Two weeks after a 3-year-old boy vanished in Wisconsin, police are strengthening their search. Here’s what we know about the disappearance of Elijah Vue.
Note: The video in the player above is from a previous report on Elijah Vue's disappearance.
As the search for missing Wisconsin toddler Elijah Vue approaches one month since his disappearance, the combined reward for information in the case has risen to $40,000.
Elijah Vue, 3, 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 on Feb. 12 because she wanted him to teach her son “to be a man,” and she had intended to pick him up Feb. 23, according to a criminal complaint.
The Two Rivers Police Department said on March 11 that the total reward amount has climbed to $40,000 as a result of donations set up by the city, according to a Facebook post. The FBI is offering $15,000 for Elijah's return and and/or an arrest and conviction in his disappearance, while the city of Two Rivers has raised an additional $15,000 through public donations.
Crime Stoppers of Manitowoc County has also announced a $10,000 reward in the case.
In the most recent update released on Friday, police said there has been no sign of Elijah since his disappearance - and search efforts have turned up empty so far.
According to police, several searches took place in wetlands, rural areas, the West Twin River and a farm waste container. In recent days, officers also followed up on numerous leads and continued to comb through large amounts of video footage in conjunction with state and federal law enforcement.
As of March 8, additional charges had been filed against Baur, of the Wisconsin Dells, as prosecutors revealed they had new evidence surrounding Elijah's last days before he went missing.
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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.
During a recent hearing, Baur’s attorney, Ann Larson, told the court that “there’s a lot of high emotion going on, but there’s also a lot of high emotion going on with Ms. Baur. She’s been worried sick not knowing where her son is.”
Baur, of the Wisconsin Dells, was charged last month with one felony count of party-to-a-crime child neglect and two misdemeanor counts of resisting or obstructing an officer. The 31-year-old is being held on a $15,000 cash bond.
Vang, 39, was formally charged with one felony count of party-to-a-crime child neglect. He is being held on a $20,000 cash bond.
