Where is Tonya Whipp? Investigators comb through evidence seized during search of boyfriend’s home

AUBURNDALE, Fla. - Detectives are combing through evidence seized during a search warrant executed on the Auburndale home where a missing woman used to live with her boyfriend. 

Tonya Whipp, 38, disappeared in late May and the authorities and her family have been looking for her ever since.

According to Auburndale Police Chief Terry Storie, the goal of the search warrant wasn't to find Whipp, rather they were targeting items that could bring them closer to finding her.

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"This is a missing person's case we're working," said Storie. "We have no indication that we can prove she has been harmed. As far as we know, she can walk through the door tomorrow."

Russell Carroll, Tonya's boyfriend, lives at the home on Caroline Avenue with his brother, Preston Irons, who said police took their electronic devices.

"Computers and cell phones," said Irons. "They tore up the backyard. I don't know what they were looking for, but they were digging, and they didn't find anything."

Storie couldn't confirm the items they seized, but he did say they didn't dig anything, instead they used machinery to move debris in the backyard.

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Although Whipp was last seen or heard from in late May, she wasn't actually reported missing until June 29. Carroll explained he didn't report her missing initially, because he said she had gone away with no contact before. 

"I just got out of prison, and now you go missing so what am I to do?" said Carroll. "Everybody's looking at me like I did something to you. People think I hurt her or this or that. It's none of that. She just disappeared." 

"We've never really officially spoken to [Carroll]," said Storie. "There's no plan in the near future to do so. We're going to see where this evidence takes us and if it takes us in that direction then that's where we'll go." 

Whipp's family searched for months through orange groves and woods to bring her home, and they were hoping this search warrant would bring some answers.

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"This isn't like Tonya. She never would've just walked away. Not in a million years. We know that somebody knows something, and somebody needs to come forward," said Lisa Textor, Tonya's aunt.

Carroll said he doesn't know where she is but hopes for her safe return as well.

"I just miss her and want her found and want her home. Just like everybody else does," he said.