It's been more than two months since 3-year-old Elijah Vue vanished out of Two Rivers. WISN 12 News reporter Kendall Keys spoke with the little boy's grandmother for the first time on Wednesday. Jodi Baur's grandson is missing and her daughter is in jail. Baur calls herself family to the victim and the suspect. "We'd take him to the beach. He loved going to the beach. He was just a really sweet kid," Baur said.Sitting at a Wisconsin Dells park bench, Baur recalled memories with her daughter, Katrina Baur, and her grandson, Elijah."She always said Elijah was her little ray of sunshine," Baur said.Seeing her daughter as a mother was a bright light for Baur and a contrast to the dark. She said Katrina struggled with a cycle of drug addiction going back 20 years. "Watching your kid fall is the hardest thing in the world. You always want what's best, but you can't get it. It's their life. So that's hard," Baur said.Baur said addiction complicated their relationship. She said Katrina's life was deeply affected by the abusive father of her children, Jimmy Vue, who is in prison. Baur thought Katrina was getting help. "Her entire life revolved around those kids. I don't know what broke. I don't know what changed. I wish I could say that she relapsed. I don't even know about that," Baur said. Nobody's seen Elijah in more than two months. The day an Amber alert went out is burned into Baur's memory. What also stuck out that day was how her daughter reacted. "She was calm. She was. I think the investigators had called me that night, said she was cold. Whether she was detached or in denial, I don't know," Baur said. Investigators said Katrina sent Elijah to stay with her boyfriend, Jesse Vang, in Two Rivers to "learn how to be a man." Vang told police when he woke up from a nap Feb. 20, the little boy was gone. "It was the mama bear, the anger, the instinct, the hysteria that was missing that just, it just hit me wrong," Baur said. Baur said the last time she spoke to Katrina was March 1, after she had been arrested and charged with chronic child neglect. "When you did talk to her, is she asking, where's Elijah? Is she still wanting to know where he is?" Kendall Keys asked Baur."At the time, she was still believing he just walked out the door," Baur said. It's a theory Two Rivers police told WISN 12 News they ruled out. Police also said they don't believe the 3-year-old was abducted. "I don't think Trina knows more because I think she would've broke by now," Baur said. Baur said she thinks getting answers relies on her daughter receiving mental health care. "Until we get her in touch with what's real and what's not real, we're not going to know," Baur said. As Katrina and Vang remain in jail, Elijah remains missing. "You find yourself driving alone, you're looking in every ditch, you're looking in every lake, you're looking at every, you know, farm field. And it's just you, just the trauma doesn't stop because there's no closure," Baur said. "Please keep looking for him because somebody is going to find something."Katrina lived in Wisconsin Dells when Elijah went missing and had been traveling back and forth between there and Two Rivers.Two Rivers police told WISN 12 News they believe Elijah is in the Manitowoc County area. There is a $40,000 reward authorities are offering for information that might lead to Elijah.
WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. —
It's been more than two months since 3-year-old Elijah Vue vanished out of Two Rivers. WISN 12 News reporter Kendall Keys spoke with the little boy's grandmother for the first time on Wednesday.
Jodi Baur's grandson is missing and her daughter is in jail. Baur calls herself family to the victim and the suspect.
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"We'd take him to the beach. He loved going to the beach. He was just a really sweet kid," Baur said.
Sitting at a Wisconsin Dells park bench, Baur recalled memories with her daughter, Katrina Baur, and her grandson, Elijah.
"She always said Elijah was her little ray of sunshine," Baur said.
Seeing her daughter as a mother was a bright light for Baur and a contrast to the dark. She said Katrina struggled with a cycle of drug addiction going back 20 years.
"Watching your kid fall is the hardest thing in the world. You always want what's best, but you can't get it. It's their life. So that's hard," Baur said.
Baur said addiction complicated their relationship. She said Katrina's life was deeply affected by the abusive father of her children, Jimmy Vue, who is in prison. Baur thought Katrina was getting help.
"Her entire life revolved around those kids. I don't know what broke. I don't know what changed. I wish I could say that she relapsed. I don't even know about that," Baur said.
Nobody's seen Elijah in more than two months. The day an Amber alert went out is burned into Baur's memory. What also stuck out that day was how her daughter reacted.
"She was calm. She was. I think the investigators had called me that night, said she was cold. Whether she was detached or in denial, I don't know," Baur said.
Investigators said Katrina sent Elijah to stay with her boyfriend, Jesse Vang, in Two Rivers to "learn how to be a man." Vang told police when he woke up from a nap Feb. 20, the little boy was gone.
"It was the mama bear, the anger, the instinct, the hysteria that was missing that just, it just hit me wrong," Baur said.
Baur said the last time she spoke to Katrina was March 1, after she had been arrested and charged with chronic child neglect.
"When you did talk to her, is she asking, where's Elijah? Is she still wanting to know where he is?" Kendall Keys asked Baur.
"At the time, she was still believing he just walked out the door," Baur said.
It's a theory Two Rivers police told WISN 12 News they ruled out. Police also said they don't believe the 3-year-old was abducted.
"I don't think Trina knows more because I think she would've broke by now," Baur said.
Baur said she thinks getting answers relies on her daughter receiving mental health care.
"Until we get her in touch with what's real and what's not real, we're not going to know," Baur said.
As Katrina and Vang remain in jail, Elijah remains missing.
Missing 3-year-old: Boyfriend of Elijah Vue's mother pleads not guilty
"You find yourself driving alone, you're looking in every ditch, you're looking in every lake, you're looking at every, you know, farm field. And it's just you, just the trauma doesn't stop because there's no closure," Baur said. "Please keep looking for him because somebody is going to find something."
Katrina lived in Wisconsin Dells when Elijah went missing and had been traveling back and forth between there and Two Rivers.
Two Rivers police told WISN 12 News they believe Elijah is in the Manitowoc County area.
There is a $40,000 reward authorities are offering for information that might lead to Elijah.
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