wisconsin

Community unrelenting in search for Elijah Vue as 2-month mark of disappearance nears

The search efforts come more than a month after a blanket belonging to the toddler was found in an area between Manitowoc and Two Rivers

NBC Universal, Inc.

Note: The video in the player above is from a previous report on Elijah Vue's disappearance.

Authorities in eastern Wisconsin weren't any closer to locating missing 3-year-old Elijah Vue, police revealed Friday, following additional searches in recent weeks.

The Two Rivers Police Department provided an update on search efforts for the toddler one day prior to the two-month mark of his disappearance. Searches from the air and water - and on land - took place in the past two weeks, but didn't yield any sign of the 3-year-old, according to a Facebook post from the police department.

Multiple searches were conducted in the water using solar technology, while others took place at area farms in conjunction with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Two Rivers police said the FBI performed an aerial search of several unspecified areas on Friday.

The search efforts come more than a month after a blanket belonging to the toddler was found in an area between Manitowoc and Two Rivers, which was approximately 3.7 miles from where the young boy was last seen.

Elijah vanished from an apartment in Two Rivers on Feb. 20, where he was staying with his mother's boyfriend, Jesse Vang. The boy's mother, Katrina Baur, told police she had left the 3-year-old with Vang several days earlier because she wanted him to teach her son “to be a man,” and she had intended to pick him up on Feb. 23, according to a criminal complaint.

In the weeks following, police asked residents to comb through surveillance video in hope of locating a vehicle of interest. The vehicle in question, a 1997 four-door beige Nissan Altima, had a license plate that began with "A" and ended with "O."

Police, writing in a Facebook post, emphasized that they weren't interested in the vehicle's current owner.

Around March 8, additional charges were filed against Baur when prosecutors revealed they had new evidence surrounding Elijah's last days before his disappearance.

Prosecutors previously told the court they had evidence Baur left the 3-year-old unattended for at least an hour on Feb. 16 as she and her boyfriend, Vang, traveled to other locations throughout Manitowoc, WLUK-TV reported. They also said they had evidence Baur left a 6-year-old child unattended in a vehicle on Feb. 14 for about an hour in temperatures below freezing without the vehicle running.

Baur, of the Wisconsin Dellsin mid-March entered a not guilty plea on several charges, including chronic child neglect, in connection with her son's disappearance. Vang separately pleaded not guilty to a charge of chronic child neglect on April 16.

Neither Baur or Vang have been charged in the toddler's disappearance.

Contact Us