Official: Tape Seems to Show Pfc. Maupin's Execution

June 29, 2004 -- Family and friends of Army Pfc. Keith "Matt" Maupin are holding out hope that he is still alive and will return home safely after his parents were informed that there may be a videotape showing his execution.

The parents of the 20-year-old soldier, held hostage in Iraq since April, were informed Monday about the videotape. A senior military official told ABC News a tape was delivered to the Arab television network Al-Jazeera that appears to show a blindfolded Maupin in a dark room being shot in the head.

Publicly the military remains very cautious. The senior official told ABC News there is no confirmation because no body has been located, but said military officials believe "it's him."

Hours after learning about the tape, friends and relatives of Maupin gathered for a candelight vigil in Batavia, Ohio, to pray for his safe return.

"Since we don't know anything, we might as well show everybody that we care about them and if the worst did happen, then our sympathies," said Maupin family friend Virginia Blanchard.

Amid yellow ribbons and lit candles, friends of Maupin want to believe that he is still alive and is not the man in the tape.

"[I just have] hope. Just a lot of hope," said Melissa Angst. "And I believe that he will come home safe and sound."

Maupin, a reservist from Ohio, was taken captive west of Baghdad after the convoy he was riding in was attacked on April 9. Maupin and another soldier, Sgt. Elmer Krause, were missing after the attack, as were several civilian contractors.

Krause and four of the contractors were later found dead. One of the contractors, truck driver Thomas Hamill, managed to escape, while two other truckers in the same convoy remain missing.

Just a week ago, Maupin's parents met with President Bush on Air Force One during the president's fund-raising tour in Ohio.

Turks Freed

Meanwhile, the family of Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, 24, continue to await word his fate while an extremist group responsible forbeheading two foreign hostages freed three Turkish captives held hostage in Iraq today.

"Our citizens have been released," Turkish Foreign Minister AbdullahGul told state television today. "We've struggled a lot for theirrelease."

Gul's comments came after Al-Jazeera television broadcast a videotape showing the three Turkishhostages, believed to have been contractors, kneelingin front of three members of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Tawhid andJihad movement, as one of the militants read a statement.

"For the sake of you, our brothers, and Muslims of the peopleof Turkey ... we will release these hostages and send them safelyhome," the statement said.

Supporters of al-Zarqawi, a suspected al Qaeda terrorist, had saidSaturday that they would behead the Turkish hostages within 72hours unless Turkish companies stopped doing business with Americanforces in Iraq.

‘He Was Just Doing His Job’

However, Cpl. Hassoun's fate remains unknown. A video of the Lebanese-born Marine translator was released Sunday on Al-Jazeera, blindfolded and in uniform.

His captors, holding a knife above him, threatened him with beheading unless all Iraqi prisoners are freed.

Today, Hassoun's brother pleaded with his captors for his safe release and return.

"We are Muslim, like you, and we are all human beings," Sami Hassoun said in an exclusive interview on ABC News' Good Morning America. "It doesn't matter from what base or ethnic group or what religion. Please, he is a very peaceful person. … He was just doing his job down there. There is no religion in the whole world that agrees with killing a person [who is] just doing his job."

Sami Hassoun also urged his brother not to give up and reminded him that he is in his family's — and the world’s — thoughts and prayers.

"Please hang in there, be brave," he said. "I know that you are praying. We are praying for you, too. And we will see you soon."

Cpl. Hassoun had been missing for more than a week. It is unclear how his captors managed to abduct him. Military personnel are not allowed to travel alone outside of base because of security concerns.

Many Iraqis seem outraged by these brutal kidnappings. If a fellow Muslim is killed, there is bound to be even greater anger.

ABC News' Martha Raddatz and ABC News Radio contributed to this report.