MANITOWOC (NBC 26) — On Saturday, people who enjoying their day at the Manitowoc Harbor were also thinking of Elijah Vue.
- Manitowoc residents and visitors react to news of Elijah Vue's remains being found
- The day after the update, many are still processing Vue's death
- Those who have followed the case are relieved and saddened to get closure
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
“It has just, in an unusual way, pulled the community together," Tim Pagel, a visitor at Manitowoc Harbor, said.
Pagel lives in Florida, but visits his home town of Manitowoc every couple weeks.
“I’ve just been following the story from Florida and up here when we’re up here, and it’s just a very sad story," he said.
On Friday night, Manitowoc police confirmed that the human remains found on a hunter’s land in Two Rivers was Elijah Vue.
The end to an over six month search for the three year old.
The day after the news broke, Pagel was feeling closure, but sadness that closure came in this way.
“Relief, extreme sadness that that poor child, what he must have had to have gone through," Pagel said.
Rebekah Lehman lives on Washington Island, but was always aware of what was going on with Vue.
“Pulling at your heart strings all the time," she said.
She heard about Vue's remains being found on Saturday.
“It’s just kind of like a mixed emotion, I feel like with my faith that he’s probably in the best place that he can finally be," she said.
Lehman shared Pagel’s sentiment, that the tragic story has brought the community together.
“It was just remarkable that people just showed up, and they showed up in different ways and day after day," Lehman said.
