(WFRV) – New charges have been filed against Elijah Vue’s mother and her boyfriend after a month his remains were found in Manitowoc County.
According to the criminal complaint, 39-year-old Jesse Vang and 31-year-old Katrina Baur are facing new charges related to Elijah Vue’s death. On February 20, officers were sent to an apartment in Two Rivers where Vang told authorities that Vue was missing.
Vang told authorities that he disciplined Vue and had to play the ‘bad role’. The complaint says that he explained some of his punishments for Vue to authorities. They included having him stand up and pray for periods of time and not allowing Vue to speak with Baur.
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Baur reportedly told authorities that she could not deal with Vue’s behavior and that he does not act poorly around Vang. She also said that she tries to put the behavior correction role on Vang.
Authorities ended up showing a picture from Baur’s phone that reportedly showed an image of Vue wearing an eye mask on his face and appeared to have bruising on his jawline and the left side of his neck. There was also bruising on his upper left arm, according to the complaint.
Baur reportedly claimed that those weren’t injuries and denied seeing the injuries on Vue. The complaint also says that Baur messaged Vang while he was being interviewed by law enforcement. Baur allegedly messaged ‘stop’, ‘Don’t say too much’, ‘Nooo’, ‘stop’, ‘You let him’, ‘Shhhh’, and ‘Attorney K’.
The complaint says that Baur told authorities she sent those messages because she felt like authorities were trying to entrap Vang for drinking and taking medications while watching Vue.
On September 7, authorities were contacted after people found bones while walking in a wooded area near Kristy Bob Lane in Manitowoc County. Tests found the profile of the bones was consistent with Vue. The bones were estimated to be those of a 3-4-year-old child.
The skull of Vue reportedly had a healed fracture of the zygomatic process of the right temporal bone, according to the complaint. The complaint says that similar instances have been correlated with head trauma happening during instances of child abuse.
The cause of death was listed as homicide by unspecified means by the Chief Medical Examiner of the Fond du Lac County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The death reportedly happened in the time interval when Vue was reported missing. Vang was familiar with Kristy Bob Lane because he was present at a residence in September 2023.
Video showed that Vang is seen dropping off a suitcase a St. Vincent de Paul. This suitcase was later found and swabbed where a single profile was found and was consistent with Vue. The vehicle Vang was seen driving was reportedly seen on cameras in the direction of Kristy Bob Lane.
Below is a breakdown of the charges for Vang and Baur:
- Jesse Vang
- Physical Abuse of a Child, Repeated Acts Causing Death, Repeater
- Felony
- Up to life in prison
- Hiding a Corpse, Repeater
- Felony
- Up to two and a half years in prison (Can be increased by two years due to repeater)
- Obstructing an Officer, Repeater
- Misdemeanor
- Up to nine months in prison (Can be increased by two years due to repeater)
- Physical Abuse of a Child, Repeated Acts Causing Death, Repeater
- Katrina Baur
- Chronic Neglect of a Child – Consequence is Death
- Felony
- Up to 60 years in prison
- Neglecting a Child – Specified Harm did not occur and child has a disability
- Felony
- Up to three and a half years in prison
- Obstructing an Officer
- Misdemeanor
- Up to nine months in prison
- Obstructing an Officer
- Misdemeanor
- Up to nine months in prison
- Chronic Neglect of a Child – Consequence is Death
Court records show that the two have both officially been charged. During the Two Rivers Police Department’s press conference, it was mentioned that the two are scheduled to have a bail hearing on October 18 at 12:45 p.m.
No additional information was provided. Local 5 will update this story as more details are released.
