New bodycam footage shows a suspect in the disappearance of an Idaho boy allegedly telling investigators where to find his body.
From a police interrogation room, Stacey Wondra is heard guiding detectives via FaceTime to where on his property he said he saw his wife Sarah bury five-year-old Michael Vaughan.
Michael, known to his family by his nickname ‘Monkey’, was last seen alive in the small town of Fruitland on July 27, 2021.
‘Keep going out a little further… right under the mound, right to the right of the trees,’ Stacey said to detectives in the video dated November 12, 2022. ‘He should be wrapped in a garbage bag, white or black, we only have two colors.’
‘I don’t know how far she dug, to be honest with you,’ he also said. ‘She was using a pointed shovel.’
Michael’s mom, Brandi Neal, told KTVB she and a family friend leaked the horrifying bodycam on YouTube this month after unexpectedly acquiring it through a public records request.
Neal said she shared the video because she is angry and frustrated that there have been no results in the investigation.
Despite Stacey’s very precise instructions, detectives did not find young Michael’s body.
Stacey Wondra, pictured in a police bodycam video, told detectives where they could allegedly find the body of Michael ‘Monkey’ Vaughan
Michael disappeared from the small town of Fruitland, Idaho, on July 27, 2021
Cadaver dogs did detect evidence of human remains once being in the Wondras’ backyard, leading Fruitland Police Chief J.D. Huff to believe that the body was later moved somewhere else.
The police department also put out a statement clarifying that they did not release the video, nor did the Payette County Prosecutor’s Office.
‘In 2023, we submitted our case, including a probable cause affidavit, to the Payette County Prosecutor. Please note that the Fruitland Police Department does not control the pace of prosecution,’ police said.
‘We are in communication with a suspect in this case, and our hope is to gather more details that will lead us to Michael’s remains.’
It is not clear who that suspect is. Even with all his knowledge of the supposed burial, Stacey said he wasn’t involved and wanted the boy to be found.
‘I am distraught,’ Stacey said in the video. ‘I want this to be done and over with. This family has suffered way too long.’
In an interview with KTVB from last year, Stacey maintained that he didn’t know about Michael’s abduction or where he is today.
A police excavator is seen in the backyard of the Wondras’ home searching for the boy’s body
Sarah Wondra is the one who buried Michael, according to what Stacey told police in 2022
Michael’s body has never been found. In an interview last year Stacey had claimed he didn’t know about Michael’s abduction
Stacey is currently in federal custody for violating the conditions of his supervised release. He had pleaded guilty to an unrelated gun crime.
Stacey’s wife Sarah will be in prison until at least 2026 on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence, according to records from the Idaho Department of Corrections.
These charges are again unrelated to Michael’s disappearance.
Police Chief Huff told KTVB he knows where Lucienne and Shurtliff are but declined to elaborate any further, citing the fact that the investigation is ongoing.
Huff also said a suspect reached out to the police Wednesday morning. He said he hopes the person provides investigators key information to finally close the case after over three years of uncertainty.
