Police confirm remains found in Manitowoc County belong to missing Elijah Vue

TWO RIVERS, Wis. (WLUK) — Two Rivers police confirmed Friday that remains discovered in Manitowoc County over the weekend are those of missing Elijah Vue.

“What began as a search for a missing boy is now a death investigation,” Two Rivers Police Chief Ben Meinnert said at a news conference with local, state and federal officials.

Three-year-old Vue was reported missing by his caregiver Jesse Vang on February 20.

Prosecutors allege that Vue's mother, Katrina Baur, sent her son to her boyfriend Vang's apartment in Two Rivers for “disciplinary reasons.”

An Amber Alert was issued and over the next seven months, police officers and volunteers conducted extensive searches.

Just last weekend, a man preparing his land for hunting season found human remains on private property near the entrance to Camp Manitou, a Girl Scout camp, on Saturday.

Meinnert described the location of Vue's remains as “a dense wooded area with thick undergrowth” north of Manitou. It is about three miles northwest of where Vue was originally reported missing.

The TRPD, Manitowoc County Sheriff's Office, Wisconsin Department of Justice Criminal Investigation Division and Wisconsin Crime Lab worked to recover the remains and any associated evidence.

“Ultimately, a forensic anthropologist from the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratories was able to confirm a skull and bones as human remains,” said Chief Meinnert.

“As has been reported, this area has been searched several times before, by police, private citizens, the landowner, by air and by various search and rescue teams. Despite all these previous efforts and under different conditions and in changing seasons, we have continued the search and have even started further search operations as early as the next week,” said Meinnert.

The remains were taken to the Wisconsin Crime Lab for DNA analysis for identification.

It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you today that these remains have been identified as Elijah Vue. With this news and following this meeting, the Amber Alert is being lifted.

“This is not the outcome we were hoping for,” Meinnert said. “The family is devastated, we are devastated, our community is devastated. I never met Elijah, but I saw this three-year-old boy bring out the best in this community,” Meinnert said, appearing to hold back tears.

Officials stressed that the investigation into Vue's death will be a lengthy process and asked the public to be patient with law enforcement and respect Vue's family in their grief.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact the police.

Vue's mother, Katrina Baur, and her boyfriend, Jesse Vang, have both been in prison since shortly after Vue's disappearance. Both are accused of child neglect, which is related to the condition of the house and the treatment of the boy.

So far, neither Baur nor Vang have been charged in connection with Vue's disappearance.

Last month, a judge denied Baur's request to reduce bail. Baur recently hired a new attorney who asked for time to review the case, so a status conference has been scheduled for October 22.

Vang will appear in court again on September 27 for a status conference; a trial date has not yet been set.