TWO RIVERS, Wis. (TCN) — Law enforcement officials confirmed last week that human remains discovered by a hunter on his property have been positively identified as a 3-year-old boy who went missing in February.
According to the Two Rivers Police Department, on Saturday, Sept. 7, a hunter contacted the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Office after finding the apparent remains in a “thick wooded area with heavy underbrush.” Officials secured the scene and began investigating. A forensic anthropologist from the Wisconsin Crime Lab arrived and confirmed the skull and bones were, in fact, human. The remains were taken back to the lab and positively identified as Elijah Vue’s.
Two Rivers Police Chief Ben Meinnert said in the statement that Vue’s remains were located about 3 miles from where he was last seen alive. Law enforcement had searched the property “several times,” but they planned to continue looking in that area as early as next week.
Vue’s “adult caretaker” reported the boy missing to Two Rivers Police on Feb. 20. The state of Wisconsin ultimately issued an Amber Alert for him, and the FBI also got involved, offering a reward for information.
Vue’s mother, Katrina Baur, and her boyfriend, Jesse Vang, were both arrested on Feb. 26, Baur is being charged with chronic neglect of a child as a party to a crime, two counts of resisting or obstructing an officer, and one count of neglecting a child, while Vang is charged with chronic neglect of a child.
According to Baur’s criminal complaint, Vang told police that Vue had been staying with him recently because he was “trying to help Baur correct [Vue’s] bad behaviors.” On Feb. 20 at around 7:30 a.m., Vang allegedly took his teen son to the bus, and when he got back, woke Vue up at 8 a.m. Vang reportedly brought Vue into his room, shut the door, and went to sleep. He claimed Vue was nowhere to be found when he woke up at 11 a.m.
Baur told investigators she left Vue with her boyfriend starting on Feb. 12. On Feb. 17, Vang reportedly texted Baur saying he was “angry” that Vue “overfilled his diaper with poop and pee.” Baur described her boyfriend as “the enforcer of rules in the relationship,” which is why she sent Vue to stay with him. The complaint says she is “fine with whatever discipline Vang enforces.”
In November 2023, she and Vang were reportedly talking about Vue’s behavior, so she allegedly told Vang she wanted him to teach her son “how to be a man.”
The court document says Vang described Vue as being “afraid of him, then corrected himself and stated that he ‘respects me.'” He allegedly was trying to make Vue “understand that ‘going home is like a privilege for him.'”
Vue’s punishments reportedly comprised standing for one to three hours, praying, and apologizing to his mother. Vang reportedly said he “does not want to be mean to him but he is trying to teach him to be more respectful.”
Two Rivers Police did not reveal a cause or manner of death.
Meinnert said, “I never met Elijah, but I watched that 3-year-old boy bring out the best of an amazing community. I can’t thank the public and our businesses enough for all their assistance and support through this tragedy.”
