Idaho prosecutors have brought murder charges in connection with the disappearance of a 5-year-old boy from Fruitland, four years after he was allegedly abducted and killed in his neighborhood.
“Our office is proceeding with charges related to the disappearance and murder of 5-year-old Michael Vaughan, which took place in the summer of 2021,” announced Payette County Prosecutor Michael Duke in a statement released late Friday morning.
Duke did not specify the number of suspects or their identities. When contacted, an office representative declined to provide further details beyond Duke’s announcement.
Photos of Michael “Monkey” Vaughan, shared by the Fruitland police, depict him as he was before his suspicious disappearance in July 2021. (City of Fruitland Police)
A local news station, KTVB-7, reported that an arrest warrant has been issued for a felon who was previously suspected and lived near Michael at the time he went missing.
The suspect, Stacey Wondra, 33, is reportedly facing charges of first-degree murder, second-degree kidnapping, and evidence tampering, according to a source within local law enforcement.
Read the prosecutor’s statement:
The county sheriff’s office declined to comment. Fruitland Police Chief JD Huff deferred all questions to the prosecutor’s office.
Wondra and his wife, Sarah Wondra, 38, were both arrested on lesser charges in 2022 in connection with the investigation into Michael’s disappearance. Her charges of failing to report a death were dropped, and he was sent to federal prison in Arizona for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Left: Police were previously asking for information about a white Honda Pilot seen in Michael Vaughan’s neighborhood around the time he vanished. Right: Michael in an undated family photo. (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)
Stacey Wondra, whose sentence ended Thursday, had petitioned a federal judge for early release in a handwritten motion filed on Oct. 7, claiming that he “has demonstrated exceptionally good conduct while incarcerated.” He is reportedly expected to be extradited back to Idaho.
Police had named the Wondras along with two other potential suspects back in 2022.
She is also being held in an Idaho prison for an unrelated assault case.
Sarah Wondra previously drew scrutiny with social media posts about the case, some of which showed her standing in front of a missing person flyer about Michael’s case. More recently, police released bodycam video showing Stacey Wondra blaming his wife for the crime when police were searching their property, according to KIVI-TV.
Duke said that while prosecutors had hoped to find Michael’s remains before upgrading the charges, he was moving forward with the case in part to reduce further harm to the victim’s family.
Vaughan, who answers to his nickname “Monkey,” went missing near his home in Fruitland, Idaho, on July 27. (Fruitland Police Department)
Michael’s mother, Brandi Vaughan, praised Fruitland police and Duke’s office in response to the news.
“Your sheer determination and strength during this whole process as of today has been nothing short of incredible,” she wrote on Facebook, along with a copy of Duke’s statement.
Fruitland police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Michael disappeared from his family home in July 2021.
The Wondra and Vaughan families lived within a few minutes by foot, Fox News Digital reported previously, and police and volunteer K-9 units had searched hundreds of acres in the area, including around Wondra’s home. Fruitland police had also previously floated two other names as potential suspects in the case, Adrien Lucienne and Brandon Shurtliff.
“The charges are only possible as a result of Fruitland [Police Department]’s unyielding tenacity and perseverance,” Duke said in his statement. “They have not ceased to work the case since the crime occurred, and they are continuing to search and investigate so they can bring Michael’s body home.”
Anyone with information in the case is asked to email findmichael@fruitland.org or contact the Fruitland Police Department at (208) 452-3110.
