visiting his dad up in Durango. And his dad texted me a little while ago and said he could not find Dylan. My son wasn't even there for 24 hours, and he's missing? First, I didn't take her seriously. And she was like, well, I'm going down to Durango. As soon as she said that, I knew it was a lot more serious. In Durango, a search effort was immediately launched by Roy Vreeland, the local fire chief.

It's rugged country. It's some of the ruggedest country in North America. And my concern was the weather for that night was supposed to go below freezing. Even before Elaine and Corey reached town, the search unit already began suspecting Mark. They knew nothing about him or Dylan, but something seemed wrong from day one.

I wound up being out till 12.30, 1 o'clock that night. And one of the notable things that I saw is that Mark never came out, talked to me and he wound up turning all the lights off in his house like he went to bed, which is very unusual. Usually somebody would light up the house like a beacon. Mark's suspicious behavior continued throughout the rest of the search. For three months, he refused to participate in the effort, blocked Elaine and Corey's phones, and rebuffed news crews who were at his doorstep every single day. At some point, the locals even organized

a protest in front of his house, seeking answers. Cole's getting ready to do another interview. It was the last person to see him and he's not, you know, helping out with giving us answers that we have questions to. So until we can put all the attention back on Dylan, we've got to get it off the last person to see Dylan. He's making it as hard as he can to get the attention off of them. At this point, the area being searched was closed for the winter. As the family's hope diminished, their resentment against Mark grew,

culminating in a heated argument on Dr. Phil Set. I think Mark has something to do with it, I strongly think that he's involved. Why? He hasn't done a single thing since Dylan has been gone. Why do you say that? What is he not done? He hasn't been to any of the benefits. He wasn't there for Dylan's birthday vigil. He hasn't helped at all with the Fine Missing Dylan Red Wine Fund.

That's offensive to you. Very. And you don't even care. You don't. Where is any of your feelings? What emotion is that you're trying to get out of me? I want you to do something to find Dylan. Throughout the episode, Corey paints his father as absent and neglectful,

while Mark tries to discredit him entirely. Dylan didn't really look up to Mark. They had a relationship, but it was never what Dylan had wanted. It was always what Mark had wanted. You're being very disrespectful, and I believe that everything that's coming out of your mouth is perpetuated by your mouth. I have my own mouth. I can say my own words. I am at you.

I don't like you. hate you and you have been nothing of a father. You say he has clear motivation. What do you mean? A few months before his disappearance, Dylan stumbled upon a hidden folder while using his father's laptop. It contained dozens of pictures of Mark doing something so graphic and disturbing that we won't be showing them here. Are the photos genuine? No, they are not. Dylan's sitting on the bed and he's like, Corey, look at these pictures. And it horrified me and The images that I have seen have been photoshoped.

No, it's not making the photos. Absolutely not. When the snow finally thawed in the mountains surrounding Durango, the search for Dylan was resumed. Around that time, Mark broke his silence and contacted Tonya Goldbright, the investigator in charge of the case. Mark said that when he was moving his four-wheeler out of the garage, he found the fishing pole in the garage.

garage, which isn't possible. It had been searched and photographed and I don't know where it came from, but it was back. For months, the search had focused on the lake close to Mark's house. The authorities couldn't help but believe he had been dishonest with them all along, pushing for the search to be conducted in the wrong place to ensure no one found Dylan. Following this revelation, Corey and his stepfather started following Mark and investigating on their own, hoping they could prove he had misled the search effort. My stepfather caught him up on the mountain early one morning. And I got the call that Mark was just sighted coming off Middle Mountain Road,

and that's what turned our attention to Middle Mountain Road. The minute the mountain opened, that's really where the big search started. At this point, Dylan had been missing for over seven months, but Elaine and Corey refused to lose hope. You think he's still alive? Oh, I have to hope for Dylan. I mean, I'm his mom. I can't even, I can't focus.

There's no reason to believe he's not. And so I will always hope for Dylan. We need you home, and we will bring you home, no matter what it takes. We are looking for you, and you need to stay strong with us. We need to stay strong together. We always tried to keep hope because I felt if I lost hope, you know, then everybody else would as well. You know, as a mom, you know in the back of your mind that it's not going to end good.

