In Manitowoc County court, Katrina Baur stood before the judge and pled not guilty to charges related to the death of her 3-year-old son Elijah Vue. Baur, 31, is facing two felonies, including chronic neglect of a child resulting in death and custody of a neglected child under the age of six, with additional counts of resisting or obstructing an officer, as reported by FOX6 News.
While the mother remains jailed on a steep $400,000 bond, her boyfriend and co-accused, 39-year-old Jesse Vang, also remains behind bars, albeit with a higher $500,000 bond; Vang's charges include physical abuse of a child, hiding a corpse, and resisting/obstructing an officer, he is set to appear in court on November 6, these details come from a WSAW report.
The discovery of Elijah's skeletal remains, found by a deer hunter on September 7 in a wooded area near Two Rivers, emerged months after the boy went missing from his home on February 20; the Wisconsin Crime Lab confirmed the remains were Elijah's through DNA testing, which included a skull and bones, detailed by Spectrum News 1. A different analysis unveiled the child had sustained facial fractures, contributing to the medical examiner's ruling the cause of death as homicide by unspecified means, the police relayed the family had been notified soon after confirmation of the remains' identity.
A criminal complaint reveals on the night before Elijah's disappearance Vang was supposedly watching a movie at home, however, surveillance footage spotted him dropping off a suitcase near St. Vincent de Paul and wandering around Manitowoc County, the inside of which detectives found DNA evidence linked to Elijah, while Baur had sent deleted Facebook messages instructing Vang on what to say about the child's whereabouts, instructing to "say you guys were taking a nap and he left" and emphasizing "the way you word things is very important," as per information from FOX6 News.
As for Baur's upcoming proceedings, prosecutors have a December 20 deadline to propose a plea deal, and her next court appearance is scheduled for February 12, these dates being relayed by a WSAW report. Additionally, while the court has granted Baur's request to have contact with her daughter in accordance with Wisconsin's CHIPS statutes, the provision binds Baur's interactions to remain within the confines of said Child in Need of Protection or Services order.
