How Dylan Rounds' Dream Was Stolen by a Jealous Squatter

Script for Humble Mysteries, episode 10

In the heart of the Great Basin Desert, a railroad was built in the 19th century. The thirsty steam engines needed a place to replenish their water supplies, and a town of Lucin was established in the state of Utah. After the railroads’ employees left, the town was populated only here and there with its most prominent resident settling in in 1997. Ivo Zdarsky, the owner of the Ivoprop, a company that produces propellers for ultralight aircraft, found his home in Lucin after escaping the communist Czechoslovakia. He established the Lucin airport and is to this day the most notable resident of Lucin. Lucin is located on the other side of the Great Salt Lake, in the unforgiving desert landscape as far as the eye can see.

But our story begins in Idaho, where on August 1st 2002, Dylan Rounds was born to his parents Candice and Justin. After his parents’ divorce, Dylan spent time going back and forth between their two households, nurturing very good relationships and close bonds with both of his parents.

Dylan was a kid who very early in his life fell in love with farming and placed it in the middle of his heart and life. His mom said he was born in the wrong generation. He was a kid who never even learned to play video games because his world consisted of tractors, farming machinery, crops and planting and harvesting schedules. It is difficult to imagine a teenager so deeply dedicated to what he thought was his calling, he wasn’t saving up money for a new pair of Air Jordans or PlayStation 5, or a new car… He was saving up to buy his own farmland. And not to buy it and have it and enjoy it - he knew that he would need to work hard to work the soil and produce crops.

And this is where we go back to Lucin. After saving up money from fixing up tractors and trading and selling farming equipment, Dylan felt that he had enough to buy his first farm. One day he heard about a place from a man he worked with and then drove to the Utah and Nevada border with his grandpa and there, in the desert, saw a piece of land he loved. A piece of land that to any of us would look like a patch of dry dirt. But Dylan immediately saw potential. His grandpa added a portion of the money and they ended up buying the land together for Dylan to start his own farm.

In the following weeks and months, Dylan slowly moved his farming equipment from Idaho to Utah. He also moved a trailer so that he could live in it. By the time he moved all of his stuff to Utah, the pandemic had already started so there was no school, and Dylan was free to move to his farm for the season and start working. Farming is difficult work even when the soil is rich, well watered and nutrient dense. But farming in the desert seems like something only the bravest would dare do. 

Dylan’s mom said that he was a go-getter and wasn’t scared of working hard. She said he was born doing grain harvest. And rather than being someone whose family had to ask for his help when they needed it, he spent all of his free time farming. It was his hobby and Dylan had big plans for the future. Farmland in Idaho was too expensive, and Dylan didn’t want to wait, so Utah was the next best option. Dylan didn’t want to go work for a big farmer, he wanted to be a big farmer, and thought that this patch of land in Lucin had everything he needed to start his own farm - water rights, good soil that  needed a little bit of work, and his own two hands.

In Utah, Dylan chose to plant alfalfa. Alfalfa is a perennial crop that’s been used as livestock fodder for centuries, and it is still to this day an important crop in dairy farming especially.

I wasn’t able to find this information anywhere, but from what I gathered, I assume Dylan’s farm used center pivot irrigation. Those types of farms are very distinguishable because from above they look like perfect circles of green in the middle of the desert, and if you look at the satellite images of the area around Lucin, you will see farms that look like that. That’s why I think Dylan used the same method to water the soil.

Now, while he wasn’t working on his farm, Dylan also worked for two other farmers in the area, helping them with their farm work. At the same time, he also had two men who helped out on his farm. Dylan’s dad said that he could do the majority of the work himself, but would sometimes need help with some machinery or lifting something heavy.

Dylan had enormous support from his family in what he chose to do. Not only his parents, but also his grandparents. During the farming season, Dylan would live on his farm, and then spend his winters in Idaho. In 2022, he had just started his third season. With big plans of developing the entire valley in the unforgiving desert, Dylan looked forward to another successful harvest later that year.

