Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - ELIJAH VUE, 3, MISSING After 'MOMMY' Sends Tot to TORTURE CAMP WITH CONVICT LOVER

Episode Date: February 28, 2024

Elijah Vue, 3, has been missing now for eight days. The toddler was last seen at the home of her mother's boyfriend, Jesse Vang. Vang had been taking care of the boy for about a month to reportedly help mother Katrina Baur with care and discipline. The day Vue vanished, Vang said he was disciplining the boy, ordering him to stand next to Vang's bed and pray. Vang fell asleep. Three hours later, when Vang woke up the boy was gone. Both Vang and Baur have been arrested, and charged with crimes related to child neglect. Joining Nancy Grace Today: Darryl Cohen – Former Assistant District Attorney (Fulton County, Georgia) Former Assistant State Attorney (Florida), and Defense Attorney: Cohen, Cooper, Estep, & Allen, LLC; Facebook: “Darryl B Cohen;” X: @DarrylBCohen Thomas E. Fischer - Fmr. Milwaukee Police Detective, Owner/Chief Investigator for Thomas Fischer Investigations LLC Mike Hadsell – President and Founder, Peace River K9 Search and Rescue; X: @K9River Meghan Krein – Director of Communications and PR at Child Help Aisha Morales - Morning News Anchor - WBAY-TV2, Green Bay Wisconsin; X: @Aisha Morales WBAY  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A beautiful little boy, just three years old, is missing. Have you seen a photo of three-year-old Elijah View? Because I can't get that photo, that little face looking at me out of my head. Somewhere out there, I'm looking at him right now. This little boy is waiting for us to find him. Is he dead? Is he alive? Is he alone? Where is Elijah view? Now, this is what I know so far. This little missing Wisconsin boy, Elijah, his mom says he was think she's the disciplinary problem. This little boy was sent away to a, quote, boot camp to, quote, teach him to be a man where he would have to stand in the corner

for hours on end without being allowed to sit down and repeat over and over, I'm sorry, Mommy. I'm sorry, Mommy. I'm sorry, Mommy. I'm sorry, Mommy. If I could get my hands around this woman's neck, I would definitely be charged with murder one. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Crime Stories and on Sirius XM 111. Where is he? Mommy was known to send him away just to get away from her own son. First of all, I want you to hear what we know right now from the police chief listen this child was three years old and was reported missing on a cold winter temperature day with only a blanket and possibly light clothing and we

knew at that time possibly three to four hours i define that as endangered i immediately reached out with the assistance of my staff to the Division of Criminal Investigation. This is not about me, this has always been about bringing Elijah home and quickly. They led that investigation into his whereabouts with the support of our FBI. We also utilized almost any boat, UTV, drone, canine, and even National Guard helicopters to search for Elijah. Unfortunately, Elijah wasn't with me. An all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now. But first to Ayesha Morales joining us WBAY TV 2 out of Green Bay. Ayesha, thank you for being with us.

I want to talk about, first of all, when did he go missing, go missing, and when was he reported missing? What do we know, Ayesha? Because those two moments in time can be very, very different. Yeah, so initially when we got these reports, we were learning that it was February 20th. So a week ago yesterday, February 20th, from what we know now with the criminal complaints, there is a discrepancy. And we reported on that here in Green Bay and talking about how Vang initially told police that he went missing around 11 a.m. on February 20th. And then the story did change a little bit. And now we know that he actually went missing around 8 a.m. And as you know,

any minute a child is gone, it matters. And so there was that first discrepancy with regards to the time that he disappeared, or at least the time that he was reported missing by Vang himself. Hold on. So one report he was missing, he was gone at 8 a.m. on Feb 20. What was the other time? I didn't get that. When was that? 11 a.m. was the initial report. Feb 20 is a Tuesday. I'm trying to figure out so there's a big discrepancy between 11 a.m. and 8 a.m. and a lot of people may think oh that's just four hours. Let me tell you something somebody driving 60 miles an hour times four that's 240 miles before he's reported missing and I've got another problem with that.

