Found Deceased CA - Erin Valenti, 33, from Utah, en-route from Palo Alto to San Jose, 7 Oct 2019 #2

[claudianunes]

I've heard of it as one of the 'mind expanding', hallucinogenic plant-based drugs favored by some mystical new-age seekers who are looking into shamanism, vision quests, or other Indigenous spiritual use of drugs. Carlos Castaneda wrote about ayahuasca, as well as other psychedelic Mesoamerican plant drugs. I can see people heavily involved in the AI/mind tech side of high tech being intrigued by a chance to experiment with this type of mind expansion, and possibly considering it a safer path than LSD and other lab created drugs. Whether it has anything to do with Erin's mental state in the hours leading to her death is pure conjecture, though her symptoms do align with some of the effects of these drugs.

Very interesting, thanks!

 

[Trebor5591]

I believe the Nov 21, 2019 news story from KRON4 adds some interesting detail. Still no answers in Utah tech CEO Erin Valenti’s death in San Jose

1) "The coroner’s office says the cause of death is pending toxicology tests and evaluation of medical records."

I know the coroner was waiting for toxicology teats, but I didn't know they were also evaluating EV's medical records.

2) "San Jose police have since offered no new details citing a pending investigation."

So the investigation of SJPD is still open.

3) “So she was having dinner with former colleagues and bosses, many of whom had attended her wedding,” Joseph Valenti said.

So far as I can recall, everything with EV was fine and normal (except a minor thing, she was late in checking out from her hotel). Then there is this last dinner, with "former colleagues and bosses". After this dinner, she couldn't find her vehicle, called her parents, and began acting weird. It is apparent that some happened to her at that dinner. I wonder if she was allergic to something? Or did she ingest a drug or some kind, knowingly or unknowingly? Were I the police, I would concentrate heavily on this last dinner, for logic dictates it was where her troubles began.

 

[Steelslady]

I believe the Nov 21, 2019 news story from KRON4 adds some interesting detail. Still no answers in Utah tech CEO Erin Valenti’s death in San Jose

1) "The coroner’s office says the cause of death is pending toxicology tests and evaluation of medical records."

I know the coroner was waiting for toxicology teats, but I didn't know they were also evaluating EV's medical records.

2) "San Jose police have since offered no new details citing a pending investigation."

So the investigation of SJPD is still open.

3) “So she was having dinner with former colleagues and bosses, many of whom had attended her wedding,” Joseph Valenti said.

So far as I can recall, everything with EV was fine and normal (except a minor thing, she was late in checking out from her hotel). Then there is this last dinner, with "former colleagues and bosses". After this dinner, she couldn't find her vehicle, called her parents, and began acting weird. It is apparent that some happened to her at that dinner. I wonder if she was allergic to something? Or did she ingest a drug or some kind, knowingly or unknowingly? Were I the police, I would concentrate heavily on this last dinner, for logic dictates it was where her troubles began.

I agree. Something happened around that dinner time period. Someone would have noticed at the dinner if she was acting strange.

Sometimes when you ingest something that triggers an allergic reaction, a reaction is immediate, but in some cases, it can take longer for a reaction to occur. Food allergies are hard to predict, and you can eat something all of your life and be fine, then one day have a severe reaction to it, out of the blue. It doesn't appear that she had an anaphylactic episode, as her symptoms would have been different than what she experienced those last hours. She wouldn't be driving around all over a city, I can tell you that much.

I would imagine that the coroner has checked out the contents of her stomach to determine if there was a reaction to a food to cause her to act this way. I can't imagine a food making someone manic in terms of an allergy- usually the person can't breathe, tongue swells and throat closes, hives can break out, face swells- it didn't appear that she had any of those occur. A coroner can tell right away if that occurred. Not a pleasant sight.

What else could she have ingested to cause this manic episode, though, to cause her death?

She wasn't on any medications for anything, right?

I wonder if there was any damage to her heart- did her body go into cardiac arrest caused by a substance that caused that manic episode? I don't recall her family mentioning anything about her heart pounding or racing during their conversations.

I just hope they get a clear answer soon as to what happened to Erin.

