It’s been 50 days since three-year-old Elijah Vue was reported missing from the Two Rivers residence of 39-year-old Jesse Vang.
Vang is the boyfriend of Elijah’s mother, 31-year-old Katrina Baur of Wisconsin Dells. Elijah was in Vang’s care, whom Baur dropped off earlier this year to supposedly shape Elijah up to “become more of a man.”
On the morning of Tuesday, February 20th, Vang told authorities that he had laid down for a nap and that when he woke up, “Elijah was gone.”
An amber alert was issued at about 11 a.m. and remains effective today.
In an interview with Seehafer News Wednesday afternoon, Two Rivers Police Chief Ben Meinnert says they have explored every angle possible.
“Because we’ve had no tips, leads, or evidence, we can’t prove or believe that this is a stranger abduction at this point,” he explained. “We’ve reviewed over 1500 tips and followed up and vetted all of them. We’ve also reviewed over 10,000 video files, and none of those point to Elijah just walking away.”
Meinnert was asked if a concentrated search had picked up in The Dells.
“All our efforts have been more local based on the tips and the leads that we’ve followed up on and the videos that we’ve reviewed,” he revealed. “In addition, looking at missing and endangered statistics, all those factors lead us to believe that we are searching in the areas that we should be, and we will continue to expand our search in those areas.”
Relentless searches have been and continue to be conducted on land, in the air, and in multiple waterways.
In fact, Meinnert says that he and others kayaked about 5 miles of The West Twin River Tuesday, searching the shorelines and shallow water, hoping to find Elijah.
“I can’t tell you how impressed I’ve been with my staff, all the assistance agencies, our city departments, and the community in general,” he told Seehafer News. “It’s been simply amazing in our searches for this child.”
As frustrating as it has been to find Eljah yet, the Head of Two Rivers Police tells Seehafer News that he remains “cautiously optimistic.”
“I will hope like I think everybody does, that Elijah will be brought home safe,” he said. “Realistically, we have a three-year-old child missing for 50 days who can’t fully take care of himself. We must look at all the possibilities.”
Reward money has reached $40,000 for anyone with information leading to the safe return of Elijah Vue.
The next coordinated search will be on Saturday, with all those interested to show up at The Mikadow Theatre in Manitowoc at 9:30 a.m.
Anyone with information is asked to call the state tip line at 844-267-6648 or send it through the P3 tips app on their phone.
