Last week, the body of a missing software engineer who had recently moved to San Francisco to begin working for Netflix was discovered floating in San Francisco Bay, and the cause of his death has been determined.
Yohanes Kidane’s severely decomposed remains were recovered from waters northeast of the Golden Gate Bridge on Tuesday morning, according to the Marin County Sheriff’s Office. A passing boat spotted his body and alerted the Coast Guard, which retrieved the remains.
The sheriff stated that it was determined that his death was a suicide.
Kidane, from Webster, New York, was last seen leaving his San Jose apartment in an Uber on August 14, just weeks after relocating across the country for a job with the streaming giant.
According to the sheriff’s office, the recent Cornell University graduate’s body displayed signs of “advanced decomposition, prolonged exposure to the aquatic environment, and significant depredation.”
The investigators were initially unable to identify the body because it lacked identification.
The coroner positively identified Kidane’s remains on Thursday and notified the young engineer’s family immediately.
The coroner determined that blunt impact injuries and drowning contributed to his death, and that he committed suicide, the sheriff said.
The wallet, cell phone, and backpack of the missing Kidane were discovered near the Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Center. His photographic evidence revealed that he spent the majority of the night he vanished at the bridge.
He had only been employed by Netflix for two weeks when he vanished.
Two days before he was last seen entering a car with an Uber sticker, he reportedly told a friend he had a troubling experience in a rideshare vehicle. His family and friends desperately searched for him.
He reportedly said the driver had taken him on a roundabout route to his apartment, insisting they go through Oakland, which led the recent grad to be hesitant to use a rideshare alone again.
The family members of Kidane launched a GoFundMe campaign that garnered over $100,000 in donations and a search task force.
“We desire to bring him home. I require my son. Last month, Kidane’s mother Mehret Hana Beyene told KTVU, “I need my son.”
“He is a good man with a promising future who is devoted to his family.”