But that would all change on Saturday, May 28th 2022. It was around 6:45am when Dylan spoke to his grandmother that Saturday. It was a brief conversation, mostly focused on what’s next on the farming schedule. Dylan ended the call abruptly because it had started to rain, and his grain truck was out, full of seed. And even though the seed was under the tarp, Dylan knew better than to risk his seed getting wet. It could sprout, rot or get moldy, and he didn’t want that.

About 5 miles away from where his trailer was parked, there was a shed in which Dylan would park his grain truck truck. Now, from my research, I believe that this shed was on another property that Dylan didn’t own, but he had the permission of the owner to use the shed

Not far from the shed, a man named James Brenner parked his trailer and was squatting. Again, I found contradicting information about this. Some sources say he was squatting on Dylan’s property, some say he was squatting on the other owner’s property where the shed was. In any case, he was trespassing, and was there illegally. And for my European listeners, and others who might be asking why squatting is such a big deal, we’re not talking about a pose. It’s when someone stays at a property that’s not theirs without permission of the owner. It’s trespassing, and it’s illegal.

In any case, Dylan told his grandmother he would call her back as soon as he parked the truck. But the whole day went by and Dylan never called. On Sunday, May 29th, Dylan’s grandmother called the men who helped out on Dylan’s farm to go check on him. They went to check and, although Dylan wasn’t there, nothing seemed out of the ordinary or out of place.

They reported back to Dylan’s grandma and I guess she thought Dylan must have gotten really busy, and didn’t find the time to call her back.

The next day, which was Monday May 30th, Dylan’s mom, Candice, got a call from Dylan’s best friend who asked her if she had spoken to him recently. She said she heard from him on Thursday, and although she texted him a few times over the past few days and he didn’t reply, she didn’t think anything was out of the ordinary, because he would get sporadic in his responses during busy times on the farm. 

His dad, Justin, also spoke to Dylan on Thursday. He said the conversation was nothing out of the ordinary, and they talked about tractors.

But nonetheless, once his family and friends all started talking among themselves and putting a timeline together, it became clear that no one had heard from Dylan since he spoke to his grandma on Saturday morning. And that was not like him. He wasn’t in constant contact with any of them, but he was always in contact with someone, and the fact that they couldn’t find anyone who’d heard from Dylan in over 48 hours, was concerning.

Dylan’s parents and grandparents then decided to drive to Lucin to go find Dylan. During the 3 hour drive, they were probably thinking about what could have happened. His mom said that when he parked his grain truck into the shed, he would have had to walk 5 miles back to his trailer. Their assumption was that he got injured walking back, and he was stranded in the desert. They thought maybe he was bitten by a snake, or he simply lost or broke his phone. In any case, they were driving to Lucin fully expecting to find Dylan. His mom said that the worst thing they expected was finding him injured and having to take him to the hospital.

But when they arrived at the farm, they found everything kind of how it always was. The trailer was there, the farming equipment was there, and Dylan’s truck was there. Dylan, however, was not.

Elder Box County search and rescue teams arrived as well, and started searching the area. The same day, Dylan was reported missing.

So the family, obviously, knew Dylan, his routines and the way his farm was set up. The grain truck was in the shed, and even though nothing seemed out of place at first, when they took a closer look, there were some things that just didn’t make sense. The key fob to Dylan’s truck was missing, and the truck seemed too clean for the dusty, muddy, desert environment. The family said the truck was definitely power washed as there was no dust on the truck and no mud on the tires. The only place mud was still visible was in the wheel wells. After Dylan’s dad got permission from law enforcement to break into Dylan’s truck, they noticed a few more things that raised their concerns.

The driver’s seat was moved all the way forward, as if a person much shorter than Dylan was the last to drive it. 4 wheel drive was on, even though 4 wheel drive did not work on Dylan’s truck. Dylan obviously knew that, and so did his family, so they found it very odd that the 4 wheel drive was on.

But the biggest discovery happened closer to the shed where Dylan’s gain truck was parked. Remember, Dylan’s pick up truck was parked next to his trailer, and that was 5 miles away from his grain truck. 

