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Body found of Ohio soldier missing in Iraq

  • Story Highlights
  • Staff Sgt. Keith Matthew Maupin's remains were found, U.S. military says
  • Maupin appeared in video aired by Al-Jazeera, saying he was husband, father
  • His convoy came under attack near Baghdad International Airport in 2004
  • The body of another convoy soldier, Sgt. Elmer Krause, was found that year
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(CNN) -- After nearly four years of hoping, waiting and praying, an Ohio family learned Sunday their missing son died in Iraq.

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A 2004 memorial at Glen Este High School in Ohio in honor of Sgt. Keith Matthew Maupin.

"It hurts -- it really hurts. You go through four years of hope," said Carolyn Maupin, whose son, Staff Sgt. Keith Matthew Maupin, was captured by insurgents in April 2004.

"It's like a letdown to me. I'm trying to get through that right now."

His father, Keith Maupin, said military officials informed the family Sunday afternoon that the remains of the 24-year-old Army reservist had been identified.

"Every parent knows the possibility exists that they may have to face the death of their child when they volunteer to go to war," he said. "However, those who are fortunate make peace with that and support their soldier, because they enlisted at their own free will."

A Defense Department official also confirmed the identification, saying Maupin's remains were found last week but DNA results just came in.

Coalition forces found the remains after a local Iraqi tipped them off, military officials said.

Maupin, who was 20 at the time of his capture, and another soldier, Sgt. Elmer Krause, 40, were captured by insurgents April 9, 2004, after their convoy came under attack near Baghdad International Airport. A week later, Maupin was shown on a videotape, surrounded by several armed masked men.

"My name is Keith Matthew Maupin," he stated in the video. "I am a soldier from the First Division. I am married with a 10-month-old child. I came to liberate Iraq, but I did not come willingly because I wanted to stay with my child."

Krause's body was found two weeks later.

Later that summer, Al-Jazeera aired a videotape purportedly showing the execution of Maupin, but U.S. officials haven't confirmed the identity of the person on the tape.

The U.S. Army continued to promote Maupin, who was a private first class in the Army Reserves at the time of his capture, to sergeant and then staff sergeant as they searched for him.

Three U.S. troops remain missing in the five-year-old Iraq war: Pvt. Byron W. Fouty and Spc. Alex R. Jimenez have been missing since their military convoy was raided west of Mahmoudiya May 12.

Spc. Ahmed K. Altaie disappeared October 23, 2006, and his status was changed to "missing-captured" nearly two months later.

The news about Maupin came Sunday as roadside bombings in northern and western Iraq killed two U.S. troops and attacks on Iraqi police and others left another 19 dead, Iraqi police and U.S. military officials reported.

One roadside bombing killed a U.S. soldier north of Baghdad, and a Marine died in another bombing in the western province of Anbar, the U.S. military headquarters there reported. No details of the attacks were released.

The latest attacks bring the U.S. death toll in the five-year-old war to 4,009. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr contributed to this report.

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