Hargon money problems
ImNot911
Missing Family Had Problems With Bills
Friends, Family Assist In Search, Keep Faith
UPDATED: 7:24 PM CST February 20, 2004
YAZOO COUNTY, Miss. -- The Hargon family -- Michael, Rebecca and their son
James Patrick (pictured, right) -- has been missing for nearly a week now.
Relatives said Michael Hargon was having some money troubles with his
inheritance from an uncle.
Friday, investigators spent time inside the family's Vaughan home, and carried
more evidence away for analysis. Also, search crews brought out bloodhounds to
search the area surrounding the home.
Meanwhile, Rebecca Hargon's relatives scheduled a weekend prayer vigil in their
home state of Missouri.
Michael Hargon inherited land in Madison County from his uncle, Charles Hargon,
who had been sick and died a few weeks ago. But relatives said the land didn't
come without a price. He also inherited the bills.
They said he talked about selling some of his uncle's cattle to help pay some
of the bills. He also inherited 50 acres of land, five tractor-trailers and two
pickup trucks.
Bennie Brown, who has been the property's groundskeeper for more than 20 years,
said after Charlie Hargon died, Michael Hargon began coming by the house and
managing the property.
Brown said he talked to him the day Hargon and his family disappeared. Brown
says he and Hargon had breakfast about 6:30 that morning.
Investigators are working to figure out what happened between the time Hargon
finished eating breakfast with Brown and the time he and his family
disappeared.
Yazoo County investigators focused Thursday and Friday on obtaining evidence
from a pickup truck belonging to the family. 16 WAPT reported that the truck
was covered in fingerprint dust and a speck of what investigators think might
be blood. Yazoo County's Sheriff James Williams said he would send evidence and
video to an FBI profiler in Virginia.
Many residents in the surrounding area were looking for ways to help in the
search. During the day, many volunteers searched nearby woods. At night, they
strung up ribbons and asked people to pray for the missing family.
"Say a prayer every time you see a ribbon," said family friend Kristi Moore.
"That they will make it home safely -- that's what we want more than anything."
Relatives of Michael and Rebecca Hargon said they were thankful for the
community's help.
Officials asked people with information that might help locate the Hargon
family to call the Yazoo County Sheriff's Department at (662) 746-5611.
ImNot911
<snip>
Friday, bloodhounds were brought in from Florida to aid in the search.
The dogs found a scent in the woods, but authorities were unable to find
anything. The trail seemed to end at a volunteer fire department at
Deasonville, less than a mile away from the house. One of the dog handlers, Joe
Canfield, who owns a four year old bloodhound named Kirby, said the dogs picked
up the scent from an item that was used in the house by the missing family.
Two dogs went south from the house then circled around back to the north before
apparently losing the trail. Warren Strain, spokesman for the Mississippi
Department of Public Safety, indicated Friday it could be a longer
investigation than originally expected.
<snip>
Maggie
***Sounds like all the dogs are doing is picking up old scents of these people.
Surely someone took them away in a vehicle.
Maggie
"Objects in your mirror may be closer than they appear." --John Edwards after
the WI primary
Kris Baker
"ImNot911" <imno...@aol.commotion> wrote in message
news:20040221021308...@mb-m14.aol.com...
> http://www.thejacksonchannel.com/news/2861776/detail.html
>
> Michael Hargon inherited land in Madison County from his
> uncle, Charles Hargon, who had been sick and died a few
> weeks ago. But relatives said the land didn't come without
> a price. He also inherited the bills.
>
> They said he talked about selling some of his uncle's cattle
> to help pay some of the bills. He also inherited 50 acres of
> land, five tractor-trailers and two pickup trucks.
In other words, "all of the Hargon vehicles were at the
house when the family disappeared" is untrue?
Kris
Maggie
>news:20040221021308...@mb-m14.aol.com...
>> http://www.thejacksonchannel.com/news/2861776/detail.html
>>
>> Michael Hargon inherited land in Madison County from his
>> uncle, Charles Hargon, who had been sick and died a few
>> weeks ago. But relatives said the land didn't come without
>> a price. He also inherited the bills.
