Authorities have confirmed that Yohanes Kidane, a Netflix software engineer from San Jose who went missing last month, has been found dead. The 22-year-old Cornell graduate was last seen on the morning of Aug. 14, when he got into an Uber in San Jose, California.
Concerned family members reported him missing after they failed to hear from him, who had recently moved from New York to California to begin his new job at Netflix in mid-August.
Following weeks of extensive search, on Wednesday, authorities confirmed that the body of Yohanes Kidane was recovered from San Francisco Bay.
Yohanes Kidane’s death was ruled as a Suicide
In a news release Wednesday, the Marin County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that a missing Netflix software engineer was found dead on August 29, 2023, in the San Francisco Bay northeast of the Golden Gate Bridge. Coroner’s officers who identified the remains last week determined the manner of death as suicide. Officials said that Kidane suffered blunt-force injuries as a result of drowning.
“The cause of death was determined to be from blunt impact injuries with drowning as a significant contributing condition. The mode of death was determined to be suicide.”
Detailing the discovery, authorities claimed that on August 29, Marin County Sheriff’s Office Coroner Division responded to reports of the discovery of a body located within the San Francisco Bay waters northeast of the Golden Gate Bridge by a passing boat.
Subsequently, The United States Coast Guard in the Station Golden Gate sector was notified, and they descended on the area to recover the remains. The body was then transported to Station Golden Gate, located in Sausalito, where paramedics pronounced the victim dead.
Authorities said that due to prolonged exposure to the elements in the water, they were unable to identify the remains at that time. However, on August 31, the coroner reportedly identified the person as Yohanes Kidane. A day later, officials confirmed the manner of death as suicide.
Two days after Yohanes Kidane disappeared following the Uber ride, Fox, citing a witness, reported that a civilian recovered the missing software engineer’s backpack, laptop and documents near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco on August 15. Two weeks later Kidane’s body was floating in the San Francisco Bay northeast of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Following the disappearance, Yohanes Kidane’s older brother said that they were scouring the area in search of the missing person and issued a plea for information that would lead to his whereabouts. At the time, Yosief Kidane said:
“We just really hope that if some people saw something, or saw someone, or something unusual or someone that looked like him to come forward with anything they have to the San Jose Police Department.”
Yohanes Kidane’s devastated mother also commented on the search effort and said:
“We want to take him home. I need my son. I need my son. He’s a good man who has a bright future, very loving to his family.”
Police said that they had no evidence to suspect foul play in the case.