FRUITLAND, Idaho — Michael Vaughan, the now 6-year-old boy missing from Fruitland for an entire year, will have his case featured on a new REELZ series to bring attention and hopefully additional information to solve his disappearance.
His case will be featured Friday night, July 29, sometime during the 7 p.m.-10 p.m. MT showing of "On Patrol: Live."
The series joins forces with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Black and Missing Foundation to help solve ongoing cases of missing people.
It will document the work of police officers in a missing persons investigation to get the word out about the disappearances, which could lead to call-in tips and possibly the recovery of a missing person.
Producers of the show have worked previously with NCMEC and have helped return 19 children to their families through tips, executive producer John Zito said.
Vaughan was reported missing on July 27, 2021, from his neighborhood in Fruitland. The Fruitland Police Department has joined forces with Idaho State Police, the FBI and other agencies to find him.
Little has been released publicly about the details of the investigation, but Fruitland police have previously stated they have many persons of interest but no suspects.
"Nothing is absolute," Fruitland PD Chief JD Huff said during a press conference.
Vaughan's parents, Brandi Neal and Tyler Vaughan, both spoke out last week about the case a year later.
"None of us are going to stop. Not a single one of us will stop. Michael is going to come home," Neal said.
Recently, the boy's parents also said the work investigators have done are leading the family to believe that he will come home someday.
Vaughan was never given an AMBER alert when he went missing, largely due to the fact police did not think he was abducted at the time. They have reason to believe now that abduction is a possibility due to the extensive ground searches that have been conducted.
The attention that the show could generate for the boy's case could reach people nationwide.
“This is a unique opportunity for Michael’s case,” said Angeline Hartmann, who is the director of communications for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
“While he has received national attention before, this is very different. We know that the viewers of 'On Patrol: Live' are highly invested in our missing children and do what they can to find these kids. They call themselves, ‘OPNation,’ and each week, they actively share our cases on social media, generating unparalleled attention for our missing children. We ask everyone to watch the segment tonight and call us if they have any information that can help bring Michael home," she said.
Host and Executive Producer Dan Abrams, Sgt. Sean “Sticks” Larkin and Deputy Sheriff Curtis Wilson provide minute-by-minute live analysis and context during the show.
The series premiered Friday, July 22, and airs live Friday and Saturday Nights from 9pm to 12am ET/ 6pm PT – 9pm PT on REELZ.
REELZ is available as a live linear network in more than 40 million homes on DIRECTV channel 238, DISH Network channel 299, Verizon FiOS TV channel 692HD, AT&T U-verse channels 799/1799HD and Xfinity, Spectrum, and many other cable systems nationwide.
The library versions of REELZ can be found via major streaming platforms such as Amazon Channels, Fire TV, Roku, Pluto TV, Tubi, Samsung Smart TV+, Vizio, Crackle, Xumo, Redbox and others.
Anyone with information is asked to call NCMEC at 1-800-843-5678.
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