Desperate Search Continues for Hargon Family

This is a partial transcript from On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, February 17, 2004 that has been edited for clarity.

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GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Tonight: a desperate search in Mississippi for a family of three who was last seen Friday night. Where is the family and who took them? Fox's Jonathan Serrie joins us from Vaughan, Mississippi, with the very latest -- Jonathan.

JONATHAN SERRIE, FOX NEWS: Good evening, Greta. Well, investigators, at least officially, are calling this a missing persons case. However, when they were looking at the crime scene, they found blood, they found bullet casings around the family's truck, and that suggests that possibly there was foul play involved. The investigation began on Saturday when the Yazoo County sheriff's office received a tip that there might be trouble at the Hargon family home. Authorities believe Michael Hargon, his wife Rebecca, and their son, James Patrick Hargon, who just turned 4 years old, all disappeared sometime Friday night or early Saturday morning.

JAMES WILLIAMS, YAZOO COUNTY SHERIFF: The door of the truck was open. The door of the house was open. There was blood on the ground, blood in the house. Yes, we had cause to cause (ph) the family, reasons to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) family.

SERRIE: And right now, the state crime lab is examining the blood that authorities collected at the crime scene, trying to determine whose blood it is. Meanwhile, relatives of the Hargons are offering a $25,000 reward for the family's safe return. They're asking anyone with information to call Mississippi Crime Stoppers, the Yazoo County sheriff's office or the FBI.

Coming back to our live shot here at the scene in front of the Hargon family home -- before this was a house, this was actually a convenience store owned by Michael Hargon's father, Haywood (ph) Hargon. He was fatally shot back in 1994 during an armed robbery at this store. There were three men convicted in connection with that case, and at least two of them were recently up for a routine parole hearing. Our understanding is that Hargon family members were in touch with members of the state parole board, discussing specifics of the case. But it would be premature to draw any links between the two crimes. Greta, back to you.

VAN SUSTEREN: Jonathan, has the home been sealed and the police are going through it doing the forensic examination, and I hope sophisticated lab group -- group of lab people are there?

SERRIE: Yes, it certainly is. They scoured this home very thoroughly, and now it's sealed off. And as we speak, those -- the bullet casings and the blood are being examined by the state crime lab. And they're hoping to get more answers out of this in the upcoming days.

VAN SUSTEREN: And -- and last seen on Friday night -- by whom, do you know?

SERRIE: I'm not sure who saw them on Friday night. The last report I heard of any of the missing family members seen was around 8:00 o'clock local time, Central time, on Friday night. That's my understanding.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, Jonathan, thank you.

Joining us by phone is the sheriff of Yazoo County, Mississippi, Sheriff James Williams. Welcome, Sheriff.

WILLIAMS: Thank you.

VAN SUSTEREN: Sheriff, what can you tell me about the investigation? What are you -- what are you looking for, besides the three people? But I mean, what can help -- what do you -- what do you want to put out to the public?

WILLIAMS: Well, what we're doing now, all the things we're doing right now is just waiting on the results from the crime lab. They made a thorough investigation of the residence and the outside area of the house. And now we're just waiting on that, and we can go from there.

VAN SUSTEREN: In terms of the blood, Sheriff, was it found inside the house or was it outside, leading towards one of the trucks?

WILLIAMS: Well, there was some on the outside, and it was just a little on the inside there.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Were you able to tell the bullet holes -- I know there's a small-caliber bullet hole, one in the hallway, one in the floor and one in the ceiling. Is there any way to determine whether or not that was a recent bullet hole and not something that had occurred earlier?

WILLIAMS: Well, like I said, again, I'm not a technician, so what we do is just let the crime lab do their job, and they're going to decide whether -- or what type of bullet it was. And we'll make a determination from then.

VAN SUSTEREN: Sheriff, have you made some sort of inquiry into whether or not the men who were on parole for the 1994 murder may have had any reason to know where the -- you know, anything about the Hargons?

WILLIAMS: We're leaving no stones unturned. We're checking all possibilities, and that's probably one of them. And if anything else comes up, we'll also check that also.

VAN SUSTEREN: Any tips coming in, Sheriff?

WILLIAMS: Oh, there's tips coming in from all over the country.

VAN SUSTEREN: And was there a vehicle missing from the home at all?

WILLIAMS: No, there was not.

VAN SUSTEREN: So is there anything that -- I mean, besides -- we've put up pictures about these people. Is there anything about the husband and wife and child that we should state here for people to look for?

WILLIAMS: They put up fliers, and if you see anyone that even similar -- looks similar to those people, just give us a call. It'll be worth checking. And no turn -- no chances need to be unknown (ph).

VAN SUSTEREN: And perhaps because the 4-year-old, I understand, has asthma and is without his asthma medicine, if anyone's going through a drugstore looking for asthma medicine, that might be a -- sort of a clue.

WILLIAMS: That correct.

VAN SUSTEREN: A young boy and -- all right, Sheriff. Thank you.

WILLIAMS: Appreciate it. Thank you.

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