SAN MATEO — The desperate wife of a missing Pacifica man found his body when she followed a find-my-phone application to the spot where his car had flipped off an elevated ramp at the interchange of Highway 101 and state Highway 92.

Jayesh Patel, 49, died late Friday or early Saturday after the Mercedes he was driving careened off Highway 92 and plummeted to a field below, the California Highway Patrol reported.

Patel’s wife called emergency responders around noon Saturday upon finding his car underneath the San Mateo interchange, said CHP spokesman Arturo Montiel.

She had filed a missing persons report with Pacifica police after her husband didn’t come home Friday night. She then used an app to “ping” his cell phone, Montiel said.

Once the app traced the phone to the highway interchange, she drove there, discovered the car and alerted the CHP. She was at the scene when officers arrived, Montiel said.

Officers believe the crash occurred sometime after 10 p.m. Friday. Evidence indicates the Mercedes was traveling east on Highway 92 and heading toward northbound 101. For still-unknown reasons, the car collided with a concrete barrier on the east side of the connector ramp and was propelled over the top.

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The car fell about 30 feet onto a patch of dirt below, not far from a parking lot behind a building at 1900 S. Norfolk St., east of Highway 101.

The sedan was found right-side-up, but was so crushed that emergency responders used the Jaws of Life to tear off the doors and extract the driver’s body, Montiel said.

The CHP is investigating the collision and has not determined whether drugs or alcohol were a factor.

Anyone with information about the collision may contact Officer Karl Steinkraus at 650-369-6261.