Dylan Redwine’s mother and friends will gather Monday – on what would have been his 18th birthday – at Dylan’s memorial bench at Pine River Cemetery.
The boy disappeared just before Thanksgiving 2012 while visiting his father, Mark Redwine, during a court-ordered visit at his Vallecito home. Partial remains of his body were found on Middle Mountain in June 2013.
No arrests have been made in the case, but the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office has said Dylan’s death was a homicide, and Mark Redwine has been named a person of interest in the investigation.
Dylan’s mother, Elaine Hatfield Hall, said she believes her ex-husband killed their son.
“There never has been any doubt,” she said. “We have looked to every avenue, and it always points the same finger back at him.”
Her son wouldn’t have wanted his family to quit living after he did, she added.
“We’re focusing on him and what’s right for him,” she said. “We are clearing this case up, and making sure the person who did this to him gets their time.”
While she acknowledges the upcoming birthday will be difficult, she wanted to have an opportunity for his friends and community members to gather to remember him.
“It will be a little celebration for Dylan because he can’t be here for his 18th birthday,” she said.
Nearly five years after his death, his classmates remembered their friend.
“It’ll be five years this November since Dylan went missing, and I’d be lying if I said it did not have a huge impact on myself, my class and this community as a whole,” wrote Jackson Sibley, a friend of Dylan’s and a senior at Bayfield High School.
“Dylan’s birthday is a time for all of us to just be thankful that we knew Dylan for the time that we did, and to remember that even though he is not here physically, he always has been and always will be with us.”
Hall said the community support after Dylan’s disappearance and death has been positive.
Not a day goes by without her thinking of her son, but she knows she and her family have to keep moving forward.
“I see all of his friends, and they’re playing sports,” she said. “Every year is hard.”
Speculating about what her son would be like today, she wonders if he would be planning to go to college, or if he would have a girlfriend.
“He would be driving,” she said. “What would his plans be? His friends are reaching 5’11” and 6 feet tall. Who would he be today? Every day it crosses my mind. He would be establishing his independence.”
Lt. Dan Bender of the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office said in an email the case remains open, and District Attorney Christian Champagne said he is working closely with the Sheriff’s Office on the case.
Hall said all are welcome to Monday’s 11 a.m. event.
