A Moapa man has been missing for over a month. On September 24, Charles ‘Chuck’ Harper left his Warm Springs area home in his white 2000 Ford F250 pickup truck and never returned.
“He basically left with just the clothes on his back,” said his wife Bella Harper also of Moapa. “The only other things he had with him was his drivers license and a debit card. But the debit card hasn’t been used at all since he left.”
Bella said that she is trying hard not to panic, but she is extremely concerned and worried about her husband and where he might be.
Chuck left the house that Saturday after the couple had had a minor argument, Bella said. “I made him a little bit angry that night,” she said. “So he left to take a drive and cool down. He did that from time to time.”
But when he did, he was never gone for long, Bella said. Usually he would drive in to Overton and visit the Red Rooster or would go to some other destination fairly close to home. Then he would return in a couple of hours. He had never stayed away overnight before, she said.
When Chuck didn’t return, Bella filed a missing person report with local Metro police who came out to open an investigation.
“It is kind of a weird situation,” said local Metro Sergeant Bret Empey. “When he left he made sure that he didn’t take anything with him. People sometimes do that when they are going to commit suicide or something. But it is usually not the first time that is a concern. Usually there is some past incident or a previous attempt or threat to commit suicide; so there will be some history of it. But from what it looks like here, he didn’t have any history of that kind of thing at all.”
Bella said that Chuck had never exhibited any issues to her dealing with suicidal thoughts or tendencies. In fact, he had just recently retired and was looking forward to life after work. The couple had made plans to celebrate their upcoming 25th anniversary together. And they had also made plans to go deer hunting with a group of neighbors and friends.
Local officers turned the case over to a detective in the Missing Persons division of Metro. The case is still under investigation.
Bella, along with friends and neighbors, have scoured the countryside far and wide looking for any sign of Chuck or his pickup truck. They have also contacted the Red Rock Search and Rescue teams. Thus far, though, they have come up empty, Bella said.
“I just hope that maybe someone might have seen him or might have some information about where he might be,” Bella added. “I’m so worried about him.”
Chuck Harper is 5 ft. 9 inches tall and weighs about 190 lbs. His white Ford 250 had a Nevada license plate number 00NBE.
Anyone with information about his whereabouts can contact Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department at 702-828-3111, or toll free at 800-492-6565. Red Rock Search and Rescue can be contacted at 702-787-4068.
