ID ID - Michael “Monkey” Vaughan, 5, last seen near home, Fruitland, 27 Jul 2021 #2

[iamnotagolem]

What is a ’switch’ please?

Nintendo switch

 

[Kiranerys]

What is a ’switch’ please?

A handheld games console.

 

[Kiranerys]

Unless he had an agreed time to do so with Brandi - she may have instructed him change the baby at 6ish? Otherwise, this is a huge plot hole - nobody in their right mind would wake a soundly sleeping baby to change them. Least of all a man.

I think I would change my baby's nappy if she was sleeping,I wouldn't leave her in a dirty one,but if she was in a deep sleep and wasn't woken by the overeat then I would probably thank my lucky stars and change her in her bed and leave her sleeping.
My sister would feed her babies every 4 hours on the dot, if they were sleeping she would wake them to feed, I would always say to her that she didn't need to clock watch and if the baby was hungry he wouldn't be sleeping but she was a stickler for the 4 hour rule,no matter what.

I think maybe Dad just doesn't remember the whole sequence of events,I mean you don't pay attention to every move you make just incase you find your child missing and everything having on your precise timeline, and then when it happens and you realise they are gone and you panic,recollections get distorted etc.
I think I would be much more suspicious if he could explain and document every movement in the timeline precisely but that's just MO.

 

[FlossyMay]

How old was the baby at that time?

 

[YaYa_521]

Pizza was delivered? Have investigators spoken with the delivery driver who may or may not have seen Monkey?

 

[ChatteringBirds]

I have seen people post on parenting forums asking whether they should wake a baby to change their diaper. And I don't find it surprising that he'd wake her before dinner.

What I do find surprising is a little boy voluntarily putting their Switch down to go do something else. For the boys I know, getting them to stop playing is, well, an ordeal. And if you have parental control time limits set on devices, they come to ask for more time.

I am not implying anything, but that it's the one surprise in the above quote for me.

 

[FlossyMay]

So the baby must have slept through the diaper change since he then ordered pizza and went out to smoke.

How old is big brother and what was he doing during all of this?

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

I think the neighbour/babysitter said publicly that she saw him outside the home, as he had knocked on her door, wanting to play. She said she sent him back home?

So the question still stands---did he go back home then or not?

What kind of people can turn away a 5 year old child and not accompany them back the short distance to their own home?

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Pizza was delivered? Have investigators spoken with the delivery driver who may or may not have seen Monkey?

Yes, where is the pizza arriving description in all this story?

 

[PhoebeTries]

Coincidentally, our neighbours' kids came by yesterday because their paper planes had gotten into our yard. They are five and three, came by themselves, rang the doorbell. Not for a second did I consider accompanying them back home and I am ANXIOUS. They came in, went into the yard and got their planes. Some neighbourhoods are just like that and I'm thankful these kids can experience it.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Do we know if he left his Switch at home or took it with him?

If at home, I wonder if they can/have determined the exact time he stopped playing and have found anything interesting while forensically searching it. JMO.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Coincidentally, our neighbours' kids came by yesterday because their paper planes had gotten into our yard. They are five and three, came by themselves, rang the doorbell. Not for a second did I consider accompanying them back home and I am ANXIOUS. They came in, went into the yard and got their planes. Some neighbourhoods are just like that and I'm thankful these kids can experience it.

Yes, fair enough I guess if the neighbourhood is very safe. Or WAS very safe. I guess if you can see them go back to their own garden? For me I'd be more inclined to watch them do so as I'm also ANXIOUS and I worry about all kinds of things like stumbling or trapping little fingers in gates or being unsafe in passing traffic... but that's just me.

 

[mooseandcoffee]

About how much time transpired between the neighbor sending Michael home and the time the father called police? It didn't sound like too much time had gone by? I know LE says they haven't cleared parents, but they've also said that parents are 100% cooperative.

 

[Allabouttrial]

Pizza was delivered? Have investigators spoken with the delivery driver who may or may not have seen Monkey?

