Controversial Facebook group settles lawsuit with father of missing child
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - The leaders of a controversial facebook group called "Justice for Deorr" has settled a libel lawsuit with the father of the missing boy.
It has been 9 years since 2-year-old Deorr Kunz jr. disappeared from Timber Creek campground in Lemhi County.
In the years since, the boy's father Vernal Kunz has been the target of online theories that he was somehow involved in the disappearance. Those theories sparked by controversial private investigator Phillip Klein, according to lawyer Allen Browning.
Browning says two individuals, Kali Pearson of Washington and Manny (eh-bar-ah) Ibarra out of Idaho are responsible for spreading many of those rumors online - even to the point of paying for ads containing false accusations at the local Royal Theater chain.
Browning says, Vernal agreed to drop the lawsuit against the pair after they agreed to stop spreading misinformation.
"Kali has agreed to apologize publicly for making baseless false claims against Vernal and has agreed that she'll stop," Browning told Local News 8. "She's agreed that she will stop fund-raising for Philip Klein because he hasn't done any good in this. He's done more harm than good."
Philip Kline released a statement on social media in response to the lawsuit.
He writes -
According to Browning, the Kunz family had hired Klein to find their son, but cut ties with the investigator after he failed to do so. Browning says Klein was fired because he tried to frame Vernal Kunz of murder.
"As far as the people wondering, 'does Vernal support efforts to find his child?' Yes, he does," said Browning. "There's a private investigator that's doing very good work on this by the name of David Marshburn. He's from back east, and he has actually been working on this case without pay."
