Man still sought

The search for a 50-year-old Austin man missing for more than a week continued Wednesday, police said about the search for Paul Graupe.

“We’re still trying to develop additional information,” Jackson County Sheriff Marc Lahrman said of efforts by detectives with the sheriff’s department along with investigators from Austin Police Department.

Police, assisted by members of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Posse and other volunteers, searched areas west of Austin in Jackson County on Monday and Tuesday.

Graupe was last seen Nov. 24 when he left his house.

A 1978 graduate of Crothersville High School, Graupe told his brother, Hugh Pasley, that he planned to go to work at Morgan Packing Co. in Austin after stopping by a former co-worker’s residence.

Graupe never made it to work. He was last seen in the area of Main and Sixth streets in Austin.

Police later tracked his cell phone signal to an area about seven miles west of Austin in the bottoms along Indiana 250 in Jackson County. The phone has not been found.

Lahrman said the area defined by the cell phone is a pretty large one, making any search hard.

Lahrman said a search was not conducted by the sheriff’s department on Wednesday, but searchers could return to the area if new information about Graupe’s disappearance is developed.

Anyone with information about Graupe’s disappearance may contact Austin Police Department at (812) 794-2496 or the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department at 358-2141.

Pasley described his brother as standing about 5 feet 7 inches and weighing about 160 pounds with brown hair and wire-rim glasses. He said he usually wears a camouflage baseball cap and shirt.