3-year-old boy missing after mom sent him to male friend’s home for ‘disciplinary reasons’: cops
A 3-year-old Wisconsin boy is missing after his mother sent him to a male friend’s home for “disciplinary action,” cops say — and local woods and waters are being desperately searched for any sign of the tot.
Little Elijah Vue was last seen by an adult caregiver around 8 a.m. Tuesday at a residence in Two Rivers, police said.
He was reported missing shortly before 11 a.m. that day, prompting an area-wide search that has since expanded to both land and water, Two Rivers Police Chief Ben Meinnert said late Saturday.
Two days after Elijah vanished, the child’s mother, Katrina Baur, and her friend, Jesse Vang, were both arrested on suspicion of child neglect in the case.
Vang’s address matched the location where the little boy was last seen, FOX 11 reported.
During a bail hearing Friday, Manitowoc County District Attorney Jacalyn LaBre alleged that Baur, who lives in Wisconsin Dells, sent her son to Vang’s home as a sort of punishment, the outlet said.
“She intentionally sent that child for disciplinary reasons for more than a week to the residence,” LaBre told the court without elaborating on what disciplinary actions may have been used.
“She was aware of the tactics used and the lack of care provided. This was an intentional thing by her,” the DA said of the move, adding that Baur also lied to authorities about her whereabouts on “at least two occasions.”
The court commissioner ordered Baur, 31, to be held on $15,000 cash bond on suspicion of being party to child neglect, FOX11 reported.
Vang, 33, was held on $20,000 bond on suspicion of child neglect related to his lack of care or disciplinary tactics, the outlet added.
At the time of his arrest last week, Vang was also under federal supervision on unrelated charges.
His lengthy rap sheet includes previous charges for aggravated battery, disorderly conduct and child abuse, Spectrum News reported.
Both Baur and Vang will return to court Monday.
Neither the district attorney’s office nor Two Rivers cops responded to Post requests for a comment Sunday.
Meanwhile, police, locals and Elijah’s loved ones continued to search for the child through the weekend.
On Saturday, the little boy’s relatives combed through a wooded area near a dog park north of Manitowoc, CBS 58 said.
“It means everything, to be honest,” Elijah’s uncle, Orson Vue, told the outlet of community support.
“If it was just me and my family doing this search, I don’t know what we’d even do. With the whole world, really, reaching out, giving their support, their love, it means the world, and we couldn’t do it without them,” he said, adding that the family had not seen the child since he was 6 months old.
As for the charges against Baur, Orson Vue said the family will try to reserve judgment until it has more information.
“We’re not gonna rule anything out. But we’re not gonna just come out and put blame on one particular person and say they did this or that when nobody really knows anything yet,” he said.
Area residents were also turning out to help with the search.
“I don’t know Elijah from a can of paint, him or his family, but by being a mother, it just doesn’t sit right with me being at home, just doing nothing,” Two RIvers resident Jessica Shields told WBAY.
“We have been in the woods, we have been in the neighborhoods looking, in sheds, I crawled under homes, we’ve been everywhere, but it don’t stop, it don’t stop,” she said of the effort.
On Saturday afternoon, police set up a search area in the woods behind a church in Two Rivers, Action 2 News reported.
Investigators were seen walking shoulder to shoulder through a ditch area, and a drone was spotted flying overhead, the outlet said.
Locals have been asked to check their doorbell and security camera footage for anything suspicious and to keep an eye out for Elijah on their own.
The little boy is 45 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.
He is of Hmong and white ethnicity, according to CBS 58.
He is about 3 feet tall and has a birthmark on his left knee.
