Body of Utah tech CEO found inside rental car in San Jose after she was reported missing during a business trip
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA: The body of Erin Valenti, Utah-based CEO of the company Tinker who had been reported missing during a business trip in the San Francisco Bay Area, has been found by authorities. Valenti's body was reportedly found on October 12 in the 6500 block of Bose Lane in San Jose, California and her death is currently under investigation.
According to Deseret News, Valenti, who has been described as 5-foot-4 with blonde hair, blue eyes and weighing a hundred fifty pounds, was found inside her parked rental car in San Jose, California. According to the police, it was in that area, near the Almaden Library and Community Center, where the last phone call from Valenti was made. Valenti's family has confirmed the discovery and called off the search for the victim.
"Erin has been found. Please call off the search. We all greatly appreciate the effort and support people have provided. The family will release more information as they are able to," the statement said, according to the Daily Mail.
The 34-year-old woman was last seen in Palo Alto on October 7. In her last Facebook post, shared on September 26, Valenti announced her trip to California writing: "Heading to SF and LA soon... who's around? Dm me!"
Valenti's husband, Harrison Weinstein, shared a post on his Facebook asking people to help locate his missing wife. "I write this post with a lot of pain and fear, but can really use your help," he wrote on October 9. "My wife, Erin Valenti has been missing since Monday night. She was driving from Palo Alto to San Jose, but never returned her rental car or made it on to her flight home to Utah."
Weinstein also shared a description of the car Valenti was driving, identifying it as a grey Nissan Murano with California license plate numbers 8LUD641. He also mentioned that Valenti was last seen wearing a white t-shirt and torn jeans.
Despite the family's insistence that something had gone horribly wrong, the San Jose Police Department reportedly considered Valenti's disappearance as a voluntary missing person case. Valenti's mother Agnes Valenti was reportedly the last person she spoke to before she went missing.
"I think that they were missing that she was acting very vulnerable," Weinstein told KRON 4. "Very out of sort, everything she said was she was planning on coming home, she was trying to get home."
"She told me she was driving around because the GPS wasn't working," Valenti's mother told reporters before the discovery of her daughter's body. "There's no phone activity and my daughter was very techie and always on the phone and no credit card activity so we don't know what's happened and we can't find her or the car."
Silicon Slopes/Utah Tech Council Executive Director Clint Betts described Valenti as a “force for good” in the Utah tech community. “Erin was a such a force for good,” Betts said in a statement. “It’s hard to imagine the Silicon Slopes community without her in it. Our hearts go out to her husband and family during this unimaginable time. We are devastated.”
Valenti was scheduled to receive an award at an event hosted by Utah-based Women Tech Council but never appeared at the event in Salt Lake City, according to organizers.
Police said the Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office will determine the manner and cause of death and have not released any further details on the incident.