BOISE, Idaho — One of the people Fruitland police is now calling a suspect in the abduction of Michael "Monkey" Vaughan spoke to 7 Investigates for the first time.
Fruitland Police Chief JD Huff confirmed Stacey Wondra is a suspect in the little boy's disappearance. His wife Sarah was previously charged with failure to report Michael's death, but that charge was dropped several months later. However, she remains a suspect.
Along with the Wondras, police labeled two men who lived with them, Adrien Lucienne and Brandon Shurtliff, suspects who absolutely know what happened to Michael.
Five years old at the time, Michael disappeared from his Fruitland home on SW 9th Street on July 27, 2021. In November 2022, crews searched and excavated the property where those four suspects lived at 1102 Redwing Street in Fruitland, just a two minute drive from the Vaughans' home.
Police said they had credible information from someone living in the Wondras' house that Michael's body was there. All human remains dogs brought in alerted to remains but, ultimately, Michael was not found. Police believe he was buried in the yard and then moved.
Fruitland police sent probable cause to the Payette County Prosecutor last summer to be presented to a grand jury. Chief Huff said a grand jury hasn't convened yet but they will soon.
Although that case centers around the Wondra's and their roommates, Stacey Wondra told 7 Investigates' Morgan Romero he knows nothing about Michael's abduction.
"I'm here to clear my name," Wondra said, "I can't give you an accurate answer whether I think [Brandon, Sarah and Adrien] had something to do with it or not. It's legitimately like I don't know if they did. It's a hypothetical guess. I mean, anything is possible."
It has been two months since he was released from federal custody, convicted of a gun crime unrelated to the disappearance of little Michael.
"I have no reason to hide anything from anyone. I'm not the type of person. Like I announced on my YouTube videos, I'm an open book, you can ask me anything. And I will tell you an honest answer to it," Wondra said.
When asked outright if he was involved in the disappearance of Michael Vaughan, Wondra immediately answered "no." He claims he has "no idea" why police believe he was involved.
Wondra believes law enforcement's case may hinge on Adrien, who was living with he and Sarah at the time Michael disappeared. When he was asked if there were clues or evidence that could point to that, he said there was none.
"I would never have thought Sarah, Brandon or Adrien would - again, maybe Adrien - but I wouldn't have thought Sarah or Brandon would have ever done something like this," Wondra said. "I was not even home on the night of the disappearance or during the day. I know that that night, nighttime, Sarah, Brandon and I had left to Kuna to go recover [Brandon's] - tow [Brandon's] vehicle."
Wondra elaborated about the day:
"Yeah. So, I did a taxi ride from Ontario to Boise. I know that I was gone a good portion of the day from, like, 1 in the afternoon till about 4. Had spent some time with a former coworker or boss that I used to work for. I think it's about maybe an hour, hour and a half. And then had come back home. And the neighborhood was completely solitude. It was quiet, there was peace. And there was no activity at all," he said.
Wondra claims he, Brandon and Sarah left their house and headed to Kuna to tow Brandon's car between 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. on July 27, 2021. Brandon blew a spark plug and couldn't drive the car, he said.
Fruitland police believe "Monkey" went missing between 6:40 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Police said in a December 2022 news conference they had searched a home in Kuna without a warrant, but did not elaborate. Law enforcement does not need a warrant if the homeowner lets them inside willingly.
In early 2023, Brandon Shurtliff's mother confirmed to 7 Investigates that police came to search her Kuna home more than once.
"They came back with 17 cars, dogs and shovels, and dug where the dog alluded to the following day. They found nothing but my leaking toilet," Shurtliff's mother Tina Morreale wrote via Facebook Messenger in early 2023. "We have cooperated fully since this all began."
At that time, Huff said he could not elaborate on Morreale's comments due to the nature of the investigation.
Wondra said when they got back, sometime between 9 and 10 p.m. that night, they noticed an excessive amount of people walking around the neighborhood down 8th Street.
"We had stopped and asked what was going on and they said that a boy had been abducted or been taken and it was news to me and it was news to Sarah, from what it seemed like, and Brandon.," Wondra said. "We then carried on and went home and at the time we got home Brandon and Sarah decided they were gonna go look for the boy and I was in the process of getting the vehicle detached from the truck because it was taking up the whole length of the street pretty much."
Wondra later clarified to 7 Investigates that he was not initially told Michael was abducted, just that he was missing.
"Adrien and Brandon and Sarah all took a trip to Boise in the morning before I did my taxi ride. And it was Adrien wanted to go see his kid and his baby mama or whatever was gonna bring his kid to him to see him and meet them wherever they were, like Applebee's or somewhere," Wondra said.
He claims Adrien stayed in either Boise or Nampa all night.
When asked if he knew that for a fact or if that was just what they told him, Wondra said that is what he is going on based off what they said.
"I was told the same thing that's all over, you know, by them. So I mean, that's all I have to go by. I wasn't with them," he said.
Wondra was also asked about the cadaver dogs and what police told him about the dogs hitting on the property. He said they really didn't give him an explanation.
"They just said that the dogs had hit around the property.," he said. "But I mean, there was nothing. I don't even know how that's even feasible because like I said, I've never even heard of this kid. I've never seen this kid, never knew anything about him."
Police said that they believe Michael's body was buried in the Wondra's backyard and then moved. Wondra said he could not think of anytime the body could have been buried or moved.
"They were saying that he was buried by the shed. Makes no absolutely no sense.," Wondra said. "There's no there's been no dig marks. There's no trench marks. There's nothing. The ground was completely a complete grassed area. I don't even see how it seems feasible."
When asked if it could have happened when he was not around and then be covered up, he said it was possible.
"I just know that I wasn't around for any of it. You know, I have no idea. I would like to know what happened to him," he said.
The day after he spoke to Romero, Wondra gave a YouTuber a new piece of information: He, Brandon and Sarah pulled over at SW 8th St and S Arizona Ave to put power-steering fluid in the car right after they left for Kuna the day Michael was abducted.
He said they saw a child playing by himself on the sidewalk down the street on SW 8th Street between South Arizona Avenue and South Washington Avenue, which is around the corner from the Vaughans' home.
Wondra struggled to recall the memory but claimed the child was playing with something and stated it was not Michael Vaughan.
"The kid I saw did not depict Michael at all. The kid I saw looked like he had very dark hair like mine," Wondra said. "It didn't look like a five-year-old kid at all. I'd say, if I had to guess, maybe seven, eight, nine. He wasn't a little kid, you know what I mean. That's why I said it didn't concern me he was out and about doing his thing."
He added that he does not know what is in the probable cause affidavit police sent to prosecutors, the one police said centers around him, Sarah, Adrien and Brandon. Additionally, that he doesn't think the police have anything on him, but did not know if there was any evidence against his wife.
"I personally know for a fact they don't have anything against me or on me. I have not, I have no knowledge. I, again, I wasn't at home. I have no knowledge of this, who this little boy is, his whereabouts or anything about him," he said.
Police said they recovered several pieces of evidence at the Wondra home and property. He said he did not know what those things could be.
"Not at all," Wondra said. "It's news to me."
In his interview with the YouTuber, Wondra said his attorney told him he's no longer a person of interest in Michael's abduction. Chief huff says that's not true.
When 7 Investigates called his attorney to get a straight answer, the attorney said "he has no comment at this time" and hung up the phone.
7 Investigates also reached out to Michael's mom Brandi Neal to inform her about this interview; Neal was appreciative and said the most important thing in the world is to get Michael home.
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