Netflix Engineer Goes Missing In San Francisco Two Weeks After Moving There. "We're Going To Find Him," His Brother Says. Yohanes Kidane, 22, was last seen getting into an Uber a week ago. Nobody has heard from him since.
By Jonathan Small •
Key Takeaways
- Kidane's cell phone and wallet were found at the Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Center
- He went missing from his job at Netflix a week after starting
- His family is canvassing the city looking for any information on his whereabouts
A 22-year-old engineer for Netflix has mysteriously gone missing, and now his family is desperately leading an effort to find him.
Yohanes Kidane moved to California in late July to start his career as a software engineer for the streaming powerhouse.
"He was super excited to start working at Netflix," his brother Yosief told NBC News. "He was always talking about how wise and capable his coworkers were."
But only a week after starting his position, he disappeared. Police say the last time he was reportedly seen was getting into a black Toyota sedan Uber on August 14 at around 7:15 p.m. outside his San Jose apartment.
Strange activity on his cell phone
According to NBC, Kidane's sister had been tracking his location the night he disappeared. She noticed that he was near the Golden Gate Bridge, about an hour away from his home but nothing out of the ordinary.
However, his sister noticed the phone was still at the same location the next day.
"She'd been calling, trying to see what he's doing. He never picked up," Yosief said. "She calls me, wakes me up before I start work, and we start calling his phone, calling friends, trying to see where he could be."
When Kidane's phone started suddenly moving, they called it and the person that answered said they'd found his phone and wallet at the Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Center.
The family alerted the police, who his a health check at Kidane's apartment but found no one home. Kidane also didn't show up to work the next day.
Related: A Missing Tech CEO Is Found Dead In Santa Monica. 'His Bright Smile Will Be Missed.'
His family searches for him
The son of Eritrea immigrants, Kidane was raised in Rochester, New York. He graduated in May with a degree in computer science from the College of Engineering at Cornell University.
According to NBC, he comes from a very close-knit family that is very concerned about him.
Several family members, who all live in East Coast, traveled to the Bay Area to help find Kidane, putting up fliers and contacting medical centers, homeless shelters, friends, and family members.
"We're going to find him and we're going to bring him home," his brother said. "We're not going to stop. We know our friends and family and the community is not going to stop."
Kidane is described as a Black man, 5-foot-8, and 150 pounds. He was last seen wearing gray sweatpants, a black hoodie, and black shoes.
Anybody with information that could be used to help find Yohanes Kidane should contact the San Jose Police Department at 408-277-8900.
