Human remains found in Two Rivers; agencies working to ID
TWO RIVERS, Wis. - Human skeletal remains were found in a wooded area in Two Rivers on Saturday, Sept. 7.
The Manitowoc County Sheriff's Office said a deer hunter found the remains. The discovery was made in a privately owned area near a quarry and Camp Manitou.
The discovery has many people wondering: Do they belong to Elijah Vue?
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The three-year-old went missing in February from his Two Rivers home. Vue’s mother, Katrina Baur and her boyfriend, Jesse Vang, are still in jail, both criminally charged with child neglect, though not directly linked to his disappearance.
Emily Middleton is the director of the Center for Forensic Science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She said it might be days, or even weeks before investigators know for sure.
"In Wisconsin, you can get to a partial skeletonization easily within half a year," Middleton said. "The skeleton can reveal a lot of information, but it is a lot harder with subadult remains."
While investigators have not linked Vue to the remains at this time, she said typically investigators will first try to determine their age.
"You can generally estimate age with pretty good accuracy by looking at dental eruption sequences – so what teeth are already in the jaw but what teeth are forming in the jaw," she said.
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Human remains found in Two Rivers; community wants closure
The family of a missing three-year-old believe human skeletal remains found in Manitowoc County belong to Elijah Vue.
Middleton said the challenge is getting DNA, an analysis that isn't done often or locally.
"But then also you have to clean the bone, you have to powder it before you can even extract it so that means what you’re getting is usually lower quality and quantity of DNA from skeleton remains and that’s why building a complete DNA profile can take longer or be very difficult," Middleton said.
She said remains exposed to the elements, like snow or heat, makes the process more difficult. So, as people await closure, investigators ask for patience.