Found Deceased FL - Robert Helphrey, 34, Palm Harbor, 21 May 2006

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prsark936 said:
I have recently started looking again for Robert and have checked into almost all the water areas he could have driven into with negative results. Does anyone have more information? I have talked to the family and no new info there.
Click to expand...
I cant think of any between the bar and his apartment that he could have driven into. There are small man made lakes/retention ponds in deed restricted neighborhoods in the area. Im still curious about the friend he talked to that night who he was supposed to meet up with later.
 
He is mentioned in this article but the vehicles found were not related to his case.

MSN

www.msn.com

Snip:
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office dive team, assisted by the Sunshine State Sonar Search Team and Recon Dive Recovery, removed the 1960s Dodge Coronet and 1950s Volkswagen Beetle on Monday.

Crews found the vehicles while searching for Robert David Helphrey, an Army veteran who has not been seen for nearly 17 years. He was last spotted leaving Peggy O’Neill’s Bar in Palm Harbor at around midnight on May 26, 2006, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.
 
prsark936 said:
I have recently started looking again for Robert and have checked into almost all the water areas he could have driven into with negative results. Does anyone have more information? I have talked to the family and no new info there.
Click to expand...

An update - of sorts - he was NOT found:

fox56news.com

Search for missing Florida veteran turns up cars submerged for over 40 years

Dive teams searching for a missing Florida man found two cars submerged in a lake in Seminole that had been there for over 40 years.
fox56news.com fox56news.com

Sorry for duplication -- now I can't figure out how to delete this....
 
Pinellas County Sheriff's is setting up recovery teams and tents right now around a Palm Harbor Pond near Peggy O' Neill's. They've found this man and his vehicle. Confirmed by officer onsite. RIP Robert Helphrey, you're finally going home to your loved ones.
 
TrueCrimeMom83 said:
Pinellas County Sheriff's is setting up recovery teams and tents right now around a Palm Harbor Pond near Peggy O' Neill's. They've found this man and his vehicle. Confirmed by officer onsite. RIP Robert Helphrey, you're finally going home to your loved ones.
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Do you have a Main Stream Media (MSM) source for your post?
 
A different lake than where the other vehicles were found recently. Glad they kept searching ponds and lakes. I suspect we will find more over time now that there are more resources to do this type work.

I'm sure his daughter is relieved to have answers and can put him to rest.
 
A car believed to be tied to a missing persons case was found Friday morning in a Pinellas County pond, according to the sheriff's office.
Authorities add a body was located inside.


Crews were seen pulling a blue/grey Mitsubishi Outlander hatchback out of the pond, which is located in the area of Belcher Road and Old Oak Circle. The Sunshine State Sonar dive team provided assistance, law enforcement said.
www.wtsp.com

Cold case development? Car owned by Pinellas County veteran discovered 16 years later

Human bones were found inside the car, according to the sheriff's office.
www.wtsp.com www.wtsp.com

 
Car of man missing since 2006 found in Palm Harbor pond with human remains inside
by: Emily McCainPosted at 1:14 PM, Apr 14, 2023

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office is investigating after a car belonging to a man reported missing nearly 20 years ago was found in a Palm Harbor pond with human remains inside.

Authorities said a vehicle registered to Robert Helphrey's was found in a pond in the 200 block of Old Oak Circle. It was found with help from the Sunshine State Sonar Search Team, a volunteer search team.

Helphrey was last seen on May 22, 2006, leaving Peggy O'Neill's Irish Pub & Eatery. According to a missing person's poster from the sheriff's office, he told friends he was going home but he was never heard from again.

Helphrey was 34 at the time of his disappearance.

The sheriff's office said the Medical Examiner’s Office will ID the remains and determine cause of death.

www.abcactionnews.com

Car of man missing since 2006 found in Palm Harbor pond with human remains inside

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office is investigating after a car belonging to a man reported missing nearly 20 years ago was found in a Palm Harbor pond with human remains inside.
www.abcactionnews.com www.abcactionnews.com
 
Remains, car linked to 2006 missing man case pulled from Palm Harbor pond


PALM HARBOR, Fla. (WFLA) — A vehicle with human skeletal remains was found in Palm Harbor Friday, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.

