Dylan Redwine discovered sordid pictures of his father during a 2011 Midwest trip with him and his older brother, Cory – shattering the then 12-year-old boy’s image of Mark Redwine.
Cory Redwine testified Wednesday that Dylan discovered the photos of Mark Redwine eating feces from a diaper, while dressed in a diaper and women’s clothing.
“Dylan lost any reason to look up to Mark that day,” Cory said.
The testimony came during the third day of the trial for Mark Redwine, 59, for second-degree murder and child abuse resulting in Dylan’s death.
While Mark Redwine was sleeping during the 2011 trip, Dylan discovered the photos on Redwine’s computer, became agitated and struggled to get Cory’s attention.
“He was pretty disgusted. It was something he had to try to contain himself,” Cory said.
Dylan eventually showed Cory the photographs after the two had locked themselves in a hotel room bathroom.
Cory then took photos of the photographs with his cellphone.
In opening statements, prosecutors said Dylan’s confrontation with his father about the photos was the trigger that sent Mark Redwine into a rage leading him to kill his son during a 2012 Thanksgiving holiday court-ordered custody visit in Vallecito.
Before Cory Redwine’s testimony, Elaine Hall, Dylan and Cory’s mother, told of her frantic search that began Nov., 19, 2012, when Dylan first was reported missing by Mark Redwine.
As Dylan Redwine was boarding a plane to begin his court-ordered 2012 Thanksgiving holiday visit to Vallecito, Hall said she teased a hug out of her son.
“He was boarding his plane; he was walking away. I said, ‘Oh, you’re too old to give your mom a hug?’ And he came back and gave me a hug,” she said, wiping her eyes with a tissue.
It would be the last time Elaine Hall saw her youngest son alive.
Hall recounted the frantic day of Nov. 19 when Dylan was discovered missing, crying when shown pictures of her son smiling with friends the day before he left Colorado Springs, where he was staying with his mom.
Hall, only months before Dylan’s death, had won an acrimonious custody battle in which Mark Redwine had objected to her moving Dylan to Colorado Springs.
The custody hearing was part of a contentious divorce that lasted from 2005 through 2009 before the divorce was finalized, but custody disputes continued through the summer of 2012.
Hall cried again when Dylan’s clothing, pillow, pillow case and other belongings were displayed. They were items she had given to law enforcement hoping tracking dogs would be able to locate her son.
In text messages sent to her ex-husband on Nov. 19, 2012, she expressed her suspicions.
“He wouldn’t just leave,” she wrote. “He would have called me. I am so suspect of you right now. How could he just disappear?” she texted Mark Redwine.
On cross-examination, Hall told public defender Justin Bogan she had no knowledge that Dylan confronted his father about the photos of Redwine.
Hall also said her participation in a public rally outside her ex-husband’s house and active posting on social media were all efforts to find Dylan.
“I was frantic,” she said. “It was so surreal. You don’t expect anything like this to happen to you. I figured he was safe because he was with his dad, and I was devastated that no one knew where my son was,” she testified.
After leaving Monument at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 19, 2012, she arrived at 2 a.m. the next morning in Bayfield and went to the Marshal’s Office, then to a friend’s house.
She said she got no sleep that day.
Wednesday court proceedings ended with Cory Redwine still on the stand.
Dylan’s older brother testified that during a subsequent trip involving Dylan and his father to watch Major League Baseball games, Dylan texted him that he wanted Cory to send the compromising photos of his father to him.
The request came after Mark Redwine had told Dylan that Elaine Hall and Cory were not good role models for him.
“Hey send me those poop pics of Papa because he gave me a speech about you guys being a bad example and I want to show him who he really is,” Dylan texted his older brother in August 2012.
Cory had decided not to send Dylan the photos, worried that while Dylan was with his father, whom he had lost confidence in, the pictures would only inflame an argument.
“I didn’t want to fuel a bigger fire,” he said.
In total, Dylan made seven requests for Cory to send the sordid photos to him, Cory testified.
Judge Jeffrey Wilson abruptly ended Wednesday’s proceedings during Cory Redwine’s testimony when Cory was asked about a discussion of the photos he had during an episode of the “Dr. Phil” show.
Wilson said he would have to have discussions with the attorneys before testimony continues.
parmijo@durangoherald.com
This article was republished on June 24 to attribute a paragraph to a story by Shelly Bradbury of the Denver Post.
