Prosecutors filed new charges Thursday against the mother of a 3-year-old Wisconsin boy who vanished last month, and a judge rejected her request for a bond reduction after new details surrounding accusations of the days leading up to Elijah Vue's disappearance were revealed.
Katrina Baur's son, Elijah, has been missing since Feb. 20 at a residence in Two Rivers where prosecutors said she had sent him to stay with her boyfriend to teach him to "become a man." Searches by police and residents over the last two weeks have so far not located the boy, and the reward for information in the case has grown to $25,000.
During Thursday’s 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.
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Manitowoc County prosecutors amended the felony count on Thursday to a charge of party-to-a-crime chronic child neglect and also filed a misdemeanor charge of neglecting a child against Baur.
Prosecutors told the court they had evidence Baur left the 3-year-old unattended for at least an hour Feb. 16 as she and her boyfriend, Jesse 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 Feb. 14 for about an hour in temperatures below freezing without the vehicle running.
A judge denied Baur’s request for a bond reduction Thursday and rescheduled both her preliminary hearing and Vang's preliminary hearing from Thursday until March 14.
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Vang, 39, of Two Rivers, was formally charged in February with one felony count of party-to-a-crime child neglect. He is being held on a $20,000 cash bond.
Baur told police she had left her 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.
Vang called police Feb. 20 and reported the boy missing, telling officers he had taken a nap and brought the 3-year-old in the bedroom with him, but when he awoke some three hours later, the toddler was gone, according to the complaint.
Here's the latest on the case:
What are police saying?
Wisconsin police said Elijah Vue remained missing Tuesday, though they offered new details on the vehicle of interest they asked residents to comb through surveillance video for.
Despite expanding their search efforts this week, police said Elijah had still not been found as of 1 p.m. Tuesday.
"Law enforcement from all over the state, in addition to FBI, DCI, and DNR, assisted in searching rural areas in Manitowoc County this morning, and will continue to do so into the afternoon," the Two Rivers Police Department wrote on Facebook.
In their update, the department offered a clarification on a vehicle of interest they flagged earlier in the week.
"Our interest is not with the current owner of the vehicle," the department said, noting that they are instead focused on finding any potential camera footage of the vehicle captured on Feb. 19, the day before Elijah was reported missing, between the hours of 2p.m. and 9 p.m.
The "vehicle of interest" was first released in a Monday update from the department.
Authorities said the vehicle of interest was in the possession of law enforcement. Police released pictures of the car, a 1997 four-door beige Nissan Altima. The vehicle has a Wisconsin license plate that begins with "A" and ends with "0."
Neither Elijah's mother, Katrina Baur, nor the man who reported the toddler missing, Jesse Vang -- both of whom have been charged with child neglect in connection with the case -- are the owners of the vehicle, police said.
When did Elijah go missing?
Elijah was last seen Feb. 20 at a residence in Two Rivers, where prosecutors said his mother had sent him to stay with a man now charged with child neglect. Searches by police and residents have so far not located Elijah.
Where are search efforts focused?
On Tuesday, police expanded their rural search efforts with large-scale operations and assistance from law enforcement from across the state, according to the Two Rivers Police Department.
This past weekend, crews from the Wisconsin National Guard conducted ground searches, while the Department of Natural Resources helped dive teams check near the shorelines of Lake Michigan and Twin River, KARE 11, the NBC affiliate in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, reported.
What happened to Elijah before he went missing?
Baur told police she had left Elijah 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 on Feb. 23, court documents revealed.
Manitowoc County District Attorney Jacalyn LaBre said Friday that Baur had sent Elijah to stay with Vang for disciplinary purposes and that Baur wasn’t in Two Rivers, located about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Green Bay, when Elijah disappeared.
Vang called police on Feb. 20 and reported Elijah missing, telling police he had taken a nap that morning and brought Elijah in the bedroom with him, but when he awoke about three hours later he was gone, the complaint states.
Vang told police he was in a relationship with Bauer and had been trying to help with her son's bad behaviors, according to the complaint.
Vang explained to authorities that he was trying to correct the toddler's bad behaviors.
He said that Elijah was afraid of him, and the boy was disciplined using "time outs," including being forced to stand for 1-3 hours and requiring him to pray at times, documents stated.
Vang also forced the 3-year-old to take a cold shower and regularly threatened him with cold water for not complying, the criminal compliant stated. Both Baur and Vang maintained that they didn't have anything to do with Elijah's disappearance.
The search for footage
In an update posted on Facebook Monday evening, the Two Rivers Police Department requested that homeowners and businesses review surveillance footage captured between 2 and 9 p.m. on Feb. 19 as they continued to search for Elijah. Police urged residents in the Two Rivers area to review video, as well as those in adjacent counties.
Nearby homeowners and businesses with video footage that might be of interest to police were asked to upload it upload it here.
Anyone with information on Elijah's whereabouts was asked to contact the Two Rivers Police Department at 844-267-6648 or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.
A reward for information
On Feb. 27, the FBI announced a $15,000 reward for anyone with information leading to Elijah's return and the arrest of whoever may be responsible.
A Manitowoc County Crime Stoppers reward for information leading to the location and return of Elijah or the arrest and conviction of those responsible for his disappearance has risen to as much as $10,000, Two Rivers Police Chief Ben Meinnert said in a news release.
The Crime Stoppers reward is in addition to the FBI reward, Meinnert said.
