Suspect in Dylan Rounds murder case pleads guilty
BRIGHAM CITY, Utah (ABC4) — Just over a year after he was formally charged, James Brenner pleaded guilty to the death of 19-year-old Dylan Rounds.
Brenner appeared in the First District Court of Brigham City on Wednesday, May 15 where he accepted a plea deal from the prosecution, according to the Box Elder County Attorney’s Office. The plea deal required Brenner to disclose the location of Dylan’s remains prior to today’s court date.
Dylan’s remains were recovered on April 9.
In exchange for Dylan’s location, Brenner received a reduction in his charges. The first-degree felony aggravated murder charge was reduced to a second-degree felony murder charge. The second charge of desecration of human remains was dismissed.
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Brenner also pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of a firearm by a restricted person and a third case for aggravated assault unrelated to Dylan Rounds was also dismissed. The plea deal mandates a prison sentence and the sentences for each charge must run consecutively.
“Being able to bring Dylan home and bring this prosecution to a successful conclusion is a great relief,” said Box Elder County Attorney Stephen Hadfield. “It has been amazing to see what the tireless and unrelenting efforts of so many different people can accomplish. We wouldn’t be here today without each of their individual contributions.”
Dylan Rounds’ mother Candice Cooley told ABC4.com she knew the guilty plea was coming since the plea deal had been in progress since March 1.
She said “It’s good to have that giant elephant out of the room,” adding that before he pleaded guilty she was worried he might back out of the agreement.
“It’s been hard waiting for this hearing, just knowing that he could back out,” Cooley said. “Brenner could back out at any time he wanted, even leading law enforcement to demand remains. But we couldn’t back out.”
However, she said that while the family agreed to the bargain, they are not satisfied with it. She says Brenner could serve more time on the gun charges than for murdering her son.
“It’s just unfair. It’s not right. Here is our innocent son out there living his dream, and this evil person murders them. And so he gets all the rights, and our son gets none. It’s not right,” she said.
Cooley says she now hopes to help other families and make reforms to the justice system. She is currently working with officials and organizations to help make changes, and now that the case is over, she will have more time to focus on those efforts.
Dylan Rounds went missing in May 2022 after speaking to his grandmother. Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office received a missing persons report shortly after that. In the two years time, until his remains were found, the Box Edler County Sheriff’s Office dedicated thousands of hours to the investigation and search with the help of over 30 agencies in and outside of Utah.
ABC4 covered the investigation and search for Dylan extensively.
Brenner became the lead suspect in the case as he was one of the last people that Dylan contacted. According to the charging documents, deputies discovered a pair of boots belonging to Dylan, one of which had a blood stain on it. A DNA analysis confirmed the blood belonged to Dylan and there were traces of Brenner’s DNA on them.
In October 2022, authorities officially declared Dylan’s disappearance as a homicide investigation. Brenner was formally charged with aggravated murder in March 2023.
Brenner will be sentenced on July 1, 2024.
Cooley said she would not be speaking at the sentencing as she has “nothing to say to that man.”
“Nothing I say will make any impact. He is evil and he is cold. It will just probably thrill him to know how much he’s hurt our family. So I have nothing to say to him,” she said.
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