Found Deceased CA - Erin Valenti, 33, from Utah, en-route from Palo Alto to San Jose, 7 Oct 2019

[Satchie]

Why would she want to take her own life in a rented car in an unknown neighbourhood?
What suggests she was in an way suicidal from what we know of her life?
I found nothing.

I agree, there's nothing to suggest it except the circumstances. In particular, the apparently carefully parked car, and no cries for help. IMO despair can overtake people in many different circumstances.

Regardless of what happened, it must be very hard on family who talked with her all those hours, and the neighbours near the car who would have been happy to help her if they'd known she was there. Thirty three is way too young.

 

[kittythehare]

So ... is that a vote for mental illness that causes stupor and death in less than 24 hours?

The hyperactive / hypothermic suicide theory?

It absolutely is not..
Some people are quiet, some are lively, hypo and hyper. Personality descriptions.
An aggressive infective agent will do it...
Did you ever observe a small child with a high temperature?
I see no evidence for suicide or drug ingestion in the available information.
Nor do I see mental illness.

 

[kittythehare]

I agree, there's nothing to suggest it except the circumstances. In particular, the apparently carefully parked car, and no cries for help. IMO despair can overtake people in many different circumstances.

Regardless of what happened, it must be very hard on family who talked with her all those hours, and the neighbours near the car who would have been happy to help her if they'd known she was there. Thirty three is way too young.

The carefully parked car suggests self preservation, not a suicide attempt. She was trying.

 

[otto]

But are you a 33 year old in the tech business? Their success depends on their social media presence, that's how they attract buzz, network opportunities, etc.

Social media is an illusion. One moment they are famous, the 15 minutes of fame really is over before they knew what it meant. A 33 year old who is chasing "power with an I" seminars is probably desperate for success.

How did she suddenly die after a brief period of psychologically defined manic behavior such as rambling, incoherent, confused and disoriented? From normal to dead in less than 24 hours or 3 days in the back of a vehicle? Still dead. How did she go from I'm at the top of my world with super dooper brain power and questioning the right questions to dead?

 

[Seattle1]

That's impossible. There are no reports of any interaction with Erin.

All we have from the responding officer at this time is that she was speaking gibberish and he did nothing.

No @otto. Law enforcement long ago stated they would not release any information about this missing person investigation. The police officer has also not spoken for himself . All we have is what somebody else reported that they heard.

And that does not make my assumptions of what a trained officer, in this position, would do untrue.

MOO

 

[otto]

The carefully parked car suggests self preservation, not a suicide attempt. She was trying.

Nothing about this seems like a suicide, and nothing seems like a mental illness. Sudden mental illness does not result in death, and sudden stupor does not result in suicide.

 

[otto]

No @otto. Law enforcement long ago stated they would not release any information about this missing person investigation. The police officer has also not spoken for himself . All we have is what somebody else reported that they heard.

And that does not make my assumptions of what a trained officer, in this position, would do untrue.

MOO

We have more than what somebody reported they heard.

We have her route, her last known contact, her body. This is an early map including Almaden Valley - after midnight and South of where her body was found, South of where she last pinged.



Her phone pinged in this location as well

 

[kittythehare]

She got sick and she died.

 

[afitzy]

But are you a 33 year old in the tech business? Their success depends on their social media presence, that's how they attract buzz, network opportunities, etc.

I think you are correct that for a certain segment of the tech world that social media is important but its not a universal standard of success in tech so far as I know.

IMO there is a whole different segment of tech that is super successful and largely outside of the social media whirl and this works just fine for them. These folks are known by each other and many are hugely accomplished, well educated and unknown by the general public.

Then you get into the serial entrepreneur realm and this is another group of individuals IMO and its a mixed bag with some being on social media and well known and others not on social media and well known in their sectors and hugely successful.

If you look at some of the folks that have left tributes to EV, its clear that she was widely known in a few key sectors associated with the business she was in with Tinker. I haven't looked at Tinker or its track record, but my guess is that EV had enough visibility and corporate contacts in her segment to do what she needed to do. Social media to EV seemed a largely personal endeavour and not closely tied to her businesses so far as I can tell. MOO

 

[afitzy]

It absolutely is not..
Some people are quiet, some are lively, hypo and hyper. Personality descriptions.
An aggressive infective agent will do it...
Did you ever observe a small child with a high temperature?
I see no evidence for suicide or drug ingestion in the available information.
Nor do I see mental illness.

