Tech CEO from Salt Lake City found dead in San Jose
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Flowers, a note with three hearts drawn onto a white sheet of paper with the Erin written on it sit on a sidewalk on the 6500 block of Bose Ln. in San Jose Sunday evening.
It is the location where Erin Valenti, a tech CEO from Salt Lake City who was visiting Palo Alto on business was found dead Saturday.
Her body was found inside her rental vehicle after she went missing on Monday Oct. 7.
“We came out to walk our dog and that's when we noticed all the activity,” said Dan Zuck, who lives in the neighborhood where Valenti’s body was found.
He said that when he saw the heavy police presence in his community, he had an inkling that it was related to the Valenti case because he heard about her disappearance a "Facebook" page created by her loved one who were seeking information on her whereabouts.
“That's why kind of drew us here I guess is to find out what is going on and if it was this woman that people had been talking about on social media,” Zuck said.
Valenti, 33, was in Palo Alto on business and was due on the day she vanished to return her rental car and fly back home to Salt Lake City.
When the missing CEO of the tech company Tinker Ventures wasn’t heard from, her husband, Harrision Weinstein and mother, Agnes Valenti came to San Jose to search for her. They handed out flyers in the neighborhood where her cell phone last pinged.
The development sent a shockwave felt back in Salt Lake where a friend said he knew something was wrong when she first vanished when she did not return a text message.
“Pretty quickly you see the read receipt and she would respond and say something, but it was radio silence,” said Scott Paul.
Her death was all the more troubling said family members because Valenti had no history mental illness or problems with drugs.
Valenti's family said they reported her missing to the San Jose Police Department, but labeled her case as 'voluntarily missing.'
“The San Jose Police Department is conducting a death investigation in the 6500 block of Bose Lane in San Jose. A body was located inside a vehicle parked on the street. The Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office will determine the manner and cause of death. The identity of the victim will be released by the Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office after they confirm the victim’s identity and notify next of kin. No additional information is available at this time,” said a statement from San Jose Police Sgt Enrique Garcia.
Garcia did not address why they thought Valenti voluntarily missing.