Body of man found in Tampa lake identified

TAMPA -- Sheriff's officials have identified the body of a man they found in a lake in the Country Wood Apartments complex as Tim Chipley, 34.

Chipley was identified Saturday afternoon by a tattoo and by his clothes, which were the same jeans, blue and white shirt and boots he was wearing when he was last seen on Sunday about 2:15 a.m. at O'Brien's Irish Pub on N Dale Mabry Highway.

Friends and co-workers searched for him when he didn't show up for work at Nuccio Heating and Air Conditioning, which was unusual for Chipley, who was the warehouse manager. His boss, Joe Nuccio, said he was always punctual.

Searchers looked in the woods near Country Wood Apartments, but they never went near the lake, co-worker Tommy Buchanan said.

"We were so close," he said. "We were right on the other side of the apartment."

Chipley's body was found just before 5 p.m. on Friday after a driver pulled up, pointed to the water and said, "dead body" in Spanish. Three boys sitting near the pond heard him and saw the body, and Luciano Massari, 15, gave his phone to a friend who called 911.

-- Jessica Vander Velde, Times staff writer