Yes. According to Brandi, in an interview that was approved, the delivery driver was someone she used to work with. She (delivery driver) babysat for Michael when he was 2 yrs. old. She was interviewed and her van and house have been thoroughly searched.

Again according to Brandi the pizza was delivered and intercepted by a neighbour as the search was in full swing at this point.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Yes. According to Brandi, in an interview that was approved, the delivery driver was someone she used to work with. She (delivery driver) babysat for Michael when he was 2 yrs. old. She was interviewed and her van and house have been thoroughly searched.

Again, according to Brandi the pizza was delivered and intercepted by a neighbour, as the search was in full swing at this point.

Good to hear she's been thoroughly investigated as she's heavily implicated by dint of the timeline

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Why did the neighbours not invite little Monkey in their homes? If it was 6:30pm and he was door knocking for company, was that a usual thing for him to do? Was he asking if people were coming out to play, maybe kick ball? What was he actually saying? Why didn't they invite him come sit inside watch TV or such if their own kids weren't playing out? Was he disliked? Was the family disliked? Or is that just normal stuff? I live in a big city so am not sure how it all goes.

 

[dulcinea]

Why did the neighbours not invite little Monkey in their homes? If it was 6:30pm and he was door knocking for company, was that a usual thing for him to do? Was he asking if people were coming out to play, maybe kick ball? What was he actually saying? Why didn't they invite him come sit inside watch TV or such if their own kids weren't playing out? Was he disliked? Was the family disliked? Or is that just normal stuff? I live in a big city so am not sure how it all goes.

Not everyone appreciates other people's children in their home.

In our neighborhood there is a seven year old who wanders on his own all day long. Based on conversations with him and things I have overheard his parents say when he calls them on his cell phone, it sounds like he is kicked out of the house around 8 AM, expected to check in for lunch, and then is kicked out again until 5-6 PM. He knocks on random doors, plays with kids much older than he is, and will talk to anyone. It scares the heck out of me. He's the prime candidate for someone looking to harm a child.

I allow him in my home frequently, but sometimes I am busy cleaning, just want peace and quiet, or don't feel like talking to him. I feel sorry for him because I don't think he gets a lot of attention at home. However, I teach all day and have my own family, so sometimes I just need my own space. When I tell him it's not a good time, he quickly checks in with someone else.

I envision Monkey doing something similar, though I am not implying he wasn't welcome in his own home or left to freely wander. He might've slipped out on his own, hoping to find a buddy because he was tired of playing on his Switch.

Unfortunately, this is fairly common where I live. I constantly see very young children roaming without adults. This has become the normal. A lot of people think that because they grew up that way that it's acceptable. One lady at our neighborhood park even asked a complete stranger (male) to watch her kids because she needed to go home for awhile. I was stunned.

 

[YaYa_521]

Yes, where is the pizza arriving description in all this story?

I didn't see anything referencing when the pizza arrived. I assumed delivery based on the fact Tyler ordered the pizza from home. However, Allabouttrial (BTW, TY @Allabouttrial!) provided more info about the delivery. See 2nd quoted post below.

SIBBM from quoted post below:

Tyler - Went back to change Bug, Michael was playing on his switch, she was sleeping so it took a minute for me to rouse her and then I changed her diaper and ordered pizza. Probably took me around 15 minutes maybe, and came back out and went outside to smoke and Monkey wasn't outside so I figured he was inside with his brother, wasn't inside and then I started to freak out and it's all kind of a blur from there. Just running all over the neighbourhood and...(Bug runs up at this point)

Reporter - What time was that?

Tyler - I ordered the pizza at 6.40. I really couldn't tell you any other timestamp, besides that, with a 100% certainty. I don't even know if that's when I entered the order or when I finished the order, or what. The receipt said 6.40.

Interview with Michael's parents - Brandy and Tyler.

