FL FL - Timothy Chipley, 33, Tampa, 27 Jan 2008

This is the first time I have posted, but this story really bothers me. On the message board for TBO there are some weird messages from someone named DarthScandal.

Timothy seams to be very well liked, into martial arts, very fit and able to take care of himself. He had been planning a trip to Thailand to train in kickboxing, but never showed up for the flight on 1/30/08. His packed bags, passport and tickets were found in his home.

The only search that has been conducted so far, is the one staged by his friends and family today. So very sad. I hope he is found safe. He remindes me of my husband, same age, similar looks and he also is involved in mixed-martial arts. I just wanted to get the information out nationally so if anyone knows anything please call the Tampa police at 813-231-6130.



http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jan/31/man-disappears-tampa-thailand-trip/?news-breaking

Thanks for posting this Fltwinmom! A vigil at 7 pm will be held Friday outside of O'Brien's.

TAMPA – A half-dozen friends and colleagues of a missing Tampa man are passing out fliers and searching ditches along Dale Mabry Highway today in an attempt to find him.

Timothy Robert Chipley, 34, of 10228 N. Oakleaf Ave., last was seen about 3 a.m. Sunday at O'Brien's Irish Pub, 11744 N. Dale Mabry Highway, Carrollwood.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jan/31/man-disappears-tampa-thailand-trip/?news-breaking

Thank you chicoliving,
I tried to find any additional information, he was arrested once in Hillsborough county in April 2005 for trespassing and released on $500 bail.

This post on tbo:

Posted by ( DarthScandal ) on January 31, 2008 at 8:12 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Way more to this story than we're getting from the media.
I don't know Chip, but know some of the people he hangs with.
Not all, but some certainly do some things that are way out of bounds.
You who you are so be careful.
The best thing that you can do is shut up and just find him.

Posted by ( DarthScandal ) on January 31, 2008 at 12:54 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
I'll tell you what, other than the missing man, there's something way deeper going on here.....

This appears to be a threat to me. It could be someone playing around, but I think someone knows something.

I saw those posts earlier today, too. I also looked at the area behind O'Brien's on Google Maps...looks like lots of trees around there.

My prayers for this well-liked man. I hope he returns safely.

Link to video with better pictures:
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/...n=4&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

http://www.abcactionnews.com/mostpopular/story.aspx?content_id=d9a7088f-8219-468e-83b6-8ac03c89f616

31 Jan 08

By Wednesday evening, Tim Chipley was supposed to be aboard his flight.

The martial arts expert had spent months planning a trip to Thailand to continue his training. He never got on that flight, though. In fact, no one knows where he is.

"He'd never miss this trip," friend Gary Gates said. "His bags are packed. His passport is ready. He's ready to go. He just hasn't returned."

Gates was one of the last people to see Chipley late Saturday night at O'Brien's bar on Dale Mabry Highway.

But at the end of that night, when Chipley's friends left the bar, they left him behind. He told them he'd find a ride home. He hasn't been seen or heard from ever since.

"He's a known patron at the bar," Tampa Police officer Jim Contento said. "he goes there regularly. He was talking to some other individuals and that's the last they've seen of him. That's why it's suspicious. People just don't disappear like that."

Chipley has not shown up for work and no one has been able to reach him by phone.

If you have any information as to the whereabouts of Tim Chipley, please call the Tampa Police Department.

pic



And from [URL]http://www.abcactionnews.com/mostpopular/story.aspx?content_id=c19d8213-1453-4bdb-9d2e-1657198c46fa

The 34-year-old was last seen at O'Brien's Bar on Dale Mabry Highway at 2:15 a.m. Tuesday.

Investigators say he was last seen wearing blue jeans, a blue button up striped shirt and brown boots.

Police say he has a shaved head, goatee and tattoo on his right arm.

more at link

I've read that he would often walk home from the bar and would occasionally get a ride home. So, there's no vehicle missing.

Some people have wondered if maybe he got hit by a car while walking home.

There is a vigil for him tonight at O'Brien's. I mean, he's a pretty strong guy! I hope he returns safely...

Two hours ago, dive teams pulled a body out of a pond located less than a mile north of where Timothy was last seen.

Here's the link:

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/feb/01/body-found-water-near-obriens-irish-pub/?news-breaking

Here's the article:

By Howard Altman of The Tampa Tribune
Published: February 1, 2008
Updated: 06:18 pm
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has found a body in the water at the Countrywood Apartments in Carrollwood, according to sheriff's office spokeswoman Debbie Carter.
Dive teams just pulled the body out of the water.
It was found less than a mile north of O'Brien's Irish Pub, where Timothy Chipley, 34, was last seen Sunday.
Friends of Chipley's had mounted a search for him and had planned a vigil for him near the bar tonight.
Carter would not speculate on the identity of the body, saying that it has to be examined by the medical examiner's office.
"All we will probably confirm tonight is that it is a male or a female," she said.

This update is heartbreaking, I was so hoping he would be found safe. His family and friends are in my thoughts. I can't imagine the pain of waiting for a positive ID.

Oh this is just too sad. I'm sure an ID will be swift though if it is indeed Tim/Chip.

Oh how sad! I was following this too and so hoping he'd be found. From the description the woman who found him gave, it does sound like him. In reading all of the comments, many think he was killed. How sad for his family and friends.

