“We think that this was not a random act by any means,” Sergeant Cleveland said.

The episode may have been motivated by robbery, according to a news release posted to the sheriff’s office’s Facebook page. Sergeant Cleveland declined to comment on whether any property was taken from the home.

Image Tushar Atre was kidnapped from his home in Santa Cruz County, Calif., on Tuesday, the police said. Credit... Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office, via Associated Press

Around 3 a.m. on Tuesday, someone called the police to report that Mr. Atre had been kidnapped, Sergeant Cleveland said.

Mr. Atre, 50, was last seen getting into his girlfriend’s white BMW SUV early Tuesday morning, Sergeant Cleveland said, adding that the girlfriend was not inside the home at the time.

Hours later, during the course of the investigation, the police arrived at an address on a two-lane road about 10 miles from Mr. Atre’s home, Sergeant Cleveland said. “It was still in our county, but the northern part of our county,” he said, describing the area as “mountainous.”

There, the authorities found the vehicle and the body, he said. He declined to say where exactly the body was found or describe its condition.