KY Ky - Harry Miller Maupin, 40, Lejunior, 18 June 1985

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Gender Male
Race / Ethnicity White / Caucasian
Height 6' 2" (74 Inches)
Weight 235 - 240 lbs
Brown Hair
Gray Eyes

Distinctive Physical Features
Tip of small right finger missing then reattached
scar on right thigh
scar on small right finger

Clothing and Accessories
Accessories
brown leather belt with "H.M. Maupin" on a brass plate

Clothing
plaid western-type shirt with snap buttons levi jeans

Footwear
Mule skin cowboy boots

Jewelry
Sekio watch with a blue dial, cracked crystal

Circumstances of Disappearance
Harry Maupin was last seen at his place of employment near the Lejunior community of Harlan County on June 18, 1985. Police received information that Maupin was shot, which caused injuries that resulted in his death and that his body was removed from Harlan County and disposed of to where it could not be recovered. Detectives believe Maupin was killed on coal mining property of the Gano Coal Co.

Missing Person Case
 
“The information we received was that he was shot, which caused injuries that resulted in his death and Hensley removed Maupin’s body from Harlan County and disposed of it in a way to where it could not, and probably will not be recovered,” Cornett said in an interview with the Harlan Daily Enterprise. “We have information that tells us where the body may be, but we can’t give that out just yet, because we’ve got to try and do another search of that area.”

Daughter glad police continued to investigate disappearance
 
Disappearance of local man in 1985 closer to being solved

On Thursday, Earnest Lee Hensley, 59, of Corbin was arrested and charged with Maupin’s murder.

Maupin’s body has never been found.

A news story from 1985 published in the Richmond Register said that Kentucky State Police, the Harlan County rescue squad and sheriff’s office searched Harlan County as well as parts of Tennessee and Virginia.
 
The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky on September 17, 1989 · Page 6

OCR. It was pretty jumbled. And out of order.

Harry Maupin vanished four years ago, and his relatives and a police investigator are convinced that the Harlan County coal operator was killed. "I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt I am working on a murder case," Kentucky State Police Detective Denny Pace said. Maupin's sister, Louise Brackett, agrees. "I think he was murdered, either for money or for a debt"
Maupin disappeared on June 18, 1985, from his office at the Gano Coal Co. mine, of which he was a part owner. There were rumors at the time that Maupin, then 40, had absconded with a large amount of cash from an alleged business deal or that he had run off with a woman. Brackett, of Milton, W.Va., said she knows better because her brother was close to his family. "You Just had to know him. "It's ridiculous the state of Tennessee never even opened an active murder Investigation," Brackett said. "The crux of a concealed- or re-ceiving-stolen-property charge is being able to prove that the property is in fact stolen," said Sonny Sexton, a Tennessee assistant attorney general "Without the testimony of the coal operator that the gun was in fact stolen, one of the primary elements was missing." Pace said evidence concerning Maupin's disappearance was presented to the Harlan County grand jury in July 1986, but no indictments resulted. Acting on some information Pace obtained in Tennessee, divers searched Norris Lake, in Tennessee, for Maupin's body, but found nothing. Pace said he still has suspects, whom he would not identify, and that he remains optimistic about eventually winning an indictment Margaret Maupin, Harry's older daughter, said the mystery has been a "nightmare" for her and her younger sister, Elizabeth, who was 7 at the time of the disappearance. "It's hard any time you lose somebody you love," said Margaret Maupin, now 25. "But in a situation like this, when you don't know what happened, it's that much harder. "My little sister, Elizabeth, still has nightmares to this day. She says all the time it's as if her father dropped off the face of the earth, and in a way that's true. But on the other hand, that's not the case at all. Somebody out there knows exactly what happened to our father." pess, like we did," Brackett said. "When he hadn't been heard from in this length of time, we knew something was wrong. There are those people who, if you don't hear from them in six months, you don't worry. And then there are those people like Harry." Pace said the Maupin case has been more consuming than any other in his 9 years as a detective. "It has its frustrating moments, but I'm not going to give up until I get a murder indictment," he said. Pace must refer to his investigation as "a supposed murder case" because Maupin's body has not been found. But "I recovered the gun I believe was used to kill him, and I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt I am working on a murder case, not a missing-person investigation," Pace said. The trail has led Pace throughout Kentucky and Into Tennessee. He thinks Maupin was slain with his own handgun a blue steel Smith & Wesson ,44-callber Magnum found in Lafollette, Tenn., after it apparently changed hands a few times. Charges of concealing stolen property (the gun) were filed against four members of a Union County, Tenn., family in 1986. But one of the four the most likely culprit, according to Tennessee authorities died, and a case against the others wouldn't hold up. Charges were dropped in 1987. Brackett and other relatives get riled when discussing the Tennessee investigation. They call it "the lack of any investigation."
 
HMaupin.JPG

Harry Miller Maupin

Name: Harry Miller Maupin
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: June 18, 1985
Location Last Seen: Lejunior, Harlan County, Kentucky


Date of Birth: February 7, 1945
Age: 40 yrs old
Race: White
Gender: Male
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 235-240 lbs
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Gray
Nickname/Alias: H.M. Maupin
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Scar on right thigh and right small finger; Tip of small right finger missing then reattached.


Clothing: Plaid western-type shirt with snap buttons Levi jeans; brown leather belt with "H.M. Maupin" on a brass plate; Mule skin cowboy boots.
Jewelry: Seiko watch with a blue dial, cracked crystal.

Circumstances of Disappearance
Harry Maupin was last seen at his place of employment near the Lejunior community of Harlan County on June 18, 1985. He was a coal company owner who often went on business to the mountains near Harlan. Maupin stayed in Harlan County when he traveled for business, but considered Richmond his home. He sometimes stayed in an office trailer on mine property.

Maupin and his business partner owned Gayno Goal Co. and Aqua Processing Inc., which produced coal processing equipment. He also owned Maupin Grain Co. near Waco for several years before leasing the company about two years before his disappearance. He was a father of two.

The Harlan County rescue squad and sheriff’s office searched Harlan County as well as parts of Tennessee and Virginia. Maupin’s body has never been found. He was declared deceased by the state after several years.

In 2010 police arrested and charged a suspect in Maupin's disappearance. He has been charged with murder and evidence tampering. Police received information that Maupin was shot, which caused injuries that resulted in his death and that his body was removed from Harlan County and disposed of to where it could not be recovered. Detectives believe Maupin was killed on the coal mining property of the Gano Coal Co.

Dentals: Not Available
Fingerprints: Not Available
DNA: Not Available

Investigating Agency
Kentucky State Police Post 10
Captain Phillip Burnett
606-573-3131
PJ.Burnett@ky.gov
Agency Case Number: 10851223

2 Unidentified Person Exclusions
UP6637 10/07/2006 Fairfax VA
UP10908 08/29/2012 Fairfax VA
 

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