By Steve Huff
May 26, 2006
Midlothian, Virginia. (Crime Library) —The last time anyone saw 18-year-old Midlothian High School Senior Allen "Chip" Ellis was Monday, May 23rd. Chip disappeared after dropping off some DVDs at the Midlothian library. Speaking to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Chip's father Rick Ellis said, "I think he was carjacked. . . He's a very giving, trusting kid. And if you came up to him and said, 'I need help, I need help to change my tire or something,' he would help you." Someone saw Chip at a Wendy's Restaurant around 10 that night, then he was not seen again.
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| A missing poster of Allen 'Chip' Ellis |
No one who knew Chip Ellis believed he vanished of his own volition.
On May 25, 2006, Chip's 2005 brown Nissan Sentra was found off a dead-end road in eastern Henrico County, VA. The Sentra was parked in the woods there, and the body of a young male was found inside. As of early Friday, no further details about the body were available.
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| Police remove Ellis' car |
Chip Ellis had a profile on the popular personal networking and weblogging site, MySpace.com: www.myspace.com/anatticinabasement. Chip's profile photo was a photoshopped pair of images of the young man captioned, "I could kill you right now." An initial glance at the photograph made one think of a Warhol portrait of John Lennon no one ever found: Ellis resembled the younger Lennon, his thick, wavy hair echoed the early Beatles look.
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| The Warhol-like picture from Chip's MySpace account |
It was already apparent from comments left by friends on Chip's MySpace that they felt certain as to who had been found in Ellis's vehicle. His friend Colin Ward left a long post just past midnight on the 26th of May. Colin wrote, in part:
"Hey buddy...I just want you to know i tried my hardest and I'm sorry it wasn't enough. I want you to know how strong your family has been. They are being just like you would. Looking at things in the most positive way. They love you so much. I love you so much. So many people love you so much. People from all over called me all throughout these last few days. People that don't even know you. They just wanted to help. Your friends have been amazing Chip. They love you so much. We really do..."
Colin Ward had become a leader in the community of teens concerned about Chip Ellis. Speaking to the Times-Dispatch, Ward said, "We just want to go out and do as much as we can, and let people know... We're just trying to keep our minds running on helping Chip."
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