Human remains found on private property are those of 3-year-old boy who went missing in February, authorities in Wisconsin announced Friday.
Two Rivers Police Chief Benjamin Meinnert said the remains, which were tested forensically and determined to be those of Elijah Vue, were found only three miles northwest from where the child had been reported missing.
“This is not the outcome that we hoped for. The family’s devastated. We’re devastated. Our community is devastated,” he said. “I never met Elijah, but I watched that 3-year-old boy bring out the best in this community.”
A deer hunter found the skeletal remains Saturday in a wooded area with thick underbrush that was repeatedly searched by air and on the ground over the months, Meinnert said.
“What started out as a search for a missing boy is now a death investigation,” he said.
After Meinnert’s brief statement at a news conference Friday, the department declined to answer questions but said it would provide timely updates as the investigation continues.
Elijah disappeared from an apartment in Two Rivers, about 90 miles north of Milwaukee.
Manitowoc County District Attorney Jacalyn LaBre said earlier this year that the child disappeared after he was sent to stay with a man because of “disciplinary reasons.”
Vue’s mother, Katrina Baur and the man her son was allegedly sent to stay with, Jesse Vang, were charged with child neglect. Baur was charged with being a party to the crime of neglecting a child, as well as two counts of obstructing an officer.
Baur told police she left her son with Vang on Feb. 12 to teach him “to be a man” and planned to pick him up Feb. 23, according to a criminal complaint.
In March, Meinnert said on Facebook that the red and white plaid blanket Elijah was said to have had with him when he disappeared was found in a rural area between Manitowoc and Two Rivers, about 3.7 miles from where he was last seen.
