DeOrr Kunz investigator: I think we know ‘how,’ we’re just trying to figure out 'why'

On Saturday, Jan. 16, a private investigator hired by the family of DeOrr Kunz, Jr., released his findings in the case of the missing Idaho Falls toddler.

Philip Klein of Klein Investigations and Consulting believes DeOrr was killed - either accidentally or on purpose. Klein and his investigators have ruled out the possibility that the child was taken by an animal or abducted.

Klein agreed to participate in a Skype interview with EastIdahoNews.com reporter Nate Eaton to answer further questions on his investigation. Below is a transcript of the interview.

We've reached out to the Lemhi County Sheriff's Office for the latest on their investigation into DeOrr's disappearance. We are waiting on a response.

Nate Eaton, EastIdahoNews.com: You guys issued a statement on Saturday morning that got a lot of people talking. You announced you have narrowed down your investigation.

Philip Klein, Klein Investigations & Consulting: Right. Let me give you a little base history on it. What we did was we came into this case cold. That means we didn’t discuss our case with law enforcement and we didn’t discuss it with anyone. We came in only knowing that there were four people on a mountain and a child had disappeared.

We started to re-create this case all the way from the beginning. There were three theories that we had come up with in the beginning.

First – the possibility that there had been an animal that had gotten the child and killed the child.

Second – that it could have possibly been an abduction situation or what we call ‘forced abduction.’

Third – it could have been a possible homicide.

We began to build this case back up from the ground level. We’ve now done over 80 interviews, 500 man hours of investigation, (taken) countless sworn statements and what we’ve come up with simply is this:

There was not an animal that took the child in this situation.

There was no forced abduction. This includes the black Rubicon (theory). We can find no corroborating statements and no corroborating witnesses. We can find nothing that can corroborate this. So we are absolutely, beyond a reasonable doubt sure was not an abduction case.

That leaves us with one last possible theory: that the child could have died up on mountain either accidentally or possibly with intent. So now we are sinking our teeth into that part of the case and we’re developing that part of the case.

Eaton: Either way, it sounds like you’re saying DeOrr is not alive.

Klein: It is our firm’s belief, and the nine investigators involved in this case, that we do not believe that DeOrr Kunz is alive.

Eaton: Where do you guys go from here?

Klein: Where we go from here is pretty simple. We are continuing to develop our case regarding two possible (scenarios).

Number one - that an accident happened up there and DeOrr is possibly still up there and that he just was missed.

The second (scenario) is there was an intended removal of the body from that area. Our concern continues to be, as we have visited with a lot of the first responders that were there that day and witnesses that were there that day, that none of the dogs were able to hint on any scent. We are concerned with that.

We are also concerned with other information from folks that have come forward regarding (auxiliary) issues up on the mountain that day.

What we are going to do is totally focus on those witnesses and those leads and we still have, I’d say, five maybe six really good active leads still working.

I think that there’s going to have to be a re-creation again of that day. This time I think all the forces coming together re-creating that day.

What I mean by forces is we are actively working with our information and providing it to law enforcement. We’ve met with law enforcement and I believe we’re all on the same page on this.

I think some witnesses are going to be brought back in and re-interviewed and I believe that law enforcement has begun that process.

At this point we will be coming back up to Idaho very shortly and we will be re-doing those (interview) so the focus now is on the four folks that were up there that day.

We’re not blaming anybody, we’re not accusing anybody. Now it’s time to focus on those four people and let’s get to the bottom of this thing.

Eaton: Are you expecting a big break soon?

Klein: I don’t know about a big break. I think it will happen faster than we even thought. I think we’re satisfied that the case is moving faster than we thought it would move. I think we are focused on the incident of that day – the timeline. There are some things that match, some things that don’t match. I think we go back through that timeline and we try to piece together that day.

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