A spokesperson with the sheriff’s office confirmed that detectives found the vehicle off of Old Oak Circle at around 7 a.m.

The detectives were assisted by the Sunshine State Sonar dive team, who recently assisted with the recovery of a missing teacher’s vehicle in Volusia County last week.

“The vehicle has been removed from the pond, and human bones were located inside the vehicle,” the spokesperson said.
 
prayers for the family. It's so strange I was thinking when I posted in January of that area. I lived off belcher east side between Tampa Rd and Nebraska in a neighborhood ,in 2005 when i hot married, with a lake and I was also thinking about Patty Ann acres caddy corner on tampa and belcher trying to remember if there was a pond there too. I imagined this could have been his route home from thirsty marlin to his apartments the east side of 19. Really shocks me though how close all this is to where the car and remains were found. I couldn't imagine though when I posted in january about the ponds in that area that a car could go undetected so long in a small retention pond. Really sad to hear this
 
Sleuthster said:
prayers for the family. It's so strange I was thinking when I posted in January of that area. I lived off belcher east side between Tampa Rd and Nebraska in a neighborhood ,in 2005 when i hot married, with a lake and I was also thinking about Patty Ann acres caddy corner on tampa and belcher trying to remember if there was a pond there too. I imagined this could have been his route home from thirsty marlin to his apartments the east side of 19. Really shocks me though how close all this is to where the car and remains were found. I couldn't imagine though when I posted in january about the ponds in that area that a car could go undetected so long in a small retention pond. Really sad to hear this
Click to expand...
I immediately thought of you when I saw this on the news last night.
I don't know if you saw the WFLA link I posted, but the interviewed the diver who said he was in the water right next to it and still couldn't see it there was so much muck. It makes you wonder if this is the outcome for many of the unsolved cases. Then I wonder, how many people were never reported missing that could be in one of the...who knows how many...muck ponds around the State.
So, sad.
I am glad this family finally has answers.
 
The remains of Robert Helphrey, a Pinellas County man who was been reported missing since 2006, have been identified after his car was found in a pond last week.

www.abcactionnews.com

Missing Pinellas man remains identified after car found in pond 16 years later

The remains of Robert Helphrey, a Pinellas County man who was been reported missing since 2006, have been identified after his car was found in a pond last week.
www.abcactionnews.com www.abcactionnews.com

Found deceased
 
Gonna keep saying this until there's a logical answer or changes like big huge warning signs:

Why oh why do we have roads that lead to water?
 
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BeginnerSleuther said:
Gonna keep saying this until there's a logical answer or changes like big huge warning signs:

Why oh why do we have roads that lead to water?
Click to expand...
Per the University of FL, Florida has 76,000 ponds, because the rainy season in Florida brings up to 70 inches per year and there has to be somewhere for that water to go. Some of those ponds are bound to be road-adjacent, many exist for the sole purpose of pulling runoff off of the roads. Flooded roads would likely be a bigger risk than retention ponds for drivers.

Source: Florida's 76,000 stormwater ponds emit more carbon than they store
 
At the time he disappeared in 2006, Helphrey was working two jobs t0 support his family, including managing the Thirsty Marlin seafood restaurant in Palm Harbor.

Although, Helphrey no longer lived with his two daughters, his family said he was devoted to the girls and determined to support them.

On May 22, 2006, Heplhrey closed the Thirsty Marlin around 12:30 a.m. and then joined some friends for a beer at O'Neill's before heading home around 1:30 a.m. in his 2005 Mitsubishi Outlander to meet a friend back at his apartment on U.S. 19 in Palm Harbor.

When he didn't show up, family and friends knew there was something terribly wrong. Helphrey's stint in the military had instilled in him a self-regimented sense of duty. He was unfailingly dependable and visited his daughters as frequently as possible. His family was certain he would never leave without letting them know where he was going.
patch.com

Pinellas County Sonar Experts Specialize In Helping Law Enforcement Solve Cold Cases

While it's heartbreaking to find the body of a loved one missing for years, the Sunshine State Sonar Search Team is able to provide closure.
patch.com patch.com
 
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