five-year-old boy is missing in idaho and has been since tuesday july 27 2021. he went
missing in a small town called fruitland idaho which has about a population of 5 400 people
fruitland is about an hour's drive northwest of boise his name is michael vaughn he's also known
as mj or his nickname monkey michael is three foot seven and weighs 50 pounds he has blonde
hair and blue eyes michael will be six years old on june 24 2022 authorities now believe that he
may have been abducted he was last seen wearing a blue minecraft shirt dark boxer briefs with lime
stitching and blue size 11 flip-flops he was last seen between 6 30 p.m and 7 15 p.m at southwest
9th street and south arizona avenue in fruitland there's numerous fields these fields were searched
extensive searches in the area you scroll in and that's where he was last seen somewhere
around there that's his neighborhood please please share this video out where you can and
get the word out there maybe buy some christmas miracle michael can be back with his family for
christmas we saw little cleo smith return to her family in australia and we've seen other cases
recently as well maybe this can be his story too michael's mom brandy neal describes michael as an
energetic young boy who enjoys camping monster trucks cars playing in the dirt and especially
loves his little sister arya and michael is one of four children he has two sisters and a brother and
arya is his baby sister who just turned two now the day michael disappeared brandy said that he
didn't want her to go to work and she said it's something that really sticks with her now let's
get into the timeline so michael went missing on tuesday july 27th michael had been in his family's
living room playing a game on his nintendo at around 6 40 p.m michael's dad tyler vaughn
went to check on arya in her bedroom and order some pizza it took about 15 to 20 minutes in total
when he came back michael was gone now it was said that tyler was frantic and called brandy at work
to tell her he couldn't find him brandi sped home and said when she arrived home she was met with
police cars and the neighbors standing outside of their house it's said that police are especially
looking to determine michael's whereabouts between 6 30 p.m and 17 p.m on july 27th now
neighbors witnessed michael knocking on doors in the moments before he disappeared and according to
michael's mom she said that michael's a friendly child but can't explain why he was knocking on the
doors the community came out that night looking for michael they lined the streets and police
were in farm fields next to the residence relentlessly it was said combing the area
brandy assumes that michael had gone out the side garage door which leads to the front yard and
wandered from there she said for him to be seen by neighbors outside of their home he went out
of the garage to the front in a press conference held on november 18th the fruitland police chief
jd huff said there's an increased probability that michael was abducted largely because they haven't
made any headway in the ground searches and haven't located michael agencies combed through
thousands of acres and searched using helicopters drones boats dogs divers and on foot and of course
they were following every lead now a retired fbi agent named jennifer koffendoffer who consulted
the media during the gabby potito case told the idaho press in a phone interview that she believes
michael is of the very small percentage of kids who are subject to stranger abductions
which according to her is about four percent she said i believe over 60 or 62 percent of stranger
abductions occur right by the residence now i took a peek at the sex offenders in the area
and here's what i found all right here is the sex offender map there are 20 registered sex offenders
living in fruitland as of december 20th 2021 not sure what that looked like in july however in
this area you'll see over here where you see the river straight to the right is the area of where
little michael went missing so even in this area here you can see there's three but even when i
zoom out you can see just how many are in that area where he lives so that's
quite concerning and then there's it and there's six addresses could not be displayed on the map so
uh i mean there's something there too right obviously the authorities are looking into that
and or have already i should say and depending on what they found but that just that gives you an
idea i mean 5400 people and there's you know 20. so the ratio of all residences says is 256 to 1.
scroll down here in and you'll see the little chart there and where it ranks now authorities
also announced that they need help in identifying two vehicles and two individuals that were seen
that evening of michael's disappearance the first car is a 2016 to 2020 white honda pilot
that was seen leaving the area on southwest 8th street around 6 47 p.m and there was a
second car a blue dodge avenger that was seen leaving the area on southwest 8th but immediately
turning right and headed south on south whitley drive no there was an update in october and it
was said that the dodge avenger was identified thanks to the public the authorities said we want
to thank our citizens for your help in identifying the owner and driver of the blue dodge avenger
and let you know that our offices were also able to identify the man seen jogging in the area where
michael went missing the male was an adult with dark hair and facial hair wearing dark colored
shorts no shirt and was jogging on the sidewalk of southwest 8th street near crestview park at
around 6 15 p.m there's a second male adult with dark hair wearing a white t-shirt and black shorts
walking off of southwest 8th street down the park area past the splash pad towards the lower
drainage behind the neighborhoods he is yet to be identified as well as that honda pilot as i
mentioned authorities said it's very important to understand that these people are not suspects
or persons of interest but it is important to talk to each of them to help us complete the picture of
the events that took place that evening fruitland pd said we are encouraged by the fact that one
of these individuals described above could help us bring michael home safely recently a witness
brought forth some more vehicle information that could prove to be very helpful with the timeline
now every little bit helps even if you don't think it's a piece to the puzzle it may be the only
piece to the puzzle and gets the case solved and therefore get michael home michael's family said
we just want our monkey home we miss our baby and we want him home our family is broken right now
monkey's sisters are missing their partner in crime and his brother won't play minecraft until
michael comes home monkey your mommy and daddy miss you more than anything in this whole world we
need you to be home to be whole now michael's mom brandi was recently seen in november in a press
conference pleading for help and talking about michael and here's what she said 115 days 115 days
he has not been home and we need every one of you i need you i need your help to bring my baby home
we miss his laughs his smiles we miss his hugs michael has a laugh that is beyond contagious you
can't help but smile and laugh when you hear his laugh i need you to know how much michael is loved
i need you to know how much he has missed i want to thank
