Volunteers search Avery's Auto Salvage in Manitowoc County April 8, 2024, looking for missing 3-year-old Elijah Vue. PC: Fox 11 Online
TOWN OF GIBSON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Volunteer searchers have headed to Avery’s Auto Salvage as 3-year-old Elijah Vue remains missing.
“I am a little scared,” said searcher Julie Nelson. She added, “Because of the Avery property. I don’t know why, because of what happened there many years ago. It still gives you the weebie jeebies.”
But that didn’t stop her from helping. She said, “There’s always hope that little Elijah is alive, but if he’s not he needs to, we need to get him justice. A little guy who went too long without a voice and he cried way too long without anybody hearing him. So, I’m here for him.”
Monday’s search effort was organized by volunteers who received permission from the Avery family to enter the property. Volunteers say there is no specific evidence linking the boy to the salvage yard, but searchers have been covering a wide area in their efforts. The salvage yard is less than nine miles from where the boy was last seen.
The media wasn’t invited onto the property, like volunteers, but FOX 11 captured one group of people searching the fields and tree lines around the property — while other volunteers tackled the salvage yard area.
“What I noticed, lot of debris around so you kind of have to look at everything. You can’t just, there’s car parts and whatever can be in a car, it’s in there. And you have to take some time and sift through some stuff,” said searcher Jesse Linck.
Searches were somewhat overwhelmed by the scope of their efforts. “It’s so thick back there you just kind of dove in where you could and got down. There’s a huge brush pile, like maybe a couple stories high down there and kind of searched around there and it’s real rugged,” added Andrea Linck.
The search didn’t appear to uncover any new evidence in the search for the missing toddler, but those who looked say that won’t deter them for continuing to look for answers. Julie Nelson said, “Gotta keep trying. you just gotta keep, you can’t give up!”
Elijah Vue was reported missing on Feb. 20, and an Amber Alert remains active. He had been staying with his mother’s boyfriend, Jesse Vang, at an apartment in Two Rivers. Prosecutors say Vue’s mother, Katrina Baur, sent her son to stay with Vang for disciplinary reasons.
Both Baur and Vang have been charged with child neglect in the case.
Vang is due back in court on April 16. Baur returns to court on April 26.
Avery’s Auto Salvage gained notoriety in 2005. Authorities said they discovered the remains of Teresa Halbach, a freelance photographer who had gone there to take photos of a minivan that was for sale. Steven Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey were convicted of killing Halbach. Steven Avery had previously spent 18 years in prison for a rape he did not commit.
Avery and Dassey’s stories received worldwide attention with the 2015 release of the Netflix series “Making A Murderer.”
Both Avery and Dassey maintain their innocence. Avery continues to appeal his conviction. Dassey has no appeals pending. His latest appeal was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018.
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