I'm about 80% WITH YOU on this! I've seen late onset bipolar happen and I still wonder if that or something in that realm happened here? I wish we knew what EV did in the time when she wasn't on the phone with her family. Was she driving around, did she get out of her car or did she realise she had a problem and was smart enough to stay in her vehicle? Why was EV unable to call or reach out for help?

IDK, but the mania events I have seen haven't involved the disorientation that the family seemed to describe either so this is where I start to wonder about other specific brain related events that might be rare that could account for the symptoms described by the family.

Or, could the issue have been biological in its origin and this resulted in neurological impairment leading to death?

IMO, its a very complicated puzzle that I'm not sure a basic tox screen will resolve. MOO

 

[kittythehare]

San Jose police Chief Eddie Garcia said Tuesday he sympathized with Valenti’s family and wanted to stress that the department took the report seriously.

“We were on this case. We didn’t ignore this case,” Garcia said. “We’re going to look at everything we did and see if there are ways to improve.”

But, he added, “We could have done everything perfectly, and a grieving family and friends are always going to think you could have done more. That’s a perfectly understandable feeling to have

this!!!!
But Harrison Weinstein, Valenti’s husband, echoed his father-in-law’s sentiments. He praised the interactions he had with patrol officers, calling them professional and honest. But he described his family’s later treatment by investigators as “a nightmare,” including them being confined to interview rooms for the entire night after Valenti’s body was found.

“We were trying to be cooperative,” he said. “That’s not the way you treat a grieving family.”

oh oh

Police said that about 10 p.m. that night, at the family’s request, they called Valenti on her cell phone and she answered. She “indicated she was with friends,” police said. Weinstein, however, said over the weekend that an officer told the family “was nonsensical” on the call.

he police search that followed is not in dispute. Weinstein had called Verizon Wireless and was told that the last location of Valenti’s cell phone that yielded a signal was on Menlo Drive north of Almaden Expressway. Officers searched the area, as well as local hospitals,”over the course of several hours” but did not find her or her rented Nissan Murano, according to police. Police said they also searched streets further north, where Valenti’s phone pinged a few more times before shutting off.

Police say they actively searched for missing Utah woman

 

[Seattle1]

We have more than what somebody reported they heard.

We have her route, her last known contact, her body. This is an early map including Almaden Valley - after midnight and South of where her body was found, South of where she last pinged.

View attachment 209321

Her phone pinged in this location as well

View attachment 209323

View attachment 209322

Huh? This has nothing to do with the alleged contact / exchange with the law enforcement officer at the request of a family member.

My post (that you're replying) was specific to your telling me my speculation about the welfare check was "impossible."

Please don't confuse the issue duplicating maps you already shared.

 

[Seattle1]

We have more than what somebody reported they heard.

We have her route, her last known contact, her body. This is an early map including Almaden Valley - after midnight and South of where her body was found, South of where she last pinged.

View attachment 209321

Her phone pinged in this location as well

View attachment 209323

View attachment 209322

Brand new media statement below. Again, conflict in what police just reported, versus what somebody else (not a witness to the exchange with EV) alleged about the exchange.

Police said that about 10 p.m. that night, at the family’s request, they called Valenti on her cell phone and she answered. She “indicated she was with friends,” police said. Weinstein, however, said over the weekend that an officer told the family “was nonsensical” on the call.

^^SBM

 

[kittythehare]

she was coherent at 10pm..!!

the journo that wrote this story has a Pulitzer..
I think it's most likely accurate!

Link again-Police say they actively searched for missing Utah woman
How Valenti died is still unknown, pending the results of an autopsy and toxicology tests conducted by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office. The time of her death is also unclear, so how long she might have been in the vehicle where she was found remains a mystery.

San Jose police said the case is being treated as a death investigation, and that there were no obvious signs of foul play. Valenti’s husband said she had no history of mental illness. SJPD files an average of 100 adult missing-persons reports a month, and twice that rate for minors, according to department figures

It really does appear that the info distributed was either inaccurate or wrong.
Her husband travelled down the very next day..

The police search that followed is not in dispute. Weinstein had called Verizon Wireless and was told that the last location of Valenti’s cell phone that yielded a signal was on Menlo Drive north of Almaden Expressway. Officers searched the area, as well as local hospitals,”over the course of several hours” but did not find her or her rented Nissan Murano, according to police. Police said they also searched streets further north, where Valenti’s phone pinged a few more times before shutting off.

