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Wisconsin police have confirmed that a set of human bones found on a property in Twin Rivers are the remains of Elijah Vue, a three-year-old who went missing from the community in February.
"This is not the outcome we had hoped for," Two Rivers chief of police Benjamin Meinnert said during a Friday press briefing, according to the Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter. "The family is devastated. Our community is devastated."
“I never met Elijah, but I watched that 3-year-old boy bring out the best of an amazing community,” he added. “I can’t thank the public and our businesses enough for all their assistance and support through this tragedy.”
Vue’s bones were found on September 7 by a deer hunter clearing land on his private property.
The local sheriff’s office and Department of Justice assisted with removing the remains, which were tested for DNA at the Wisconsin Crime Lab, police said.
Vue’s body was found about three miles northeast of where he was reported missing.
The three-year-old was last seen at the home of his mother’s boyfriend, Jesse Vang, 39. Prosecutors allege that Katrina Baur, 31, left the boy there to learn to “be a man.”
Vang reported Vue missing on February 20, saying Vue disappeared while he was taking a nap.
Baur was arrested on February 21 and charged with being a party to child neglect, after reportedly changing her story about her whereabouts while being interviewed by investigators.
Vang was arrested the same day and charged with child neglect.
In March, the local district attorney announced updated charges of chronic child neglect. Both Baur and Vang have pleaded not guilty.
Vue endured mistreatment under the pair, according to officials.
The three-year-old allegedly was forced to take cold showers, stand for hours during time-outs, and was once photographed with a blindfold over his eyes and bruising on his face as he lay in bed, according to prosecutors.
Meinnert said Friday the investigation into the death will continue.
During the search for Vue, police chided online sleuths and conspiracy theorists on multiple occasions for spreading false information about the missing child.