all of the community and the extended communities and everyone who continues to keep michael
in your thoughts in your prayers and in your eyes so please please please help me
please help me bring my baby home she wants you to keep sharing his photo keep sharing
his name and keep praying and keep hoping she did also say that she doesn't feel that he is
getting the attention that he deserves she says i don't want his case to go cold i want him home i
want every single person in this world to see his beautiful face and know exactly where he belongs
now there wasn't an amber alert for michael he unfortunately did not meet the criteria in idaho
here's what's needed for an amber alert number one a child is known by law enforcement officials
to have been abducted two the abduction occurred within 12 hours of initial activation of amber
alert 3 the child is under 17 years of age 4 law enforcement must believe the child is in imminent
danger of seriously bodily harm or death 5 there must be enough descriptive information to believe
that the amber alert will assist in the recovery of the child and six the missing child must be
entered into ncic now chief jd huff from the fruitland pd said the highest probability at the
time of notification was that he wandered off as a result we did not meet several of the criteria
necessary for the amber alert i'm so sorry to report that we still do not meet the criteria
he talked about the area and said i have to tell you that i spent my entire childhood in
the neighborhood where michael went missing my children are growing up here my law enforcement
partners are mothers fathers uncles or friends of children just like michael we are all in and we
are committed to finding michael now with that amber alert aside law enforcement were able to
access the missing and endangered child alerts and fruitlands local alerting system called code red
which was used to notify citizens from payette fruitland and new plymouth according to chief
huff tanya parmenter the amber alert coordinator for idaho state police said
if something comes outside the criteria that we're not able to issue an amber alert we do an
endangered missing person alert payette county has done a really great job as they have tools
in their toolbox as well to find children now payette county issued that code red to residents
in fruitland at around 8 18 pm on tuesday it was later expanded across the whole county at 9 40 pm
they said when we have an endangerment factor due to age circumstance imminent danger of bodily
harm or death we want to make sure that we're notifying the community and the public that
they need to help us find that child or missing person now michael's parents brandi and tyler
would like to get the amber alert activation criteria changed in other states such as oregon
law enforcement only have to reasonably believe that the child has been abducted unlike idaho
where it has to be known for it in order to be activated brandy said i believe law
enforcement should be able to use that to their discretion especially if they've done a criminal
investigation and especially in the first 12 hours now the fbi's child abduction rapid development
team was deployed to help in the search and the card team as it's called is made up of
investigators who specialize in child abductions and mysterious disappearances of children
sandra barker with the fbi said that the card team provides investigative technical and resource
assistance to state and local law enforcement during the critical time period following that
abduction or mysterious disappearance now the national center of missing and exploited children
has been following michael's case and had a team provide help in the search and the director of
communications for the center her name is angeline hartman she said it's surprising
to me this case hasn't gotten more national attention we always want to remind people that
it's important to stay vigilant in these types of cases because more time goes on the less and
less attention a case like this gets at this point what police are relying on is help from the public
if this child was indeed abducted who knows where that child is now the child may be nowhere
near fruitland it's important that everyone is looking for michael no matter where they live
now a big part of what the center does is making sure missing children's stories are not forgotten
and they go on national television programs they share images and details on social media
and they would like more people to share michael's story to reach new people so please hit that
button just below quick share wherever you can on your different platforms that could mean the
difference between michael coming home sooner than later or not at all in 2020 the center was able
to resolve more than 27 349 missing person cases and more than 1100 of those were abductions brandi
talked about michael's siblings and said her oldest daughter didn't want a birthday this year
the fruitland police texted her a happy birthday the police brought gifts when brandy's other
daughter turned two and raked leaves so she can come jump in them brandi said that the fruitland
police have truly become family she also said she rarely leaves her house anymore and she said i
know now what ptsd truly is now as of thursday november 18th so this is just over a month ago
there were 557 tips that have been received from literally around the globe and
each of them was assigned to investigators for a follow-up chief huff said there's several tips
that have borne fruit but they just don't go anywhere he said michael by all accounts was an
active inquisitive child why would we continue to search areas that we have searched multiple times
before well because we haven't found michael yet and conditions change so further you can imagine
going home every night as a law enforcement officer wondering did we miss something during
that search he said the search for michael will not stop until he's found and the search remains
very active we want everyone to know that michael is our priority and will continue to post updates
as new information is available our community also continues to send in tips share michael's photo
and to support each other as we all feel his absence we deeply share your concern and honesty
we share your frustration that all of us working together have not yet found michael now there
is a reward for over fifty thousand dollars for michael's safe return and michael's family have
also contributed to it the reward is available through to march 2022 if you have any information
on the whereabouts of michael vaughn please contact fruitland police department dispatch at
zero six 208-642-6006 zero or nine one one immediately email tips to find michael at
fruitland.org i'll have this in the description box below you can also submit to 343cops.com
please share this out again it's so sad he's been missing for so many months
and this hasn't been in the spotlight like we've seen with summer wells cleo smith who have
who has come home and other little children i wish there was enough time to put every
single person on a video however we have to just start with one at a time please let's
see if a christmas miracle can occur here what happened to michael vaughn where is he somebody
knows something please subscribe if you haven't done so already please like and
please share this out thank you so much for watching see you soon there's a non-muffler guy