Four-year-old Ellis Evan Baudean vanished from the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in Marrero, Louisiana, in the late afternoon of July 15, 2021. The child, who was non-verbal and had autism, was with his mother and a younger sibling near the Twin Canals Trail when his mother briefly turned away to get something from her car. When she looked back, Ellis was gone and one of his shoes was later found floating in the dark, duckweed-covered canal.

A multi-agency search followed, involving the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, the National Park Service and the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office. Divers, sonar teams and cadaver dogs were used, and authorities even dammed and tried to partially drain a 500-foot section of canal with donated equipment before the temporary clay dam failed and water returned. Investigators from early on believed Ellis had accidentally fallen into the canal and been swept away; foul play was not suspected. More than six months later the case remained active, Ellis was still listed as missing and his family held a vigil seeking renewed attention.

If anyone was at Twin Canals Trail on July 15, 2021, or has information about Ellis’s movements that afternoon, please come forward.