Not far from the shed there was a little mound of dirt, and behind it, hidden from view, the family found Dylan’s boots.

Dylan’s mom said it was this discovery that cemented in them the belief that something is terribly wrong, for multiple reasons. She said that Dylan didn’t have another pair of boots, those were his only ones. She also said he always wore a specific pair, would wear it until they fell apart, and then bought the exact same pair again. The boots they found were not old, they weren’t unwearable. And on one of the boots the family spotted a dark spot, possibly a drop of blood. 

Dylan’s mom said there was no way Dylan would have taken the boots off by himself, or willingly let anyone else do it. If his boots were taken off, it was because he wasn’t able to stop it from happening, for whatever reason.

After these discoveries, Dylan’s family knew something had happened to him against his will. Law enforcement, however, didn’t take it as seriously from the beginning. Even though they took Dylan’s boots, they didn’t really handle them as evidence. The boots were placed in the police vehicle, and remained in there for days before they were finally taken for forensic analysis. The police said they kept the boots for cadaver dogs, but cadaver dogs search for dead bodies, why would they need boots?

Massive searches were organized in the area. ATVs, dogs, horses, drones, helicopters and planes all assisted the search efforts. But Dylan was nowhere to be found.

And as days went on, without any concrete findings and almost no support from the authorities, Dylan’s parents decided to turn to the public for help.

It was known that Dylan frequently visited the town of Montello. Montello is another small, desert town, in Nevada, just across the state border. It is where Dylan would go to pump gas in his truck, get groceries or socialize in one of the two bars. According to the 2020 census, 66 people live in Montello.

And even though the distance from Lucin to Montello is about 27 miles, Dylan spent a lot of time there.

Now, Montello is not some desert haven by any means. The desert is a good place for people who generally don’t like the government or society in general. People with something to hide often find remote places like Lucin and Montello quite comfortable. But people who knew Dylan all agree that Dylan didn’t go to the desert to escape the law, the government or the society. He went there to achieve his lifelong dream of being a farmer on his own farm. 

But that inevitably meant that he would have had to socialize with some people who didn’t have the same values as him, or same life goals. And, it is in Montello that Dylan was last seen on May 26th. This is considered the last time he was seen alive, as confirmed by multiple eyewitnesses. Credit card transactions also confirmed Dylan was in Montello on May 26th.

So Dylan’t mother hired a private investigator who, according to him, uncovered some connections that Dylan had with some less than ideal individuals in Montello. I don’t want to get into more specifics about that here, as Dylan’s family categorically denies any of those allegations are true. The family broke ties with the investigator, and eventually, the information he uncovered, whether it was true or not, did not prove relevant to the case.

Candice Cooley, Dylan’s mom, recalls how difficult it was to get law enforcement to take this seriously. The investigation was led by the Elder Box County Sheriff’s Office and they were in communication with the family of Dylan Rounds. However, because they didn’t view the case as criminal, they didn’t want to cross the state border to check the tips and leads the family had about people in Montello.

Candice also recalls a phone call she received from Dylan on May 25th, when he told her he ran into a man in the middle of the desert in Lucin. The man was disoriented, bloody, and barefoot, and asked Dylan for a ride.

Later, a man named Chase Venstra came forward and called law enforcement to explain that it was him who Dylan ran into, and that Dylan actually did give him a ride. He wanted to clear the air and say that he had nothing to do with his disappearance. When no one from the Sheriff’s Office called him back, Chase Venstra called Dylan’s mom and explained to her that Dylan did give him a ride, and when Chase asked him for water, he gave him his old soda because he didn’t have water with him.

Candice later spoke to law enforcement and told them about Chase Venstra, but the officials, even though they knew he called, and knew why he called, brushed it off, and said they didn’t think it was anything relevant. Dylan didn’t know Chase Venstra, but they probably ran into each other at some point in Montello.

Law enforcement believed that Dylan just got sick of farming and left, probably wandered off into the desert. Some people believed he must have taken some hallucinogenic drugs and walked out into the desert where he succumbed to the elements. Suicide was also being brought up.

