A Colorado father’s trial began Monday over accusations that he allegedly murdered his 13-year-old son in 2012.
Mark Redwine is charged with second-degree murder and child abuse for the death of his son, Dylan, who was reported missing on Nov. 19, 2012, the Denver Post reported. The first set of Dylan’s remains were discovered in 2013, about eight miles from Redwine’s home in La Plata County, while his skull was found nearly a mile away from the other location in 2014.
During the trial’s opening statements, prosecutors argued that Redwine killed Dylan on Nov. 18, 2012, after the 13-year-old discovered photographs of his father dressed in women’s underwear and eating feces from a diaper. Special Deputy District Attorney Fred Johnson said it is likely that Dylan showed his father the photos the night of his death, the outlet reported.
“A damaged relationship, exposed with compromising photographs, photographs in the hands of a 13-year-old who is disgusted by it, which triggered a violent rage in the defendant,” Johnson said in his opening statement. (RELATED: Mom Charged With Strangling 4-Year-Old Son, Police Say)
After two mistrials, Mark Redwine, accused of killing his 13-year-old son, will stand trial. @FierroNicole is covering opening statements today. You can watch it live on #FOX31NOW at 2:30 p.m. @KDVR https://t.co/HOFwUXLy6T
— Alex Rose (@AlexRoseNews) June 21, 2021
Johnson further argued that when investigators roamed the woods to find Dylan, Redwine turned out all the lights at around 11 p.m. despite his son being missing, the Denver Post reported.
“At a time when most people would have been out in the woods with a flashlight, a time when most people would know to leave the light on in case a child was lost in the woods … At 11 p.m., the defendant’s house went dark. Dylan was gone,” Johnson said.
John Moran, Redwine’s defense attorney, argued that prosecutors cannot prove that the photographs had an involvement in Dylan’s death, the Denver Post reported. Moran argued that a wild animal, not Redwine, killed Dylan given that a tooth mark was discovered on his skull.
“If the prosecution could find an expert to say people who do that [take fetish photos] are more likely to kill their child, that information would be given to you,” Moran said, according to the Denver Post. “Mr. Redwine did not kill his child.”
In 2012, investigators reportedly found traces of Dylan’s blood in his father’s living room and a cadaver sniffing dog smelled human remains in the back of Redwine’s pickup truck, according to the Denver Post. Moran argued blood is likely to be found in the average person’s home and called the dog’s sniffing “junk science.”
The trial is expected to continue until mid-to-late July, the Denver Post reported.