Reporter - So we just got off the press conference. Can you tell me a little bit about how you're feeling? About how it went and what type of information that they released and how the investigation is going in your perspective?

Tyler - There's a lot of stuff that they're working on, that is new stuff, that made me very hopeful that I'm not going to go into, but we both know that they're working tirelessly, so I always feel good when coming out of there. They work very hard.

Reporter - When you say 'hopeful' - Can you kind of explain what that means to you with these new...I guess new leads, but you know, what they're looking into?

Tyler - We've both tried to stay hopeful throughout the whole thing, but the things they're working on make me hopeful that we'll have answers eventually and he'll come home.

Brandy - He's coming home and they're not gonna give up.

Reporter - So with the update that Huff gave when he said that they're looking in the area again - Do you know kind of...if they're looking at people that you guys know? Or is it really just general? Is there anything you can speak to on that?

Tyler - We don't really know anything other than that there's persons of interest.

Brandy - There's nothing that we can speak of on that matter and there are....they're looking into every lead and persons of interest, so we don't know those and what I can say is that they're doing everything they possibly can to find Michael.

Reporter - So Huff said 'well I mean the family hasn't been cleared but they've been cooperative' - Do you have any comment on that? Some people speculate that 'Oh because the family hasn't been cleared that they're guilty, or they're this' - What do you guys take away from that, because obviously it can be hard to clear somebody just because everything's still outstanding? I kind of wonder what you think about that?

Tyler - I think they're doing everything they can to find Michael, and like you said, it's extremely hard to be 100% on anybody so we're just taking it as it goes, and I'm sure eventually we'll get there.

Reporter - Have you guys been told otherwise? because I know there's been rumours circulating around...just online and even just around the community. Have you guys been told otherwise about being cleared?

Brandy - We are working with LE 100% and I will say that they are a very very big part of our lives continuously and we will continue to work with them 110%, so when everything is cleared or....

Tyler - When they're ready to take that step we'll be grateful, but we know it takes time.

Reporter - Just with information that's been released in the past year - it was pretty consecutive in the first early months, started to slow down a little bit just from police, and now it's been a while. This was the first press conference we've had since November, which I guess kind of contributes to speculation around the community. With the lack of information that's been released from police in the past six months, which has led to this speculation - Do you think LE should release more information just to combat those people that are coming up with these theories?

Tyler - Most of the theories, I think, are completely not grounded in reality for the most part, and I wouldn't want them to release anything that would jeopardise the case. I mean, the person that has Michael could be watching and I mean it's....it's...I wouldn't want them to put anything out that they shouldn't.

Brandy - I believe they've done an amazing job and they continue to do an amazing job and they're not....they know the facts, they know the truth, they have the truth and the things they're working on is very important because Michael is our son and they want him home just as much as we do. So for them to do what they're trying to do in their jobs is highly important and I respect that. Yes, it is frustrating at times but....

Reporter - Back in December you told me that you believe Michael was taken - Do you still feel that same way today? And has there been new developments or anything that's made you feel more strongly about that?

Brandy - Yes sir, wholeheartedly, wholeheartedly, and we're going to find him and whoever decided that they could take Michael, they need, or has information, they need to come forward. It's been almost a year. It has been 351 days.

Reporter - Do you feel strongly one way or the other - If it was a stranger or somebody that knew him at all? Do you feel any which way about that, or do you just not know?

(long pause)

Tyler - Don't know.

Brandy - Don't know. We don't know.

Tyler - We definitely feel that he was taken. I mean there's been...well Tristan's (one of the interviewers) been here from the beginning. There was thousands of people here, like...he's not here, so he must be somewhere else.

Reporter - Tyler can you walk us through just that night? You were home with the kids - Can you just walk us through everything that happened last July?

Tyler - Went back to change Bug, Michael was playing on his switch, she was sleeping so it took a minute for me to rouse her and then I changed her diaper and ordered pizza. Probably took me around 15 minutes maybe, and came back out and went outside to smoke and Monkey wasn't outside so I figured he was inside with his brother, wasn't inside and then I started to freak out and it's all kind of a blur from there. Just running all over the neighbourhood and...(Bug runs up at this point)

Reporter - What time was that?

Tyler - I ordered the pizza at 6.40. I really couldn't tell you any other timestamp, besides that, with a 100% certainty. I don't even know if that's when I entered the order or when I finished the order, or what. The receipt said 6.40.

Reporter - Were you in the house when you ordered or were you outside?

Tyler - No, I was in the back bedroom with Bug.

Reporter - And following...I mean, when you realised that you didn't know where Michael was - What did you do then? Did you knock on any neighbours doors, did you...?

Tyler - I came outside and I looked down the street, and I hopped in the car and called Brandy, and drove to the Splash Pad and then all over the neighbourhood, walking, running, driving, I couldn't tell you where. I didn't leave the neighbourhood but all up and down this, you know, 8th St. complex I was....we were both all over.

Reporter - Some of the people that like to speculate are wondering - Why did you call Brandy, why didn't you just call the police first? What was your rationale...what was your thought going into that? I mean, obviously, it probably wasn't rational because you were anxious but - Can you just explain a little bit about your process in that way?

Tyler - I was scared and she was the first person I thought to call. I needed her home as fast as I could because I was panicked and out of my mind.

Reporter - Just going off of that question - I'm sure you guys see a lot of stuff online as well, I mean the last person to see (doesn't say a name but I'm assuming it's Michael) is (can't see the interviewer so I'm guessing at this point he nods in the direction of Tyler), people speculate about that. What would you say, just to people, to help clear your name a little bit?

Tyler - I mean anybody that's looked into the timeline I feel like...there was no time for me to do anything. Not to mention I didn't leave the neighbourhood besides in a cop car for 2 or 3 weeks.

Brandy - Yep.

Tyler - There was thousands of people everywhere. There's nothing that I could have done and I don't know how some people don't see that but...

Reporter - Talk to me about your relationship with Michael? What was he like to you?

Brandy - IS sir, IS.

Tyler - He's my best little buddy, he's....we do, you know, comic books, monster trucks. He's the sweetest little boy in the world. He was always trying to help, he's perfect with his sister, they have an amazing relationship.

Brandy - Both his sisters.

Tyler - Both his sisters. He's just a wonderful, wonderful little boy and he doesn't deserve this.

Reporter - What do you tell Buggy after it's been this long? How do you explain to such a small child what's going on? and I know that's really hard to answer but - How do you tell her?

Brandy - We can't say when her older two...go their Dad's that they're 'bye-bye' right now, because that's the only thing that I could fig... for two months I didn't know what to tell her, and she'd just really started talking at that point and so we don't say 'bye-bye' because Monkey is just 'bye-bye' right now and he's coming home. He'll be home, he's just 'bye-bye' right now.

Reporter - Does she ask where he is?

Brandy - Yeah.

Tyler - She'll pick up his pictures and gives him kisses, set them up in front of the coffee table and watch tv with him.

Brandy - She pulls out his batman cape and...(Brandy can't finish the sentence and is visibly upset).

Tyler - She misses him.

Reporter - She seems like a very headstrong little girl.

Brandy - Oh yeah.

Tyler - I know where she gets that from.

Brandy - I don't know where she gets that from.

(they all laugh at this point)

Reporter - Looking back, as we approach the one year mark what do you, besides finding Michael and bringing him home - What would you like to see LE, what would you like to see the community, what would you like to see the world, continue to do?

Tyler - Keep his face out there. Don't let the story go away.

Brandy - Bring him home.

Tyler - Bring him home. Hope that somebody finally sees one of these, or somebody finally gets the courage to come forward and give that tip that leads us to him. Or maybe the person that has him, drop him off at a hospital or police station, or you know, whatever. Just let him come back home.

Reporter - You mention hope - What does hope look like right now?

