Grandmother ‘prays for answers every day’ eight years after DeOrr Kunz disappeared

IDAHO FALLS — It’s been eight years since DeOrr Kunz Jr. vanished while on a camping trip in Lemhi County, and his grandmother continues to “pray for answers every day.”

DeOrr vanished on July 10, 2015, while visiting Timber Creek Campground with his parents, Jessica Mitchell and Vernal DeOrr Kunz. DeOrr’s great-grandfather, Robert Walton, and Isaac Reinwand, a friend of Walton’s, were also on the trip.

There has been no sign of DeOrr since that day, and nobody has been charged in connection to his disappearance. Mitchell and Kunz were named suspects in January 2016 by then-Lemhi County Sheriff Lynn Bowerman but have never been arrested or charged. The parents have claimed from the beginning that they do not know what happened to their son. Reinwand and Walton have also said they have no idea where the boy is. Walton died in June 2019.

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“I still have faith and pray for answers every day,” Trina Clegg, DeOrr’s grandmother, said in a statement. “I remember all the great times, laughs and your beautiful eyes and smile. I have and will never give up hoping for the answers until the day I die.”

Trina Clegg holding DeOrr Kunz after he was born on Dec. 30, 2013. | Courtesy Trina Clegg

Lemhi County Sheriff Steve Penner tells EastIdahoNews.com that searches for DeOrr, who turned 10 years old on Dec. 30, have never stopped.

“We look at what we’ve done and new information we get and move forward with that,” Penner says. “We haven’t given up. He’s a little boy that went missing. He was lost, and when someone’s lost, you look for them.”

Professional and volunteer crews on foot, horseback and ATVs have scoured the remote campground dozens of times over the years. Searches have been performed from the air using helicopters and drones.

Lemhi County Sheriff Steve Penner — then a deputy — at the Timber Creek Campground in July 2015. | Nate Eaton, EastIdahoNews.com

Three private investigators have conducted their own investigations into the case as well, but no solid evidence on DeOrr’s whereabouts has been produced.

“I give great thanks to everyone who still helps with looking and keeping positive thoughts and prayers in the name of Baby DeOrr,” Clegg says. “I am eternally grateful for all law enforcement that continues to help seek for the answers to the nightmare at Timber Creek Campground. I love you, Baby DeOrr – today, tomorrow and for eternal!”