Let me go out to Thomas E. Fisher joining us, former Milwaukee PD, police detective, now owner of thomasfisherinvestigations.com. Thomas, thank you for being with us. I have a problem with that because I can tell you right now what time my children wake up in the morning. My daughter gets up at 6.05 a.m. My son gets up at 7.05 a.m. And I know they're up because I go and check on them. So how can you, at the best, Thomas Fisher, how can you not know where your child is for four hours,

three hours between 8 and 11 if they're in the home? Right there I got a problem. That's a very good point. Basically, you have somebody that was not watching this child or transported this child someplace else. Based on what we know and what the investigation has revealed to date is that he was disciplined, disciplined that should not be given to a three year old. Well, you know, Thomas Fisher, you are the former Milwaukee police detective and you are the owner of, let me say, a highly successful private investigative firm, but you left out another glaring possibility. They're lying.

You said either they weren't watching them or something about the time discrepancy, or they're lying. And can I just point out to you, Daryl Cohen, jumping off what Fisher just said, you're the former prosecutor, now veteran defense attorney. Daryl Cohen, what do you do? How do you explain that to a jury if there ever is one? How you weren't watching your child in your own home. I mean, it's not that hard in your own home to know where your child is for three hours. Coincidentally, on the very day he goes missing, a three-year-old shouldn't be out of your sight, Daryl. Nancy, at the age of three, he or she, in this case, he doesn't have to be out of your sight for you to know where he is because you hear the noises that he's making, the absolute chaos that comes with a three-year-old.

So you don't explain that to a jury. You have to keep your damn big mouth shut and not say anything. But it's really sad that he has disappeared, and we hope that he'll be located and located alive and located okay there's no excuse for parenting the way she was trying to do it it's non-parenting it's prosecutable non-parenting you don't have to see your child just because you think your child's in the house doesn't mean he is in the house you can be in the kitchen he may or may not be in his bedroom. You don't have to look at him all of the time. You don't have to hear him all of the time. You don't have to be with him all of the time. And suddenly when you go look for him, he's not there.

That's reasonable. That's explainable. It's something that you have to deal with. Darrell Cohen, where exactly did you go to law school? I think the same place you did. And that's probably in Macon, Georgia. And NYU, because obviously you didn't get the class on BS, technical legal term. Good luck telling that to a jury. You don't have to see your child to know that he's OK. You know, it's a miracle.

I've met your daughters. Beautiful. It's a miracle I've met your daughters. Beautiful. It's a miracle they grew up safe and sound and apparently sane when daddy didn't know where they were half the time. Let's get back on this case. I'm wandering far afield. I want to hear more of what the police have to say about their search efforts. And think about it. A three-year-old little boy, Aisha Morales, WBAY, and Thomas

Fisher joining us out of Milwaukee. What were the temperatures around this time? Feb 20, Tuesday morning, 8 a.m. or 11, depending on what the parents feel like saying at that moment. But what was the temp? How cold is it there? It was a mild day actually in comparison to other February days. We do remember that, but we also know that he was, is 45 pounds or so. So anything below 50 degrees, 40 degrees, even though it's mild for Wisconsin standards, it was still pretty chilly. You would need a jacket or at least a coat. And he didn't, from what I understand, didn't have that. Okay, wait a minute. You call 30 degrees mild? We do here in Wisconsin. Okay, I understand that. Where I'm from, that is like you're in the Antarctic at 30 degrees.

Okay, so for me, 30 degrees is cold, and I'm wondering how that would have affected this child hypothermia-wise. But I'm opening up a whole nother can of worms. Let's get back to the search. Listen again to police chief Ben Meinhart. Those leads, those investigations, everything we've taken as tips have led to searching our neighborhoods, searching all our waterways, areas with foot canvases, both urban and rural, throughout Manitowoc County and even beyond.

