Elijah N. Vue was a 3-year-old boy last seen on February 20, 2024, in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, a community in Manitowoc County along Lake Michigan. He was reported missing from a residence, and the case quickly became an urgent search for a small child described in public records as male, with sandy hair, brown eyes, and a birthmark on his left knee.
From the beginning, the circumstances were deeply troubling: authorities said Elijah had been staying at the home of his mother’s boyfriend, Jesse Vang, and that Vang reported the child missing after saying he woke from a nap and could not find him. Elijah’s mother, Katrina Baur, had left him in Vang’s care, and court records later described that arrangement as connected to discipline and behavioral concerns. The report set off an AMBER Alert and an immediate law-enforcement response, with Two Rivers police, the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, the FBI, the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Office, search teams, volunteers, and community members joining the effort to find him.
As the search stretched from days into weeks, investigators and residents looked through neighborhoods, wooded areas, waterways, landfills, rural spaces, and places where even a small clue might have been overlooked. Authorities asked the public to check property, cameras, sheds, outbuildings, and any possible hiding places, while the community responded with searches, concern, and hope. In March 2024, police confirmed that a red-and-white plaid blanket connected to Elijah had been found about 3.7 miles from the place where he was reported missing, a discovery that gave investigators another point of focus but did not bring the answer everyone was praying for. The reward for information grew, and the search remained active for months. Two Rivers Police later noted that by June and July 2024, the investigation and search efforts were still continuing with help from state, federal, county, and local agencies, and that the work was being driven by tips, leads, and public updates.
During those months, the case also moved through the criminal justice system. Katrina Baur and Jesse Vang were arrested after Elijah’s disappearance and initially faced child-neglect-related charges; both were later the subject of additional charges after Elijah was found. Online court reporting and Associated Press coverage stated that Baur was later charged with chronic neglect of a child leading to death, child neglect, and obstructing an officer, while Vang was charged with physical abuse of a child causing death, hiding a corpse, and obstructing an officer. These charges are allegations unless and until proven in court, but they reflected the grave turn the investigation had taken after months of searching for a missing toddler whose absence had shaken Two Rivers and drawn attention across Wisconsin and beyond.
On September 7, 2024, the search came to a devastating end when a hunter found skeletal remains on private, heavily wooded property in Two Rivers, several miles from the location where Elijah had been reported missing. The area had reportedly been searched before by law enforcement, private searchers, the landowner, aerial teams, and search-and-rescue groups, underscoring how difficult the terrain and investigation had been. On September 13, 2024, Two Rivers Police confirmed that DNA testing had identified the remains as Elijah Vue. His family was notified, the AMBER Alert was canceled, and officials publicly acknowledged the sorrow of a community that had spent months hoping he would be found alive. Because the available information confirms he was located deceased but does not establish an exact date of death, the exact date is unknown.
Elijah’s case began as the urgent disappearance of a 3-year-old boy from a Two Rivers residence on February 20, 2024, and became a months-long search marked by public appeals, law-enforcement coordination, community grief, and painful uncertainty. It ended with the confirmation that the remains found in September 2024 were his, closing the missing-person portion of the case in the most heartbreaking way while leaving the legal process to address the allegations connected to his death. In overview, Elijah Vue was a young child reported missing from Two Rivers, Wisconsin; he was the focus of an AMBER Alert and an extensive search; a blanket connected to him was found miles from the reported disappearance site; his remains were later discovered on private wooded property and identified by DNA; and the case is no longer an active missing-person case because he was regrettably located deceased.Last Seen: Feb 20, 2024
