Mom of missing toddler Elijah Vue shows no emotion as she pleads not guilty to child neglect ‘after she ordered boyfriend to abuse three year-old to “make him a man”‘

The mother of a missing three-year-old in suburban Wisconsin has entered a not guilty plea for child neglect charges filed after his disappearance.

Katrina Baur, 31, appeared emotionless as she pleaded not guilty to charges including chronic child neglect and obstructing an officer late Friday afternoon, during an appearance in Manitowoc County court.

Her son, Elijah Vue, was last seen February 20 at a home in Two Rivers – where prosecutors said he was sent to stay with her boyfriend ‘to learn how to be a man.’

He has not been seen since, and a photo seized from Baur’s phone showed the toddler blindfolded and bruised.

The not guilty plea was received and entered, and further proceedings are slated for late April. Meanwhile, the search for Elijah, which has yet to yield any more serious charges, continues.

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‘Reserving all other rights and objections, we enter a plea of not guilty’, says defense attorney Ann Larson in footage of Fridays hearing, in which she appeared alongside her jailed client.

‘Not guilty plea is to be received for the record,’ answers an off-screen jurist, a day after another ruled the preliminary hearing for 39-year-old Jesse Vang – the man who was caring for Elijah and reported the boy missing – will be held on April 4.

He’s charged with being party to chronic neglect of a child, but has not been cuffed in connection with the actual disappearance case. 

His mother and her boyfriend have been arrested on accusations of child neglect and punishment of Elijah before his disappearance. 

Baur, meanwhile, has been arrested on accusations of child neglect and punishment of Elijah prior to his disappearance, during which she placed the boy with Vang for what prosecutors billed as weeklong ‘bootcamp’ to teach him discipline.

Until her court appearance April 26, she will remain in custody on a $15,000 bond, after also pleading guilty for a separate child neglect charge involving an unnamed six-year-old. 

Vang briefly appeared in court on Thursday via Zoom before the case was adjourned until next month, during which prosecutors outlined his involvement by citing text messages sent during his time with the toddler.

‘I told you to trust me.. I’m a make sure he hates me and being here,’ wrote Vang according to a court filing dated Tuesday, at approximately 4:36am on February 18.

Four days before, a since-deleted photo was taken of the toddler, bandaged and badly bruised.

‘Don’t want him to *hate* YOU. Just fear you,’ Baur replied upon receiving the apparent uptdate.

‘It’s OK,’ Vang answered: ‘Some one had to be the bad person.’

He would report Elijah missing two days later, eight days left him is his care. 

In his call to police, he told dispatchers the tot had disappeared while he dozed off during a nap. 

He claimed he brought the toddler in the bedroom with him, but that he was gone when he awoke three hours later.

There, prosecutors said the boy was forced to take cold showers, stand for hours on end, and even endure a dirty diaper – after which Baur told detectives that Vang merely ‘the enforcer of rules in the relationship’. 

She also insisted that the reason she sent her son to stay was to address the three-year-old’s behavior, by making him stand for up to three hours at a time while repeating the phrase ‘I’m sorry, Mommy’,  prosecutors wrote in a criminal complaint.

He’s also said to have been banned from playing with the only one of his toys at Vang’s house – a tool kit – due to him being on ‘time out’ throughout. 

Officials also claimed that Baur lied to investigators when question about her whereabouts at the time Elijah disappeared – on ‘at least two occasions.’ 

When asked, Baur allegedly denied being in Two Rivers between February 12 and February 20 and in the Manitowoc County area on February 16 or 17 – both claims she eventually walked back on.

In addition to facing one felony count of party-to-a-crime child neglect and two misdemeanor counts of resisting or obstructing an officer, she is also now facing additional child neglect charges involving another kid who is 6, prosecutors said Friday – before Baur pleaded not guilty to that charge as well

Court records show public defenders represented both Vang and Baur during their hearings, both of which they attended virtually as members of the public whom have been searching for the boy flooded the halls of the Manitowoc County courthouse.

Two rivers resident Yolanda Godfrey – who lived a few doors away from where the toddler was allegedly tortured – told WISN Channel 12 “It happened right outside my back door, practically… I had to be here.

‘You know, I’ve lived in Two Rivers for almost 18 years,’ she went on, as the case continues to grab headlines after more than 32 days.

‘It’s, you know, it’s just frightening.’

Meanwhile, a multi-agency manhunt continues for the missing child, costing more than half of local police prebudget overtime wages – $70,000 of a set aside monthly $130,000 – in the process.

Snowfall in recent weeks has hampered the search effort further, as both Baur and Vang remain jailed for the child neglect charges. Neither have been directly charged in the boy’s disappearance.

Baur is due back in court April 26 at 8 am.