Air Force searches for Indiana airman who's missing in Italy

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MIDDLETOWN, Ind. (AP) — The U.S. Air Force is searching for an Indiana airman who vanished last week in Italy.

The Air Force issued an all-points bulletin Friday for Staff Sgt. Halex Hale. The 24-year-old from Middletown, Indiana, is assigned to the 31st Fighter Wing at Aviano Air Base, about 50 miles northeast of Venice.

Hale was last seen July 2 at a cookout at a friend's house in Sacile, Italy, about nine miles from the base.

His mother, Amy Hale, tells The (Muncie) Star Press (http://tspne.ws/29rWfNa ) that her son left the cookout on foot to visit another friend's home about 15 minutes away, but never arrived.

Her husband, Lance Hale, traveled to Italy on Friday. She says the family is "just devastated" by Halex's disappearance in Italy, where he's been based since February 2015.

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Information from: The Star Press, http://www.thestarpress.com