Brandy - The strength with LE and our community members and our family. All of us standing strong, that none of us are gonna stop. Not a single one of us will stop. Michael is going to come home and we're going to do the best we can to help others as well.

Reporter - Does it feel like it's been a year?

Tyler - It was a very quick year and long year at the same time. It's like...time is a weird thing.

Brandy - It can't be a year, it can't be.

Reporter - How do you go through every day without him being found? It's been a year - What does your day to day look like?

Tyler - Every day is a struggle. It's kind of how we do it, day to day, I don't want to get out of bed every day I...but we do it, we do it and we try to keep our stuff together.

Brandy - We try.

Tyler - And just get through every day. Hoping every day gets us closer to being whole again.

Reporter - I'm not sure how familiar you were with LE, just how this whole system works before - Do you guys read, study, other missing children's cases and do you compare Michael's to other missing children's cases? Do you see timelines and is there anything you've learned or obtained this last year that's kept you going, or is there any cases that are similar to Michael's that you've seen success from?

Brandy - Yes, I have. You know it's very hard.

Tyler - I stay off of social media.

Brandy - There have been a lot of cases that have brought hope and I continue to share those and...(Bug comes to play again). There are...I want to help wherever I can, our whole family does.

Tyler - We've got the Monkey's Law out there and there's at least one more big one that other states have, that Idaho does not, that I would like to see implemented here that I think would have been a huge, huge tool at the beginning of this.

Reporter - When you say big one - Like an alert, is that what you're referring to?

Tyler - Not an alert. I don't really know how much I can go into it but there's...it has to do with warrants, like in some other states they wouldn't have had to do the warrants, they would have just gotten the information they needed right off the...

Brandy - Procedures for LE to be able to utilise the tools that they needed at their discretion instead of waiting, having to write up a warrant and wait for a judge...

Tyler - Wait for 6 months you know...A handful of information when there's 20, 30, 40 handfuls of information that they need but they can only get so much at a time, and they have to wait for the warrants to come through for all that, and so....

Reporter - So this process has been pretty long?

Tyler - Yes, and there's a lot that could be changed that would have made that part of it a lot shorter.

Reporter - I mentioned this back in December when we spoke - we were talking about who you turn to in times like this, what kind of support groups are out there...nobody knows what you guys are going through, besides you guys, you mentioned it doesn't get easier, some days you just want to stay in bed all day - Have you guys found more support just in this past six months, since we last spoke?

Tyler - Brandy's been pretty heavily in counselling since the beginning. I'm in a peer group through the John Walsh Foundation...

Brandy - (corrects Tyler) Help them to Hope Foundation.

Tyler - So I speak with another lady every week about...she's been through a very similar situation, so it's....that's helped me.

Brandy - We've also...with a few other foundations. They've been very helpful...

Tyler - The Caring Heart Foundation has been extremely helpful.

Brandy - I mean maybe not necessarily the same situation but...(Bug joins them).

Reporter - Piggy backing off the hope that you two have - Where does that come from? Is it information, is it faith or beliefs, or just a gut feeling? Where does hope come from within you?

Tyler - We just know we can't give up and so we have to have hope and as hard as that is sometimes to hold, we have each other and we have family and just...we maintain that hope that he's coming home.

Reporter - My last question - At the press conference today, Chief Huff said that there have been some people that have been uncooperative. When you heard that - Was that new information to you? Is that something you guys have heard before? What kind of feeling do you get?

(At this point I think somebody is watching them. Reporter suggests it's probably because of the cameras and asks...
"What's that been like for you? I guess you have to keep a close eye on that kind of stuff."
Brandy - Everything.
Reporter - Safety aside, but...
Tyler - We've only had one bad scenario, but we do have to deal with stuff like that on almost a daily...
Brandy - LE was right here in a minute, less than a minute.
Reporter - Was it someone just harassing you guys?
Brandy - Yes.
Tyler - It was a private press conference, when we did it inside of City Hall...
Brandy - In November.
Tyler - Somebody followed us home from that press conference and it turned into a....
Brandy - Not a great scenario.)

