LEMHI COUNTY, Idaho — It's been six years since two-year-old DeOrr Kunz went missing on a camping trip with his family in eastern Idaho. The investigation remains ongoing, but there has been no sign of DeOrr and no one has been charged in connection to his disappearance.
Throughout all of this time, the Lemhi County Sherriff's Office remains persistent to find him.
"I think he deserves to be found," said Lemhi County Sheriff Steve Penner. "We've been given that task to try to find him and I think that's largely the motivation."
New developments in this case have been far and few between in recent years, but Penner said it still remains an open investigation. The Sheriff's Office has been the lead investigative agency on this case since DeOrr's disappearance on July 10, 2015.
Penner told KTVB there is another big search planned at Timber Creek Campground for this summer. The Sheriff's Office does a search like this every year and will do a series of follow-ups if anything of interest is discovered.
Over the years, multiple private investigation teams and the FBI have helped assist in extensive searches of the area.
"We'll have some K9s involved and some trained searchers," Penner said. "We're getting some assistance from the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, they're still actively involved which has been very helpful for us."
Investigators have areas at the campgrounds where they have more interest and plan to spend more time there based on details from past searches. What Penner said they're looking for now are small details and making sure to keep their eyes close on the ground for any new discoveries.
"You have to stick to the facts you have, do the work, see what you've done and continue to overlay the new and the old and see if it changes the picture," Penner said.
There have been thousands and thousands of volunteers hours put in to aid in the search. While some points in the past six years have been somewhat defeating, the goal to find DeOrr remains just as strong as it was six years ago.
"You can't just let that get in the way and guide your investigation," Penner said. "I just reiterate, he deserves to be found. I think that's what kind of keeps us going, that's what keeps the volunteers going."
Watch KTVB anchor Kim Fields' special report from 2019 on DeOrr's disappearance: