For 14 years, the disappearance of Robert Helphrey had been a deep, unsolved mystery. Since 2006, when Helphrey had gone missing after meeting a friend at Peggy O’Neill’s Iris Pub in Palm Harbor, Florida, little was known about his whereabouts.
Helphrey managed a restaurant in Palm Harbor, The Thirsty Marlin, but failed to appear for work, and didn’t contact his daughter or make it home to care for his dog.
On Friday, a volunteer team from Recon Dive Recovery discovered the car belonging to Helphrey at the bottom of a retention pond in Palm Harbor off of Old Oak Circle.
After extracting the car from the pond, human bones were discovered within the vehicle, verified to be the car belonging to Helphrey by its license plate. The findings have yet to identify the remains.
A continued investigation by the dive and recovery team, as well as the local sheriff’s office, is striving to uncover the truth throughout this difficult situation.