The tragic mystery of DeOrr Kunz: New TV special sheds light on disappearance of 2-yr-old boy four years ago and why he's never been found
LEODOE, IDAHO: Four years after the disappearance of 2-year-old DeOrr Kunz during a camping trip, a new TV special will showcase never-before-seen interviews by the toddler's mother and great-grandfather.
In an episode of HLN's 'Real Life Nightmare', set to air Saturday, November 16, footages of DeOrr's mother, Jessica Mitchell, and his great-grandfather, Bob Walton - both of whom accompanied the toddler on the ill-fated camping trip at the Timber Creek Reservoir in Leodore, rural Idaho, in 2015 - being interrogated by the police regarding the boy's disappearance are featured.
DeOrr's father Vernal Kunz, and Walton's friend, Isaac Reinwand, were also present on the trip.
In a sneak peek of the episode, obtained by the Daily Mail, Mitchell is seen telling the investigators that Walton felt "guilt" over her son's disappearance - something that the great-grandfather vehemently denied. "I think he feels guilty about it. I feel like he's putting a lot of this on himself, and it's hurting his health pretty bad," Mitchell said, adding, "He loved Little Man to death."
While Walton insisted that the boy was last seen with his parents, Mitchell and Vernal have maintained that they left their son in the care of his great-grandfather as they went exploring the campsite. Both of their accounts of the child's disappearance suggested that DeOrr must have been alone for at least 20 to 45 minutes before anyone noticed his absence.
Walton has said that he did not harbor any guilt over his great-grandson's disappearance as he was not that close to him.
While Walton has never been named as a person of interest in the child's disappearance, back in January 2016, Lemhi County Sheriff Lynn Bowerman said that the authorities believed Mitchell and Vernal knew the whereabouts of DeOrr or whether he was dead or alive.
Following the kid's disappearance, Bowerman told Fox News that they had deployed horses and helicopters in the search and rescue mission, all of which covered a 2.5-mile radius around the campsite but never found a clue that could help them solve the case.
"We've literally torn that country apart and found absolutely not one clue," she said.