The director of the Rolling Meadows Park District Ice Arena, who had been missing since Feb. 2, was found Wednesday by a highway patrol officer who stopped him for speeding down U.S. Highway 95 in Nevada, Palatine police say.
Matthew J. Cipriani, 28, who lives in Palatine, left work at the Ice Arena on Feb. 2 saying he was going to a doctor and then disappeared. He was reported missing by his roommate Feb. 3.
But on Tuesday, near Goldfield, Nev., a highway patrol officer stopped Cipriani’s white 1992 Ford Thunderbird for speeding, said Palatine police Cmdr. Mark Kjellstrom. Goldfield is about halfway between Reno and Las Vegas.
The trooper “verified Cipriani’s identity against a photo I.D., cited him for the speeding, and released him after advising Cipriani to contact his parents,” said Kjellstrom in a statement. Cipriani was alone in the car, the trooper reported.
Kjellstrom said that from the beginning of the investigation, all indications were that Cipriani had left voluntarily.
Cipriani had made a sizable cash withdrawal from his checking account the morning of Feb. 2 and a second cash machine withdrawal in Merrillville, Ind., the same afternoon, Kjellstrom said.
Palatine police consider the investigation closed, Kjellstrom said.
Cipriani’s mother, Barbara Cipriani, 52, of Wayne, Mich., said Wednesday afternoon her son still has not contacted any member of the family. She said she wished that the Nevada Highway Patrol had photographed her son so she could be absolutely certain, and she is still waiting to hear from him.