On July 10, 2015, at 2:28 PM, a 911 call was placed from Timber Creek Campground in Leadore, Idaho. The caller—Jessica Mitchell—reported that her two-year-old son, Deorr Kunz Jr., was missing. Within hours, law enforcement and search teams were swarming the remote location. Within days, the case had become a mystery that haunts Idaho to this day.
What few people know is that one of the earliest pieces of forensic astrology done on this case—done by me—helped change the direction of that initial search.
When I first cast the 911 call chart on July 16, 2015, one placement chilled me to the bone: asteroid Shaftesbury conjunct the Sun at the “evil” 18th degree of Cancer. That symbolism—the heart of the chart aligned with a name suggesting a shaft, a drop, a pit, or burial site—immediately suggested to me that baby Deorr had not simply wandered off. I believed he had been hidden in a mine shaft or sinkhole, about 10 miles away, something deep and deliberate. I felt this way because in my discussions with the family, I was led to believe they suspected Isaac may have secreted off the boy, and the astrology seemed to show that someone had. I called Search and Rescue and shared my concern. The very next day, officials expanded the search area to ten miles. That is now on the record.
What I didn’t know at the time—but learned later—was that Vernal Kunz, Deorr’s father, worked as a truck driver for a mining company. He may have had access to, or knowledge of, the kinds of locations that would never show up on a map. In other words, he might know exactly where to make a body disappear.
Astrologically, the Sun wasn’t alone. It formed a wide conjunction with Mars, out-of-bounds at 12° Cancer, in the 9th house of the outdoors and wilderness. Mars in Cancer is volatile and emotionally reactive—when out-of-bounds, it can be violent, unpredictable, and desperate to avoid consequence. Also in Cancer: Mercury at 3°, square the North Node in the 12th house, and applying to a trine with Neptune in the 5th—suggesting that a false narrative was being shaped, centered on a child, wrapped in confusion, and rooted in secrecy.
The Moon at 14° Taurus told its own story. It was exactly conjunct the name asteroids Verne and Dioretsa, representing Vernal and baby Deorr. The Moon also trined Pluto in Capricorn, placed in the 3rd house of cars and local travel. This smooth aspect tells a grim story: that at the moment of the 911 call, Vernal and Deorr may have recently been together—and Deorr may have already been dead.
Further deepening the chart’s tragedy is Phaethon at 29° Gemini in the 8th house of death, opposite Saturn at 28° Sagittarius. Phaethon is the asteroid most associated with automobiles and reckless motion, and its opposition to Saturn—the planet of karma and consequence—hints at an irreversible moment involving a vehicle. That axis squares Venus at 27° Leo in the public 10th house, showing us how this case would become a media storm of grief and accusation, and for me personally, a moment that activated both my natal Moon and Mars.
The chart’s tension builds around a mutable T-square involving BobWeber (21 Libra), opposite Uranus and Karma on the Ascendant/Descendant axis, all square the Sun and Shaftesbury. This is an axis of shock, karmic entanglement, and attempted control. Bob Walton, the grandfather at the campsite, becomes part of the energetic struggle. The astrology doesn’t name him guilty—but it does place him squarely in the path of truth colliding with secrets.
Finally, Neptune at 9° Pisces—the dreaded “body in the ditch” degree—forms the focal point of a T-square between Pallas (strategy) and Justitia (justice), showing us that justice was deliberately avoided through careful planning. Jessica’s name asteroid sits with Saturn, directly opposite Phaethon—perhaps a cosmic echo of knowledge, complicity, or at least emotional shutdown in the face of horror. And Uranus, ruler of the unexpected, trines the Part of Fortune, suggesting that someone may have gotten very lucky—at least for now.
There’s more. The name asteroid IsaacRoberts, representing Isaac Reinwand, is exactly quincunx Jessica’s asteroid on the cusp of the 8th and 9th houses—a tense, uncomfortable connection between her and the man whose story, curiously, has never changed. Isaac is also trine BobWeber in the 12th house—possibly indicating a hidden alliance or shared silence—and square Chiron in the 5th house of children. Chiron is also quincunx BobWeber, suggesting a wound that both avoid addressing. Whether this reflects active participation, passive cover-up, or simply patsy status, the cosmos shows their fates are entangled. Interestingly, Vernal’s name asteroid only aspects Deorr’s—while Jessica’s connects to both Bob and Isaac.
What began as a 911 call became a map, and what looked like panic may have been performance. But the stars remember everything.
Stay curious.
—Grace Wilson | www.forensicastro.com