Uhm.. So many unanswered questions . but the biggest one is what could the father have written on that piece of paper that could bring down a criminal empire?? And if that is the only piece of evidence then I'm pretty sure that got ruined when the kid was underwater in the river. Things get ruined in my washer all the time, pretty sure an ink written note is not gonna survive in the river. Also if the father's goal was to get to the news, why not drive the 15 minutes from your home in the big city to the many news stations there , instead of driving 4 hours away to a forest town with probably no wi-fi.