Dylan Rounds’ family starts nonprofit in his honor
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Less than a month after the remains of Dylan Rounds were found, his family officially launched a nonprofit organization — called Dylan’s Legacy — in his honor.
ABC4.com spoke with Dylan’s mother, Candice Cooley, about what the organization means to her, and she said it is “heartwarming” to speak with families in a similar situation and walk them through it.
“He was gonna build his own legacy. And that got cut short,” Cooley said. “So, now I’m going to build one for him. We’ll just do it in a different way.”
PREVIOUS STORY: Skeletal remains confirmed to be Dylan Rounds, his mother speaks out
Cooley said she and her family have been working with other families to search for missing loved ones, but they were waiting to go public with it until they found Dylan. The nonprofit offers a resource page for those who visit the website.
Cooley said there are online “trolls” and many groups that aren’t certified, accredited or recognized by law enforcement who offer their services. She and her family found that out through their own experiences.
“We want, through Dylan’s Legacy, to be that safe place after everything we went through,” Cooley said.
Cooley said the organization is focusing on education regarding K9 task forces, drone awareness and family support. Dylan’s Legacy works with a K9 task force based in Idaho Falls that Cooley said is dispatched across the country to help find missing persons.
“There is no manual, there is no guidebook, nobody can guide you through it,” Cooley said.
LEARN MORE: What should you do if someone goes missing?
Cooley said her family was unaware that if law enforcement doesn’t invite a K9 team in, what the team finds may be dismissed in court.
“Any accredited dog team, K9 team, will not self-deploy,” Cooley said. “We had quite a few self-deploy on Dylan’s case. And we didn’t know.”
Dylan’s Legacy already has a success story. Cooley said the mother of a missing child reached out to her, and they were able to find the missing person and bring them home after bringing media awareness to the situation.
“When you have a child go missing and you can’t find them, it never goes away,” Cooley said. “And so when you have somebody that you can talk to that gets it, that’s huge.”
Cooley wanted other families to know that there are people out there that they can trust in these situations, such as Missing in America Network. She urged families to not post about missing loved ones on their own social media accounts — especially if a reward is being offered.
“Contact Missing in America Network,” Cooley said. “They’re all over Facebook, they’re all over online. They will do it for you and they will control the situation.”
Cooley also said families should “stop and think” before doing something.
“Stop and think what the repercussion might be in the case of who you’re looking for,” she said.
Cooley said nearly 20 people have already reached out to Dylan’s Legacy about their own situations. While Cooley said she can’t help everyone in every situation, just having someone to talk to who has been in a similar situation can be helpful.
“There’s really a lot that needs to be changed, to help protect people and bring them home,” Cooley said. “That’s our goal, is hopefully a family does not have to go through what we went through.”
Cooley said she will be doing a lot of lobbying during the next legislative session.
“Dylan will have a legacy,” his mother said.
Dylan Rounds’ disappearance
Around May 30, 2022, Rounds’ mother first discovered no one had seen her son in a few days. His family reportedly traveled to Utah after not hearing from Rounds and becoming concerned.
“We knew our son,” Cooley previously told ABC4.com. “Dylan would never walk away from that farm. Ever.”
In June 2022, it was confirmed that a pair of boots belonging to Rounds was found on the property where he was living in a camping trailer.
In July of 2022, a suspect was named in connection to the disappearance of Dylan Rounds. That suspect was James Brenner, who was being held on unrelated federal firearm charges.
Previous reports indicated Brenner was reportedly “squatting” on Rounds’ property. He was also said to have a violent past.
In August 2022, Nevada authorities executed a search warrant on Brenner’s home.
In October 2022, the case was declared a homicide investigation by Box Elder County officials.
In March 2023, Brenner was formally charged with aggravated murder and abuse or desecration of a human body. According to documents, digital forensics revealed a time-lapse video allegedly showing Brenner cleaning a gun with blood on his arms and shirt.
Officials say they obtained Brenner’s shirt, analyzed it and discovered DNA belonging to Rounds.
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