>>
>> They said he talked about selling some of his uncle's cattle
>> to help pay some of the bills. He also inherited 50 acres of
>> land, five tractor-trailers and two pickup trucks.
>
> In other words, "all of the Hargon vehicles were at the
> house when the family disappeared" is untrue?
***Couldn't the two pickups be among the three vehicles remaining on the Hargon
property?
Kris Baker
"Maggie" <maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote in message
news:20040221122112...@mb-m24.aol.com...
> >"ImNot911" <imno...@aol.commotion> wrote in message
> >news:20040221021308...@mb-m14.aol.com...
> >> http://www.thejacksonchannel.com/news/2861776/detail.html
> >>
> >> Michael Hargon inherited land in Madison County from his
> >> uncle, Charles Hargon, who had been sick and died a few
> >> weeks ago. But relatives said the land didn't come without
> >> a price. He also inherited the bills.
> >>
> >> They said he talked about selling some of his uncle's cattle
> >> to help pay some of the bills. He also inherited 50 acres of
> >> land, five tractor-trailers and two pickup trucks.
> >
> kris said:
> > In other words, "all of the Hargon vehicles were at the
> > house when the family disappeared" is untrue?
>
> ***Couldn't the two pickups be among the three vehicles
> remaining on the Hargon property?
>
> Maggie
It could very well be, and one story does mention that that
the blood drops were found leading from *one* of his
pickups (multiple).
http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0402/17/ma01.html
Problem is this, though: that means, then, that they only had
*one* vehicle until the uncle died a few weeks ago? Yet, they
both had jobs to get back and forth to.
That's why I'm curious about the trucks. "All three vehicles"
still isn't right, when you consider that there were also five
tractor-trailers.
One of the pickups was "shot up", there were bullet holes
inside the home, a blood trail leading to one of the pickups.
I dunno. I see staging, and it's confused the issue quite
well.
Kris
Maggie
>some
>of the bills. He also inherited 50 acres of land, five tractor-trailers
>and two
>pickup trucks.
>
>Bennie Brown, who has been the property's groundskeeper for more than 20
>years,
>said after Charlie Hargon died, Michael Hargon began coming by the house
>and
>managing the property.
***I wonder if the "50 acres" is a typo and is supposed to be 500 acres. A 50
acre farm is pretty tiny and certainly wouldn't have required *five* tractor
trailers.
I think it's strange that the cops keep playing down the possibility of the
people who seem to be the most likely suspects doing this (the cousin and
associates of the men in prison for killing Hargon's father0.
Kris Baker
"Maggie" <maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote in message
> imnot posted a news story:
> >They said he talked about selling some of his uncle's
> >cattle to help pay some of the bills. He also inherited 50
> >acres of land, five tractor-trailers and two pickup trucks.
> >
> >Bennie Brown, who has been the property's groundskeeper
> >for more than 20 years, said after Charlie Hargon died,
> >Michael Hargon began coming by the house and
> >managing the property.
>
> ***I wonder if the "50 acres" is a typo and is supposed to
> be 500 acres. A 50 acre farm is pretty tiny and certainly
> wouldn't have required *five* tractor trailers.
Unless the uncle's main business was as a trucker,
hauling cattle and such.
> I think it's strange that the cops keep playing down the
> possibility of the people who seem to be the most likely
> suspects doing this (the cousin and associates of the
> men in prison for killing Hargon's father0.
>
> Maggie
It's not strange, if you consider that LE probably knows
(or strongly suspects) more than they've released about
this. If Michael's missing gun means anything, it's
a clue in his direction.
Kris
ImNot911
>***I wonder if the "50 acres" is a typo and is supposed to be 500 acres. A
>50
>acre farm is pretty tiny and certainly wouldn't have required *five* tractor
>trailers.
**I looked it up on the county property tax site and it's 50 acres. I think
it's a cattle farm because of the mention of selling some of the cattle.
Forty-nine of the acres are cultivated.
>I think it's strange that the cops keep playing down the possibility of the
>people who seem to be the most likely suspects doing this (the cousin and
>associates of the men in prison for killing Hargon's father0.
>Maggie
I do too, Maggie. I believe they know (or suspect) a lot more than they're
saying.
I have found a few more details about the inheritance.
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/news/stories/20040221/localnews/451088.html
<snip>
Law enforcement officers also have been checking whether property her brother
recently inherited might be linked to the disappearance of him and his family,
Jennifer Hargon said.
Charles Hargon, Michael Hargon's great-uncle, willed his Madison County farm to
Michael Hargon. Charles Hargon's adopted son, Earnest Lee Hargon, of
Taylorsville, got nothing. Earnest Lee Hargon couldn't be reached Friday.
A close family friend, Benny Fisher, has been staying at the farm. Fisher
worked for Charles Hargon, who stated in his will that Michael Hargon and
another relative, Greg Lott, were to care for Fisher and keep him employed.
Lott could not be reached Friday.
Michael Hargon saw Fisher every day when he stopped by the farm to handle
financial matters.
Fisher said Michael Hargon came by the morning of Feb. 14 and brought him a
sausage biscuit.
"I miss him," Fisher said.
Authorities briefly returned to the Hargon home Friday afternoon. They carried
out a green laundry basket full of papers.
Yazoo County Sheriff James Williams would not comment on the case.
****
Also, Uncle Charlie's death notice:
Charles Philip Hargon
Camden
http://www.mcherald.com/news/0401/24/aobit.html
Charles Philip Hargon, 78, of Camden died Jan. 16, 2004, at G.V. "Sonny"
Montgomery Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Jackson.
Funeral services were held Jan. 19 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church with burial
the Canton Cemetery.
Survivors include: his brother, John Hargon of Dallas; and two sisters, Mable
Anderson of Canton and Barbara Beasley of Vicksburg.
******
I wonder what Earnest Lee Hargon did to get cut out of the will. It could be,
though, that the land has been in the family for generations and "needed" to go
to blood kin. It seems there were plenty of strings attached to the
inheritance. Unverified info I read elsewhere was that the will had just been
changed January 2004.
JoAnn
Maggie
>news:20040221122112...@mb-m24.aol.com...
>> >"ImNot911" <imno...@aol.commotion> wrote in message
>> >news:20040221021308...@mb-m14.aol.com...
>> >> http://www.thejacksonchannel.com/news/2861776/detail.html
>> >>
>> >> Michael Hargon inherited land in Madison County from his
>> >> uncle, Charles Hargon, who had been sick and died a few
>> >> weeks ago. But relatives said the land didn't come without
>> >> a price. He also inherited the bills.
>> >>
>> >> They said he talked about selling some of his uncle's cattle
>> >> to help pay some of the bills. He also inherited 50 acres of
>> >> land, five tractor-trailers and two pickup trucks.
>> >
>> kris said:
>> > In other words, "all of the Hargon vehicles were at the
>> > house when the family disappeared" is untrue?
>>
>> ***Couldn't the two pickups be among the three vehicles
>> remaining on the Hargon property?
>>
>> Maggie
>
>It could very well be, and one story does mention that that
>the blood drops were found leading from *one* of his
>pickups (multiple).
>http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0402/17/ma01.html
>
>Problem is this, though: that means, then, that they only had
>*one* vehicle until the uncle died a few weeks ago? Yet, they
>both had jobs to get back and forth to.
***Several possibilities, among which are that the Hargons *did* get rid of
their clunkiest vehicle when the pickups were inherited, that Michael had
already begun using one of the pickups during the now-dead uncle's illness and
(most likely, now that I think about it) the two pickups belong to the farm,
are kept at the farm to be driven by employees there (and we've heard about
two) and are accounted for.
>
>That's why I'm curious about the trucks. "All three vehicles"
>still isn't right, when you consider that there were also five
>tractor-trailers.
***I suspect whoever wrote the story was looking more at what vehicles were
generally at the Hargon home rather than what vehicles the Hargons had title
to.
>
>One of the pickups was "shot up", there were bullet holes
>inside the home, a blood trail leading to one of the pickups.
>I dunno. I see staging, and it's confused the issue quite
>well.
***I think you could be right--it's very difficult to imagine a scenario that
would result in the findings/clues we know about, but here's a try:
Michael returns from breakfast and sees a strange car in front of his house.
