Earnest Lee Hargon

 

I have often stated that almost all murders are senseless and then you will hear me say “this one seems more senseless than others.” So here I am again saying those words. I do not simply say this because a child was one of the victims. Some believe though that this crime may have occurred because the family is “cursed,” and that includes the perpetrator also.

The Hargon family was well-known and respected in the small, rural Mississippi town of Vaughan. They owned several farms and at one time for several years owned a grocery/convenient store on some of their property. In 1994 Dan “Haywood” Hargon and his wife Diana ran the store. In April of that year three men, Forest Branch, Ronnie Joe Wright and James Wesley Jackson, went to the store. My research indicated that while Branch stayed in the vehicle Wright and Jackson went inside. By the time they left Haywood Hargon lay dead and the murderers had left with only $114. It was said that another customer had interrupted the robbery. I can say that Wright and Jackson received life sentences and it was said that Jackson's was without parole, but I cannot say for certain whether Wright has been eligible for parole nor what sentence Branch received. I can say that in early 2004 Branch was up for parole. Haywood's son Michael spoke at his hearing and he was denied parole at that time. Currently he is not showing up in the Mississippi DOC and I did find a Forest Branch that died in 2011 at the age of 44 and is buried in Madison County Mississippi. I was also unable to find James Wesley Jackson in the DOC. I assume that it is possible he also died but I could find nothing for sure to point in that direction. I did find Ronnie Joe Wright still within the Department of Correction still serving his life sentence.

Haywood and Diana had three children. Haywood Jr. had died in 1974 after living only one day. At the time of Haywood's murder their son Michael was about seventeen years old and their daughter, Jennifer was about fourteen years old. The grocery store was closed upon Haywood's death but the building remained standing. Michael grew up and met his future wife, Rebecca while they were both attending college. Michael was going to learn about construction while Rebecca was learning to be a physical therapist. The building in which Haywood had been murdered was converted into a home in which Michael and Rebecca would later live. In 2004 they lived there with their four year old son, James Patrick.

Earnest Lee Hargon had been adopted by his stepfather, Charles Hargon when he was a small child. Charles was an uncle to Haywood and one of the few males still alive and available to pass on the Hargon name. It was said that when Earnest got into his 40's he “began suffering multiple personal problems, which included becoming addicted to crystal methamphetamine.” Apparently he and Charles, who owned a 50 acre cattle farm had a falling out. Earnest was described in everything as a “modern day” cowboy and it was said that his addiction had come from his attempts to stay awake as he hauled cattle across the country. Beyond that his “personal problems” were not gone into with great detail. I can say that he was married to a woman named Lisa, who was a veterinarian, but I cannot say for how long or if they had any children.

In a 1995 Will Charles Hargon had named Earnest as the beneficiary of his 50 acre cattle farm but in early January of 2004, just before his death Charles compiled a new Will and in this one excluded Earnest. The cattle farm was now willed to Michael. There was a man who lived on the property who had worked for Charles Hargon for many years and apparently the Will also specified that the man be taken care of by the new owner of the property. Once again my research did not delve into just what exactly made Charles make this decision, or even if there were questions from a legal standpoint considering that he died on January 16^th.

It is unclear what time it was, but on February 14^th a friend of Michael's had driven by his house. It was said that the front door was open, as was a door to his truck but the friend said it looked as if no one was around and they found that odd. The friend contacted his family apparently when they returned home. Family members went to Michael's home and they too found these doors open, but they also found a lot of blood both in and outside the home. It was then that the authorities were called.

When law enforcement arrived at the home they discovered the disarray of things, the blood and some spent .22 caliber bullet casings were found. They even found what would later be identified as some of Michael's teeth on the ground by his truck door. What they did not find was any sign of Michael, Rebecca or James Patrick. They knew something bad had happened there, they just were not sure what it was just yet. A search began for the family.

In the meantime on that Valentine's night Earnest took his wife out for a nice dinner together. It was said that at this dinner he confessed to his wife that he had “taken care” of “all three” and specified Michael, Rebecca and James Patrick. Initially my research indicated that Lisa Hargon went straight to the police with the confession, however further research indicated that was not the case. She would “eventually” inform authorities but it was not immediately. By most accounts it appears that it was nearly two weeks before she went to authorities, at least we can say it took nearly that long to obtain an arrest.

Earnest was arrested on Sunday, February 29, 2004, some fifteen days after the family had disappeared. The family had still not been found, and there was no real evidence as to what had happened to them so when he was arrested it was not for murder. In fact, his initial arrest was said to be “on weapons and drug violations.” Once in their custody law enforcement began drilling him and by the following day Earnest led investigators to the family. They were buried in a shallow grave in an isolated field about seventy five miles from their home. Along with leading them to the bodies of his cousin and his family, it appears Earnest also told investigators exactly what had happened and gave a full confession although he would recant this confession later and take his case to trial.

Earnest Hargon's trial would last a total of three days in December of 2005. Michael's mother, Diana Hargon had lost her battle with colon cancer just the month before the trial began. Those around her stated she had tried to last long enough to see justice brought to her, Diana's daughter, Michael's sister, Jennifer McBride represented her family at the trial.