But Dylan’s parents were absolutely adamant that there was no way Dylan would have just walked away from his lifelong dream. Not without talking to his support system first. He was a man of habits, always wore the same clothes, the same boots. His routine was the same, day in and day out. He wasn’t interested in partying, he wasn’t interested in anything other than farming, and his parents were running out of ideas on how to make law enforcement take his disappearance seriously.

So let’s talk about James Brenner, the man who was squatting close to Dylan’s shed. Now, unlike Chase Venstra, who Dylan’s family didn’t know, Brenner was someone they were more familiar with. Even though there are reports out there that he was a family friend, Dylan’s dad Justin is adamant he was never anything more than just an acquaintance they knew from Idaho.

What exactly Brenner was doing in Lucin isn’t known, but maybe his lengthy criminal history can give us some idea why he was fond of this remote area. In the 80s, Brenner ended a heated argument with a coworker by shooting him. He was also arrested for illegal possession of a firearm and was not allowed to own any firearms. 

Dylan’s parents had a weird feeling about Brenner from the very beginning. I think they felt uneasy about him being in such close proximity to their son. His dad tried to talk to him about people he will meet in his life, and how not everyone is your friend. Something a good hearted, hard working teenager didn’t have enough experience to know. Dylan, however, brushed it off and said that Brenner was just an ass. 

He most likely didn’t consider him dangerous. Justin, Dylan’t dad, one time overheard Brenner talking trash about Dylan in a very disparaging and jealous way. And then the same happened when they came to Lucin to look for Dylan. Brenner told them that Dylan wasn’t a fighter and that he doesn’t have it in him to own and run such a big project at such a young age. Brenner told them Dylan can’t do anything right and that he shouldn’t own a gun if he doesn’t know how to use it. 

And listen, this to me sounds like a jealous, jealous man. He is mad that his right to own guns was taken from him, and now he can’t stand that a kid as young as Dylan can legally own his own gun. He also has some major envy about Dylan’s drive, the fact that he owned his own farm and worked hard.

Now, when the family arrived in Lucin on Monday, May 30th, they found Brenner cleaning the shed. He was putting stuff into bags, but when Dylan’s parents checked the shed afterwards, expecting it to be clean and tidy from all the cleaning Brenner claimed he was doing, they were surprised to find it dirty, full of trash and empty alcohol bottles.

It was later found that after Dylan went missing, Brenner approached a neighbor and asked him to hide several guns for him for his own safety. The neighbor later came out to the police and said that the last time Brenner had trouble with the law, they took everything from him and Brenner obviously didn’t want the things he had left to be taken again. And by things, he means guns, clearly, since Brenner wasn’t able to own them legally anymore. Brenner, apparently, also told Dylan’s parents that Dylan drove his grain truck into his horse fence and damaged it. First of all, my guy, why are you building a horse fence on a property that doesn’t belong to you?

Now guys, as I mentioned before, several items belonging to Dylan were missing when his family first arrived on Monday. Most notably, the key fob for his car, his wallet, his phone and his gun.

While his family stayed in Lucin for the next few days, they used Dylan’s trailer. They cleaned it when they came, and searched it, hoping to find something helpful. Two days after their arrival, on June 1st, Dylan’s key fob was returned to the trailer and placed on the counter. The next day, on June 2nd, Dylan’s gun was returned and left next to the sink in the bathroom.

Someone was entering the trailer while they were gone each day and returning these items.

And this is why it is such a shame that law enforcement didn’t take this case more seriously from the beginning. Because, as we will learn soon, had they searched Brenner’s trailer and his personal belongings on the day Dylan’s disappearance was reported, they would have most likely found both the gun and the key fob in his trailer, and this whole case could have been solved a lot faster. 

Thankfully, though, on June 15th 2022, this case was finally considered criminal as elements of foul play could not be ignored any longer, and the FBI joined the investigation as an assisting agency.

After that, Dylan’s truck and trailer were finally towed, and forensic analysis had finally begun. 

In June, it was reported that the dark spot on Dylan’s boot was indeed, blood, and it was later proven that the blood belonged to Dylan.

