Bodies of missing family found in woods

YAZOO CITY, Miss. -- The bodies of three family members who disappeared from their home on Valentine's Day were found in a wooded area of Mississippi on Monday, and a relative was charged with murder, authorities said.

District Attorney James Powell told The Associated Press late Monday that the bodies had been identified as Michael and Rebecca Hargon and their 4-year-old son. An autopsy was scheduled for late Monday night or today.

"It's awful. You deal with bad stuff all the time but rarely where the whole family was killed," Powell said.

Bill Hirtz of Poplar Bluff, Mo., Rebecca Hargon's father, said the discovery of the bodies gave him a measure of solace. "At least I know where they were at," he said in a telephone interview Monday night. His daughter was born in Cape Girardeau.

The discovery of the remains and the charges against Earnest Lee Hargon capped an intense three-week search for clues in the case. Hargon, a 43-year-old truck driver, was arrested on unrelated drug charges Friday, and authorities rushed to the search area in southern Mississippi on Monday morning.

"We know they're together and that's a consolation," Michael Hargon's aunt, Katherine Alexander, said in a telephone interview. "We know they're in God's hands and we're just thankful for that. We know that God's going to give us the strength to go through what we're going to have to go through for the next few days and weeks to come."

Teams of law officers using portable lights searched through scattered rain and into the evening hours for the bodies.

In a Yazoo County courthouse about 100 miles away, Earnest Lee Hargon heard the three capital murder charges read and was ordered held without bond.

He is a cousin of Michael Hargon, 27, who disappeared on Feb. 14 along with his 29-year-old wife and their son, James Patrick. Friends and relatives of the family, many visibly shaken, attended the brief court appearance.

Blood and spent bullet casings were discovered at the family's home in Yazoo County after their disappearance. Investigators have not found a .22-caliber weapon that apparently was fired in the house.

Prosecutor James Powell said the slayings occurred during the kidnapping of one or more of Michael Hargon's family. He said Hargon had acted alone.

"We've been saying all along since we've anticipated filing these charges that our case is rock solid," said Warren Strain, spokesman for the Mississippi Highway Patrol.

Investigators have been checking a piece of land that Michael Hargon recently inherited from his uncle, Charles Hargon, to determine if it is linked to the disappearance, said Jennifer Hargon, Michael's sister.

Earnest Hargon, Charles Hargon's adopted son, was not included in the will, she said. Strain said the property is a consideration in the case, but not necessarily a motive.

"It could be a potential motive, but it's not the only one," Strain said.

Screamed at suspect

Family members at the hearing declined to discuss the deaths. Louis Fischer, Michael Hargon's first cousin, screamed at Hargon after being turned away from the crowded courtroom.

"It's been a long, emotional 17 or 18 days, and I let my emotions get the better of me," Fischer said later.

Minutes before lawmen were to bring Hargon into the courtroom Monday, Strain announced a delay due to "profound new developments" in the county where the search was being conducted.

State troopers and deputies closed entrances to the land while helicopters and state crime lab trucks moved in to assist in the ground search. The property consists mostly of pine woods.

Intense searches of Hargon's home and 160 acres around it were carried out over the weekend by teams using horses, off-road vehicles, a helicopter and tracking dogs.