‘I ran out of tears’: Tonya Whipp’s family hopes for answers to disappearance
A Polk County family is holding out hope they’ll finally get answers about the disappearance of Tonya Whipp who vanished one year ago.
“I ran out of tears,” said Robin Klotzbier, Whipp’s sister. “I don’t think I’m ever going to get the peace that I want. I really want her back, but she’s looking down on me.”
Police search home of Tonya Whipp’s boyfriend days after his arrest
In the year since her disappearance, several search parties have been conducted with assistance from We Are The Essentials, a nonprofit group that helps families of missing people locate their loved ones.
With help from a private investigator, detectives were able to determine one of the last locations where Whipp was seen.
“One of the things I found was a receipt,” said Nico Tusconi, president of We Are The Essentials.
According to police records, Tusconi alerted law enforcement after finding a receipt inside Whipp’s car.
It showed a purchase from Advance Auto Parts on Havendale Boulevard in Auburndale on May 26, 2023, at 10:34 a.m.
Investigators later obtained surveillance video which captured Whipp entering and exiting the store with her boyfriend, Russell Carroll, during the time frame of the purchase, records show.
“It shows that she was definitely with the suspect on a specific date,” Tusconi said.
However, Whipp wasn’t reported missing until June 29 when her sister notified police that Whipp’s friends and family had not heard from her in several weeks, records show.
“I would like to give a special thanks to Chief Storie and his department,” Tusconi said. “They have been nonstop since they first got this case. They didn’t get the case until about 30 days after Tonya was missing.”
On May 14, 2024, police arrested Carroll on charges of criminal use of personal identification information and third-degree grand theft.
According to police records, Carroll was accused of using Whipp’s debit card to withdraw and transfer nearly $7,500 from her account to himself over several months during her disappearance.
Many of the transactions were made right after Whipp’s Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments were deposited into her account every month, records show.
Carroll is currently being held in jail on $35,000 bond as of this report.
On May 17, court documents filed by the state argued that Carroll is a flight risk, and his bond should be increased.
They also requested for him to be confined to house arrest if he bonds out of jail.
The court document also said ‘the only suspect in the homicide investigation is Russell Carroll’.
This week, investigators conducted a four-day search at Carroll’s home on Caroline Avenue, where the couple lived.
“That’s a pretty extensive search,” Tusconi said . “It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s charged with additional crimes.”
The pair began dating shortly after Carroll was released from prison in January 2023. He served time for attempted murder from 2004 to 2013.
In that case, the victim was his then-girlfriend, who was stabbed multiple times with a knife. He was arrested again in August 2013 for a parole violation and spent just under 10 years in prison before meeting Whipp.
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