Idaho mother says ‘justice will prevail’ in murder case involving missing son
Brandi Neal isn’t going to give up looking for her son.
Michael Vaughan went missing from his home in Fruitland in July 2021, triggering a search for the 5-year-old that involved law enforcement agencies at the local, state and federal levels. His family, along with their community, has wondered for years what happened to the little boy.
Last year, a suspect was officially charged in the boy’s death.
Dressed in a button-down shirt and slacks, with restraints across his stomach, wrists and legs, defendant Stacey Wondra sat between his public defenders Tuesday and listened as witness after witness took the stand at the Payette County Courthouse.
Roughly half-a-dozen witnesses, including neighbors, handlers for cadaver dogs and members of law enforcement, testified as a preliminary hearing in Wondra’s murder case got underway.
Wondra, along with his then-wife Sarah Wondra, lived less than half a mile away from the boy’s home when he disappeared. The Wondras, along with two prior roommates, were named as people of interest in the case in 2022, but only Stacey Wondra has officially been charged in the boy’s killing.
“They are going to face what they’ve done,” Neal told reporters outside the courthouse. “They’re all going to pay the penalties.”
Sarah Wondra was arrested and charged with failure to report a death in November 2022, but the felony was later dismissed. Then late last year Stacey Wondra was charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping in the second degree, destruction of evidence and a persistent violator enhancement, which can be added by prosecutors when someone has been convicted of at least three felonies.
His multiday preliminary hearing could last through the week. Prosecutors will continue presenting witnesses at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
Both the prosecution and defense are allowed to present evidence, but there’s no jury present, and it’s instead up to the presiding judge, in this case 3rd Judicial District Magistrate Judge Brian Lee, to decide whether there’s probable cause the 33-year-old committed first-degree murder.
If Lee decides that there is, then Wondra’s case will go to trial, with new hearing dates set.
There’s a lower level of proof for a preliminary hearing — not the same burden of proof that’s needed during a trial, which requires that the jury believe the defendant committed the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
If he’s eventually convicted of the murder charge, Wondra could face up to life in prison or the death penalty. Prosecutors won’t have to notify him of their intent to seek the death penalty until 60 days after he enters a plea, if the case is held over for trial.
Investigators were never able to find the boy’s body, but his mother said she’s determined to find his remains.
“We’re never going to stop,” she said.
‘You know what happened to Michael,’ mother says
After admitting to his involvement in Michael’s death in a 2022 interview with law enforcement, Stacey Wondra attempted to kill himself in the Washington County Jail, according to Bryce Crimin, a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office. Staff within the jail intervened, and Wondra was placed on suicide watch, Crimin testified Tuesday.
When Wondra was removed from his cell and placed on suicide watch, Crimin said, his possessions were boxed up. Crimin went through them and said he found a “work in progress” letter that was addressed to the Vaughan family.
The letter wasn’t read in court, but Crimin said he copied it and gave it to the Fruitland Police Department, where his dad works as a detective.
Stacey Wondra also confessed in an interview with the Fruitland Police Department that he, his then-wife and their two roommates “were all involved in the abduction and killing” of Michael, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The Wondras’ backyard was excavated after Stacey Wondra told detectives where to find the boy’s body, the affidavit said. Michael’s remains were not found, despite cadaver dogs from different agencies alerting law enforcement to the scent of human remains on the property, according to witness testimony.
Investigators have said they believe the boy was once buried in the backyard, but was moved before law enforcement searched the property.
“Although the remains of Michael Vaughan were not recovered, we strongly believe based on evidence that Michael was abducted and is deceased, and that his remains were buried and later moved,” Fruitland Police Chief J.D. Huff said in 2022.
Though Stacey Wondra admitted to knowing the circumstances of Michael’s death, he has placed the blame on his then-wife and two roommates.
He told detectives that when he first saw Michael, Sarah Wondra was carrying him into their home, according to the affidavit. He said she was “frantic trying to figure out what to do,” when one of their roommates said he had a duffel bag, the affidavit said.
Together, Sarah Wondra and the roommates bound Michael with duct tape and shoved him into the duffel bag, Wondra recounted to the detectives. Michael was “wiggling, trying to get away,” the affidavit said.
He said that the idea initially was to take Michael and sell him, and each get a $10,000 cut, according to the affidavit.
Stacey Wondra told the detectives that after placing Michael in the duffel bag, the group drove him to a house in Kuna and put him in a spare room, the affidavit said. None of them checked to make sure that the boy was still alive.
The next day, they brought his body back to their house in Fruitland and buried him in their backyard, the affidavit said. Stacey claimed he was inside the house while one roommate was “on guard,” and the other roommate and Sarah Wondra dug the hole together, according to the affidavit.
But under state law, someone doesn’t have to physically commit a killing to be charged with and convicted of first-degree murder.
“I don’t care if you were sitting on the damn couch and didn’t make a move,” Neal said. “You were there, you know what happened to Michael.”