We've searched Wisconsin landfills and quarries, and we've even had additional leads in Wisconsin Dells. In addition to all those search efforts, I emerald some other investigations taking place. I can confirm Elijah's mother, Katrina Bauer, is in jail on charges of child neglect and obstructing. Katrina's boyfriend, Jesse Bang, is in jail on charges of child neglect. And I do know that Elijah's father has also been incarcerated at Oshkosh Correctional Institute in unrelated matters since 2023. Do this kid ever have a chance? That's what I'm trying to figure out. crime stories with nancy grace elijah view three years old last seen feb 20 after being sent to a quote boot camp to be disciplined by his mom's boyfriend. Last seen wearing gray pants,

dark colored long sleeve shirt, red and green dinosaur slip on shoes, may have his red and white plaid blanket. That's a blanket he's had since he was a little baby. I've seen him in photos holding the blanket up to his face. Joining me is Mike Hadsell, president and founder of Peace River Canine Search and Rescue. Do you remember when Kelly Anthony was found? She was murdered by her mother, top mom Casey Anthony. She was wrapped in her favorite, I believe it was a Disney princess, could have been a Winnie the Pooh blanket. She had that with her. And you know what?

That's a sign of Mike Hadsell that someone connected to the child, killed and buried, disposed of the child, because the child has a personal belonging with the child when it is discarded or disposed. Mike Hadsell, what should the search be encompassing? This is cold. It's in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. There's bodies of water. You hear that they're out boots on the ground. They've been walking the neighborhoods. They've searched the waterways. I don't know to what extent have they used sonar? Have they used divers? To me, waterways or a forest would be an obvious choice to dispose of a child. I'm still praying he's alive. Mike Hadsall, where is he? Well, you have two options on this. We have to, one, assume that he's alive and he ran away. So if he did that,

children of that age don't wander far from home. They just want to get out of sight because they want to scare the parent and shake things up. So usually we find them within a half a mile of the house, usually near a structure, another apartment building or sheds, things like that. That's usually where we locate them because you've got to try to stay warm. On the other side, if something nefarious happened and the child was murdered or died, for some reason they decided to dispose of the remains, he's going to be, oh gosh, where are you going to start?

I mean, there's so much wooded area around there. There's a lot of rivers. The easiest disposal, of course, would be in the rivers. One of the disturbing facts that came up was the shoe that was found in one of the dumpsters that they say may belong to the child, which I do believe led to the landfill search that they were working on. If that's happened, then they're going to have to move quickly because the remains won't last long in that landfill. You know, Mike Hassel, everything you said is perfectly correct, but horrible. Aisha Morales, WBAY-TV2, please tell me about the landfill search. Sure. So as soon as they were told that the shoe, like you said, the shoe was there.

It was found. They initiated that landfill search. I remember that day and our partner station in Milwaukee was able to get aerial shots of that. They had a club. They had people searching, investigators there. It didn't seem to amount to much. We haven't actually spoken about the landfill search since that day last week. It's been nothing but people, the community searching.

But as far as the landfill, we have not heard anything about what they possibly found if they continued to search. But even after a day, it was kind of quiet at the landfill. To you, Aisha Morales, WBAY-TV2, where is that landfill as it relates to where the boyfriend was keeping Elijah? It shouldn't be too far away. I think it's within the same hour or so for the county, but that's just it. There could be multiple landfills, too. I know that some people were mentioning that trash day, you know, so that was uncertain. And the thing is, is that there is a lot of information that leads to some of these searches and landfill, the landfill included in that. So I was seeing in a group on Facebook that a lot of people were chatting about the shoe, were chatting about trash day. And a lot of those tips led to the landfill search. But it's not too far from that area.

Why in the world would a woman pick this guy with mugshots dating back for years to, quote, discipline her child? Aisha Morales, what's on his rap sheet? There's a lot of different charges, including child abuse, for sure. Fleeing an officer, you guys have it, possession of cocaine, drug, bail jumping, lots of disorderly conduct type of charges, but child abuse is on there. So that was one of the first things that we noticed as well. Child abuse, fleeing officer, manufacturing, deliver, possession, cocaine. That's cocaine with intent to distribute. That's a major felony. Resisting an officer, possession, cocaine, resisting an officer,

bail jumping, DC and DUI. And that's who is going to take care of your child. You're joining me right now, special guest from ChildHelp.org. If you haven't seen it or heard of it, go online. ChildHelp, one word,.org. Megan Crime is joining us, Director of Communications. Megan, do you know how many millions of people would have paid $60,, 80, $100,000 to buy, adopt a little boy like Elijah View? But yet these two keep him.