That same month, James Brenner was arrested on federal charges and booked into the Weber County Jail in Ogden, Utah.

In July that same year, the police named James Brenner the main suspect in the disappearance of Dylan Rounds and it finally looked like the investigation was going somewhere. And then finally, on March 3rd 2023, James Brenner was charged with Aggravated Murder and Abuse or Desecration of a Human Body. 

This was a huge victory for Dylan’s family because it meant the investigation brought forward enough evidence to charge Brenner with murder even though Dylan’s body had not yet been found.

So let’s talk about some forensic evidence.

Firstly, we had pings from Dylan’s phone. After his phone call with his grandma, Dylan’s phone pinged in the vicinity of the shed where he parked his grain truck. The phone moved a few times that morning before eventually pinging at 3:51pm that same day, and the location of that last ping was at the Lucin Pond. The pond was eventually drained, and on the bottom of it, Dylan’s phone was found. 

Dylan’s boots were eventually forensically analyzed and the droplet of blood was confirmed to be Dylan’s. In addition to that, Brenner’s DNA was also found all over the boots.

Now, even though Dylan’s phone spent some time at the bottom of the Lucin Pond, the experts were still able to retrieve data from it. And so, a video was extracted from his phone, timestamped to the time when Dylan disappeared.

The video is a timelapse and it is unclear who started the video, and by unclear, I mean to us, the public. But in the video, James Brenner can be seen with blood stains all over his arms and shirt cleaning a gun.

Later, that shirt was found in his trailer and the DNA analysis confirmed that the blood on the shirt was Dylan’s.

It is also speculated that the gun he was seen cleaning was Dylan’s gun.

According to law enforcement, Brenner was interviewed and made several claims that corroborated forensic evidence in addition to making numerous demonstrably false statements.

And then the most recent update in this case happened on April 9th this year when it was announced that the remains of Dylan Rounds have been found. Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office released the following statement: “On April 9, 2024, skeletal remains presumed to belong to Dylan Rounds were recovered in the remote western Box Elder County area of Lucin. The FBI assisted the Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office by processing the area for evidence and recovering the remains. The remains are in the possession of the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner for confirmation of identity.”

It was said that Brenner led the police to the place where he disposed of Dylan’s body as part of his plea deal, however, the details of the plea deal have not yet been released.

And this is where this case stands today, guys. I wonder what you think about it all and do you think this investigation could have been done better?

I get so upset when law enforcement doesn’t take missing persons’ cases seriously, and this one felt particularly frustrating because Dylan’s family were so adamant about it. They obviously knew Dylan very, very well, and I think it would have made a difference if the police listened to them a bit more.

Dylan’s family has been truly inspiring through this ordeal. His parents are divorced, but have shown a completely united front throughout this process, appearing in interviews together, having each other’s backs and just being decent human beings concerned with the fate of their son. If there were any lingering disagreements between them, we were not able to see any. Just two parents advocating on behalf of their missing son with same fervor and drive.

I wish to express my sincere condolences to all of Dylan’s family and his friends. 

Unfortunately, we may never know what happened that morning on May 28th 2022. Did Brenner shoot Dylan because he damaged his horse fence? Was it something else? His envy, his untamed jealousy and hunger for guns? We will probably never know.

When Dylan was about to turn 20, Dylan’s mom did an interview and said that he spent his 19th birthday farming. It was harvest season, and Dylan was working. However, since he wasn’t there to celebrate his 20th birthday, she invited people to plant seeds and flowers on August 1st, which is Dylan’s birthday, in memory of this driven, courageous and ambitious young farmer.

It is so difficult to listen to these stories of young lives being lost, but it was especially difficult to hear Dylan’s story. His drive, ambition and maturity beyond his age is truly something to be admired. He dared to do what many more experienced farmers wouldn’t. He believed in his knowledge, skills and abilities even against all odds. And he knew that to make his dreams come true, the most important thing he had to do was work. Work hard, work smart, just work and don’t give up. And that is a message I think we can all stand behind.