Soldiers Search for Sgt. Matt Maupin

There is a new development regarding missing U.S. Army Reservist, Sgt. Keith "Matt" Maupin of Batavia, Ohio. The 20-year-old remains the only American soldier listed as captured in Iraq.

Enemy forces attacked Maupin's convoy west of Baghdad in April 2004 and took him hostage. Maupin may have been killed on a stretch of land between two highways in the Abu Ghraib area and, based on a recent tip, a search for his body has been launched.

From The Post-Standard:

To the soldiers of the Army's 10th Mountain Division, who have studied his picture and read his story, finding Matt Maupin has become a quest that transcends war and peace; it is a mission that defines their values as soldiers.

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Thirty-two soldiers went out Saturday, 30 the day before, and 28 on the day before that. The soldiers formed a line and inched forward, scouring the ground for clumps of hair or bones or subtle mounds that might suggest movement of dirt 18 months earlier.

"The physical search is the key," Sanford said. "It's all hands-on. It's picking up every rock, it's looking under every bush, it's turning over every piece of clothing or trash that we find out there. And we've found many indicators."

They had dug 45 holes and bagged and tagged 10 items that could hold the answers to Maupin's fate a scrap of military clothing, a clump of hair and several pieces of bones. Each will be shipped to a lab for analysis.

No one is giving up until Matt Maupin is found.