The search for a missing autistic boy has ended after his body was found in a river, police said.
Jacob Baer, seven, went missing Saturday while playing outside at a park in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
The park is right next to it the West Twin River, which was declared an “area of interest” early Sunday during the search Items believed to belong to the boy were found in the icy water.
Spurred by a sense of urgency, officials from multiple police departments, the Coast Guard and the National Guard continued to search well into the night.
Police have now revealed how Baer’s body was found water from five to six meters deep. Recovery operations were completed late Sunday morning, Two Rivers police confirmed in a statement.
As locals reacted to the discovery, officials warned how dangerous ice can be at this time of year when it is very thin. The cold season started this Monday.
They further instructed the citizens to do this stay off the ice and ‘keep your children safe by closely monitoring them if they are near a waterway’, in a small town named after its two dominant rivers.
It’s also the same city where three-year-old Elijah Vue went missing in February – sparking a massive search that ended when his body was found in September. During an interview on Sunday, citizens offered comparisons between the two cases.
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Jacob Baer, 7, went missing Saturday while playing outside at a park in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
The park is located just next to the West Twin River, which was declared an ‘area of interest’ during the search on Sunday after items believed to belong to the boy were found in the icy water.
“I’m like, gosh, you know, I can’t believe this is happening again,” resident Kurt Psenick said ABC-7 Chicago after discovery Sunday. “Something as bad as this, you know. This city had enough fame.’
“Sincerely to the family and everyone involved in the search,” Lisa Maertz of Manitowoc added in a separate conversation with ABC-2the Vue case is also still fresh in our minds.
“We even have family members joining in and trying to see what they can do. It isn’t long before everyone comes together and tries to do what they can to find the young boy.
“Even Elijah (Vue) had been looking for months,” she added. “So I guess it’s a good thing it didn’t last.”
Police added how Baer, a second-grader with autism, disappeared just after 4.30pm on Saturday after running away from his father, who lost sight of him in Veterans Park.
The father quickly reported the child missing, prompting a search of the adjacent river and surrounding area.
“Search efforts located several items belonging to Jacob, which were recovered from the water last night,” Two Rivers police said Sunday as they announced the search had ended.
“This morning the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources was able to identify a possible location, in 5 to 6 feet of water, for what was believed to be Jacob,” the update continued.
Police revealed on Sunday how Baer’s body was found the next day in water five feet deep
Baer, a second-grader with autism, disappeared from this park just next to the river on Saturday afternoon after wandering from his father
‘The recovery operations continued until late in the morning. A body was recovered from that location and was positively identified as (Baer). We would like to thank the following agencies for their assistance.’
Officers did not say how the child ended up in the water, but only issued warnings to stay away from the ice.
Investigators also reiterated the need to “respect the family’s right to privacy,” citing that the incident “remains under investigation.”
Officials added in a statement Monday that “no further information will be released at this time.”
In September, the same police ended a separate search around Vue after more than six months, when a deer hunter came across the boy’s skeletal remains.
The body was found in September in a shallow grave three miles from the home of 40-year-old Jesse Vang, who is now charged in his death.
Prosecutors said he was sent by his mother Katrina Baur, 31, to stay “to learn how to be a man.”
The unnamed citizen immediately alerted police, prompting dozens of investigators to descend on the private property — a “remote area” near Girl Scout Camp Manitou-Two Rivers, police said.
Two Rivers is the same town where another autistic child went missing in February, sparking a massive search. When interviewed Sunday, citizens offered comparisons between the two cases, which concluded in September when police found the three-year-old’s body.
As locals responded, officials warned how dangerous ice can be at this time of year when it is very thin. The cold season only started this Monday
In September, the same police department ended a separate search for 3-year-old Elijah Vue after more than six months when a citizen came across the boy’s skeletal remains.
Jesse Vang, 40, and his mother Katrina Baur, 31, are both in custody and charged in the boy’s death
Vang was Baur’s boyfriend at the time of the disappearance, and both are in custody on child neglect charges in connection with the three-year-old child’s disappearance.
Vang appeared at the Manitowoc County Courthouse last month for a preliminary hearing as he is charged in the toddler’s death.
Baur was arrested in February on charges of child neglect and obstructing an officer. Her next court hearing is scheduled for December 20.
The Fond du Lac County Medical Examiner’s Office has since ruled Vue’s cause of death a “homicide by unspecified means.”