A Florida man who went missing 16 years ago has been positively identified from the human bones discovered inside a submerged vehicle that was pulled from a retention pond earlier this month, officials said Friday.
The remains found inside a recovered gray 2005 Mitsubishi SUV in Palm Harbor on April 14 belonged to 34-year-old Robert Helphrey, the Pinellas County Medical Examiner’s Office said.
Helphrey went missing on May 22, 2006, after leaving Peggy O'Neils Irish Pub in Palm Harbor, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. He had called a friend at around 2:05 a.m. and asked them to meet him at his nearby apartment,.
Helphrey never arrived home.
FLORIDA TEACHER ID'D AFTER BODY FOUND IN SUBMERGED CAR NEARLY 3 YEARS AFTER HE DISAPPEARED
The 34-year-old was reported missing, and investigators searched several ponds and heavily wooded areas for Helphrey and his vehicle, but they were never found.
Nearly 17 years after his disappearance, the Sunshine State Sonar Search team, a volunteer group that works with law enforcement, found the car located at the bottom of a retention pond in Palm Harbor off Old Oak Circle. The vehicle was confirmed to have been registered to Helphrey.
Officials notified Helphrey’s next of kin about the medical examiner’s positive identification.
Helphrey’s cause and manner of death are still under investigation, authorities said.
The discovery of Helphrey’s remains came nearly a week after the volunteer search group helped recover the remains of another missing man near Port Orange in Volusia County.
The remains in that case were identified as Robert Heikka, a 70-year-old teacher who vanished in Port Orange in October 2020.
On April 9, his body was found inside his white 2012 Chevrolet Impala that was recovered from a canal along Pioneer Trail near New Smyrna Beach.
No cause or manner of death were immediately released.