Prosecutors would piece together the story of what happened that Valentines Day using the evidence and the confession Earnest had given. On that day Earnest had gone to his cousin, Michael's house. Michael opened the door and stepped outside where an argument between the two began. It is unclear whether Earnest had gone to the door with his gun or he retrieved it while the argument ensued. Prosecutors would tell the jury that Michael had been “beaten” to a pulp. They believe that Michael was attempting to retrieve his own gun out of his truck at some point but never made it beyond opening the truck door. He had suffered a gunshot wound to his head right by his truck.

Presumably Rebecca heard the commotion going on outside. There is no indication that she either called authorities or had really done anything. Inside the home Rebecca was shot in the arm. It was said that Earnest then “disabled” both Rebecca and four year old James. It is unclear whether he believed both Rebecca and James were dead at this point. He then took the bodies and loaded them into his car, basically piling them on top of each other. He then drove the close to eighty miles back to his own home in Taylorsville. At this point he was sure to strangle Rebecca and James to the point in which he knew they were dead. He then took the bodies and placed them in his truck and drove to a nearby isolated field where he buried the bodies.

I do not even know how or what to say about the defense in this case. It is obvious that there was mention made by the prosecutors about Earnest confessing to the crimes whether to them or the confession to his wife. But, there is also ample evidence that he obviously knew where the bodies were buried considering he took the investigators to where they were located. And yet while I could maybe be on the side of the defense in arguing that the confession may have been coerced, and who knows, maybe they could have proven something illegal had occurred that would have made the confession inadmissible in court. But, the defense did not stop there. They went on to argue that the week before the family was murdered that Michael had gone to a parole hearing for Forest Branch, one of his father's killers. They argued that Branch was a highly regarded member of a local street gang and that Michael's quest to keep Branch behind bars, and the parole boards ultimate decision to not grant Branch parole could have been the cause of the murders. In my opinion this was just too much to even expect someone to swallow. Even if you leave out the confession, you cannot ignore the fact that Earnest led investigators to the bodies. One has to ask how he would know where the bodies were located if he was not involved in the murders.

It did not take long for the jury to reach a verdict, although I admit that the verdict seemed a bit odd to me. For the murders of Rebecca and James, Earnest was convicted of capital murder. For the murder of Michael it was said that he was found guilty of “simple” murder. The only conclusion that I can come to is that the jury did not believe that Earnest went to the home to murder Michael but that after he had done so he committed the other two murders to basically “cover his tracks.” The was no indication that upon the death of Michael and his family that the farm in which had been at the center of their argument would somehow be given to Earnest. In fact, it is more likely that it would have gone to first Michael's mother, and then his sister if there was not a Will, which I am going to guess even if there was one the fact that the farm was a “new” thing for Michael it would not have been specified. If there was a Will it is also likely that since Michael was murdered first that his “estate” would go to Rebecca and then her estate to James and then to her family since James was murdered also. For the murders of Rebecca and James, Earnest was given the death penalty and for the murder of Michael he was given a life sentence.

Earnest would be left to serve his time at Parchman Prison. Parchman is pretty notorious, especially in Mississippi, nationally too, really. I have read several articles and even a few books that mention Parchman and the stories are never good. Not only is the prison famous for the violence that appears to happen there at a pretty regular basis but also for the conditions the inmates are subjected to and even some staff from time to time have been accused of crimes. I know, I know, prison is not supposed to necessarily be a picnic of any sorts but, this prison seems to have a lot more publicity about their violence than many others.

In August of 2007, less than two years after being sentenced to death and sent to Parchman, Earnest would be dead, and not technically by the hands of the state. He was murdered another inmate named Jessie Wilson who had broken out of his cell and attacked Earnest with a homemade knife. His death would be the 3^rd inmate death, not just in the prison in the last two months, but in the same unit. I would like to tell you that things have gotten better but that does not appear to be the case. In fact, it appears that over the years things have gotten worse and has infested the entire prison population in the state of Mississippi. During the months of January and February of 2020, technically prior to the COVID crisis, more than fifteen inmates had been murdered inside the state prison system. It was being called a crisis. Wilson had been convicted in 2000 on charges of grand larceny and in 2003 for aggravated assault. It was said he was serving initially an eight year sentence but, by 2007 he had nearly 100 disciplinary actions noted. Three of those were for stabbing correctional officers. Six of the 100 had added fifteen years to his sentence. I have done a recent search and according to the Mississippi Department of Corrections Wilson is no longer in their custody, but is being housed at a federal prison and is serving a life sentence. It is stated that he is serving nine sentences at this time but not all of them are shown on the website.

The murder of Earnest Hargon would have probably been a huge relief to Michael's family, if there had been anyone else. By 2007 there was a great-aunt, and presumably any of her descendants alive. There were also two nieces and a nephew of Michael's alive. However, his sister, Jennifer had died in June of 2006, just six months after Earnest Hargon was convicted. Her cause of death was said to be an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. She was just twenty-six years old.