MANITOWOC, Wis. — Businesses in downtown Manitowoc have flyers taped to doors and windows, calling attention to a 3-year-old boy who went missing from nearby Two Rivers two weeks ago.
The search for Elijah Vue has been ongoing since he was reported missing.
Around Manitowoc, many businesses are doing what they can to help.
Pat Kucharski, a seamstress at The Seamstress, said the flyer on the front door is one way the business can pitch in with the wider community effort.
“It’s to let everybody know,” she said. “Manitowoc does get a lot of visitors from out of the state and sometimes out of the country in the summer. Hopefully, this isn’t going to go that long. But, if they find something like this going on, maybe they’ll get involved. Maybe they’ll go down to that theater and help with this search for the boy.”
The search includes law enforcement and volunteers. It’s stretched from neighborhoods in Two Rivers to woods and waterways in rural parts of Manitowoc County.
“The outpouring to go out and hunt for this little boy is unbelievable,” Kucharski said. “We’ve had people from other states. People in groups, they meet, look for where they haven’t searched yet. They get an idea, and they go out.”
Like many other businesses, Before N After has one of the flyers on its front window to help.
“Everybody is hearing about it daily. If it’s not on TV, it’s on Facebook. It’s from people they see every day,” Corleen Zoerb, co-owner of Before N After, said. “Everybody is talking about it.”
The family’s search for Vue is headquartered just down the street from Before N After.
“When you hear that there’s a child missing, it’s a scary thought. People who have children, their heart breaks. We hear people coming in and saying they’ve been out looking because they can’t imagine. With their child they’re worried. They want him to go home.”
After two weeks, the wider Manitowoc County community is holding fast to hope.
“It’s been almost three weeks, but there’s always hope that the little boy is still there,” Kucharski said.
Vue's mother, Katrina Baur, is in jail on charges of child neglect and obstructing police. Her boyfriend, Jesse Vang, is in jail on charges of child neglect.
Vue’s father has been jailed at Oshkosh Correctional Institute since 2023, in an unrelated matter.
Vue is a 3-year-old boy 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 issued Feb. 20, 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. Police said he could have had a red and white plaid blanket with him.
Anyone with any information about the case is asked to call the tipline at 844-267-6648 or submit information via the Manitowoc County Crime Stoppers P3 app.