 

[10ofRods]

I seriously doubt that food allergies (apparently previously undiagnosed) could lead to her confused and manic mental state (as described by her husband, who is a licensed psychologist who works at a large psychiatric facility where he oversees treatment and diagnosis).

In fact, in all my years (now 35 years) of working with mental health (mostly inpatient) units, I've never heard of food allergies triggering mania. Several drugs can produce mania-like symptoms (have seen lots of that - and of course, there's a DSM diagnosis for drug-induced psychosis, which is very hard to distinguish from endogenous psychosis initially).

If she went to sleep in her car and did not wake up in time to save herself from some kind of heat-induced death (one hypothesis), then what caused her to first be hyper, have pressured speech, be confused (she alarmed her family, this was not normal for her) and then caused her to crash/sleep so hard that she was helpless? There are several substances that can produce these mental effects, so I agree that the police need to have conversations with those dinner companions (but will they be forthcoming?)

 

[Curiousobserver]

I seriously doubt that food allergies (apparently previously undiagnosed) could lead to her confused and manic mental state (as described by her husband, who is a licensed psychologist who works at a large psychiatric facility where he oversees treatment and diagnosis).

In fact, in all my years (now 35 years) of working with mental health (mostly inpatient) units, I've never heard of food allergies triggering mania. Several drugs can produce mania-like symptoms (have seen lots of that - and of course, there's a DSM diagnosis for drug-induced psychosis, which is very hard to distinguish from endogenous psychosis initially).

If she went to sleep in her car and did not wake up in time to save herself from some kind of heat-induced death (one hypothesis), then what caused her to first be hyper, have pressured speech, be confused (she alarmed her family, this was not normal for her) and then caused her to crash/sleep so hard that she was helpless? There are several substances that can produce these mental effects, so I agree that the police need to have conversations with those dinner companions (but will they be forthcoming?)

I think you're right and I would bet $1M this is an accidental drug intoxication.

The dinner companions will not be forthcoming (IMHO) but they might be more forthcoming once the toxicology results are in.

I think right now they are waiting to see what, if anything, the chemists can find.

 

[Seattle1]

Mon Oct 7

• 2:00 p.m. - EV had a late checkout (2 p.m.) at the Nest Hotel in Palo Alto.
• 3:15-3:30 p.m. – Last seen in the 2500 block of Sand Hill Rd, Palo Alto CA by a former colleague.
• 3:30 p.m. - EV called her parents and said she couldn’t find her rental car. Once she found the car, she stayed on the phone with her parents, her conversation became bizarre.
• 6:40 p.m. – Flight (missed) back to Utah
• Time(s) Unknown - She was speaking on the phone with her husband, her mother and a friend throughout the evening, sounding very manic. “We talked to her for hours on and off” on Monday night, her mother said. “Her thoughts were disconnected. She talked a mile a minute. She’d say I’m coming home for Thanksgiving, then in the next she was saying she’s in the Matrix."
• 10 p.m. – A welfare check was started, LE called EV and she answered. She “indicated she was with friends,” police said. EV’s husband, however, said over the weekend that an officer told the family she “was nonsensical” on the call. EV’s husband had called Verizon Wireless and the last location of her cell phone was on Menlo Drive north of Almaden Expressway. Officers searched the area, as well as local hospitals,”over the course of several hours.” Police said they also searched streets further north, where EV’s phone pinged a few more times before shutting off.
• Time Unknown – The last time she spoke with her husband she was trying to figure out where she was, still saying she was going to the airport, and he said she sounded confused, disjointed and was not acting like herself. Her car was low on gas. There are no gas station charges.
• Close to Midnight - Her mom was the last one to speak to her on the phone. “She told me she was driving around because the GPS wasn’t working,” Erin’s mother said, and she was driving through residential neighborhoods of the Almaden Valley in South San Jose, off-course from the route to the airport.
• About Midnight – EV’s phone pinged in South San Jose until about midnight. Last location was near Almaden Expressway and Camden Avenue in San Jose. Her phone was off after this time.

