Michael Wachholtz and Jason Galehouse, both 26, were last seen on Dec. 20. Both were single and frequented local gay clubs, such as 2606 North Armenia Avenue Lounge, where Galehouse was last seen. They also had posted profiles with an online dating service.

But the men did not know each other, and any connections between them appear to be a coincidence, investigators said.

The disappearances have underlined "an anxiety that's been brewing in our community for a while," said Brian Winfield, the communications director for Equality Florida, a Tampa-based gay rights group.

"I think it was an attack on the gay community," said Jesse Rivera on Wednesday night at Tomes & Treasures, a gay bookstore and coffee shop on South Howard Avenue. "It makes me a little more cautious."

Police Don't See A Pattern

Investigators said they do not think there is a series of disappearances involving gay men. The Tampa Police Department has 56 open cases of missing adults, four of them gay, including Wachholtz and Galehouse.

In 2001, the mother of Bradley Lee Williams, 31, reported him missing two weeks after someone last saw him at the Metropolis club on West Kennedy Boulevard June 9.

In Clearwater, a man named Mark Thompson disappeared on Halloween night in 2001. He is still missing. Police found his truck on Nov. 5, 2001. Clearwater police spokesman Wayne Shelor said Thompson's mother told them her son was gay, but police never found a link between his sexual orientation and his disappearance.

James M. Shumaker, 36, was reported missing on Oct. 20, 1995, after visiting the Parthenon Cafe in downtown Tampa a few days earlier.

Wachholtz left his home at 5305 Bay Club Circle shortly before midnight in a 1992 Jeep Cherokee. Tuesday, a passer-by found a body wrapped in a sheet in a 1992 Jeep Cherokee at the Camden Bay Pointe apartment complex, on Memorial Highway at Town 'N Country Boulevard.

The body's decomposition has delayed identification, said Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Debbie Carter. She declined to confirm or deny whether the Jeep belonged to Wachholtz.

But his roommate, Fred Van Den Abbeel, 26, was certain the body was that of Wachholtz.

"I have a very uneasy feeling that I know it's him," Van Den Abbeel said. "I was the last one to see him. ... It's just been awful."

Duo Have Similarities

Wachholtz previously had lived in Tarpon Springs, Van Den Abbeel said. He worked as a waiter at Bahama Breeze on the Courtney Campbell Parkway, where employees declined to comment Wednesday. Van Den Abbeel said Wachholtz planned to enroll at the University of South Florida and eventually become a lawyer.

He often went to gay bars and clubs across the Bay Area, police said. He also posted a short profile on the Web site Gay.com.

Galehouse also had a profile on Gay.com and had met people through the site before without trouble, said his roommate and longtime friend, Justin Laughlin.

Laughlin, his boyfriend and Galehouse went to 2606 North Armenia Lounge in the early morning hours of Dec. 20. About 2:45 a.m., Galehouse told them he was leaving with two men, whom his friends did not see. He vanished.

"Jason and I were like brothers," said Eric Bunch, Galehouse's friend of 10 years. "It's extremely unlike him not to call his mother or myself through the holidays. He didn't just up and leave."

Friends have distributed fliers with Galehouse's picture at local bars and were planning a community meeting about the disappearance today at a Sarasota church. Galehouse, a florist, had lived in Sarasota with his mother until a few months ago. He moved to Tampa to attend Hillsborough Community College, where he was studying interior design, Laughlin said.

"He would call three times a day to tell you where he was," said Laughlin, 27, recalling his friend's boisterous personality. "He put a smile on everyone's face."

Equality Florida issued an e-mail alert asking anyone with information about the men to call police, and warning gay men not to leave establishments with strangers.

Reporters Cassio Furtado, Tom Krause and Sarasota Herald-Tribune reporter Tom Bayles contributed to this report. Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800.