Missing St. Pete Man’s Body, Car Found In Brandon Area

Brandon, FL — The search for a missing 21-year-old St. Petersburg man ended in a heavily wooded area off Balm Boytette Road Sunday.

According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Nicholas Behringer left a party on Creek Edge Drive in Riverview around 11:30 p.m. Friday. Behringer texted a friend in Brandon that he was on the way to the friend’s house.

Behringer never arrived, the sheriff’s office wrote in an email to media.

Friends and family tried to contact Behringer when he didn't show up at the friend's house, deputies said. When they were unable to contact him by Saturday night, Behringer's parents, Michael and Pamela, reached out to law enforcement to report their son missing.

On Sunday, deputies and Behringer’s friends kicked off a search for Behringer and his 2012 Nissan Juke. The search ended when a sheriff’s office sergeant found Behringer's vehicle on Balm Boyette Road, about 1 ½ miles north of County Road 672.

Deputies say Behringer was traveling north on Balm Boyette Road and went off the east shoulder at a curve in the road.

“The vehicle went into a shallow ditch, struck the east bank of the ditch, overturned onto its hood, continued through the woods and struck a tree,” the email said. “The vehicle was hidden by heavy brush.”

No further information is being released at this time.

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