Sadly, Elaine's gut feeling was right. Not even a week after they started scouring the mountain. Their search team made a grim discovery. The search for missing Colorado team Dylan Redwine has come to an end, and it's not the end anyone was hoping for. Oh, just sadness, just, you know, how could you do this to him? I can still hear his laugh. This is so ironic because he truly cares.

about other people more so than himself. I know he would have done many great things in his life and the world is a much better place. Even for the 13 years that he was here, he really touched a lot of people, and he continues to do so, even through his death. You know, when something like this happens, you just think of all the good times. And there's so many, you know, it's hard waking up and not having that right spot in my heart. As hard as it is to come to the understanding that that's what we found, we still found him. A shirt, a sock, a shoe, and most importantly, four leg bones were found by Middle Mountain Road,

not even a mile away from where Elaine's husband saw Mark the week before. The police still had nothing substantial on him, but their suspicions reached new heights after this discovery. This is investigator Tonya Goldbright. This is a phone call to Mark Redwine. Hey, Mark, it's Tanya. Hi. I'm wonderful. How are you? Oh, I'm living the dream.

The fucking dream. Are you intoxicated, Mark? Nope, not at all. Okay, then why are you talking to me like that? Deeper than the surface. He told me to pull my head out of the sociopath's ass and that women are only good for one thing, and it's not cooking and cleaning.

Because I'll be honest with you, talking. I don't think you're capable of handling us. Really, don't you think it's pretty amazing? We found any remains up on Middle Mountain? In the middle of nowhere? You know, 2% of the remains does not constitute him being found. So, you know what? Yes, it does.

He's dead. We know that now. If we hadn't gone up there and looked, we wouldn't have known that. So 2% of Dylan's remains constant to him being found. I'd like to find the rest of him, but yes, we know what happened. We know he's no longer with us. Now on a mission to find the truth about Mark, Tonya re-watched the Dr. Phil episode in which he, Corey, and Elaine appeared.

She was mainly looking for a motive, but ended up finding much more. Can you take a polygraph in this matter? I didn't ask you to take a polygraph? And what were the results? Well, there's been some conflict as to what the actual result are. They told me that I failed it. Then they told me it was inconclusive. Tonya knew about Mark's failed polygraph test,

but law enforcement usually uses such tests to establish suspicions and nothing more, since they cannot be used as evidence in a courtroom. However, in a special backstage segment aired on another date, Mark returned to the studio after Dr. Phil asked him to take a second test. to eliminate him as a suspect once and for all. He was hesitant at first, but eventually accepted. So yesterday, Mark was agitated and needed time to rest and process things. He said he wasn't opposed to taking a test.

He just didn't want to feel pressured. I want him to be totally comfortable. This is about getting real answers. So I, despite waiting, I invited Mark to come here to Paramount to meet Jack Tremarko for an 8 a.m. polygraph test. It's my understanding that Mark's here now. I'm set up. I'm just about ready for him. So if he's going to take this test, we'll just get it done.

Let's do it. I'll ask the camera to give us some privacy, and we should be done in about an hour and a half. 20 minutes into the test, Mark asked to be let go. Mark decided that he didn't feel well enough to take the polygraph test. He told me he had about three hours of sleep last night, and he had a half bottle of Jim Beam on top of things. So he doesn't feel well enough to take the test. At the time, everyone believed Dylan might still be out there.

And both Dr. Phil and Jack Tramarko couldn't believe Mark refused to help the case by taking the test. You should be doing backflips right now to take this polygraph test. You were the last person to have seen your son before he disappeared. Well, and I don't believe that. This man's done 3,500 polygraphs. You know how many fathers with missing sons have ever. ever, ever refused to take a polygraph in all his years of doing polygraph work. You know how many have done what you've done?

Zero. You, Mark, you're it. Tonya now had confirmation that Mark was deceptive. Not only did he fail his first test, he also refused to take a second one. Even though she still had no proof, she was now convinced he was the culprit, and she wasn't alone. In the last few minutes of the segment, Dr. Phil completely snapped at Dylan's father in a display of anger rarely seen throughout his long television career. I read some of the stuff you said about you don't think that we gave enough attention

to finding Dylan yesterday. Are you kidding me? I devoted two hours of national television time to try to find your son. You won't do one damn thing to help. And you'll be you. And you you want to criticize what we're doing, I am here to find your son. And I frankly don't give a damn whether you like me or my television show. I care whether or not we find this boy. And if you've got information about where that boy is, you need to tell us. Do you know where he is? No, I don't. If you're innocent, we're the best friends you ever found.

