Why Was Elijah Vue Sent to a ‘Boot Camp’ Run by a Convicted Felon While Still in Diapers?

When investigators interviewed Katrina Baur about the adults in her son’s life, she used a word that stopped them: “structure.” She described Elijah’s biological father, Jimmy Vue, as “the alpha” over Jesse Vang. Jimmy Vue was incarcerated at the time. Vang was the man Baur placed her three-year-old with — a convicted felon still on federal supervised release. And Baur had once told police that Vang had trafficked her.

The dynamic between these adults is central to understanding how Elijah Vue ended up where he did. In a Two Rivers apartment, subjected to what the criminal complaint describes as standing punishments lasting hours, cold water, forced prayer, and isolation. Vang texted Baur that he would make the boy hate him. She replied: “Don’t want him to *hate* YOU. Just fear you.” A photograph recovered from Baur’s phone showed Elijah blindfolded with bruises on his face and neck at 3:13 in the morning. She deleted it within the hour.

Who held power in this arrangement? What was the hierarchy Baur described, and how did it shape what happened to her son? Every adult connected to this child was either behind bars, had a violent criminal record, or was a documented participant in one. Elijah had no safe landing. Both Vang and Baur face felony charges in his death and have pleaded not guilty. Tony Brueski sits down with a reporter who has covered this case from the beginning to pull apart the relationship between these adults and what it meant for the three-year-old at the center of it.

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This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

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