Man was last seen leaving a bar 17 years ago. Now, human remains are found in his SUV
A missing dad was last seen leaving a bar 17 years ago — and now, human remains have been found inside his SUV, officials said.
The SUV was in about 10 feet of water when it was discovered in a Florida pond, the Sunshine State Sonar Search Team wrote April 14 in a Facebook post.
The vehicle reportedly belonged to Robert Helphrey, who was 34 years old when he vanished on May 22, 2006.
On the night of his disappearance, Helphrey — a military veteran and manager at the Thirsty Marlin seafood restaurant in Palm Harbor — joined two of his co-workers at nearby Peggy O’Neill’s Irish pub. After leaving the pub, he planned to meet with a friend but never showed up, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and the Tampa Bay Times.
“His family describes him as a hardworking, dependable person and a devoted parent, and they don’t believe he would have left without telling anyone,” Sunshine State Sonar wrote.
After the missing person’s case went cold, the search organization said it teamed with detectives in 2021. It searched more than 150 bodies of water before helping to find the SUV in a Palm Harbor pond.
Though Helphrey’s SUV was pulled from the water, mystery lingers in the case. As of April 17, Pinellas County deputies said a medical examiner’s office was trying to determine the identity of the person found inside the vehicle.
Brian St. Arnold, owner of the Thirsty Marlin, told WTVT he believes his friend made a wrong turn the night he was last seen.
“It’s just amazing that nobody saw him that night,” St. Arnold told the TV station. “No one heard anything. He didn’t yell for help.”
Helphrey is described in a Facebook post as being 190 pounds and 5 feet, 11 inches tall with strawberry blonde hair. An investigation was ongoing as of about 10:30 a.m. April 17, deputies told McClatchy News in an email.
Palm Harbor is roughly 25 miles northwest of Tampa.
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