OFFICIAL WEBSITE FOR FIND MIKE HEARON
On Aug. 23 2008, Mike Hearon, 51, in khaki cargo shorts, a faded red T-shirt and sandals, rode his green four-wheel-drive vehicle on Bell Branch Road, in the Happy Valley Community of Blount County.
He has not been seen since. It is one of the most perplexing mysteries the Blount County Sheriff's Office has ever faced.
"I've never seen such a high-profile a case with so few clues," Sheriff Jim Berrong said.
Hearon's parents, Verl Hearon, 79, and Sue Hearon, 74, his sons, Matt, 25, and Andy, 27, and other family members and friends continue to search the area, to no avail. Once, Verl and Sue Hearon even walked all the way to Chilhowee Mountain.
"It has been a miserable year," Verl Hearon said. "I've looked in every hole and cave in Happy Valley. No sign anywhere."
"It's like a nightmare, but one that when you wake up, it is still happening for real," Sue Hearon said. "But we won't give up."
"We sure need some kind of closure on this," Verl Hearon said.
Related links
Find Mike Hearon Web site
The Megan Maxwell case
The Jennifer and Adrianna Wix case
Tennessee Alliance for Families of the Missing
Duane Bowers
Project Jason
National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Association of Missing and Exploited Childrens Organizations
Mysteries of the missing
Mysteries of the missing is a series looking at the nature of missing-persons cases as well as specific disappearances that have baffled authorities and families through the decades. Read more stories.
There is no evidence of foul play, but circumstances of the case contain strong hints of it. Any evidence around the area where his ATV was later found would have been washed away by heavy rain the night before.
Pledges for a reward have reached $35,000, and more were made Sunday at an event the Hearon family hosted to keep the case alive in the public's eye. About 200 people came to Smithview Pavillion for the event. It had more of the bittersweet feel of a memorial service than a public-awareness event.
Through a slide presentation and home movies, Hearon's life flickered before the eyes of those gathered. Some of those eyes had tears in them.
Hearon was a vibrant man with a bright, strong smile, and unruly shock of thick dark hair. Most of the images showed him playing and clowning with family and friends, or frolicking with pets.
Detective Mike Seratt, lead investigator in the case, said he has turned up nothing to contradict the family's assertion that Mike Hearon had no known enemies.
Hearon had a condo in Maryville to be near his contracting business, but spent weekends at the 100-acre family homestead on Bell Branch Road, adjoining the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
On the day he was last seen, he had driven his truck there, hauling a mower and weedeater, to the homestead to mow grass. Shortly thereafter, neighbors saw him on Bell Branch Road on the ATV.
He was headed away from the homestead. But no one knows why. "That may be the key to the lock," Berrong said.
When Hearon's sons went to the property two days later, they found the grass uncut, the truck windows rolled down, and their dad's money clip and keys in the truck.
Authorities were called and an extensive search was launched. The next day, a family friend found Hearon's ATV about a mile away, in a secluded spot near an unoccupied vacation cabin. It was in high gear, and the ignition switch was on. It had been turned off using a kill switch instead of the ignition, according to Berrong and family members.
"He always used the ignition switch to turn it off, never the kill switch," said Matt Hearon. "So we don't think he's the one who put it there. And we don't think he got lost. He lived around there all of his life and knew all of the trails."
Matt said his dad could have taken the ATV to check on some nearby property he was looking after for someone else and unexpectedly encountered someone or something there or along the way.
"If he saw someone breaking into a house, or trespassing, he would not have hesitated to confront them," Matt Hearon said. "He was strong man, tough as nails, and he wasn't afraid of anything."
Verl Hearon said he thinks his son could have been set up for something by being lured to a meeting. "Or it could be something as simple as someone wanted to rob him for drug money," Sue Hearon said.
Berrong and Seratt said there is no evidence that Mike Hearon was involved in anything illegal. Berrong said several officers have interviewed family, friends and neighbors, checked out many tips and rumors, and poured over Hearon's business records and bank accounts.
"We know everything there is to know about Mike Hearon - except where he is," Berrong said.
Anyone with relevant information can call the BCSO's Criminal Investigation Division at 865-273-5001, or the crime tip hot line at 865-273-5200.
Link to article: KNOX NEWS
1 comment:
Focus more on the last people who saw him.
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