Yahoo 'hires private investigator to find brilliant programmer, 28,' who's been missing since New Year's Day

Luke Arduini of Oakland, California was last heard from over social media when he posted a picture of San Francisco's Bay Bridge

Friends say Yahoo believes him valuable enough to go looking for

Private investigator James Vierra says Arduini has a history of mental instability and suicidal comments



Friends say he's disappeared before

The search is on for a software programmer at Yahoo who went missing without a trace New Year's Day.

Friends say Luke Arduini of Oakland, California is a brilliant Javascript programmer and that his employer has gone so far as to hire a private investigator to find the 28-year-old.

Arduini has disappeared without telling anyone before, but the private investigator says Arduini--who's ominous last Instagram photo was of the Bay Bridge--has a history of emotional instability.

Brilliant: 28-year-old Yahoo programmer Luke Arduini (left) attended a New Year's Eve party and then disappeared

Friends of Arduini's claim the programmer (here with Marissa Mayer in October) was so important to Yahoo that the company has hired the PI who's now searching for him

Arduini's social media feeds say very little about the man investigator James Vierra says sometimes has emotional outbursts.

'He talked about issues where he's be better off not being around,' claims Vierra.

Vierra declined to say who he's working for but KCBS reports that the missing man's friends are saying it's Yahoo.



Photos taken by host Dustin Diaz show him smiling with friends at a New Year's Eve party.

'We were having an awesome time,' Diaz told KCBS. 'We were laughing. A lot of the photos are of him just laughing.'

Friends say Arduini once went to Thailand alone without telling anyone, but that a week of total silence isn't normal even for him.

The last time Diaz saw Arduini, they were watching the New Year's fireworks over San Francisco.

From there, his only remaining traces are what lingers online.



A photo of the fireworks was posted to the programmer's Twitter with the phrase 'ITS THE FINALE.'

'To the various parties I've pissed off with my opinions and proselytizing in 2013: my apologies. It's not getting any better in 2014,' he would later tweet.

Differing impressions: Friend Dustin Diaz (right) says the brilliant programmer was having a great time at his party but then suddenly vanished sometime after San Francisco's fireworks display. Private investigator James Vierra (left) says Arduini had a history of emotional instability.







'ITS THE FINALE': The last things heard from Arduini were all posts on social media, including this Twitter picture of the evening's fireworks

Ominous: Arduini's final Instagram photo was of the Bay Bridge and the words 'Bridge ing'

To the various parties I've pissed off with my opinions and proselytizing in 2013: my apologies. It's not getting any better in 2014. — luke arduini (@luk) January 1, 2014

On Instagram, Arduini's last photo was of the Bay Bridge. 'Bridge ing,' he wrote.

His final tweet said simply, 'Ok.'

Arduini has this tattoo of Linux code on his chest

And since January 1st the feeds have all gone silent.

Arduini left his cat unattended in his Oakland apartment and some reports have said that he's diabetic and left his insulin at home, as well.

He is 5-foot-10 and weighs between 150 and 170 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes. He has a tattoo of the number 42 on his neck and a tattoo of a heart with crossbones on his chest where there is also a tattoo of Linux code that reads 'rm –rf /.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Victor Arvizu of the Oakland police at (510) 238-3641.