(Reporter repeats earlier question regarding people being uncooperative)

Brandy - Why would you not cooperate? Why?...like...it's been almost a year and you have watched us walk every inch of this town, every day. We work locally - Why?, you see us every day, you see our family, you see our children that are heartbroken. All of us are heartbroken...

Tyler - It's a missing child - Why wouldn't you?

Reporter - Are these people that LE has made you aware of? Or is it just...kind of kept it under wraps...like specific people?

Brandy - That's to (Tyler says yeah at this point, but I'm pretty sure he's affirming Brandy's response) their discretion.

Reporter - I guess there's part of you that's like 'I want to know every part of this case. I want to know every piece of information', but also LE not giving you every single piece of information - Does that give you a good sense that they're doing what they know is right?

Brandy - Yes.

Tyler - I personally, kind of left everything up to them. I'll report stuff that comes to me of course when it should have gone there in the first place, but I would say at the beginning of it we were both very like...we want to know everything and then...(Bug runs up crying and goes to dad for hug). There are certain things that happened that changed my mind really fast about wanting to know everything. You know there's some not very nice people in this world and we have learned that the hard way.

Brandy - Yeah.

Reporter - We appreciate your time. Is there anything you guys want to say before we wrap up?

Tyler - Just we appreciate the police department and all the agencies involved for keeping doing what they're doing. We appreciate Tristan, he's been very good about keeping the story out there and we want our baby home.

Brandy - Please, if somebody knows something, please use your strength, use your courage, please come forward. Michael deserves to be home with us and our family. His baby sister needs him, his big sister, his big brother. All of us, we all need him. He needs to come home and climb trees with his little sister (Bug is up a tree at this point!). Please if....please, we are begging as a family, as a whole, as a community, as the world. We are begging please have your strength and courage to give us something, to bring Michael home. And Monkey 'we love you and we miss you'.

Reporter - If we were to get into Michael's head a little bit - Would he have known, if he was taken, would he have known that he shouldn't be going with these people, is he aware and would he try to contact you? Do you think he's able to be able to get a hold of you guys?

Brandy - He knows where he lives, he knows what city, what state he lives in and he knows that...mommy's name, mommy real name. We were working on phone numbers and the address but he does know where he's supposed to be.

Reporter - Do you think that he would have screamed out, or yelled out, or...if it was someone he didn't know or that sort of thing?

Brandy - I believe he would have.

(Bug ends the interview by blowing on an ear piercing whistle that LE apparently gave her!)

Yes. According to Brandi, in an interview that was approved, the delivery driver was someone she used to work with. She (delivery driver) babysat for Michael when he was 2 yrs. old. She was interviewed and her van and house have been thoroughly searched.

Again according to Brandi the pizza was delivered and intercepted by a neighbour as the search was in full swing at this point.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

He ordered pizza before or after changing baby? Sounds like after to me.

How long pizza take to come in that area? Is it a nearby fast food place ready to go + 5 mins by bike or van whizz it round - or cook to order and long wait type of place maybe not so close by?

 

[ScorpioRising]

Father states that the pizza receipt says pizza was ordered at 6:40. The white Honda CRV is on camera leaving the neighborhood at 6:47 (Source) Police stated in last presser they believe the car belongs in the neighborhood but weren’t able to confirm. The neighborhood isn’t that big so this is surprising they couldn’t confirm the owner yet. The question is when did this vehicle enter the neighborhood? 6:47 is exactly in the timeframe when Michael went missing. Is it possible that this was a rental car? It was stated some people aren’t cooperative. Could those be some neighbors?

Regarding Michael knocking on doors. It still bothers me that police hasn’t given an exact timeline for this. Obviously they wouldn’t release exact addresses of where he knocked but why aren’t they confirming time on when he knocked and whether he was seen/ talked to by neighbors and which general direction he walked.