And did you see what they did to quote, discipline him, make him stand for hours on end saying, I'm sorry, mommy. I'm sorry, mommy. I'm sorry, mommy. I'm sorry, mommy. Forced to take cold showers, stand for hours on end, stay in a dirty dipe, banned from playing with the only toy he had at Vang's house, tool kit because he was on quote extended time out. Megan crying, I don't understand. With all of these mugshots, all of these offenses, somehow this little angel was born and then he goes missing. Yes, it's heartbreaking. And you wonder, we have seen those beautiful photos of Elijah. It didn't seem like he was always abused, right? Like she, he was in that little car. He had his second birthday cake. He was well-dressed. So it just wonders what happened. the Turpin family in the House of Horrors, where the mother and father would dress them up and there were like eight or nine of them. There were a lot of children and they would be dressed up in matching outfits. And I mean the whole shebang, matching t-shirts, matching bows, matching

dresses, all these photos of them at Disney, at various functions. But yet when they went home they were shackled to the bed starved tortured with putting food in front of them but not letting them eat there were scratch marks on the inside of a closet bedroom door where they wanted in a closet trying to get out, put in a dark closet. They had 13 children called the House of Horrors, and they looked great on the outside. Yeah, putting on a show for everyone else to make people think that you're a wonderful parent. And parenting can be, is hard. And we have so, there's so many resources out there.

And if somebody, if you see something, if if you know if i just find it also hard to believe that nobody thought anything was going on with elijah when he's getting shipped off to his mom's boyfriends for a discipline at three years i wonder if i wonder if anybody else even knew about it guys we're to the point now where police are begging the public for help. Listen. A little bit more from Chief Minert. Listen. This child was three years old and was reported missing on a cold winter temperature day with only a blanket and possibly light clothing. And we knew at that time possibly three to four hours. I define that as endangered.

You darn right it's in danger. But now I want you to hear about what led up to the 911 missing call. Take a listen to Nicole Parton, Crime Online. February 20, 1059 a.m. Jesse Vang calls 911 to report the three-year-old boy he cares for is missing. Vang says he fell asleep caring for Elijah Vu at 8 a.m. and when he woke up at just before 11 a.m. Elijah was gone. He is last seen wearing gray sweatpants, a long-sleeved dark colored shirt, and red and green dinosaur slip-on shoes. Thomas E. Fisher joining me, former Milwaukee Former Milwaukee PD now runs his own PI. Tom, have you ever noticed how many children just disappear while mommy or daddy's sleeping? Yeah, that doesn't happen too often. No, I've seen cases like that over the years, but it's usually something else that occurred.

A lie? Yes. Why this guy? Out of all the men in the universe, she picks this one to discipline her child? Okay, that said, police asking for help. Take a listen to Rachel Bonilla, Crime Online. The search continues for Elijah Vu,

with many in the public asking how a three-year-old can leave an apartment and go missing on his own. The local police ask for help at the state and federal level, and soon the FBI are on hand to help. Local and regional groups use boats to search rivers and streams, while air searchers are conducted with drones. Canine units are brought in for searches on land, but three-year-old Elijah is still missing. And family is pleading for help. Listen. On behalf of my family, we stand before you today with heavy hearts burdened by an unmanageable situation. The pain is indescribable, a torment no family or child should ever face. We cannot express the depth of our sorrow,

nor the desperation that consumes us, as each moment passes without news of Elijah's safety. To anyone who may have information about Elijah's whereabouts, we plead with you to please come forward. Your courage, your compassion, your willingness to speak up may hold the key to Elijah's safe return. You're hearing Elijah's aunt. It's certainly not his mother or boyfriend asking for help. Wonder why? Wonder why they aren't asking for him to be found. That's a whole other can of worms.

