TWO RIVERS, Wis. — The search for Elijah Vue continues. This is the 10th day the 3-year-old has been missing.
Some of Vue’s family members and hundreds of volunteers met at the Mikadow Theater in Manitowoc Thursday morning to plan their search routes. Then, they split up to scour 700 acres of land in the Killsnake Wildlife Area.
Al Risse and his son said everyone shares the same goal.
“To find clues, or anything, to direct us to where Elijah is,” Risse said.
Although most of the volunteers are from the area, there are some who drove from hours away to help.
Zyan Schalow said he sees his own son in photos of Vue and had to take action.
“I have a 16-month year old son,” said Schalow, who drove two hours to join search efforts. “He is also half white, half Hmong descent, and I guess everything about this situation flips my dad triggers, so instead of just sitting there refreshing Facebook for updates, I wanted to try to come out here and be helpful in any way.”
Many people said they felt compelled to do something.
Lynn Harrigan said she knows first-hand how difficult searches are. Her own family member was the focus of one.
“He was flying in another state, my brother-in-law, and his plane went down,” said Harrigan. “I remember writing letters with his kids, and they kept searching. Then, they said they were going to call off the search.”
Harrigan said she is not giving up on the chance for a positive outcome, or closure for Vue’s family and the larger community that’s heartbroken over his disappearance.
“Keep encouraging people to help, and keep looking, because you need some answers,” said Harrigan.
“We’re saddened,” said Risse. “We have a lot of sorrow for the whole thing, and we just want to help out any way we can.”
In addition to these community searches, Two Rivers police continue to follow up on hundreds of tips. They’ve searched a landfill, wooded areas and local waterways.
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $15,000 for any information in the case and Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,000 reward.
If you have any information regarding Vue’s disappearance, call the state tip line at 844-267-6648 or submit it on the P3 tips app.
Elijah’s mother, Katrina Baur, and her boyfriend, Jesse Vang, are both in jail. They have been charged with child neglect. According to the criminal complaint, they both say they had nothing to do with Vue’s disappearance.
According to court documents, Baur and Vang told investigators that Vue was staying with Vang. Vang was trying to “correct the child’s bad behavior.” Vang told police Vue was afraid of him and that he disciplined the 3-year-old by making him stand and pray for one to three hours at a time. He also made Vue take a cold shower for dirtying his diaper.
Vang told police that on Feb. 20, he fell asleep while watching Vue. When Vang woke up, Vue was gone.
Vue’s father has been incarcerated at Oshkosh Correctional Institute since 2023, in an unrelated matter.
Vue is a 3-year-old male with sandy colored hair and brown eyes. Two Rivers Police Department said he “was described as having Hmong and white ethnicity.”
He has a birthmark on his left knee. He is 3-feet-tall and weighs 45 pounds.
In the Amber Alert, police said he was last seen wearing gray sweatpants, as well as a long-sleeve, dark-colored shirt and red and green dinosaur slip-on shoes.