The father of a 14-year-old boy who has been missing for six months is criticizing how missing children's cases are handled by authorities in a written statement.
In an interview with The Durango Herald, Mark Redwine said that no Amber Alert was issued when his son Dylan first went missing on Nov. 19 because the case didn't meet the criteria for an alert.
“I am asking that we stop and evaluate the process as a community, to come up with a more productive approach in the search for Dylan and missing children across the country. No child who is missing should have to wait for certain criteria to be met before the public is notified and an alert be sent out," Redwine wrote. "I am asking that we stop and evaluate the process as a community, to come up with a more productive approach in the search for Dylan and missing children across the country. I feel more should be done anytime a child goes missing."
According to the U.S. Department of Justice Amber Alert site, law enforcement are required to confirm an abduction before they can issue an alert. The Amber Alert focuses on stranger abductions and requires that law enforcement take a "best judgement" approach as to whether issuing an alert is appropriate or necessary.
Dylan had been spending a court-ordered Thanksgiving visit with his father Mark Redwine when his father reported him missing from the home. Mark Redwine contacted the Bayfield Marshal's Office that day to ask for help finding Dylan, and the teen's mother contacted the La Plata County Sheriff's Office to report the disappearance. Dylan's parents are divorced.
Authorities have said that they do not believe Dylan ran away, in part because he has his cellphone and has not contacted any of his friends.
A week after the disappearance, investigators served a search warrant on Mark Redwine's home that hasn't turned up anything, while search teams have been using cadaver dogs and divers who have searched the Vallecito Lake-area numerous times.
"Mark's and Dylan's interactions and activities within the community on November 18th and 19th, as well as tips related to persons, locations and sightings remain under investigation," the sheriff's office told The Denver Post.
In February, Dylan's parents taped a heated segment on Dr. Phil.
"I didn't lose Dylan," Mark Redwine said on the taped segment.
"Then why is he gone?" Dylan's mother Elaine Redwine asks. "You have to answer that question. You had him, where is he?"
Elaine Redwine and son Cory have both accused Mark Redwine of being involved in Dylan's disappearance, a charge that he has denied again and again.
"I feel the same pain, hurt and feeling of helplessness you and your mother feel," Mark Redwine wrote to his son Cory in the letter. "I can't make this any more clear, I don't have Dylan, I have never had Dylan and I absolutely do not know where Dylan is."
Anyone with information about the disappearance of Dylan Redwine is being asked to call La Plata County Sheriff’s Office Investigators Dan Patterson 970-382-7015 or Tom Cowing 970-382-7045. There is also a tip line at 970-382-7511 that is being checked regularly by investigators. There is a reward of more than $50,000.
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