Family Vanishes, Mystery Deepens

It's been almost a week now since Michael and Rebecca Hargon, and their 4-year-old son, James Patrick, vanished into thin air.

Authorities are still treating the disappearances as missing person cases, but evidence points to it being something more.

Through the Hargons' house, in the small town of Vaughan, investigators found dried blood droplets, bullet holes and shell casings.

But there was no sign of robbery or forced entry. Rebecca Hargon's wedding and engagement rings were left behind. Dirty dishes were left in the sink. The family's three vehicles have been accounted for.

The family also left behind Bull, the family dog, and asthma medicine that 4-year-old James Patrick Hargon takes twice a day, reports the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.

"That's a huge red flag," Brent Turvey, a forensic scientist and criminal profiler in Oregon told the paper. "We don't have them following a normal pattern.

"This is bad," he said. "This is going to end badly."

Now, searchers are combing roadsides and wooded areas in Vaughan, about 40 miles north of Jackson, for even the smallest of clues.

Ten years ago, Michael Hargon's father was slain on the same property, when it was a convenience store. Three men are serving prison sentences for that crime.

Authorities have said little about the current investigation.

"We are getting a lot of phone calls from different places, but so far they haven't consisted of anything," Yazoo County Sheriff James T. Williams said.

Rebecca Hargon's father, Bill Hirtz, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., said friends, neighbors and relatives have come together every day to search the area around the house.

"There's a number of people that are just walking out there trying to go back over and see if there is possibly something missed," Hirtz said.

Family members say they last heard from Michael Hargon, 27, Saturday.

"We got a call from our son-in-law Saturday, probably around one o'clock," Hirtz told CBS News Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith Thursday. "He said we need to come right away ... he said, 'It's Rebecca. And there's blood — you need to come.'"

A friend, who was driving by the Hargons' home later that morning, noticed the front door of the house was open and one of the doors on Michael Hargon's pickup truck was open, but the family didn't seem to be around.

She told the Hargons' relatives what she saw, and when family members went to the home, the Hargons weren't there.

"I just couldn't believe that somebody would do something to them," said Hirtz, who has been in Mississippi since Saturday night.

Michael Hargon is a construction worker and his 29-year-old wife is a physical therapist's assistant.

"There is no reason for someone to harm Rebecca and Michael and James Patrick," said Rebecca's mother, Linda Hirtz.

"Michael didn't have any enemies. Rebecca's just as sweet as can be and just a good — a very, very good couple," Hirtz said.