Where is Nick Downey?

Driver remains missing

after abandoned Tesla

found in Liberty County

by Teresa Eubanks, CJLNews.com

BRISTOL – Nick Downey, 37, was taking a week off from work in Bradenton to make a quick trip  to Mississippi to see his wife, Holly. He rented a special vehicle for the four-day trip, a car he particularly liked but had never owned – a Tesla. On the way back that Sunday evening, he pulled off I-10 to recharge the electric car behind a McDonald’s restaurant in Marianna.

A security video near the charging station shows a single person in the distinctive car stopping, getting out to charge it and then driving away. But instead of returning to the interstate, the car inexplicably pulled onto SR 71 and started heading south.

The change in plan alarmed the car’s owner, Robbie Chambers, who was following the vehicle’s progress through an app as it was supposed to be headed back to Tampa. He sent a text through to the car, which displays messages on the dashboard screen and reads them aloud. There was no response from the driver.

Chambers was concerned, and messaged, “Hello, are you making your way here? I see you driving in the opposite direction. With no chargers nearby. I hope everything is ok.”

The next day, the Tesla was found abandoned on a large hunting lease off Turkey Creek Road in Liberty County. The vehicle had gone under a cable that was blocking an access road the to property. The car left white transfer paint on the cable and damaged the upper part of the windshield. It continued on for a mile and a half before stopping on the two-trail road. There was little charge left on the car; it couldn’t have gone much farther. According to the owner, the car’s full range on one charge is 220 miles.

Found inside were some personal items of Nick’s, including  a change of clothing, a drone believed to have been used in his work, a McDonald’s receipt and two cell phones. One phone was in his name; the other belongs to his wife, who is currently staying in a rehab facility where personal phones are not allowed. There was also a small amount of an unknown substance that will be turned over to a lab for testing, according to the sheriff’s office.

The family learned of Nick’s disappearance after his wife was allowed to call him that Monday morning and a deputy answered his cell phone.

• • • • •

Nick was scheduled to return to work in Bradenton on Monday. He picked up the $80,000 car in Tampa on Feb. 26. It was due to be returned Sunday night. Chambers said he had another rental set up for the next day. The daily rental fee is $130.

It was a contactless rental done through a Turo app, Chambers explained. He never met Nick. After the credit card payment went through, he unlocked the car remotely and told Nick where the key was hidden inside. Nick’s mother – who lives in Kentucky – authorized the rental payment on her credit card after Nick couldn’t locate his wallet. That put her in the loop to follow Nick’s progress on the road through the Turo app.

Stacy Pomponio said she last time she spoke with her son was around 8:30 p.m. the Sunday he disappeared. 

• • • • •

Liberty County Sheriff Buddy Money admits he’s puzzled. “There were hardly any footprints around the car,” he said. “Something’s not adding up.”

He said any information gathered by his office is being turned over to authorities in the Bradenton area where Nick was most recently staying, as well as to Gulfport, MS, where he has been listed as a missing person.  He and his wife have a rental home there.

The sheriff’s office, along with the K9 tracking team from Liberty Correctional Institution, began searching the woods for the missing man that Monday morning. Helicopters from the Fish and Game Commission and the Leon County Sheriff’s Office have also flown over the area.

The car has been turned over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in Tallahassee for further investigation.

• • • • •

His mother is frantic to hear from Nick. She said they normally video chat three to five times a week. They also talk on the phone every day or two. “There is no circumstance that he would not touch base with me,” she said. Noting that in the past, he’d had some troubles with drugs and alcohol and at least one arrest, she explained, “I may not like his circumstances but he would absolutely reach out,” she said, adding that in the past couple of years, “He’s had so much going for him.”

Nick has a 16-year-old son and a daughter, who is 13, who live with their mother in Kentucky, not far from their grandmother’s home. “The kids have been asking where their dad is,” Pomponio said.

The kids, along with Nick’s mother, stepfather, brother, sister and wife, are all waiting for news of his whereabouts.

“We have never gone this long without speaking,” his mother said. “There is nothing that would prevent him from contacting me if it were possible. That much our entire family agrees on.”

“We’re really struggling,” his mother said. “The thought of him out in those woods, in any condition, for this long is just unbearable.”

Photos of Nick are included on this post. His mother notes that he has a large tattoo on his chest of an anatomical heart. She said she believes he has a second tattoo, but was unsure of the design or placement.

She is urging anyone who has information about her son to contact the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 643-2235 or reach out to the family at findnickdowney@gmail.com.