COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. _ The father of Dylan Redwine was arrested Saturday in his son's death, five years after the 13-year-old Monument boy disappeared while visiting his dad near Durango, the La Plata County Sheriff's Office said.
Mark Redwine was taken into custody in Bellingham, Wash., after a La Plata County grand jury indicted him Saturday on suspicion of second-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death. He is being held on a $1 million cash-only bond while La Plata County seeks extradition to Colorado.
Dylan's mother, Elaine Hall, said Saturday her ex-husband's arrest was a long time coming, but the wait will be worth it if her son receives justice.
"I understand how difficult a case like this is to prosecute, to come with all the evidence and make sure everything sticks," she said at her home in Monument. "It's something we've been waiting for, to get justice for Dylan. It's never easy when any of this starts unfolding because we know an arrest will not bring Dylan back."
Hall believes Dylan aided in the investigation, led by a new sheriff and district attorney in La Plata County.
"I think Dylan has been an integral part in all of this," she said. "It's like a game of chess and he's been moving the pieces accordingly.
"Dylan was one of the sweetest people and the world was a better place because he was here with us, even though it was a short time. Thirteen years is not a long time. There's so many things he missed out on. There's not one day that goes by that I don't wish I could turn back the clock. But I can't do that."
Hall said she has theories about why Dylan was killed, but that no reason suffices for a father to take the life of his son.
Dylan's remains were discovered northeast of Durango in the Middle Mountain area in June 2013, a few months after the boy disappeared during a court-ordered visit for Thanksgiving with his father in Vallecito in 2012.
In the years since the boy's disappearance, Hall and Dylan's older brother, Cory Redwine, have accused Mark Redwine on national TV of being involved in Dylan's death. Hall filed a wrongful-death lawsuit, in which she accused her former husband of causing Dylan's death. Mark Redwine countersued his ex-wife, accusing her of negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress _ blaming him for their son's death.
The wrongful-death lawsuit was dismissed in December 2015 because it was filed after the statute of limitations. The countersuit was dismissed for lack of evidence last year.
In 2015, the boy's death was ruled a homicide and La Plata County investigators named Mark Redwine a person of interest. He had maintained his innocence throughout, saying there is no evidence a crime was committed and speculating that Dylan ran away or was killed accidentally by a hunter who then covered up the body.
According to the indictment, Dylan's blood was found in several areas of Mark Redwine's living room, including the couch, the floor in front of the couch, the corner of a coffee table, on the floor beneath a rug and a love seat.
Dylan is believed to have been killed soon after he arrived in Durango on Nov. 18, 2012. At the time his parents were engaged in a contentious custody dispute and Dylan was reluctant to be alone with his father, the indictment states.
Mark Redwine met Dylan at the Durango airport, then took him to Walmart and McDonald's before going to the father's home. Surveillance video from the airport and McDonald's showed little personal interaction between father and son. Dylan was never seen or heard from again, the indictment states.
The indictment listed the following as probable cause for the charges against Mark Redwine:
The two had argued and fought during a previous visit and texts that Dylan sent indicated he preferred to stay with a friend rather than his father. Mark Redwine refused to allow it.
After the boy disappeared, La Plata County authorities searched Mark Redwine's home, finding blood that DNA testing later matched to Dylan, in several locations.
Partial remains were discovered in June 2013 about 8 miles from Mark Redwine's home, near a road that neighbors reported seeing him traveling on an ATV.
Two months later, on Aug. 5, 2013, a cadaver dog alerted to the presence of human remains in Mark Redwine's home, on the clothes he was wearing the night Dylan disappeared and in the bed of his pickup.
On Nov. 1, 2015, hikers came upon Dylan's skull further up the road from where Dylan's partial remains had been discovered.
Lyle Wilmarth, a state wildlife officer, told investigators that no animal would have carried the body up the mountain or taken the skull more than a mile further.
The skull had signs of injuries caused by blunt force trauma, forensic anthropologists determined.
The indictment speculated that Mark Redwine and his son might have fought after the boy arrived at his father's home over a contempt of court accusation that Mark Redwine admitted had been left on his kitchen table where Dylan could see it, or "compromising" photos of Mark Redwine that Dylan's brother, Cory, had shown him.
