‘GUT-WRENCHING FEELING’

‘No Evidence’ Missing Tot Was Abducted or Walked Off: Police

“I get asked a lot, you know, do I still think he’s alive? I don’t know. That’s the sad truth of the matter,” the police chief said of 3-year-old Elijah Vue.

As the search for missing Wisconsin 3-year-old Elijah Vue drags on into the second month, police say there is “no evidence” the boy walked off on his own. Likewise, Two Rivers Police Chief Ben Meinnert told WISN 12 News, “We have no evidence to believe that this child was abducted.” Vue was first reported missing on Feb. 20 by his mother’s boyfriend, Jesse Vang, who claimed he’d fallen asleep that morning and woken up to find the boy gone. Both Vang and Vue’s mother, Katrina Baur, are in custody on child neglect charges, with Baur telling investigators she’d sent Vue to stay with Vang so he could learn “how to be a man,” according to a criminal complaint. While search efforts continue, Meinnert said he has an “aching” in his gut just from knowing the boy is still out there somewhere. “I get asked a lot, you know, do I still think he’s alive? I don’t know. That’s the sad truth of the matter. I think about it just like everybody else all the time. I think everybody has that hope. But yeah, until we bring closure, I don’t think that gut-wrenching feeling ever goes away,” Meinnert said.