Well, I just struggle with this whole thing. During the next two years, Tonya used up all of her office's resources in an effort to gather the clues she was missing to charge Mark. After the bones were discovered, she even got a warrant to bring a CSI team to his house. But all of this was cut short when a hiker stumbled upon a teenager's skull, showing signs of blunt force trauma on Middle Mountain. When I laid eyes on that skull, I just, I knew in my heart it was Dylan. There was no question. I had no question about it. Forensic experts identified the skull as being Dillens. This, once again, contradicted Mark's claims,

who recently pushed the theory that his son might have been mistakenly shot by a hunter. Is it possible that if he was up getting away from things or whatever and wandered off to the woods barren that somebody mistake him for an animal and shot him. But this didn't seem right to Christian Champagne, the deputy DA who had been helping Tonya behind the scenes for all the, these years. The fact that he had tried to use this ploy, you know, just indicated that he was being very dishonest with law enforcement. Investigators saying the 13-year-old was murdered. Not only did Dylan's case go from death under suspicious circumstances to homicide, but Mark was

labeled as a person of interest for the very first time since his son's disappearance. And that was in 15. I thought, okay, now we're going to move forward. And again, we still didn't move forward. So in 2017, a lot of stuff changed in La Plata County. Deputy Champaign was elected as the county's next district attorney. Suddenly, one of the only men who still believed the case could be solved was in charge. Tonya and Christian had been gathering evidence for almost five years at that point. Without waiting, the new DA pushed the case to the very top of the county's priority. The new DA just pressed forward and said, you know, we're going to get a grand jury. jury and let's see what a grand jury says.

And I just told them to stick with us. It was going to be a long road. It was going to take a while, but that we were going to get to justice for Dylan. Right then and there, the grand jury indicted mark of second degree murder and child abuse. A warrant for his arrest was issued, and he was stopped by police on a Washington State Highway that very same day. He had become pretty confident that we were never going to bring charges against him, that we had never developed any evidence against him.

So he thought he was off the hook. A warrant for murder second for you. He was, I think, shocked and surprised. I felt it was about damn time. In the state of Colorado, first-degree murder requires premeditation, and the prosecution couldn't prove that Mark planned to kill Dylan. On the contrary, Tonya and Christian agreed that the murder of Dylan happened in reaction to a very specific event that occurred a few months before his disappearance.

Dylan and Corey's discovery of their father's disturbing secret. You're talking about a 13-year-old who allegedly discovers some compromising photographs of his father, some bizarre, fetish, disgusting-type photos. At the trial, Elaine was asked to read the last few texts she and Dylan exchanged before his disappearance. I've seen those a million times. But even after nine years, the mother could barely look at them without breaking down crying. To add insult to injury, the defense cross-examination attempted to demolish her character in front of the jury because she pushed Mark forward as a suspect on Dr. Phil.

I've always said that I believe that he had a hand in Dylan's disappearance. Yeah. Okay. And you've told that to a lot of people. Okay. Sure. I mean... You don't have to go anymore. They know your answer. You know, you're talking about the grieving mother of a lost child, a murdered child, and to try to attack her and trash her character, I think really felt flat. But the key witness at the trial was Corey, who, for years now, kept the full story behind

the pictures hidden so that Champagne could use it at the trial. Do you love your father? Yes. How do you feel about it? I still love him. I wish I didn't have to be here. Was there a point in time when Dylan used the defendant's computer? Yes. Did you find something on the

computer? Yes. Can you explain to the jury what he found? We'll spare you the details and we strongly discourage you from looking for yourself, but the pictures of Mark are truly horrible. A nightmare for the mind of a 13-year-old boy and even for Corey, who was 16 at the time. It's a place my mind never dreamed of going, let alone seeing it, you know, in my own father, you know, so I told Dylan after we saw the pictures, you know, You gotta keep this between me and you. But nine years ago, on the night of November 18th, Dylan's frustration got the better of him. As he kept fighting with Mark, he texted Corey into the evening, keeping him in the loop as

