Man pleads responsible to killing Dylan Rounds; mother says he was ‘mad’ about the place Rounds parked

BRIGHAM CITY — The person charged with Dylan Rounds’ homicide pleaded responsible on Wednesday, shortly after serving to investigators find Rounds’ stays.

James Brenner, 61, pleaded responsible in Utah’s 1st District Courtroom as a part of a plea deal that resolved three separate circumstances. A cost for aggravated homicide, a first-degree felony, was decreased to homicide, a second-degree felony, and a cost for desecration of human remans, a third-degree felony, was dismissed.

Brenner additionally agreed to reveal the placement of Rounds’ stays. He supplied data that helped legislation enforcement discover his stays close to Lucin, in Field Elder County, on April 9.

Rounds, 19, went lacking after Might 28, 2022, and the Field Elder County Sheriff’s Workplace spent 1000’s of hours investigating the case and trying to find him, with help from companies in a number of states.

Blair Wardle, deputy legal professional for Field Elder County, mentioned he labored intently with Rounds’ dad and mom to evaluation the plea deal and potential sentencing. Within the plea deal, attorneys agreed to advocate a compulsory jail sentence and that sentences for various fees would run consecutively.

“We might undoubtedly been ready for it, proper. It is a large elephant out of the room. It is undoubtedly a reduction in that sense,” mentioned Rounds’ mom Candice Cooley.

The doable sentencing within the case of 1 to fifteen years “isn’t justice. It is not. But it surely’s what the legislation is,” she mentioned.

Cooley informed KSL the household was informed Brenner had been “mad that Dylan put his truck within the shed that day. That is it, simply mad. It was completely shameful that that is what it’s over, after which that is in all probability all we’ll ever get out of him. There isn’t any authorized association that may make him inform us precisely what occurred that morning,” she mentioned.

Nonetheless, “We are able to take a deep breath now. We do not have to surprise what the following cellphone name’s going to be,” Cooley mentioned.

Brenner additionally pleaded responsible on Wednesday to 2 counts of possession of a firearm as a restricted individual, a third-degree felony. A cost of aggravated assault in an unrelated incident and a 3rd cost of possession of a firearm, each third-degree felonies, had been dismissed.

“With the ability to deliver Dylan residence and produce this prosecution to a profitable conclusion is a good reduction,” Field Elder County legal professional Stephen Hadfield mentioned in a press release. “It has been superb to see what the tireless and unrelenting efforts of so many various individuals can accomplish.”

The legal professional’s workplace expressed condolences to Rounds’ household and gratitude to them and different volunteers who helped legislation enforcement in the course of the course of the case.

Brenner is scheduled to be sentenced July 1.

Rounds’ household began a nonprofit in his honor that was introduced earlier this month.

“Whereas we had hoped for a special consequence, we now have recognized for the reason that begin Dylan was now not alive,” they mentioned in a press release. “This latest improvement means the investigation has gone full circle, and now we will lastly deliver Dylan residence and shut this chapter.”

Contributing: Andrew Adams