The next day, Oct. 8, Weinstein traveled to San Jose and met with SJPD officers in the area where her phone last sent a signal. Police said they filed a missing-persons report, entering Valenti and her rental car information into a national database, and also broadcast an alert to patrol units in the city.

On Oct. 9, police said, detectives from the agency’s missing-persons unit were assigned to the case, and they sent electronic bulletins to police agencies around the greater Bay Area, extending as far as Monterey. Police said they also re-canvassed local hospitals, and interviewed Valenti’s friends and other associates for clues on where she might be.

 

[kittythehare]

WDF?
Was she actually 'with people' when the police made contact at 10pm?
Who said she was incoherent?
Why?
Something is wrong.

 

[Seattle1]

San Jose police Chief Eddie Garcia said Tuesday he sympathized with Valenti’s family and wanted to stress that the department took the report seriously.

“We were on this case. We didn’t ignore this case,” Garcia said. “We’re going to look at everything we did and see if there are ways to improve.”

But, he added, “We could have done everything perfectly, and a grieving family and friends are always going to think you could have done more. That’s a perfectly understandable feeling to have

this!!!!
But Harrison Weinstein, Valenti’s husband, echoed his father-in-law’s sentiments. He praised the interactions he had with patrol officers, calling them professional and honest. But he described his family’s later treatment by investigators as “a nightmare,” including them being confined to interview rooms for the entire night after Valenti’s body was found.

“We were trying to be cooperative,” he said. “That’s not the way you treat a grieving family.”

oh oh

Police said that about 10 p.m. that night, at the family’s request, they called Valenti on her cell phone and she answered. She “indicated she was with friends,” police said. Weinstein, however, said over the weekend that an officer told the family “was nonsensical” on the call.

he police search that followed is not in dispute. Weinstein had called Verizon Wireless and was told that the last location of Valenti’s cell phone that yielded a signal was on Menlo Drive north of Almaden Expressway. Officers searched the area, as well as local hospitals,”over the course of several hours” but did not find her or her rented Nissan Murano, according to police. Police said they also searched streets further north, where Valenti’s phone pinged a few more times before shutting off.

Police say they actively searched for missing Utah woman

Thanks much for details from this link-- especially the first reported statements by SJPD since EV found dead. (I've exceeded my visits to mercury news).

 

[azure]

Why would she want to take her own life in a rented car in an unknown neighbourhood?
What suggests she was in an way suicidal from what we know of her life?
I found nothing.

While my theory is just that, a theory, I think it's worth pointing out that many people who commit suicide do not outwardly appear suicidal. We have only the words of her (possibly protective) mother and husband and her social media to go on-that's not a lot to build a picture of a person. I can tell you that at my lowest points, my social media projected a perfect image and I told nobody what was going on. That doesn't mean I didn't consider taking my life, though.

 

[azure]

The carefully parked car suggests self preservation, not a suicide attempt. She was trying.

If you were hoping to commit suicide in a public place, would you stop in the middle of the road where someone could find and stop you, or pull over to a safe space where you wouldn't be bothered? Sometimes the most irrational-seeming decisions have a measure of rationality in them.

I think the 'carefully' parked car points away from a sudden medical event.

 

[kittythehare]

Thanks much for details from this link-- especially the first reported statements by SJPD since EV found dead. (I've exceeded my visits to mercury news).

delete your cookies, got most of it I think though.
Geez, where does this leave us?
She told the police she was with friends at 10pm, yet 7 hrs earlier was talking nonsense??
She was alive still at 10pm...
more questions than answers
back to the drawing board.
Does seem pretty harsh to hold the grieving family in interview rooms all night.
What exactly led to that?
They were hardly a flight risk?

 

[Seattle1]

WDF?
Was she actually 'with people' when the police made contact at 10pm?
Who said she was incoherent?
Why?
Something is wrong.

Exactly the point I was trying to make.

LE officer's are trained what information to solicit from an adult reported missing. By the questions, EV provided to the officer that she was "with friends." Officer most likely made inquiry to determine if she was "with friends" by her own choice, and/or under her own control. That's what they are trained to do.

What was reported in the media did not come from SJPD -- they had already stated early on that they would not release any information about the investigation. And they didn't release any statements about this missing investigation-- until now.

MOO