Father gets 48 years in jail for death of 13-year-old son

Durango - Mark Redwine's son went missing while on a Thanksgiving visit to his father's home

A Colorado father has been sentenced to a maximum 48 years in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death in the disappearance of his 13-year-old son nearly a decade ago.

Mark Redwine, 60, was sentenced on Friday by La Plata County District Court Chief Judge Jeffrey Wilson, The Durango Herald reported.

Redwine was indicted in 2017 in the disappearance of Dylan Redwine, who was reported missing in November 2012 while on a court-ordered Thanksgiving visit to his father’s home outside Durango in southwest Colorado. Dylan Redwine’s remains were found a few miles from his father’s home in 2013, and hikers found his skull in 2015.

A jury convicted Redwine in July after less than a day of deliberations.

The case drew national attention when Redwine and the boy’s mother, Elaine Hall, levelled accusations at each other over their son’s disappearance on the syndicated “Dr. Phil” television show in 2013.

“I have trouble remembering a convicted defendant that has shown such little remorse for what they’ve done,” the judge said.

Redwine didn’t speak during the sentencing hearing. But he did maintain his innocence in comments he wrote for a pre-sentencing report. Judge Wilson read those comments aloud.

“Innocent of all charges. Miscarriage of justice. Fake conviction. Sham trial,” Redwine wrote. “ ... I take this circumstance very seriously and want to make clear that I too have lost a child I love more than life itself. I will fight for true justice, not for myself but for Dylan.”

Prosecutors argued at trial that Redwine killed Dylan after Dylan discovered embarrassing photos of Redwine wearing women’s lingerie. They presented evidence that Dylan’s relationship with his father was in long decline and that Dylan told family and friends he dreaded the court-ordered visit.

A forensic anthropologist testified at trial that Dylan suffered a fracture above his left eye and that two marks on his skull were likely caused by a knife or sharp tool at or near the time of death. Fred Johnson, special deputy district attorney, testified that investigators found traces of Dylan’s blood in Redwine’s living room.

Hall testified that she sent Dylan to his father’s house on November 18, 2012, learned he was missing the next day and suspected her ex-husband wasn’t telling the truth about their son’s disappearance.

Redwine didn’t testify at trial. But he told investigators he left Dylan alone at home to run errands and that Dylan was missing when he returned. Defence attorneys suggested Dylan ran away and may have been killed by a bear or a mountain lion.

Public defender Justin Bogan also suggested that Hall’s appearance on national TV turned public opinion against her ex-husband and influenced the direction of the police investigation.

District Attorney Christian Champagne addressed Redwine during Friday’s hearing.

“After the passion of whatever caused you to act the way you did subsided, you didn’t think about Dylan. You thought about yourself, you sanitized the crime scene, you hid Dylan’s body and you went so far as to remove his head from the rest of his body,” Champagne said.

Hall said that her ex-husband’s sentence was “justice for as far as justice can go. ... There will never be enough time for taking Dylan’s life, but at least he hopefully won’t get out. Hopefully he’ll die in prison.”

Redwine, a truck driver, was arrested in Bellingham, Washington, following the 2017 grand jury indictment.

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