Elijah Vue death: Mother pleads not guilty to charges

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Elijah Vue

TWO RIVERS, Wis. - The mother of Elijah Vue, the 3-year-old boy whose skeletal remains were found months after he went missing, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to the charges she faces in Manitowoc County court. 

Katina Baur, 31, is accused of two felonies, including chronic neglect of a child – consequence is death, and two misdemeanors in the case. Court records show she remains jailed on $400,000 bond.

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Baur's boyfriend, 39-year-old Jesse Vang, is also charged in the case with physical abuse of a child, hiding a corpse and resisting/obstructing an officer. He is due in court on Nov. 6 and remains jailed on $500,000 bond.

Vue went missing from his Two Rivers home on Feb. 20.

Katrina Baur and Jesse Vang in Manitowoc County Court (virtually) on Monday, Feb. 26.

The Manitowoc County Sheriff's Office said a deer hunter found human remains in a wooded area of Two Rivers on Sept. 7. The discovery was made in a privately owned area near a quarry and Camp Manitou.

The Wisconsin Crime Lab conducted DNA testing on the remains, which included a skull and bones, to confirm they were Vue's. Police said the family was notified as soon as the DNA testing confirmed the identity of the remains.

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Police said the location where Vue's remains were found is just over three miles from where he went missing. Meinnert said various teams had previously searched the area near Manitou Drive several times.

After assessing the human skeletal remains, the medical examiner determined the 3-year-old's cause of death was homicide by unspecified means. A different analysis found Vue had fractures in his face.

Camp Manitou

A criminal complaint said, the night before Vue disappeared in February, Vang told investigators he was watching a movie at home. However, investigators recovered surveillance video from that night that showed Vang dropping off a suitcase near St. Vincent de Paul and then driving off around Manitowoc County. Detectives found DNA inside that suitcase that they say belonged to Vue.

Police said they recovered deleted Facebook messages that Baur sent Vang on Feb. 20 – the day Vue went missing – telling him to "say you guys were taking a nap and he left" and adding "the way you word things is very important."