<\/p>\n
A contentious legal battle between Mark Redwine and Elaine Hall, the parents of a teen boy who went missing nearly four years ago, came to an end Tuesday in a La Plata County courtroom.<\/p>\n
District Judge William Herringer dismissed a countersuit filed by the father against his ex-wife. The initial lawsuit filed by Hall against Redwine was dismissed late last year.<\/p>\n
Dylan Redwine went missing in November 2012 and some of his remains were were later found above Vallecito Reservoir. The cause of Dylan\u2019s death remains unsolved.<\/p>\n
The feuding parents took the witness stand Tuesday during a half-day trial to litigate the counterclaim, which accused Hall of negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.<\/p>\n
More specifically, Redwine accused Hall of threatening him on social media, encouraging violence against him, stealing from his home, damaging his property, and generally blaming him for their son\u2019s death when there is no evidence to suggest his involvement.<\/p>\n
Redwine and Hall tried to mediate their differences, but Hall said Redwine was asking for $50,000, and that wasn\u2019t going to happen. So they went to trial on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
In an oral ruling, Herringer said Hall has expressed her opinion, and nothing she has said or done is so \u201cextreme and outrageous as to shock the conscience\u201d \u2013 a legal standard that must be met to prove emotional distress. And he said no evidence was presented showing she stole or vandalized anything of Redwine\u2019s, and if so, what the value may have been.<\/p>\n
The judge said he was troubled by the manner in which the case was litigated. During testimony, he repeatedly stopped Redwine\u2019s lawyer, Christian Hatfield, for his line of questioning, saying he asked compound questions that were more like a fishing expedition or recitation of facts rather than laying a foundation and seeking inquiry.<\/p>\n
After Tuesday\u2019s ruling, Hall said she is glad to have the case resolved, but she looks forward to the day when criminal charges are brought against Redwine, \u201cwhich is the most important piece\u201d to seeking justice for Dylan.<\/p>\n
In an hour-long interview after the ruling, Redwine said he doesn\u2019t believe charges will ever be brought in the case, especially against him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWould it surprise me, yes, because I don\u2019t think that day will ever come,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they don\u2019t have it by now, they\u2019re never going to have it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s lost faith in the La Plata County Sheriff\u2019s Office, which is not staffed or equipped to handle an investigation of this magnitude, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a bad taste in my mouth about La Plata County,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve got a bad taste in my mouth about the La Plata County Sheriff\u2019s Office. I\u2019ve got a bad taste in my mouth about the judicial system.\u201d<\/p>\n
He believes investigators were slow to respond, may have contaminated evidence by going in and out of his house \u2013 the last known place where Dylan was seen \u2013 and failed to collect possible evidence, such as a cereal bowl Dylan used the morning he went missing that was left on the kitchen counter.<\/p>\n
Redwine is not convinced a crime was committed, he said. There\u2019s not a \u201cspeck of evidence\u201d to suggest anything illegal happened, and the Sheriff\u2019s Office hasn\u2019t revealed why it thinks Dylan\u2019s death is a homicide, he said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s \u201cwithin the realm of possibilities\u201d Dylan ran away or went for a hike, and a hunter heard him in the woods and accidentally shot him and covered it up, he said. It\u2019s just one possibility. He\u2019s trying to keep an open mind, whereas his ex-wife concluded from Day 1 he was involved and pushed investigators in that direction, he said.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s worried Tuesday\u2019s ruling will embolden Hall to make more accusations against him and rally others to condemn or harm him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis victory for Elaine is about justice for Elaine,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not about justice for Dylan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dylan, who was 13 at the time, went missing Nov. 19, 2012, a day after he arrived in town from Monument for a court-ordered visit with his father for Thanksgiving. The community and law enforcement organized numerous searches until finding a few bone fragments June, 23, 2013, in a forested area on Middle Mountain several miles northeast of his father\u2019s home near Vallecito Reservoir.<\/p>\n
The La Plata County Coroner\u2019s Office classified the death as a homicide, and in August 2015, the La Plata County Sheriff\u2019s Office identified Mark Redwine as a person of interest. But no arrests have been made.<\/p>\n
Redwine said he filed the counterclaim that was dismissed Tuesday in response to Hall\u2019s wrongful-death lawsuit, in which she accused her former husband of breaching his parental duties, and, in effect, causing Dylan\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
The wrongful-death lawsuit was dismissed in December 2015 because it was filed after the statute of limitations.<\/p>\n