ID ID - Michael “Monkey” Vaughan, 5, last seen near home, Fruitland, 27 Jul 2021 #1 *endangered*

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Knox said:
I wonder what the existing cameras showed LE? Perhaps not something conclusive, but enough to isolate certain scenarios. I know this is a small town, so major media outlets may not be as interested in following. But McCleary was also a small town, and Lindsey Baum's case had national coverage. This case puzzles me, I can't put my finger on it but it just feels different, so quiet. Maybe I'm just used to parents being vocal and in front of the camera.

If Michael were abducted and there was a chance he was still with us, I don't think they would be searching at ground zero again :(
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I agree, I can't figure out what's different here. Except maybe the squeaky wheel gets the grease and we don't have any new media releases from LE, the family, etc. I do wonder if LE has some additional evidence that he fell in a drain or something, like a shoe or item of clothing found next to a drain opening. Seems simplistic but something that would really signal it was not an abduction.
 
The more attention a 'case' gets the more work seems to be done. Isn't that the case with everything.

The missing link here is nobody seems to be beating a path or the drums for Michael.
Could be the family doesn't feel comfortable in front of cameras.

Many times a relative or friend of the family will take lead and organize posters, searches, a meeting place and vigils.
We are seeing none of that so we sit back and wonder.
 
Cardinal47 said:
The more attention a 'case' gets the more work seems to be done. Isn't that the case with everything.

The missing link here is nobody seems to be beating a path or the drums for Michael.
Could be the family doesn't feel comfortable in front of cameras.

Many times a relative or friend of the family will take lead and organize posters, searches, a meeting place and vigils.
We are seeing none of that so we sit back and wonder.
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A lot of this is on social media- I see posts constantly, and I only have one friend in common with his mother.
 
HockeyMomDiva said:
I can’t seem to comprehend why a little boy is allowed to play outside, unsupervised, in pajamas and underwear, at 6:30 - 7:00 in the evening. I just don’t understand.
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At that point it still wasn't getting dark for another two hours- it was daytime. The attire is a little odd, but it's summer and all bets are off. Add all that to the perception of security one has when living in a rural area and it doesn't seem unusual to me at all.
 
Filly said:
From get go this little guy stole my heart.

Trying not to check the thread until I see new news.

Sappy, but tears come from nowhere thinking he is/was in pain or afraid.
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Unfortunately I'm constantly reminded on my feed.

I can't shake the feeling he found his way into a trunk or refrigerator or crevice(parked/discarded vehicle or appliances, not put there by someone else). At this point it seems like the only plausible thing is that he got himself stuck somewhere. I would love to be proven wrong by him being found alive, but it's the only thing that makes sense to me. I've had it since they didn't find him by the following morning.
 
annpats said:
Comfortable?!? If my young son had've disappeared, comfortable wouldn't come into it!

You get up in front of whomever, and you tell, ask, help, shout and beg for help.
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I agree the response was quite unusual. Very odd. Not sure why no family ever did an interview. From the very start they were asking for privacy for the family. Why? So strange.

Is there a suspect close to the family with limited capacity (Alzheimer’s, diminished capacity, mental illness, a minor)?
 
iamnotagolem said:
This is very common practice where I live. We see kids 2 and up unsupervised playing all the time. Even when I listen to the scanner I hear people finding toddlers and calling it in then walking through neighborhoods trying to figure out where the kiddo belongs. It happens so often that no one seems concerned or alarmed.

I haven’t gotten used to the number of very young children I see unsupervised.
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I am constantly helping kids reunite with their parents. I’m like a magnet. It’s happened to me four times in Savers!
 
annpats said:
Comfortable?!? If my young son had've disappeared, comfortable wouldn't come into it!

You get up in front of whomever, and you tell, ask, help, shout and beg for help.
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I don't think you can judge a person by your own responses or actions until you've walked in that person's shoes.

We have no idea what's going on in the background. Maybe LE have advised them not to talk to the media. If I learn this is not the case then I may question the parents decision. Until then I'm not inclined to judge their behaviour.

ETA: Apologies if that came across as harsh. I'm just a bit jaded with the circus going in the Summer Wells case at the moment. I don't know what I would do in the circumstances but I would be very wary of talking with anyone.
 
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I wonder if there were any guns in the home. Idaho is a top state for guns. Could this have been a gun accident that was covered up for some reason?

I still don’t understand the early pleas for privacy. Why did the family seek privacy over publicity when their kiddo first went missing?

it’s like something you’d expect if they were hiding something.
 
annpats said:
Comfortable?!? If my young son had've disappeared, comfortable wouldn't come into it!

