SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Utah) – There is a growing rift between Dylan Rounds’ family and the private investigator hired to find him.
The dissension has grown to the point Candice Cooley is now talking with an attorney to consider their options.
“Now that’s been an absolute mess,” said Cooley from her home in Idaho. “That’s why I went public with the phone conversations.”
Her son, 19-year-old Dylan Rounds was last heard from on May 28th. He was operating his own farm near the town of Lucin in western Box Elder County.
The private investigator, James Terry was hired by Dylan’s grandparents to find out what happened to him.
Terry who is from Mississippi has gone on several Youtube channels and radio talk shows expressing his theories behind Dylan’s disappearance.
“The details of this case which I was verified finally last night by several callers on radio shows have now vindicated me from some of the things I’ve been saying,” Terry said in an interview with ABC4.
Terry claimed Dylan got involved with the wrong crowd in the town of Montello Nevada. The community of 50-people is about 30 miles from Lucin. Dylan’s farm is on the outskirts of Lucin. When his family lost contact with him, they arrived at the farm and found it abandoned. His boots were found a short distance from a grain truck. Those boots are now being analyzed, according to Cooley.
Box Elder County Sheriff’s Department is now calling it a missing persons/criminal investigation. The FBI has also joined the investigation.
But the social media chatter by the private investigator has Dylan’s mother upset and they’ve now cut ties with him.
“This guy has taken this story and all the information we’ve given him,” said Cooley. “He has not collected it himself, and has twisted it into this sick and disgusting plot that he has changed three times.”
Cooley recently took to social media posting a notice that the private investigator is no longer working on behalf of the family.
She posted “once we decided to go a different direction, unethically Mr. Terry has taken to sharing these rumors, conspiracy theories and crazy accusations into the public eye.”
Terry who is not licensed in Utah said he was hired by the grandparents who live in Idaho. He said Idaho doesn’t require a license. Unlike law enforcement which keeps information secret, Terry has gone public on social media.
It has paid off because he said he is getting many tips from people who knew Dylan. He said he stands by the information he found.
“I am still looking into it mostly to clear my name because of what’s been put out on social media and by Candice Cooley who I was never working for or with,” he said.
But Cooley claimed Dylan’s grandparents no longer want him on the case either.
“I want to collect the reward,” he said.
Terry has solved missing cases throughout the nation. His style is not to turn information over to law enforcement. He is known to find the missing person and bring them home or notify the family where the person is.
But his style doesn’t fit with Cooley and her family.
“Dylan’s not here to defend himself,” said Cooley. “And Dylan is not a … Trust me.
Cooley and her family now have a $100,000 reward offered to anyone who knows his whereabouts and if it involves a criminal act, obtain a conviction.