Vigil planned Sunday for missing Austin man

Family and friends of Paul W. Graupe, an Austin man formerly of Crothersville, missing for more than a month, plan to meet Sunday for a vigil and rally.

Linda Pasley, who said she is Graupe’s sister-in-law, said Friday the family is trying to do everything they can to get the word out about the vigil and Graupe’s disappearance.

The vigil is for the public to attend.

“Anybody can show up that would like to attend,” Pasley said.

She said the plan is for participants to line the streets from the corner of Seventh and Main streets to U.S. 31 and Main Street in Austin.

Graupe, 50, was last seen Nov. 24 when he left his house.

For a December story in The Tribune, Graupe’s half brother Hugh Pasley said Graupe left his house to go try to collect a debt from a former co-worker.

Graupe, a 1978 graduate of Crothersville High School, planned to go to work at Morgan Packing Co. in Austin after stopping by the former co-worker’s residence but never made it.

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.

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.

Pasley also said Graupe usually wears a camouflage baseball cap and shirt.