TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Missing Man Is Focus Of Vigil

News Channel 8 photo by ERIC HAUSMANN

Friends posted fliers inside O'Brien's Irish Pub on Thursday.

ADVERTISEMENT

By VALERIE KALFRIN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 1, 2008

Updated: 02/01/2008 12:23 am

TAMPA - For a year, Timothy Robert Chipley had trained for a trip to Thailand to practice a form of martial arts he loves, his friends said.

He'd gotten his tickets and passport months ago. He packed a week in advance for his Wednesday morning flight.

Now his luggage sits untouched at the Forest Hills home he shares with a high-school friend. No one in his circle has seen or heard from Chipley, 34, since about 3 a.m. Sunday, when he paid his tab at O'Brien's Irish Pub, his regular Carrollwood bar.

Thursday morning, about a half-dozen friends and co-workers gathered outside O'Brien's to give one another handfuls of fliers to post and to talk about the streets, Dumpsters and other areas they had searched looking for him.

"We have gone in every ditch in Carrollwood," said Julie Gates, 36, his roommate's sister.

Friends say they have planned a vigil with relatives for 7 p.m. today at the bar, 11744 N. Dale Mabry Highway in a shopping plaza south of Fletcher Avenue.

"I don't have any doubt in my mind that something's wrong, something bad," said friend Matthew Sheer, 24, of Wesley Chapel, who works with Chipley at Nuccio Heating & Air Conditioning.

Known as both Tim and as Chip, Chipley attended Chamberlain High School and remained close with several childhood friends, Julie Gates said. His parents now live in Georgia.

Chipley went to the bar on Saturday night with his roommate and another of Julie Gates' brothers. The brothers left about 11 p.m.

"He said he wanted to stay. He said he'd find a ride home," Julie Gates said, adding this wasn't unusual. "He trusts people. He would easily get in a car with somebody to get a ride home."

Sheer said Chipley sometimes opted to walk the roughly four miles home to Forest Hills, calling friends along the way.

"I've actually seen him walk a couple blocks and finally get hold of somebody and get picked up," he said.

Tampa police took a missing persons report on Monday from Chipley's roommate, Frankie Gates, after Chipley did not appear for work.

Police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said detectives have no evidence of foul play but are concerned because he did not go on the Thailand trip. "That was his life-long dream. Why would he not show up for that?" she said.

Chipley is about 5-foot-9 and weighs roughly 200 pounds, Davis said. He has a shaved head, a goatee and a tattoo on his right arm. He was last seen wearing jeans, a blue button-down striped shirt and brown boots.

Detectives are reviewing security video from the bar. They ask anyone with information about Chipley's disappearance to call (813) 231-6130.

Bartender Teri Brown, 30, remembered Chipley walking outside O'Brien's alone about 3 a.m. Sunday after paying his tab. He had been talking with a woman he remembered from high school that evening and drank two beers, a shot and another drink, she said. He visited the bar about twice a week.

Friend Jessica Caldwell, 29, of Plant City, said Chipley studies Muay Thai, which she called a form of kickboxing. Caldwell, who also studies martial arts, said it is common for fighters at her gym and at Chipley's to train in Thailand for weeks at a time. He planned to travel with about eight people, including friend Joe Nuccio, his boss' son.

"He was excited about going. I helped him get his passport," Caldwell said.

Nuccio phoned Sheer before boarding his 9:30 a.m. flight Wednesday.

"He was hoping Chip was just going to play some dirty trick and show up at the airport," Sheer said.

The friends said they were worried Chipley had been struck by a vehicle while walking home or had accepted a ride from someone who had harmed him.

"He's very physically fit. A very strong man. To think of somebody overpowering him just boggles my mind," Caldwell said.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT