Body of Missing Netflix Engineer Found Near Golden Gate Bridge: Police

Yohanes Stefanos Kidane. Courtesy of San Jose Police Department

Authorities announced on Sept. 6 that the body of Yohanes Stefanos Kidane, a 22-year-old Netflix software engineer from California who went missing last month, has been found in the San Francisco Bay area.

The discovery was made by an unidentified boater who spotted an unresponsive body northeast of the Golden Gate Bridge on Aug. 29, the Marin County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

An autopsy report has since concluded that his death was a suicide.

According to the police statement, a forensic postmortem examination that took place on Sept. 1 determined Mr. Kidane’s cause of death to be from “blunt impact injuries with drowning as a significant contributing condition.”

Recovery Efforts

Police said the boater notified the California Highway Patrol when finding human remains in the water. The agency then immediately contacted the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) station in the Golden Gate sector, which located the remains of a male floating in the water.

The body was removed from the water and transported to the USCG’s Golden Gate station in Sausalito, California, awaiting paramedics, who pronounced the subject deceased at 11:12 a.m. on Aug. 29. No resuscitation aid was provided due to the subject’s presenting physiologic condition, police said.

The U.S. Coast Guard patrols the area around the Golden Gate Bridge just off the coast of San Francisco, Calif., on Oct. 4, 2001. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

According to the statement, Mr. Kidane’s identity was initially unknown because he did not possess any type of identification and also due to the body exhibiting “signs of advanced decomposition, prolonged exposure to the aquatic environment, and appreciable depredation.”

Police said an “arduous investigation” followed and resulted in the deceased male being “positively scientifically identified” as Yohanes Stefanos Kidane two days after his body was removed from the water. Next of kin were then located, contacted, and notified of his discovery and passing.

“The Marin County Sheriff’s Office and personnel of the Coroner Division offers our sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Kidane,” police stated.

Recently Graduated

Mr. Kidane was originally from Webster—a town in the northeastern corner of Monroe County, New York—but was currently living in San Jose, according to police.

The San Jose Police Department said in an Aug. 22 statement on Facebook that Mr. Kidane was reported as a missing person on Aug. 15. Following an investigation, detectives learned that the 22-year-old took a rideshare from San Jose to San Francisco on Aug. 14. He was last seen in San Francisco.

His family told NBC Bay Area that he was last seen on Aug. 14 getting into an Uber in front of his apartment in San Jose.

Mr. Kidane recently graduated from Cornell University in New York before moving to California after being hired to work as a software engineer for Netflix.

Some of Mr. Kidane’s belongings, such as his cell phone, wallet, and backpack were later recovered near the Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Center in San Francisco, which is located just south of the bridge, CBS News reported.

If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741741, or go to the 988lifeline.org website here.

From NTD News