But now take a listen to what actually happened to Elijah View while he was at his boot camp with the convicted felon. Listen to Dave Mack, Crime Online. Elijah's mother is 31-year-old Katrina Bauer, but she wasn't watching her son at the time he went missing. Bauer's boyfriend, 39-year-old Katrina Bauer, but she wasn't watching her son at the time he went missing. Bauer's boyfriend, 39-year-old Jesse Vang, has been taking care of the boy. Bauer says she's letting Jesse Vang discipline Elijah Vu, helping to teach him to be a man. The three-year-old is not potty trained and still takes a bottle, but Vang puts him in timeout when he disobeys an order. Jesse Vang explains

timeout as a time where the three-year-old must stand in one place and repeat, I'm sorry, mommy, or pray for two or three hours at a time. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. To Daryl Cohen, former felony prosecutor, now defense attorney, joining us out of the Atlanta jurisdiction. Daryl, question to you. Do you think, just go with me on this, what's the likelihood that these two, the mommy and her convicted felon boyfriend, were torturing the boy in his boot camp disciplinary eight days and then somebody else came in and abducted him? Do you really think statistically that's even possible? No, Nancy, it's not. But on the other hand, what are we talking about torture? Is it extreme

discipline? Is this really torture? Do you think his mom or his, quote, mom's boyfriend would torture him? They were wrong in what they did, but that's not torture. And could he have wandered out on his own? Of course he could. It happens, unfortunately, all of the time. Close your eyes, turn your head, and your child is gone. That can happen. Now, why she didn't report it earlier? Who knows? Maybe she was hoping they could find him. Maybe thinking a self-search would make him available. But that doesn't make it torture. And that doesn't mean that she knew that the boyfriend had been arrested so many times. And if you notice, his last major arrest, other than DUI, was almost 20 years ago. So I think you're making this worse than it is

for these two people. As the evidence unfolds, we'll see. But I can't prejudge them. I don't see her as a good mother, but I don't see her as a torturer either. Daryl, I don't give a flying fig about these two people. I don't care what happens to them. You're right about that. I don't care. I want to find this boy and it's their fault. And how you with a straight face, look, I know you're a defense attorney, but that said with a straight face, say it's not torture to force a child to stand in the corner for hours and hours repeating Bible verses. And I'm sorry, mommy, you don't think that's torture? Because I do. Jump in. How do you know that's the truth? How do you know that what you hear is they really made him do that?

Who told you this? Where did we gather this evidence? Let's not prejudge these people. You know what? Let's ask the reporter, Aisha Morales. Where's that knowledge coming from, Aisha? It's hard because we have a whole timeline dating back as far as November. So Thanksgiving at the end of the year, 2023, that's when Bauer told her boyfriend about Elijah's behavior that far. And then you're talking about the days that led up to Elijah's disappearance or what we're told is his disappearance, what was reported. February 14th is when Bauer eventually told investigators she was in Two Rivers, that's where Elijah went missing, for a period of time. And then the thing is that we haven't really mentioned a whole lot is that she would go back and forth between Two Rivers, checking in on

Elijah, who was getting this discipline according to this criminal complaint from her boyfriend and then she'd go back to wisconsin dells which nancy it's about three hours away so she was not very close to her son at the time there was the february 14th february 6th she was very 19th um vang says he was punishing Elijah by making him stand near him while he watched a movie before. Darryl Cohen, his last bust was in 2023. That was last year. It wasn't that long ago. And as far as DUI, look, I don't care if you sold cocaine yesterday or 10 years ago, you're not babysitting

for my children. Bam, there, there you go. And as far as where are we getting the information right now, the mom and the boyfriend are sitting behind bars on other charges related to mistreating this child. The mother, 31-year-old Katrina Bauer, arrested two days after Elijah goes missing, charged with felony child neglect and obstructing police. Currently unemployed. Surprise. Jesse Vang, the lover, he's behind bars right now, too. And he is charged with mistreating the child as well. So what do you mean? Where am I getting my information? I'm getting my information from what the cops put in an arrest warrant.

