Discovery of Elijah Vue's Remains

• 💡 Three-year-old Elijah Vue's skeletal remains were discovered by a deer hunter on private property in a thickly wooded area near Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
• 📌 The location was just over three miles northwest of where he was originally reported missing, an area previously searched multiple times by law enforcement and rescue teams.
• 🔬 A forensic anthropologist confirmed the remains as human, highlighting the difficulty of finding small skeletal remains in dense underbrush, especially after changing seasons.

Details of the Abuse and Neglect

• ⚠️ Elijah was sent by his mother, Katrina Baur, to live with her convicted felon boyfriend, Jesse Vang, who vowed to "make the boy respect me and turn him into a man."
• 📸 The criminal complaint revealed photos of Elijah blindfolded and bruised on a bed, and standing in a corner for hours in a soiled diaper as part of Vang's "discipline plan."
• 💬 Texts between Baur and Vang showed the mother stating she didn't want Elijah to hate Vang, "just fear you," and Vang claiming Elijah "did fear me but he didn't respect me."

Forensic Investigation Challenges

• 🦴 Forensic anthropologists noted that a three-year-old child has over 300 bones, requiring meticulous excavation using sifters to recover all remains and potential evidence like hair strands.
• 🔍 Determining the cause of death (COD) from skeletonized remains is challenging, as soft tissue, internal organs, and skin are absent, making it difficult to identify signs of strangulation or other injuries without bone trauma.
• 🔬 Investigators will meticulously examine each bone for fractures or hairline breaks that occurred at the time of death, as well as signs of prior abuse, malnutrition, or injuries in different healing stages.

Legal Implications and Charges

• ⚖️ Both Katrina Baur and Jesse Vang have been arrested and charged with child neglect, but as of the broadcast, neither has been charged with murder.
• 🚨 The prosecution faces the challenge of proving murder, especially if a clear cause of death cannot be established, with the defense potentially arguing the child wandered off and died from exposure.
• 💡 Experts discussed the possibility of a felony murder charge, where a death occurs during the commission of a felony like child neglect, which could carry a similar sentence to malice murder.