You get up in front of whomever, and you tell, ask, help, shout and beg for help.
Click to expand...
I agree, however I wonder if they have already been told by the police what they believe happened to Monkey (Maybe), that he wondered off and they think he’s in water somewhere.
 
The reward has increased with community/family donations - and all options are still on the table per police
Reward fund for missing boy more than doubles
Excerpts:
“They remain 100% cooperative and the fact that they are giving up money donated to them means something. It is a big deal,” Huff said. “They want their child home, and I do, too. I want Michael home safely.”

The police chief said all options regarding Michael’s whereabouts remain on the table, with an “immense amount of data” that has been collected which is still being combed through. In addition to video footage from residents and businesses, data has come in from “a lot of places,” Huff said. This includes tips, which are still regularly coming in.
…

“We’re just waiting for that one thread to push us in the right direction and help us get this unraveled,” Huff said.

Law enforcement officials are “staying after it,” he said, adding that the FBI is still here every week assisting members of the Fruitland Police Department. Idaho State Police are working from a distance on tasks related to the case, such as following up on leads that are outside of the local area but elsewhere in the state. Anything outside of the state is handled by the FBI.


“It’s so nice having the FBI with us throughout the week,” Huff said. “This is the heart of the operation. The investigation is going on all day, every day, and agencies outside of our state area actively following up on leads and tips.”
 
Upcoming Family Pool Tournament and Silent Auction fundraiser on Sept. 25. Video and article are about Fruitland community involvement to support the Vaughan family.

https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/missing-fruitland-boy-community-event-search/277-6

Fox News did an update on 9/19, announcing the increased reward and recapping the case. There is nothing new here for those of us keep up frequently, but it is always good to get national coverage. I have occasionally seen mentions of Michael / Monkey on FNN broadcasts over the past couple of months, and it always makes me think that the parents could almost certainly be interviewed on Fox and other TV networks if they were so inclined. Last month there were articles in several major national publications, but I really think that it would take family involvement to keep up the level of interest that would generate follow-up articles.

Reward for missing Idaho boy Michael Joseph Vaughan, 5, grows to $26G

I'm another one who checks every day to see if there is breaking news. I think that the Fruitland Police Dept. has done a good job giving frequent updates about the search, but I can't understand why they don't give the details about what Monkey was doing before he went missing, when his father first discovered him missing, and who reported him missing. Putting everything in context helps create public interest. LE is very protective of the family, and that is understandable because the public can be brutal, but I don't see any way that their son's face will be kept before the nation if they aren't willing to sacrifice some of their privacy. Of course, the other children in the family should be shielded at all costs. I get the impression that information has been available on Facebook, but those of us who have chosen to not be on Social Media are left in the dark.

The police do seem to think that Michael is close to home, so maybe that is why they are not overly concerned about engaging the general public. He might have wandered and not been found, and I do think it is possible that he was grabbed by someone in a car and could have been taken anywhere, but I've always had the feeling that someone in the neighborhood took him into a house and managed to conceal him. I understand the odds, but I still have a tiny glimmer of hope that he might still be alive and being held.
 
MoeInVA said:
I wonder if there were any guns in the home. Idaho is a top state for guns. Could this have been a gun accident that was covered up for some reason?

I still don’t understand the early pleas for privacy. Why did the family seek privacy over publicity when their kiddo first went missing?

it’s like something you’d expect if they were hiding something.
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I live in Idaho. Yes, many of us own firearms. But the perception that a state with high firearm ownership equates to a citizenry that is too dumb to keep guns locked up and safely away from children is a faulty one. The youngest person in my house is almost 17, and has been trained in firearm use and safety - as have his friends who have literally been using guns since they were in elementary school - and STILL our guns are locked up and nobody but my husband and I can access them). Having spent the first 30 years of my life living in and around Los Angeles, I can attest to the fact that, in general, people in Idaho are far, far more responsible and educated about gun use and safety than in L.A. (which has some of the strictest gun laws in the country and where the only guns I ever saw were illegally owned by people who were not properly trained to use them, and certainly didn't have the same kind of respect for gun safety as the people of Idaho do).

Additionally, guns are loud. At the range, I need earplugs AND muffs, and it's still too loud (all those things do is keep me from damaging my ears). The houses on Michael Vaughan's street are close together. Neighbors all around that house would have heard a gun if it had been fired.
 
Little monkey boy vanishes into silence
Only searching and whispers mark his departure
No copters no YouTubes no reporters no news
All too high and distant for a little boy to see
He recedes into a tiny blip in our conscious
A sweet hazy memory to his monkey friends
Who grow up knowing they too can vanish away
Into an endless vast unknowing
 
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