So are you doing the whole OJ Simpson defense? The cops are lying. The cops planted the evidence. It's a big conspiracy. The cops made the evidence. It's a big conspiracy. The cops made the arrest. The police made the arrest. That doesn't mean the information they made the arrest on is accurate. Where did it come from? Guys, speaking of what the parent, oh yes, and there's a $16,000 reward. As a matter of fact, let's take a listen to Chief Ben Minard describing that reward. Today, the FBI has now provided an additional reward up to $15,000

for information leading to the location and return of Elijah Vu and or the arrest and conviction of any individual or individuals responsible or involved with his disappearance. So there you go. I find that really disingenuous. Thomas Fisher, former Milwaukee PD,

now private eye, to say they weren't torturing this child. And where do you get the information? And the police are probably lying. I doubt that the police were lying. You know, you get this type of information through taking statements from the individuals involved. You're talking to other people that have knowledge of what's going on or may have some knowledge of what's going on to sit out here and say the police are lying and putting this in a criminal complaint you know that doesn't fly um the parents are just they're

two terrible people and what we need to do is let this criminal justice system take care of them down the line. But right now we need to find that child. I want to go back to Mike Hadsill joining us from Peace River Canine Search and Rescue. Mike, I know that there has been a, as Aisha described it, a landfill search that cooled off. But at this juncture, don't you think starting at the apartment complex and going out with canines would be helpful? It was in the first couple of weeks after the child went missing. You would want to use the canines at that point. However, the weather doesn't play well to canines. When the temperature drops down below 32 degrees and into those lower temperatures, the dogs become ineffective because there's just not enough odor available for the dogs to work properly.

So you have to wait for the good weather day. What do you mean by that? Well, for a cadaver dog, you have to have at least 38 degrees to get the dogs to work well. Take your freezer at home. You put the meat in the freezer, the meat freezes. It doesn't smell anymore. The same problem with human remains in the field. You've got to wait for it to at least get up to over 38 degrees for the dogs to be able to work effectively.

They may bump into something. If you're doing a tight grid, you might get lucky. But even in the water work, if the water is too cold, it's going to be hard to get odor up for the dogs to be effective. So that's one thing. They were using helicopters. They were using helicopters. They're using drones. If they're using thermal cameras, which I'm assuming they were,

thermal drones, the temperature between if the boy is alive, you're going to get a really good heat signature from that if the boy's remains are out there. Again, we have to look at the lapse rate of when it was warm versus when it was cold. Can we still find remains if it has a lot to do with the weather? And unfortunately, up there in Wisconsin, they're having a wild winter this year. It's 65 degrees one day and 12 degrees the next.

So it's interesting to see how well they would be able to find it. Landfill searches, as you brought them up, it may have cooled down on that because landfill searches are a nightmare and they take a lot of manpower and a lot of time to do them effectively. You basically have to take all the trash out from that day. You have to spread it out in sections. You have to have about 20 people to go through it all and along with the cadaver dogs to try to look and find what you're looking for. So it's a very expensive and labor-intensive thing, which is probably why it cooled off, because they don't want to spend the money right now to do it until they're really sure they have nothing else to look at.

The grandmother of three-year-old Elijah Vu has just spoken out in the last 24 hours, emotional, crying, begging to help find Elijah Vue. This three-year-old boy was reported missing Feb 20 by Jesse Vang, the boyfriend of Elijah's mother, who told police she had sent her son, her three-year-old, to stay with Vang so he could teach the three-year-old boy, quote, how to be a man. That is in the criminal complaint filed at the county level. Vang then tells police he was taking a nap and miraculously, coincidentally, oddly, wakes

up to find the baby is gone. Now, both Vang and View's mother, Katrina Bauer, have been in lockup on charges of child neglect. The family is begging. A child missing, says Chief Ben Minert, for any amount of time is every parent's worst nightmare. Hundreds of resources have been used in the search. Drones, helicopters, canines, all used across the entire county and beyond. Aisha Morales, when the chief says county and beyond, where are they looking they have been going now in multiple counties it's not just where he went missing it is now even as far as the milwaukee

area even into central wisconsin which is about three hours away where bauer herself was going back and forth from so she was it's from what it seems, according to this complaint, she was not there that day. She was there the days before, but not that day that he went missing. So because she was in Wisconsin Dell three hours away, and they have resources elsewhere, they're just searching far beyond where he went missing in that neighborhood. I know this. The county sheriff, Dan Hartwig, closed his press conference in a final plea to the public and was fighting back tears as he thought of this missing three-year-old boy. There is now a $16,000 reward in the search for three-year-old Elijah View.

Tip line 844-267-6648. Repeat 844-267-6648. Please help us bring Elijah View home. Goodbye, friend.