TN TN - Michael Hearon, 51, Happy Valley, 23 Aug 2008

[smokymtngirl]

Sutton.... in answer to your questions.
1. We hear "yelling" all the time, especially on Friday and Saturday night. But this was different. This was not the usual
"yooohoo" it was shouting, arguing type yelling between two people. And I have never heard shouting like that since.
2. The people here are very strange to say the least. Lots of illegal stuff going on. We smell meth cooking all the time. Since we have lived here there has been 2 murders in the area. We don't associate much with our neighbors.
3 The skull was found about a mile from my house. I took it home and eventually threw it away. It was pretty creepy though. It was found in an area that was being developed for new mountain cabins, but went belly up
4 I suspect he came upon someone and there was an altercation. That's my theory.
5There was no hunting going on at that time of year...but that doesn't mean that someone could have been on his property. People here don't take kindly to trespassers.
6. We hear gunshots everyday here. I do not remember if I heard any that Saturday, but if I had heard one after the shouting, I would have called the BCSO. I can tell how far away gunsots are, but truly I cannot recall if I heard any close ones that day.
I go out in the woods frequently and I always keep my eyes open. If Michael had been killed and missed by the search and rescue folks, he would be skeletonized by now and covered with 7 years worth of leaves and deadfall. But I look and metal detect all the same. He has been on my mind alot this Spring, and that is why I joined this forum. I dont know if his family reads these posts, but if they do, I want them to know that people have not forgotten about Michael .

 

[smokymtngirl]

Oh and one more thing. ..out in the woods behind my home, there are piles and piles of rocks. Some of the piles are 4 feet high, plenty big enough to cover someone up. They are the remnants of clearing land to possibly build a home. But the area has a small creek running thru it that makes it very swampy in the Spring. So whoever gathered these rocks,gave up clearing the land. I just wonder if the searchers looked in that area. I went out with the searchers on Tuesday but we were searching the logging road area north of my house. I had 12 carloads of searchers park in my yard that day. It was chaotic to say the least. .

 

[snowleopard]

Good exposure for Mike's case....

[video=youtube;mxuNdHmrhfM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxuNdHmrhfM[/video]

 

[lotsofdogs2]

I really wish he could be found.

 

[snowleopard]

I really wish he could be found.

Me too....here's a fresh link for Michael's case covered by John Lordan:

 

[cricket49]

This is a really sad missing person case. I am very familiar with this area and remember reading about Michael years ago. It is hard to believe he is still missing. Hoping his family finds him and finds peace.

 

[PayrollNerd]

Saw this link on my friends Facebook timeline. She’s lived in Happy Valley her entire life.

Appalachian Unsolved: Mike Hearon, missing in the Smokies

 

[smokymtngirl]

Thanks payrollnerd for updating. I come here all the time to see if anything is new about Michael, but very little is here. I still live off Happy Valley Loop road, (19 years now), but I still remember that Saturday in August of 2008 when I heard the shouting loud argument behind my home...and I back up to dense woods. And last October my great dog, Jodi, (THE ONE WHO WENT TEARING into the woods when the shouting erupted) passed away. 17 year old completely outdoor dog
Thanks for the post, and the video. Smokymtngirl

 

[cutter99]

Smokymtngirl, what do locals have to say about this case?

 

[ExitMusic]

Such a sad case. From hearing the local account of a lot of meth cooking around, I lean towards he unfortunately saw something illegal and someone had to rid of a witness. Thoughts are with his family.

 

[bustersae]

hi bluestarzz, me too... considering the personal items found left on the truck seat and the mower hadn't even been unloaded it seems to me that he took off out of there on the ATV for some pressing reason as soon as he got there.

Those homegrown (in the "woods" or in the basement) operations can be worth millions. You can bet that there are plenty in that "business" who value that over a human life.

I think I recall earlier in the reading on this thread that Michael would go down to that property about once a month. That leaves alot of unattended time for someone else to utilize it and hope to be certain of his routine of when he would show up - if he did in fact have a predictable routine.

Thinking along the lines of drugs... meth making has become ridiculously popular. This would also be a good place for that type of operation. Do you have a feel for whether that area has a meth problem budding or perhaps in full bloom?

If any of these ideas are on a right track, the time between when Mike disappeared and when something was actually done about it and the property officially searched would have given someone enough time to clear out and leave little to no trace. :-(

If there was growing opertation it would have been found during the search. I am from the area and this case has bugged me for years. Happy Valley was not a place one visited just to visit. I went to visit a friend that lived up there and was stopped by 3 men in a truck and told to turn around. Luckily my friend drove up and told them that I was there to see him.

 

[cutter99]

So what is the locals are protecting up there? Grow operations, cooking operations, their homes, families, possessions?

 

[PayrollNerd]

So what is the locals are protecting up there? Grow operations, cooking operations, their homes, families, possessions?

All of the above.

