'We are still holding on to hope that we will find him': 4th birthday party held for missing boy Elijah Vue in Appleton

APPLETON, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Six months after 3-year-old Elijah Vue was reported missing, members of the community hoping to find him held a birthday party for him at Kiwanis Park on Sunday.

Police are still looking for Vue. The young boy's mother and her boyfriend have been arrested and remain in jail on accusations of child neglect and punishment of Vue before his disappearance.

Vue would have turned 4-years-old on Tuesday, the same day that marked six months since he was last seen, as party organizers tell CBS 58 on Sunday, Aug. 25.

"Wisconsin needs some closure at some point," said Michele Ramsden, who organized the birthday party, where dozens of people gathered to celebrate Elijah Vue. “He’s here in our thoughts, he’s here in our minds, he’s here in our spirit, so we’re going to celebrate him.”

Dozens of family friends and neighbors joined the search to find Vue over the course of the past half of a year. 

“Elijah looks like my little nephew when he was little at that age, that’s what made me go out there and search," said Roger James, who said he has spent many hours on the weekends searching for the young boy. “Every time I go out searching for him and we can't find him I’d go home and just cry. That’s how sad it is.”

On Facebook, Captain Andrew Raatz said that recent rumors surfaced online that Vue was found. Raatz clarified that was not true. 

"We feel it's important for the public to know that while they might have seen us in the last several months resuming standard operations within our community such as calls for service, community events and the like, the search for Elijah and the investigation still continues and remains our priority," Raatz said in the post. "Our investigative team, including members of our agency, led by the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) is actively working on this investigation as are other entities outside our department."

Anyone with information is asked to contact Two Rivers Police at 920-686-7200 or the state tip line at 1-844-267-6648.