his father's rage unfolded. They had gotten into an argument about me and my mom being a good example for Dylan, and he didn't like to be quieted. So if he felt a certain way, he would make sure that you knew how he felt. He was just honest and to the point. I could feel the frustration and the fire in Dylan. Dylan wanted those pictures to show Mark what we had seen him as. The defense immediately tried to stop Corey from telling any further,

claiming that the pictures were photoshopped and that Mark had nothing to do with them. Champagne knew this was coming and showed a clip from Dr. Phil, filmed nine years ago, in which the television host got Mark to admit that the pictures were real. Absolutely not. So you're simply broken into your head and fabricated these pictures? No, no, no, no. I fabricated the pictures and left them available.

Was there any reason back then for him to plant photos like that for you or for Dylan? No. Elaine and Corey are convinced that Dylan didn't intend to hurt his father's feelings, but simply wished to prove his point. In the same vein, Champagne didn't show the pictures to the jury to tarnish Mark's character or add some shock value to his trial. On the contrary, just like Dylan nine years ago, he needed to make his case. We showed them for a very specific and limited purpose,

which is to show that there was conflict and a potential motive for Mark to lash out against Dylan. Now that the motive had been established, Champagne turned to the physical evidence Tonya Goldbright had amassed over the years. The jury wants to see hard evidence that this man killed his son. In the middle of the courtroom, the prosecutor brought the actual blood-soaked pieces of furniture and floorboard the police collected during their last visit to Mark back in 2015. They could see the layout, they could see the distances, and they could see the actual pieces of evidence.

There was blood on the couches. There was blood on the floor. There was blood on the coffee table. 100% Dylan Redwine's blood. After six hours of deliberation, the jury found Mark Redwine guilty on all counts. I have trouble remembering a conviction. criminal defendant that has shown such an utter lack of remorse. Corey was the last person to step up to the bar, delivering a short but impactful statement.

I can't bring Dylan back. I can only remember him, and I can't change that. But what I can do is tell the world how a 13-year-old young man stood up to his then 50-year-old father and said all the things I regret never saying. Dylan is my hero and became more of a man in 13 years than Mark as in 60. I'm so proud of Dylan and what he stood for. Dylan's name will run through our family forever, and his stories will be shared by all who loved him. To celebrate the end of their legal battle,

Dr. Phil invited Elaine and Corey back to his show in 2022. Well, I'm here with Elaine and her son Corey, who are very special returning guests, and we really had a common goal, and that was finding out what he was. happened to their precious son and brother, Dylan. Now, today, almost 10 years later, we know that Dylan's father, Mark Redwine, who sat right here on this stage and denied knowing anything, was eventually convicted of killing Dylan. He's been sentenced to 48 years in prison because he

was found guilty of second-degree murder and child abuse. If you guys hadn't pushed, I don't believe he would have been held to account. I was not going to be. I was not going to Let's let that happen. Yet those long years of struggle didn't only bring sorrow to the family. Instead, Corey matured and grew from it. Today, he has his own family and tries to inspire others to overcome their grief and even find strength from it. Dylan worked my best friend.

All of the grief, you know, that I felt has just been motivation for me. Now I'm a father myself. I'm so thankful for them and my wife being in my life, sharing it together. When I look at Corey as a father, I feel very blessed. Coming from the father that I had showed me all the things I didn't want to be as a father. However, the most poignant showing of Elaine and Corey's courage came from the interview they gave to the press minutes after the sentencing. They talked about Mark, the case, and their battle for justice, but one question in particular truly showed their unwavering determination

to honor and celebrate Dylan's short but impactful life. Can you tell me how you would like people to remember Dylan? Everybody that knows Dylan knows how to remember him. He really brought a lot of a lot of joy in everybody's life and he's unforgettable. I'll remember Dylan for what he was when he was alive, how bright and how powerful he was as a young child. These nine years have been focused on his death and it's a complete misrepresentation of who Dylan really was. So our family will do everything we can to keep who he was as a person in the forefront of our minds and try to live our best life for him and make him proud of us.