TWO RIVERS, Wis. — Teams of searchers spent Tuesday looking for Elijah Vue in Manitowoc County.
Efforts ranged from law enforcement to specialty search-and-rescue teams to small groups of volunteers looking for the boy.
Among those volunteer searchers was Tim Martin from the Town of Wolf River near Larsen.
“We’d love to find Elijah,” he said. “I have grandchildren the same age: 2 to 5 years old. It kind of breaks your heart just to know that this child is out walking around and they’re unable to locate him. It’s important we find him.”
Martin was part of a group of five people looking in a rural area near Two Rivers.
“I’m a hunter myself, so I know how to look and I know if things are disturbed,” he said. “I’ll do what I can.”
The search has been a community- and region-wide effort.
The Mikadow Theater in Manitowoc is serving as the headquarters for the Vue family search. Kurt Duzeski is the owner.
“Community involvement has been outstanding. There’s just been a massive flow of people in and out conducting searches,” he said. “I’m just here for the facility, but the search party conductors here and the family have been doing a great job getting people out and looking in areas.”
He said the theater has become a helpful a gathering point for members of the Vue family and volunteer searchers to launch their efforts.
“It’s February. It’s cold out. The weather is very unpredictable,” Duzeski said. “Having the family try to set up any kind of search party headquarters in an outside location, we’re just trying to take any kind of distracting factors out of it and give them as much peace as possible so they can do what they need to do.”
Martin said he’s optimistic by nature. He said his goal is bringing Elijah home.
“You’ve got to be positive. That’s what you come to these for. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” said Martin about finding Vue.