Not suspicious, he hops out and heads to his front door. As he nears it, he
hears shouting and crying and knows there's trouble. He runs back to the truck
and frantically reaches under the seat to get his gun, scratching his hand and
arm badly in the process, drawing blood. One of the bad guys starts out the
door, holding his gun in front of himself. Michael sees him (perhaps
recognizing him also) and shoots, missing. Bad guy retreats inside and
Michael, after firing a few more shots away from the house (so as not to hurt
his family), heads for the house, dripping blood. Meanwhile, the bad guys are
pushing the wife and son (perhaps bound by now) out the back door, as Michael
enters via the front door. He rushes through the house, dripping blood as he
goes, looking for his family and the bad guys. As he passes a window, he sees
that his wife and son are being placed into the vehicle and runs for the door.
Meanwhile, bad guy number one has remained in the house to take care of
Michael. Michael hears a noise, knows where his family is and correctly
concludes that he is not alone in the house. He shoots toward the sound, but
misses the bad guy who tackles him, then, for some totallly inexplicable reason
(just to terrorize?), takes him with them. ...story sort of breaks down there,
doesn't it?
The thing I keep coming back to if Michael or his wife is involved is that s/he
*has* to have an accomplice and it certainly sounds like pretty much everyone
is accounted for here. This is not one of those big-city, traveling-salesman,
relatives-live-far-away cases where the potential exists for all sorts of
interactions that no one knows about. There would almost have to be a lover
involved, no matter which parent was the perp, and no one else in the area
appears to be unaccounted for.
Sure wish we knew who the blood belonged to.
Kris Baker
"Maggie" <maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote in message
Yup ... and I've not seen anything that mentions
gunshot patterns. Just odd drips. For all we know,
it could be cattle blood..
The biggest flaw in any scenario I can come up with, is
that all three are gone.
If someone was pissed at Michael, they could pop him
off anywhere, and wouldn't have to kill his wife and son,
too. They could basically corner him on one of the
country roads, attack him while he's at the farm, or
even do a sniper job.
This is a bit like the Staheli case, where (to me) the
biggest mystery is why the wife was also the target.
Killings over business dealings, or inheritances,
would be aimed at the party one has the grievance
with, not the entire family.
Of course, a conspiracy buff would say that this was a
frame-up of Michael, and that he's in hiding, knowing
he's the prime suspect. But it's more likely that he
IS the culprit, and if he's alive, he's in hiding for
obvious reasons.
The inheritance might be a clue as to the timing here;
on one hand, an agrieved party may be involved....or
it could have given Michael the future he envisioned
for himself, with more money.
Kris
Kris Baker
"ImNot911" <imno...@aol.commotion> wrote in message
> I have found a few more details about the inheritance.
>
>
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/news/stories/20040221/localnews/451088.html
Good work.
> <snip>
> Law enforcement officers also have been checking whether
> property her brother recently inherited might be linked to the
> disappearance of him and his family, Jennifer Hargon said.
>
> Charles Hargon, Michael Hargon's great-uncle, willed his Madison
> County farm to Michael Hargon. Charles Hargon's adopted son,
> Earnest Lee Hargon, of Taylorsville, got nothing. Earnest Lee
> Hargon couldn't be reached Friday.
> ****
> Also, Uncle Charlie's death notice:
>
> Charles Philip Hargon
> Camden
> http://www.mcherald.com/news/0401/24/aobit.html
>
> Charles Philip Hargon, 78, of Camden died Jan. 16, 2004, at G.V. "Sonny"
> Montgomery Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Jackson.
>
> Funeral services were held Jan. 19 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church with
burial
> the Canton Cemetery.
>
> Survivors include: his brother, John Hargon of Dallas; and two sisters,
Mable
> Anderson of Canton and Barbara Beasley of Vicksburg.
....and no mention of Earnest.
Another obit gives Uncle Charlie the title of "farmer and
cattleman". If 49 acres of the 50 were cultivated, that
leaves no room for cattle. There could be other property (?).
