'Charade': Family slams police after death of Utah tech CEO in San Jose

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The family of a missing Utah tech executive has called off a search for her after police reported that a body was found inside a parked car in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Police in San Jose said the body was discovered Saturday in an area where Erin Valenti’s family had been searching. The Mercury News reports family members were baffled that the body of the 33-year-old was unnoticed on a residential street, possibly for days.

“While we were praying for a different outcome, we are so appreciative for the help and support you have given,” according to a Facebook post by the group Help Find Erin Valenti.

“Please remember Erin as the beautiful, smart, funny woman that she was,” it said.

Valenti heads Tinker Ventures, an app development company based in Salt Lake City. Her family grew worried after she missed her flight home on Monday following a business trip.

Erin Valenti’s father, Joseph Valenti, expressed frustration with the police response to his daughter's disappearance, calling it a "charade." Joseph Valenti said police did not file an official missing person's report until Thursday, and even then, only described her as "voluntarily missing." The police told the family that she was an adult, and she could have just taken off for a few days, her father said.

Her parents told the Mercury News they feared she may have suffered a manic episode.

“We talked to her for hours on and off” on Monday night, her mother Whitey Valenti told the newspaper. “Her thoughts were disconnected. She talked a mile a minute. She’d say, ' I’m coming home for Thanksgiving,' then in the next she was saying she’s in the Matrix,” a reference to the science fiction movie.

However, Erin Valenti’s husband said she had no history of mental illness.

“There’s never any history of anything like this, no mental health diagnosis, no hospitalization, no substance use, no arrests — as clear of a record as you can get. This is incredibly unlike her,” Harrison Weinstein said during the search. “She is an extremely high achievement, successful person.”

Residents in the area where the woman's body was found were also disturbed by how long she remained there unnoticed, in plain sight, possibly for days.

“I’m very shocked, I feel so sorry for the family,” neighbor Carol MacDonald told KPIX. “I saw the car there, but…never dawned on me somebody was in there.”

“It’s really strange, bizarre, foggy to me. Because this kind of stuff just doesn’t usually go down in Almaden,” said 56-year-old Ralph Elongo.

Elongo brought the Valenti family water and chairs while they waited for the coroner, on the day Erin's body was found.

“Watching that family break down over there yesterday was heartbreaking,” Elongo said. “What a nightmare.”

National desk editor Chelsea Robinson contributed to this article