Crime, Conspiracy, Cults and Murder

Podbit · Crime, Conspiracy, Cults and Murder

Ep. 117 | Mysterious Missing Children Cold Cases

Explore episode Jul 1, 2026
True Crime
The Human Cost of Suspicion — DeOrr's Parents Fall Apart

Ep. 117 | Mysterious Missing Children Cold Cases · Jul 1, 2026 True Crime

Vernal DeOrr Kunz was driven to suicidal ideation by relentless online accusations that he killed his own son. He left Idaho Falls entirely. The couple split; Jessica Mitchell remarried and stayed. His lawyer sued the administrator of a Facebook group called Justice for Baby DeOrr. A child disappeared — and a family collapsed in every direction.

Where this was said

Private Investigators, Polygraphs, and a Defamation Lawsuit

At 32:21 · chapter starts 31:10

Three private investigators worked the DeOrr Kunz Jr. case over the years, and the saga reads like a textbook in chaos. Frank Vilt arrived in August 2015, initially concluded kidnapping, reversed course to accuse the parents of lying within a month, cut ties in September, and died in August 2023. Philip Klein, brought in by the Kunz family in November 2015, concluded the boy was dead and the parents knew what happened; by March 2016 the family had fired him, but he claimed anonymous funding kept him working the case. Klein alleged Mitchell knew where DeOrr's body was but refused to say. Most explosive: Klein reported Vernal Kunz failed 5 polygraphs and Mitchell failed 4 — saying in 26 years he had never seen results that bad. Kunz and his father took Klein to court for defamation in 2017, but a judge dismissed the case in 2019 for insufficient evidence of slander. David Marshburn, the third PI, disagreed with Klein entirely, focusing suspicion instead on Rainwand and continuing to work with the family as of 2025.

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