> ******
> I wonder what Earnest Lee Hargon did to get cut out of the will. It could
be,
> though, that the land has been in the family for generations and "needed"
to go
> to blood kin. It seems there were plenty of strings attached to the
> inheritance. Unverified info I read elsewhere was that the will had just
been
> changed January 2004.
>
> JoAnn
I wonder how many times Uncle Charlie had been married, and
if Earnest (that spelling makes me laugh) was actually a step-
son that Charlie had adopted, then the marriage failed.
We don't know, though, how large Uncle Charlie's estate was,
and if Earnest had inherited other property/money. Earnest
may have received life insurance or an annuity.
If the farm was in debt (and it sounds like it was), it doesn't
seem like it's that much of a prize.
Kris
Maggie
>the
>>people who seem to be the most likely suspects doing this (the cousin and
>>associates of the men in prison for killing Hargon's father0.
>>Maggie
>
>I do too, Maggie. I believe they know (or suspect) a lot more than they're
>saying.
***Well, that would go along with the theory that the reason the cops let the
family back in the house (which seems like a really stupid move) is that
they've got a good idea about what happened and they're not expecting to have
to build a case against an unknown perp.
***Not just the will--the obituary, too. And Catholics in the deep south are
as rare as hen's teeth. I wonder if all the Hargons are Catholic. Not that I
could imagine it making any difference.
anne vasquez
Anyone remember the cutler (I think) family of In Cold Blood fame? he
family, who also lived in an isolated area, were killed because it was
thought they had a lot of money hidden in their house.
Is it possible someone thought the inheritance was more than it was?
anne in chicago
Kris Baker
"anne vasquez" <annein...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:2cuf301m6419i0icc...@4ax.com...
I dunno, Anne. There's one thing about Small Town
America: everyone knows everyone else's business.
The banker gossips with the other businessmen, the
post office folks know everything, and there's not a lot
to do except work the land and talk bad about each
other. There's no secrets in small towns....and there's
a hell of a lot of hatred to go along with that.
For that reason, based on my experiences with
*every* small farm town 'm familiar with, I'd say
that people knew what the inheritance would be,
who was getting what, and who was getting nothing.
But....because of the venom and hostility among
those folks, it's possible to have a "hate murder"
out of sheer jealousy. We may not think that 50
acres, s3 of 4 trailers, some cows, and a
couple of pickups are a grand inheritance, but
in those kinds of areas, it could actually put
someone on top of the pecking order, wealth-
wise.
When I hear things like "small town values" and
"the heart of America", I feel like running far, far
away ;)
Kris
Maggie
***It's possible, but why kidnap them if that's the case? And the house
apparently showed no signs of robbery--even the wife's wedding rings were not
taken. Unless the bodies are found soon, it even argues against a murder by a
relative for an inheritance--the relative can't inherit an estate unless the
owner is known to be dead. Without bodies, it would take years to collect.
If the bodies had been found, pretty much anything would be on the table. It's
much harder, however, to figure out why anyone would make all three of them
disappear.
Kris Baker
"Maggie" <maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote in message
>
>
> If the bodies had been found, pretty much anything would
> be on the table. It's much harder, however, to figure out
> why anyone would make all three of them disappear.
>
> Maggie
...and it's a lot easier to figure out why someone would make
two of them disappear, then go missing themselves.
Kris
Cricket
"Kris Baker" <kris....@prodigyy.net> wrote in message
news:NZSZb.15799$If2....@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com...
>
> "anne vasquez" <annein...@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:2cuf301m6419i0icc...@4ax.com...
> > Okay, let me throw another wild speculation into the mix...
> >
> > Anyone remember the cutler (I think) family of In Cold
> > Blood fame? he family, who also lived in an isolated
> > area, were killed because it was thought they had a
> > lot of money hidden in their house.
> >
> > Is it possible someone thought the inheritance was
> > more than it was?
> >
> > anne in chicago
>
> I dunno, Anne. There's one thing about Small Town
> America: everyone knows everyone else's business.
> The banker gossips with the other businessmen, the
> post office folks know everything, and there's not a lot
> to do except work the land and talk bad about each
> other. There's no secrets in small towns....and there's
> a hell of a lot of hatred to go along with that.
