Body in pond a victim of killer

Sheriff's officials won't say how the kickboxer, missing for several days, was slain.

By JARED LEONE and BILL COATS, Times Staff Writers
Published February 5, 2008

CARROLLWOOD - Sheriff's officials said Monday that a kickboxer whose body was found in a pond days after he disappeared was the victim of a homicide.

Investigators would not disclose how Timothy "Chip" Chipley died, except to say that someone killed him as he walked home from a Carrollwood pub early on Jan. 27. His body was found Friday in an apartment complex pond.

"He had a wallet," sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said. "It had money and credit cards in it. He had his car keys."

Chipley, 34, disappeared two days before he was to fly to Thailand for kickboxing training.

"I knew he was murdered," said Rick Chesser, a former co-worker. "He wouldn't take his own life or anything."

Chesser and other friends describe Chipley as an active, gregarious sportsman.

"He liked to help people," Chesser said. "He coached at Hillsborough High voluntarily after school every day."

Chipley was interested in ultimate fighting and studied martial arts. In Thailand, he planned to study Muay Thai kickboxing.

But Chesser said Chipley didn't flaunt his fighting ability at work, and Chesser didn't learn about it until recently, when Chipley planned the Thailand trip.

"He'd been pumped up about that for the last two to three months," Chesser said.

Adam Kline, 23, worked with Chipley for about two years at Nuccio's Air Conditioning.

"I don't think that it has really kicked in that he's gone," Kline said. "Everyone is still down at work. We're going to miss him a lot - he was a real nice guy."

Barbara Bates, who works in the accounting department at Nuccio's, said she will always remember Chipley with his hands on his hips, baseball cap on his head and a smile on his face.

"I don't know who did it, but you are a very bad person to take him away from us," Bates said, choking back tears.

The sign out front of Nuccio's Monday read: "Tim-Chip We will miss you."

[Last modified February 5, 2008, 00:47:44]