From tbo.com:

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/feb/02/body-identified-chipley/?news-breaking

He was identified by a tattoo, and was wearing the same clothes he was last seen wearing.

My condolences go out to this man's friends and family.

They have ruled his death a homocide, but have yet to state the cause.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/feb/04/carrollwood-mans-slaying-classified-homicide/

I hope they get some leads soon.

One of the readers comments:

I knew Tim several years ago,I thought him to be a nice person..a hard worker, and friendly.
I've been thinking.....It's been stated that it was his custom to call a friend for a ride and then start walking to be picked up along the way. Strange that no one has come forward to say he received a call and couldn't find him along his usual walking path.
And he lived South of O'Brien's... what was he doing a mile north of the bar if he was walking home?
So many questions and yet the final answers are very tragic.
What a sad ending.
I hope if others are responsible for his death they are found and punished.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/feb/02/body-identified-chipley/?news-breaking

There was another comment posted on one of the articles that perhaps he was visiting a ladyfriend at the apt. complex.

Today's news stated that detectives are seeking a female who lives at the complex to talk to her.

A very sad situation for all involved.

It has been over a month and I cannot find a single update on this case, I certainly hope someone is arrested soon.

FLtwinmom said:

It has been over a month and I cannot find a single update on this case, I certainly hope someone is arrested soon.

Click to expand...

Please see this thread for your consideration, this case has similarities:


http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2168114&posted=1#post2168114

Blink34, thank you for the link, I will read the other thread and catch up. There has been no mention of the Chipley case in the local media for a while. I thought maybe they just reached a dead end. This does appear to be a avenue to consider.

From January 2010:

http://tbo.com/news/news/2010/jan/26/grieving-mother-still-waiting-arrest-sons-death-ar-51972/

A year after her son was slain, Judy Chipley received a death certificate saying he had been strangled...

Less than six months after Timothy died, Judy Chipley's husband died of Alzheimer's disease. The men's remains have been cremated, their ashes scattered in a rose garden across the street from the Ocilla home.

Click to expand...

From October 2011:

http://patch.com/florida/carrollwood/cold-case-files-timothy-chipley-homicide-remains-unsolved

"He was trying to hook up with a lady at O'Brien's around 2:40 a.m. on Jan. 27," Messer said. "(Meanwhile), the lady was trying to meet up with a male friend." The male friend never showed up at the bar, Messer said. And Timothy never showed up for work the following Monday...

The pond is in close proximity to the apartment of the anonymous male friend, Messer said, who was questioned but never ruled out as a suspect. Officials won't release his name.

Click to expand...

Interesting thing to post on an apartment review.

Ratings & Prices for Countrywood Apartments, Tampa, FL

Resident · 2007 - 2008
03/03/2008
...And to think they charge us extra to live by the pond... By Josh Poltilove of The Tampa Tribune Published: February 4, 2008 TAMPA - Authorities confirmed today that Timothy "Chip" Chipley, whose body was found floating in a Carrollwood pond, is a homicide victim. Timothy Chipley The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is working with medical examiners on the cause of death, according to a written statement from the sheriff's office released today. When told today of the sheriff's office release, Matthew Sheer, a friend of Chipley, said he wasn't shocked that the death is considered a homicide. "He was a great guy. That sums it up, pretty much," Sheer said. "And he didn't deserve to die at all." The sheriff's office revealed Saturday afternoon that the body recovered 24 hours earlier had been identified as Chipley, 34. Identification was based on a tattoo on Chipley's right arm, waterlogged identification and clothing matching the jeans, blue button-down striped shirt and boots Chipley was wearing when seen at O'Brien's Irish Pub before disappearing, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said. Divers scoured the pond again Saturday but found no evidence, Carter said. The pond at Countrywood Apartments is less than a mile from the pub, at 11744 N. Dale Mabry Highway. Chipley lived at 10225 N. Oakleaf Ave., also in Carrollwood. Sheer, 24, who worked with Chipley at Nuccio Heating & Air Conditioning for four years, said a sheriff's deputy he knows told him Friday that the body divers pulled from the pond was Chipley's. Sheer and others are at a loss to understand how the martial arts enthusiast ended up dead after riding to the bar Jan. 26 with friends and opting to remain behind when they left. "There's so many different scenarios, you can't pin it down," Sheer said. He speculated that Chipley, walking home in the dark, might have attempted a shortcut that led to the pond or he might have been mugged and drugged. "You never know," Sheer said. Chipley's friends printed fliers, organized a search and had planned a vigil for Friday that they canceled when they learned a body of a white man had been found close to the pub. The Countrywood Apartments resident who discovered the body just before 5 p.m. Friday said it appeared to match the description of Chipley given in news reports of his disappearance. Chipley studied martial arts and had trained for his "trip of a lifetime" to Thailand for further study, friends said. He obtained a passport and airline ticket months earlier and packed a week in advance for the flight that left without him Wednesday morning. Chipley was a regular at O'Brien's, but bar patrons and friends had neither seen nor heard from him since about 3 a.m. Jan. 27, when he is said to have paid his tab and walked out the door. Chipley, soft-spoken and easygoing, attended Chamberlain High School and remained close with several childhood friends, said those who knew him. "All he did was fish and fight - martial arts," Sheer said.