There's often a few dumber-than-rocks, no-account dopes/loafers/hangers-on
around that are just sure that there's a "secret stash", though. Not the
sort who'd be talking to the banker and the businessmen. Last summer there
was a couple murdered east of here, because it was assumed by some guy with
a double-digit IQ that if they had a new car and a few nice things, they
were rich.
>
> For that reason, based on my experiences with
> *every* small farm town 'm familiar with, I'd say
> that people knew what the inheritance would be,
> who was getting what, and who was getting nothing.
Some, probably most people - but there's that underbelly, the white
trash/trailer trash/pick your own non-PC term, who the banker and the
businessmen and the "good" folks wouldn't be talking to, that get just
enough of the story to embelish it into a great big deal.
>
> But....because of the venom and hostility among
> those folks, it's possible to have a "hate murder"
> out of sheer jealousy. We may not think that 50
> acres, s3 of 4 trailers, some cows, and a
> couple of pickups are a grand inheritance, but
> in those kinds of areas, it could actually put
> someone on top of the pecking order, wealth-
> wise.
That too, of course - it's just that I've seen too many houses broken into,
even a few (like the above mentioned couple) killed, because some stupid
dick thinks the old folk's slightly used Cadillac means they've got solid
gold bars buried under the hay in the barn.
>
> When I hear things like "small town values" and
> "the heart of America", I feel like running far, far
> away ;)
That I won't argue for a second. ;>)
(Though I've always said that the most excitment I get in my life is the
life I don't have, just hear about - folks may start out knowing all about
you, but if it's boring they don't have a problem with a little
embellishment, either...)
>
> Kris
>
>
Kris Baker
"Cricket" <cc...@quixnet.net> wrote in message
news:b6695$403805ec$4196d06a$29...@msgid.meganewsservers.com...
>
> "Kris Baker" <kris....@prodigyy.net> wrote in message
> news:NZSZb.15799$If2....@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com...
> >
>
> >
> > *every* small farm town 'm familiar with, I'd say
> > that people knew what the inheritance would be,
> > who was getting what, and who was getting nothing.
>
> Some, probably most people - but there's that underbelly, the white
> trash/trailer trash/pick your own non-PC term, who the banker and the
> businessmen and the "good" folks wouldn't be talking to, that get just
> enough of the story to embelish it into a great big deal.
>
The towns I'm familiar with are small farm towns in Nebraska,
and it's the "good" folks I'm describing ;)
It's HELL there, I tell ya
Kris
Cricket
Ugh. Sounds worse than southwest Michigan...at least here it's not too far
to a couple of somewhat less provincial college towns (I'm strictly a
country person, myself, but that's not an excuse to be insular and
xenophobic, whatever my neighbors may think...)
>
>
Robert St. James (el corazon del demonio)
Yes. Especially considering:
"Authorities took a pickup, in which shell casings were found, to Yazoo City for
tests."
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/7977623.htm
And
It's a mystery that has family members trying to piece together for themselves
what Michael, Rebecca, and little James Patrick may have gone through. "There was
a struggle in the house," said Fuemmeler. "There were a couple gunshots. There was
some blood in the house, which leads me to believe that Mike was trying to protect
his family. I think he was trying to get to his truck. ****He had a gun in the
truck.*** And I think probably he may have been shot outside by the truck, because
there was more blood out there and there were shell casings there....
http://www.kfvs12.com/Global/story.asp?S=1655334&nav=8H3xKxXC
And especially:
"WLBT has learned there was blood found inside the house and Michael Hargon's gun
is missing. Sheriff Williams would not confirm those reports, but he did say there
was no forced entry into the home. "
http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=1646516
It's idiotic to think that if there was a "struggle" in the house with unknown
assailants that those assailants would take the trouble to hide all the bodies.
And I just don't see any kidnapping angle here. I think the most likely
explanation
is that this guy came home and killed his family, hid their bodies, and fled,
possibly on foot or possibly in another vehicle that no one knew about. He
had money from the inheritence, but a stack of bills from that inheritence
too. I'm guessing he thought the inheritence was going to bail him out
of financial troubles, and when he found out that it wouldn't, he did a Longo.
RstJ