 

[MajorHoople]

Appalachian Unsolved: Mike Hearon, Missing In The Mountains

Posted on Dec 3, 2019 by WBIR Channel 10 News

"Canines, drones and every rescue organization that Blount County had scoured the mountains for a man named Mike Hearon when he went missing. Eight years later, his family and investigators are still looking for answers"

 

[bustersae]

So what is the locals are protecting up there? Grow operations, cooking operations, their homes, families, possessions?[/QUOTE
It isn't as much as that they are hiding something, it is an extremely rural area that backs up to the Smoky Mtn National Park. In reality there isn't much of a reason to just be driving through. They know everyone that lives in the area and like their privacy. I was an "outsider." When my friend showed up the men became very friendly and that was it. I went back up there a few times before I moved out of the area and never had an issue again.

 

[Cagle]

Michael Hearon unsolved disappearance case on Park Predators podcast

Thirteen years after his mysterious disappearance, the popular true crime podcast Park Predators is shining a spotlight on the story of Michael Hearon.

The 51-year-old Maryville man vanished into thin air one weekend in August 2008 while working on his family's land, which borders the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. His oldest son Matt Hearon joins podcast host Delia D’Ambra to tell his side of the story about the search for his father.

Matt Hearon helps illustrate what happened the weekend his dad disappeared – from inconsistencies that don't add up to twists and turns in the investigation. D’Ambra chose to debut the episode early in the second season to give listeners a glimpse into Hearon's family's involvement in the search and grieving more than a decade later.

"Yes, we're talking about something sort of spooky in a park area, but there's this whole human story that goes with it," D’Ambra said.

Through the years, the family had to come to terms with the possibility that Hearon could be dead, so they stopped hosting "Hike for Mike," an annual hike to keep their father's case from going cold, and told their sons Grandpa Mike passed away.

 

[PayrollNerd]

Unfortunately, I think it will take finding his remains to solve this. This is rural Blount County and the locals are not going to talk. I lived in the area for 17 years (left in Sept 2008). I don't remember hearing about this at the time but I was also busy with relocating.

 

[Hastings21]

I live in Happy Valley (14 years). The Saturday afternoon Michael went missing, my 6 year old Grandson and I were out in the back yard. We heard some VERY LOUD shouting coming from the woods behind my property, 2 men shouting at the top of their lungs! Very indistinct, couldn't understand a word, but it was very loud and very angry sounding. My big dog, a Lab mix, took off running towards the shouting, and I was so frightened that I made my grandson go into the house. (It made such an impression on him that he STILL remembers it.) My property backs up to the area where the ATV was found. I contacted Michaels mom who in turn contacted the BCSO. They came out and interviewed me, and two officers did a "shouting test" to see if they could hear one another from my property to the area where the ATV was found. They said they could not. What has always stuck in my mind, is whether some one (or some thing) could have dragged Michael to the area where i heard the loud shouting. I firmly believe that what I heard that day has something to do with his disappearance. And what really disturbs me is the fact that my 80 lb dog went sprinting into the woods! She will chase deer and bears, but as far as I know, she has never gone after a human. In this Valley, sound travels very far. They don't call these places "hollers" for nothing. In the days before telephones, mountain people would "holler" to each other to get help, borrow a tool or horse, or just communicate.
My dog has also brought very large bones to the house which I turned over to the BCSO. I never heard back from them, so I assume they were animal bones.
Another very strange thing my Grandson and I found in the woods was a life-sized ceramic human skull! . Now what in the world would a ceramic skull be doing in the middle of no where?
This case has mystified me since the beginning. All the rest of that summer I watched for vulture activity. The only time I saw any vultures was when a BCSO officer and I walked behind my home and saw 8-10 turkey vultures sitting in a tree. We scared them off and looked around, but didn't find anything. My grandson and I go out in the woods behind my house often
just scouting around looking for any clues that might help find Michael. But so far we have not found anything.

.

 

[Hastings21]

I just discovered this case on Park Predators today. Very strange case. Did LE ever get back with the lady who heard the loud shouting?

 

[cnmccarthy]

Thanks payrollnerd for updating. I come here all the time to see if anything is new about Michael, but very little is here. I still live off Happy Valley Loop road, (19 years now), but I still remember that Saturday in August of 2008 when I heard the shouting loud argument behind my home...and I back up to dense woods. And last October my great dog, Jodi, (THE ONE WHO WENT TEARING into the woods when the shouting erupted) passed away. 17 year old completely outdoor dog
Thanks for the post, and the video. Smokymtngirl

Completely of topic and
My apologies for dredging this up as I know how painful it is to lose a dog, but I have to comment on how incredible it is that your pup lived to 17 years old! Especially as an outdoor lab! I’d love to know her secret to good health especially since my soul dog just turned ten and I am terrified of losing him.

Also, I am also of the mind he saw something fishy on his drive to his home and then went off to look with the ATV. My grandparents lived in a holler of Tennessee for years and that was the main way people traveled through their properties and others over there. My grandmother also constantly cautioned me about going to explore any abandoned looking homes because of how bad the meth dealing is and how dangerous they can be.
He likely was chasing someone he found doing something wrong in the ATV (why it was on high gear going over a hill) and lost control of it and they ended up being able to get the better of him and that’s when the shouting started. I don’t feel as if HE was being chased on his ATV because he likely would’ve been heading towards his own property as it’s just instinct to want to head for home or familiarity when in fight or flight mode. MOO. this case is absolutely baffling. I couldn’t imagine losing my dad this way. No answers, no goodbye.