Suspect in Idaho boy’s disappearance to stand trial on murder, other charges

FRUITLAND (Idaho Statesman) — Three years ago, Stacey Wondra was given two choices by authorities: He could be a witness and testify in a criminal investigation, or he could be a suspect.

But it was contingent on his ability to provide law enforcement with enough information to lead investigators to the body of Michael Vaughan, a 5-year-old boy from Fruitland, Idaho, who disappeared from the front yard of his home in the early evening of July 27, 2021.

The boy’s body has never been found. And now Wondra — who lived less than half a mile away with his then-wife Sarah Wondra — will face a jury and stand trial on murder and other felony charges.

During a multiday preliminary hearing, prosecutors presented evidence and witnesses to make the case that led 3rd Judicial District Magistrate Judge Brian Lee to decide there was probable cause for the 33-year-old to go to trial.

“The question before the court is not whether or not Mr. Wondra is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt — that is not the purpose of a preliminary hearing, that will be up to a jury,” Lee said Thursday. “But I do find there is probable cause to support these charges.”

Wondra, who is in custody on a $1 million bond, is scheduled to appear at the Payette County Courthouse for his arraignment at 10 a.m. April 15.

Michael’s parents, Brandi Neal and Tyler Vaughan, said they were glad to see the case move forward and expect to see everyone who was involved be punished to the “full extent of the law.” “Hopefully one of them will grow a slight bit of consciousness and tell us where Michael is — that’s all we want,” Neal said outside the courthouse. “They’ve done their wrong, now it’s time to pay for it.”

The Wondras were first named as suspects in the boy’s abduction by Fruitland Police Chief J.D. Huff back in 2022. Two men who lived with the Wondras then were also asked to come forward, as law enforcement believed they had “firsthand knowledge of Michael’s abduction.”

So far, only Stacey Wondra is facing criminal charges in the boy’s abduction. But court records and evidence presented during the preliminary hearing this week indicated that his then-wife and the roommates were also involved in the boy’s killing.

Based on court records, witness testimony and interviews with law enforcement, it’s believed that Sarah Wondra, along with one of the roommates, grabbed Michael and brought him back to the Wondras’ house. There, Sarah Wondra, along with the two roommates, taped his hands, legs and mouth, and put him in a duffel bag.

The Wondras, along with one roommate, then transported the boy to a house in Kuna, where they left him overnight. He died sometime that night or the next morning from suffocation, Stacey Wondra confessed to several people, including to law enforcement and his mother, according to records.

Stacey Wondra told detectives to ‘check our backyard’

This week, a packed courtroom listened to testimony from nearly a dozen witnesses and hours of newly released body-camera footage from interviews detectives conducted a little more than a year after Michael went missing.

Detectives with the Fruitland Police Department interviewed Stacey Wondra for hours over the course of several days in November 2022, when he recounted details of the boy’s abduction. He hoped to cut a deal for providing information about the case, he told the detectives.

Initially, the interview started off upbeat, and even jovial at times, as the detectives worked to build a rapport with Wondra, who constantly reiterated that he didn’t have any more information to share, according to the footage. “It’s not that I don’t want to cooperate. I want him to be found,” he told detectives.

But after hours of back and forth, as detectives pushed more, Wondra began to provide more information and contradict things he said hours earlier. Juanita Kelleher, one of the detectives on the case, urged Wondra to help her find Michael, saying that if he did, she’d be on his side “100%,” according to the interview footage.

“That’s the only thing I can give back to his family,” she said.

Wondra finally told the detectives on Nov. 11, 2022 — after at one point claiming Michael could have been sold — to “check our backyard” for the boy’s body.

That night, law enforcement descended on the Wondras’ property off of Redwing Street in Fruitland, not far from where Michael lived. Idaho State Police, with assistance from local authorities, as well as search and rescue groups, excavated the backyard over several days — starting in a small spot near the fence line, and eventually removing and sifting dirt from the entire area.

Despite cadaver dogs alerting law enforcement to the scent of human remains, none were found. This led investigators to determine that Michael’s body was once buried in the backyard, but moved before the excavation.

Neal said she made a promise that when Michael went missing, she’d find him. “That looks different now then when we started, but I have a promise to keep,” the boy’s mom said.

Prosecutor: Wondra painted himself as a ‘mere observer’

Payette County Prosecutor Mike Duke acknowledged in his closing arguments that his office faced a “unique legal obstacle” despite Wondra’s many statements. The case relies heavily on that police interrogation, he said, arguing that the information obtained is still credible, even though they weren’t able to find the boy’s body.

Wondra attempted to “gain the benefit” of a deal by cooperating with law enforcement while “trying to write himself out of the story,” Duke said in court. The suspect tried to paint himself as a “mere observer” of Michael’s abduction and death, but by leaving the house with the boy and trying to establish an alibi, he assisted and facilitated the crimes, Duke said.

“He knows Michael’s still alive and he’s still going with them,” Duke said, referring to when the boy was said to be transported to Kuna from Fruitland.

Anthony Ray Geddes, one of Wondra’s public defenders, called the prosecution’s case guesswork.

He said that there wasn’t a single piece of physical evidence despite exponential local, state and federal resources, and that although cadaver dogs alerted to the presence of human remains in the Wondras’ backyard, there’s no way of knowing that was Michael.

“This is every parent’s worst nightmare. We so desperately want to find Michael Vaughan,” Geddes said. “His mother, father, and family and friends, they are entitled to their grief and anger and their outrage. Nothing I say here today takes that away, but what I’m here to say is that that doesn’t make him guilty.”

Geddes also said his client didn’t confess to anything, despite what was in the police interviews.