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Friends Seek Tampa Man

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 31, 2008

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

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.

Jessica Caldwell, 29, of Plant City, said she came out this morning "just to feel like we're doing something besides sitting, biting our nails and waiting."

O'Brien's bartender Teri Brown said Chipley was a regular customer who had come in with his roommate, Frankie Gates. Gates left about 11 p.m. Gates' sister, Julie Gates, said Chipley wanted to stay and said he'd find a ride home.

Matthew Sheer, a friend and co-worker of Chipley's at Nuccio Heating and Air Conditioning, said that wasn't unusual. Chipley often would start the five-mile walk home to Forest Hills and call a friend from his cell phone for a ride.

"I've actually seen him walk a couple of blocks and then get ahold of somebody and get picked up," Sheer said.

Brown said Chipley drank two beers, one shot and a mixed drink Saturday night. She said she thought he seemed fine for his weight.

While he was at the bar, the Chamberlain High School graduate ran into a girl he went to school with and was talking to her, Brown said. She saw him walk out of the bar by himself but is not sure whether he left the parking lot alone.

Police have taken security camera tapes from the bar.

Caldwell said Chipley, a kickboxing enthusiast, planned to go to Thailand this week with a group of friends to study and train in a form of martial arts called muay thai.

Inside his Forest Hills home his bags are packed, and his passport and tickets are still there.

"He was excited about going. I helped him get his passport. He's been packed for a week," Caldwell said. "It's a common thing for fighters to train in Thailand for three weeks at a time."

Chipley, a warehouse manager at Nuccio, was going on the trip with the owner's son, Joe Nuccio. Nuccio boarded his flight at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. Sheer said he talked to Nuccio before he left.

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

He says Chipley's disappearance is strange. "This was his hangout for sure. For me, knowing Tim, he's hurt and can't get to nobody."

Chipley is 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 200 pounds. "He's very physically fit. A very strong man. To think of somebody overpowering him just boggles my mind," Caldwell said.

Julie Gates, the sister of Chipley's roommate, said they have been looking for Chipley since Sunday. "We've been up and down Dale Mabry. We've had three nights of looking in different areas. We have gone in every ditch in Carrollwood."

His friends and family have organized a vigil for 7 p.m. Friday outside O'Brien's.

Anyone with information should call Tampa police at (813) 231-6130.

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