Family, Police Continue Search For Missing Louisburg Woman

Judith Gupton, 55, was last seen in Louisburg on Sunday. According to family members, Gupton has health problems and suffers from bouts of depression.

Police and volunteers combed the area around her apartment Thursday and Friday but came up empty. Authorities are concerned that Gupton may need medical attention.

Police believe there are three possibilities as to what happened to her:

Her family said she could not have gone far on her own.

"She stayed sick a lot from muscle problems," her brother, Richard, said. "She has very weak muscles."

Richard Gupton said his sister had trouble walking or even lifting a carton of milk.

Gupton's chronic health problems and occasional depression concerned her family, especially Wednesday, when they discovered a note Gupton wrote and left in her apartment.

"She said she was just tired of living in pain," Louisburg Police Chief Rick Lassiter said. "That's one thing that concerns us. Her family has revealed that in her physical condition, she could barely walk 100 yards."

The note offered no clue where to find Gupton.

"This is very, very unusual for her not to at least let someone know where she was going," another brother, Melvin Gupton, said.

Police searched for Gupton from the air and using dogs on the ground Friday. But they called off the search by midmorning.

"It's kind of hard to pick up an investigation of this type when they've been missing for three days," Lassiter said.

Nevertheless, Lassiter and Gupton's family considered it good news that she was not found.

"I have a good feeling that maybe she left with somebody, and she's OK," Melvin Gupton said.

Green Hill Manor Apartments is not a nursing home or retirement center, so there is no signing in or signing out. But the apartment manager was concerned when no one had seen Gupton by Wednesday and called the family.