Tue Oct 8

• A Missing Person Report was filed and EV categorized as Voluntary Missing

Wed Oct 9

• Detectives from SJPD’s missing-persons unit were assigned to the case, and sent electronic bulletins to police agencies around the greater Bay Area, extending as far as Monterey. They also re-canvassed local hospitals, and interviewed EV’s friends and associates.
• Evening - EV missed the Women Tech Awards where she was to receive an award for Entrepreneurial Excellence. She had guests waiting at her table and she won the award.

Sun Oct 13

• EV’s body was found in the back seat of her locked rental vehicle parked in the street in the 6500 block of Bose Lane in San Jose.

 

[8771]

I believe the Nov 21, 2019 news story from KRON4 adds some interesting detail. Still no answers in Utah tech CEO Erin Valenti’s death in San Jose

... Or did she ingest a drug or some kind, knowingly or unknowingly? Were I the police, I would concentrate heavily on this last dinner, for logic dictates it was where her troubles began.

Friends of friends that I know claim to have been unwillingly/unknowingly drugged during a nice lunch in Yountville (Napa). They were picked up by police, I believe, after passing out on a public bench. I have no clue how the story happened in full, nor do I know what happened to the couple legally or whatnot afterwards.

My point in sharing is to ask if it's possible drugs are "misplaced" by users and could end up in someone's meal. I know the particular couple I referenced believes they were targeted and drugged, but that seems so strange. They weren't robbed, followed, messed with in any malicious way (aside from being drugged, allegedly). So, why would a drug user slip someone something intentionally if no further plans beyond that? That seams like a waste of money ... And if unintentional, don't you think other restaurant patrons would have complained of ill effects?

I agree with you, OP, in that the dinner should be scrutinized very carefully. Even if it weren't a nefarious act by someone, perhaps it could at least give some answers to a grieving family.

I'd also like to add that I would normally write off the story I shared as an "oh suuuurreee you were accidentally drugged in wine country" type of story, but I witnessed an ULTA employee discover a forgotten bag of crystal meth on the cash register counter last week. That discovery - as I overheard - was met with a tale of another employee who found a loaded heroin needle in the NYX display the previous year. My point being: drug users do misplace their goods once in a while ... just not sure of the logistics of it making it into someone's meal ...

 

[Seattle1]

There are several substances that can produce these mental effects, so I agree that the police need to have conversations with those dinner companions (but will they be forthcoming?)

The dinner companions will not be forthcoming (IMHO) but they might be more forthcoming once the toxicology results are in.

Reposted the timeline above as there seems to be a misunderstanding that EV had dinner and dinner companions that did not/have not talked to investigators.

Reportedly, EV had an early evening 6:40 pm flight from San Jose to SLC. She was last seen around 3:30 pm when she left a colleague's office in Palo Alto and was said headed to Hertz to return her rented vehicle and airport for her flight.

There's no reason to believe her colleague was not involved in the search for EV since the beginning and did not communicate with authorities earlier.

 

[Quiet Time]

Magic mushrooms?????

 

[Seattle1]

3) “So she was having dinner with former colleagues and bosses, many of whom had attended her wedding,” Joseph Valenti said.

So far as I can recall, everything with EV was fine and normal (except a minor thing, she was late in checking out from her hotel). Then there is this last dinner, with "former colleagues and bosses". After this dinner, she couldn't find her vehicle, called her parents, and began acting weird.

^^sbm

KRON4 audio/newscast is more clear (than article) the reference to dinner by Joseph V was how EV spent the weekend in PA having dinner with friends/colleagues/wedding guests and not a "last dinner" on Monday when she drove aimlessly in neighborhood and talked on phone for hours instead of driving to airport for 6:40 pm flight to SLC.

 

[Trebor5591]

Reposted the timeline above as there seems to be a misunderstanding that EV had dinner and dinner companions that did not/have not talked to investigators.
Reportedly, EV had an early evening 6:40 pm flight from San Jose to SLC. She was last seen around 3:30 pm when she left a colleague's office in Palo Alto and was said headed to Hertz to return her rented vehicle and airport for her flight.
There's no reason to believe her colleague was not involved in the search for EV since the beginning and did not communicate with authorities earlier.

