The mother of a 3-year-old eastern Wisconsin boy and his caregiver were formally charged with child abuse on Monday as the search for the missing toddler entered its seventh day.
Katrina Baur, the mother of 3-year-old Elijah Vue, appeared in court on charges of child neglect and two counts of resisting or obstructing an officer, WGBA, the NBC affiliate in Green Bay, reported. Her partner, Jesse Vang, also made an initial court appearance on one count of child neglect.
According to court documents, Vang called police in Two Rivers on Feb. 20 to report Elijah missing. Vang told police that he had fallen asleep while watching the 3-year-old and when he woke up, the child was gone.
Court documents revealed that the mother and son had been staying with Vang, who tried to correct the boy's "bad behaviors."
Police said Baur explained that Vang was the one who enforced rules, and she wanted him to teach Elijah how to be a man. Vang told authorities that Elijah was afraid of him, and the boy was disciplined using "time outs," including being forced to stand for 1-3 hours and requiring him to pray at times, documents revealed.
Vang also forced the 3-year-old to take a cold shower and regularly threatened him with cold water for not complying, the criminal compliant stated. Both Baur and Vang maintained they didn't have anything to do with Elijah's disappearance.
An extensive search for the toddler began following an AMBER Alert that was issued more than a week ago. The search was temporarily paused on Monday due to the court hearing in the case.
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Family members said they took time to rest, regroup and refocus as they hold out hope.
Orson Vue, Elijah's uncle, said the family is staying strong through it all.
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""It's just, trying to keep the bad thoughts out,” he said. “But at the same time, not ruling out anything at all."
Search efforts were expected to resume on Tuesday.
