Sept. 14 (UPI) — The remains of missing 3-year-old Elijah Vue were found on private property in Two Rivers, Wisc., and identified as the missing boy’s, local police announced.
The child had been missing since February until his skeletal remains were found on Sept. 7 in a wooded area after a search that lasted for seven months.
A hunter getting ready for Wisconsin’s annual deer season found the boy’s remains in a “thick wooded area,” Two Rivers Police Chief Benjamin Meinnert told media during a news conference Friday.
Meinnert said Vue’s remains were found about 3 miles northwest of where he last was seen in an area that had been searched many times.
The Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Office said the boy’s remains were located near Camp Manitou and a quarry on privately owned land.
The Wisconsin Crime Lab used DNA testing to confirm the toddler’s identity.
“The family is devastated,” Meinnert said. “We’re devastated. The community is devastated.”
Meinnert said the investigation has turned into a death investigation led by the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation and an Amber Alert issued for the boy has been canceled.
Jesse Vang, the boyfriend of Vue’s mother, Katrina Baur, reported the boy missing from their Two Rivers home on Feb. 20 while caring for the child.
Vang had taken a nap when the boy went missing.
Vang and Baur are charged with felony child neglect and other alleged offenses before Vue went missing. Both have pleaded not guilty.
The boy’s red and white plaid blanket was found in March about 3.7 miles from where he went missing.
This child’s skull and bones were among the remains eventually found.
“I never met Elijah,” Meinnert told media Friday. “But I watched that 3-year-old boy bring out the best in this community.”
The FBI’s Milwaukee office had issued a $15,000 reward for information leading to the boy’s discovery.
Two Rivers is along the Lake Michigan shore about 90 miles north of Milwaukee. It had a population was 11,166 in 2022.