Apologies. I seem to have mixed things up. For some reason I thought the dinner with friends occurred at "3:15-3:30 p.m. – Last seen in the 2500 block of Sand Hill Rd, Palo Alto CA by a former colleague.", but I must be mistaken because the above timeline only shows her there to be 15 minutes. Then, the timeframe shows:

• 2:00 p.m. - EV had a late checkout (2 p.m.) at the Nest Hotel in Palo Alto.
• 3:15-3:30 p.m. – Last seen in the 2500 block of Sand Hill Rd, Palo Alto CA by a former colleague.

I wonder, was EV behaving strangely when she checked out at 2 p.m.? What did she do between 2:00 and 3:15--eat lunch? Where?

Who did she meet at 3:15? How was she acting then?

I am sure I am just repeating what others have said. Something is not right. Someone with no history of mental illness does not suddenly have "an apparent manic episode" and suddenly die.

Erin, what happened to you?

 

[kittythehare]

I had not unsubd. from this thread but I did not receive notifications.
I just got this

How Erin Valenti died remains a mystery as family searches for answers – Crypto Dictation

 

[Kittybunny]

Apologies. I seem to have mixed things up. For some reason I thought the dinner with friends occurred at "3:15-3:30 p.m. – Last seen in the 2500 block of Sand Hill Rd, Palo Alto CA by a former colleague.", but I must be mistaken because the above timeline only shows her there to be 15 minutes. Then, the timeframe shows:

• 2:00 p.m. - EV had a late checkout (2 p.m.) at the Nest Hotel in Palo Alto.
• 3:15-3:30 p.m. – Last seen in the 2500 block of Sand Hill Rd, Palo Alto CA by a former colleague.

I wonder, was EV behaving strangely when she checked out at 2 p.m.? What did she do between 2:00 and 3:15--eat lunch? Where?

Who did she meet at 3:15? How was she acting then?

I am sure I am just repeating what others have said. Something is not right. Someone with no history of mental illness does not suddenly have "an apparent manic episode" and suddenly die.

Erin, what happened to you?

This is very key - thank you for highlighting this part of the timeline. It's hard for me to imagine that Erin would purposefully take something before she was about to get on a flight for home that would be a hallucinogenic or something like that - who wants to be tripping when you're trying to drive, get to the airport, and get on a flight? That's such a waste of an experience. Even if she was really nervous about flying, and was prescribed something like a valium or Xanax, you would still wait till you got to the airport to take it, it only takes like 30 minutes to kick in.

So that leaves me with the possibilities that 1)her former colleague gave her something that either interacted badly with her or that they told her was something it wasn't; or 2) that Erin had a completely unrelated medical/mental issue or (least likely IMHO) 3) Erin was a pretty serious drug user/addict who didn't care about the consequences of whatever she was taking; and/or didn't get a "pure" or "clean" dose of whatever it was.

What really bothers me is that she was in such a state of mind, that despite being urged and probably TOLD to go get help somewhere by her mother and SO, that she still didn't, and when offered assistance or called by LE, she lied to them and told them she was fine and with friends. Whatever happened, she was incapable of recognizing the danger she was in, and was clearly not thinking logically whatsoever. If I felt that weird, strange, not the way I expected, I think even kind of messed up, I would call or go somewhere to get help.

 

[CSIDreamer]

This is very key - thank you for highlighting this part of the timeline. It's hard for me to imagine that Erin would purposefully take something before she was about to get on a flight for home that would be a hallucinogenic or something like that - who wants to be tripping when you're trying to drive, get to the airport, and get on a flight? That's such a waste of an experience. Even if she was really nervous about flying, and was prescribed something like a valium or Xanax, you would still wait till you got to the airport to take it, it only takes like 30 minutes to kick in.

So that leaves me with the possibilities that 1)her former colleague gave her something that either interacted badly with her or that they told her was something it wasn't; or 2) that Erin had a completely unrelated medical/mental issue or (least likely IMHO) 3) Erin was a pretty serious drug user/addict who didn't care about the consequences of whatever she was taking; and/or didn't get a "pure" or "clean" dose of whatever it was.

