The grandmother of missing boy Elijah Vue has begged his mother and her boyfriend for his return after he disappeared from his torture ‘training camp’.
Hundreds of people have been searching the area around Two Rivers in Wisconsin since the three-year-old boy went missing from the home of his mother’s boyfriend, Jesse Vang, on February 20.
The little boy was forced to take cold showers, banned from having toys, and forced to stand for hours in a dirty diaper because his mother Katrina Baur wanted him to “be a man.”
The couple has been charged with felony child neglect as the search for Elijah continues and his paternal grandmother, Lia, tearfully pleaded with her neighbors not to give up.
“I want everyone to continue helping us look for my grandson,” he said at a news conference. “I want my grandson to be home with my family, so I want everyone to keep going, don’t stop.”
Elijah’s grandmother, Lia, a mother of nine, cried as she pleaded for the boy’s return.
Elijah, 3, was reported missing on February 20 at Jesse Vang’s ‘boot camp,’ where his mother Katrina Baur dropped him off eight days earlier.
Baur’s boyfriend, Jesse Vang, 39 (pictured), claimed he was asleep when Elijah disappeared and faces charges of child neglect as a party to a crime.
Elijah’s aunt, Linda Vue, described him as a “happy and curious boy, full of life and love” and addressed him directly in case he was looking somewhere.
“If you can hear us, know that we miss you and love you deeply and we will not rest until you are safe in our arms again,” he said.
“We cannot express the depth of our pain, nor the desperation that consumes us with each moment that passes without news of Elijah’s safety,” he added.
‘Every day without him feels like we’re missing a piece of our hearts. We long to hear his laugh, witness his curiosity, and feel the warmth of his embrace.
“The void left by his absence is a void that cannot be filled by anything else.”
Baur, 31, and Vang, 39, remain in custody while details of their extensive criminal records are revealed.
Vang was on supervised release after spending three years in prison for drug trafficking and was jailed in 2002 on felony child abuse charges after hitting a 12-year-old boy with a chair while serving time for another charge in prison. Outagamie County.
Vang’s history also dates back to his teenage years and includes convictions for misdemeanor disorderly conduct in 2011 and 2015.
Elijah was reported missing from the 3900 block of Mishicot Road in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
Elijah’s aunt, Linda Vue, spoke of the “despair that consumes us as each moment passes without news of Elijah’s safety.” “We long to hear his laughter,” she said.
Manitowoc County Sheriff Dan Hartwig was crying as he joined Elijah’s grandmother and aunt at Tuesday’s news conference.
Hundreds of people have been helping police search the area for the missing boy.
Manitowoc County District Attorney Jacalyn LaBre said Baur had sent Elijah to stay with Vang on Feb. 12 for disciplinary action and was “aware of the tactics used and the lack of care provided.”
Baur told detectives that Vang “was the one who enforced the rules in the relationship,” and that was the reason he sent his son to stay with him, WBAY reports.
Vang’s alleged harsh discipline involved forcing Elijah to stand for up to three hours at a time, while he was forced to repeat the phrase ‘I’m sorry, mommy.’
Detectives said he did not identify specific incidents that led him to punish the boy, but said that if the boy did not comply with his punishments, he would ask, ‘Do you want cold water?’
Vang also reportedly claimed that he did not know why the boy was afraid of the phrase.
‘He’s fine. “It’s not like his knees are shaking and about to fall off,” he allegedly told detectives.
In an interview before his arrest, Vang also allegedly said he was trying to make Elijah understand that “coming home is like a privilege for him.”
After saying that the boy was afraid of him, he allegedly changed that to say that Elijah “respects me.”
A few days before Elijah disappeared, Vang texted Baur to tell him he was “angry” because the boy had “overfilled” his diaper, so Vang gave him a cold shower, the complaint alleges.
Vang called the police on February 20 and reported Elijah missing, telling police that he had taken a nap that morning and had taken Elijah to the bedroom with him, but when he woke up about three hours later, he was gone, the complaint states.
Fears for the little boy grew when one of the green and red dinosaur shoes he was wearing at the time of his disappearance was found on a nearby street.
Police are searching rivers, forests and landfills for the sandy-haired boy who is three feet tall and weighs 45 pounds.
Baur faces one felony count of child neglect in part of a crime and two misdemeanor counts of resisting or obstructing an officer, and is being held on $15,000 cash bail.
Vang was indicted on one count of felony child neglect for a crime. He was being held on $20,000 cash bail.
Both Baur and Vang appeared in court Monday afternoon for their initial appearances, during which their preliminary hearings were set for March 7, according to court records.
Officials also claimed that Baur lied to investigators about his whereabouts at the time Elijah disappeared on “at least two occasions.”
The criminal complaint against Baur states that she denied being in Two Rivers between Feb. 12 and Feb. 20, and denied being in the Manitowoc County area on Feb. 16 or 17.
However, he later admitted to being in Two Rivers on February 14 and again during the night of February 16 after checking his phone data.
Since then, a search has been launched for the missing child by several agencies, who have so far been unable to find him, nine days after he was last seen.
Manitowoc Police Officer Nick Place and a K-9 dog search for missing 3-year-old boy in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
The FBI is offering a $15,000 reward for information leading to Elijah, and Local Crime Stoppers is offering another $1,000.
Manitowoc County Sheriff Dan Hartwig was crying as he joined Elijah’s grandmother and aunt at Tuesday’s news conference.
“Everyone has seen the picture of that boy,” he said.
“It is touching everyone’s heartstrings. Does anyone know something.