What really bothers me is that she was in such a state of mind, that despite being urged and probably TOLD to go get help somewhere by her mother and SO, that she still didn't, and when offered assistance or called by LE, she lied to them and told them she was fine and with friends. Whatever happened, she was incapable of recognizing the danger she was in, and was clearly not thinking logically whatsoever. If I felt that weird, strange, not the way I expected, I think even kind of messed up, I would call or go somewhere to get help.

BBM your last statement.

I think this is key. She was completely messed up. Anyone (other than LE) she spoke with knew it. Whatever was happening, Erin couldn't recognize or realize it.

What can cause that? Family is adamant she had no mental/emotional issues.

 

[Satchie]

Family is adamant she had no mental/emotional issues.

Denial is, IMO, the most common defense mechanism in our society. No one could become a secret alcoholic, drug user, adulterer, or criminal of any kind, without it. We use it frequently, every day, for example to pretend to ourselves that we and our loved ones won't die except in some ever distant remote future time.

 

[Seattle1]

Denial is, IMO, the most common defense mechanism in our society. No one could become a secret alcoholic, drug user, adulterer, or criminal of any kind, without it. We use it frequently, every day, for example to pretend to ourselves that we and our loved ones won't die except in some ever distant remote future time.

It seems EV was on the phone for at least 6 hours -- alternating between her husband and parents. I wish they had recorded those hours and could now analyze them, after the fact, and no longer in the heat of the moment.

 

[savagewoman]

I had not unsubd. from this thread but I did not receive notifications.
I just got this

How Erin Valenti died remains a mystery as family searches for answers – Crypto Dictation

I liked this article. Not only did it explained her profession some more, it showed what a mystery it is to all her family, friends and police.
We might have 1 - 2 months more to wait for ME's report. IMO The results might not give us the results we are hoping for. It probably will still be a mystery.

 

[kittythehare]

BBM your last statement.

I think this is key. She was completely messed up. Anyone (other than LE) she spoke with knew it. Whatever was happening, Erin couldn't recognize or realize it.

What can cause that? Family is adamant she had no mental/emotional issues.

A high temperature can cause this kind of confusion.
A cerebro- vascular stroke/hemorrhage..
Almost anything, in fact and these are just organic possibilities, all of which we have discussed before,many times.

 

[Trebor5591]

I liked this article. Not only did it explained her profession some more, it showed what a mystery it is to all her family, friends and police.
We might have 1 - 2 months more to wait for ME's report. IMO The results might not give us the results we are hoping for. It probably will still be a mystery.

Thanks for posting this article. I found it very interesting, and concerning as well. Let me quote the two concerning paragraphs:

"Valenti is believed to have been last seen by a former manager of hers at Summit Partners, Dean Jacobson, on Monday afternoon. He recalls Valenti as “vibrant” and “uniquely talented” in an email, though he did not want to be interviewed for this story." Emphasis is mine.

And this:

A police investigation is ongoing, though a spokesman for the San Jose police would not say more for this story, including whether the police had ruled out foul play.

So Jacobson is the last person to see Erin alive, and Jacobson did not want to be interviewed for the news story. In my opinion, it sounds suspicious. What happened in that last meeting? Also note, the police have not ruled out foul play.

 

[Mzt]

I haven't had a chance to get all the details but from what I know of this case, it reminds me of a situation I had. A guy who was at a dinner I attended drugged me. There was about 10 of us and I had no idea he was interested in me. I had to leave after dinner and got into my car sober. By the time I parked, I was so messed up I fell out of my car. I couldn't find my friend's apartment that I had been to many times even though I could see her patio door from my car. I lost my shoes in the parking lot, broke her towel holder with my body when I crashed into her wall, couldn't stand, lost my purse and wallet and couldn't remember almost anything after leaving the dinner besides being more messed up than I have ever been. I woke up passed out on my knees and face with my voicemail full from messages from him and about 25 missed calls. Found out a couple days later he drugged me with liquid ketamine. I never had any bad vibe from him and was shocked he did that at a friendly private dinner with close friends. This reminds me of that. I bet Jacobson knows why she was the way she was