Found Deceased CA - Christopher Liang, USF student, rented a car to go from San Francisco to Irvine, 28 Feb 2022

[GMS]

Last known location is Firebaugh, in central CA. It's off the 5 freeway and is a known stop for road trips.

For further clarification per my previous post, Chris' brother indicated he was at the Tesla Supercharger station just off the 5 freeway near Firebaugh, not in the actual town of Firebaugh. I've attached a map which shows the charging station.

 

[SandyQLS]

Chris' brother, Jerry, has posted a few updates today...see notes below for clarification and further details. He indicates Chris was supposed to return the rental car on Wednesday, March 2nd, so this was a quick, 2-day trip, having just picked the car up on that Monday.

• "We've tried our best with the rental car company and Tesla and discovered that the car has been offline."

• "The last time he was in contact with anyone was 5 PM PST Monday, and he claimed to be in Firebaugh CA (the Tesla Supercharger next to i5 with Firebaugh in address, not the town) at that time."

• "This is his first time driving since he got his license in March and he has never booked a hotel in his life."

"... 5 PM PST Monday, and he claimed to be in Firebaugh CA (the Tesla Supercharger next to i5 with Firebaugh in address, not the town) at that time. ..."

Everything at the West Panoche Road exit from I-5 has Firebaugh, CA as the address even though the town of Firebaugh is 23 miles away from the interstate. There are at least two electric car charging stations at the exit per Google maps:

Tesla Supercharger
46272 West Panoche Road
Firebaugh, CA 93622

Electrifying America Charging Station
46331 West Panoche Road
Firebaugh, CA 93622

This is a built-up exit with multiple gas stations and fast food, and even a motel. There must be some cameras.

 

[Unsolved]

In this article:

"The family believes Christopher made it to Patterson – located off I-5 in Stanislaus County – just before 2 p.m. on Monday and later Firebaugh – a little more than an hour south of Patterson – for a 5 p.m. remote job interview. Liang said his brother, who's a senior at USF, had been interviewing for jobs in the last several weeks and had advanced to later rounds for at least one of those positions."

Anyone familiar with Patterson? Cameras there?

SF college student's mysterious disappearance baffles family: 'Very uncharacteristic of him'

 

[SimplyCass]

Christopher Liang - Google My Maps

Based on the photo on the Instagram post, I believe I have figured out the place where CL picked up the car - United Rentals, at 123 Loomis, in San Francisco. I can see a sign for the "A&C Auto Clinic" and the angle works out (taking a photo of the car inside the UR lot across the street).

ETA: I actually don't think he rented from UR, because they don't offer Teslas to rent. (Mostly big equipment for construction.) However, that does seem to line up with where the photo was taken.

When they say "remote job interview," do they mean it was a remote job site, or the method of interview was remote (over the phone/video call or something)?

For further clarification per my previous post, Chris' brother indicated he was at the Tesla Supercharger station just off the 5 freeway near Firebaugh, not in the actual town of Firebaugh. I've attached a map which shows the charging station.

Thanks for the clarification. I've been to that general area on road trips, although I didn't know that the actual town was further away.

 

[cvaldez1975]

In this article:

"The family believes Christopher made it to Patterson – located off I-5 in Stanislaus County – just before 2 p.m. on Monday and later Firebaugh – a little more than an hour south of Patterson – for a 5 p.m. remote job interview. Liang said his brother, who's a senior at USF, had been interviewing for jobs in the last several weeks and had advanced to later rounds for at least one of those positions."

Anyone familiar with Patterson? Cameras there?

SF college student's mysterious disappearance baffles family: 'Very uncharacteristic of him'

Patterson has become a bedroom community for commuters ro the Bay Area. They are building tons of subdivisions there so there must be cams, it was previously a farm town.

 

[Luckyzmom]

The Apricot Capital

Patterson

 

[Luckyzmom]

I grew up in the valley north of Sacramento can't be much different. Ag is dying, travel stops and fast food..
Truck Stops must be cameras somewhere

 

[Luckyzmom]

More traffic not safe to travel alone .

 

[AnyNameIWish]

The brother mentioned he had job interviews via phone that he had scheduled on Monday. I worry that he was preparing for an interview and parked alone and this made him vulnerable.

I have done the drive along the 5 many many times and Firebaugh is a standard pitstop for me, it doesn't ever feel unsafe (the line for the McDonald's bathrooms can be so long!)

I wish they could get a team out there to put up flyers.

 

[Teche]

Chris' brother, Jerry, has posted a few updates today...see notes below for clarification and further details. He indicates Chris was supposed to return the rental car on Wednesday, March 2nd, so this was a quick, 2-day trip, having just picked the car up on that Monday.

• "We've tried our best with the rental car company and Tesla and discovered that the car has been offline."

• "The last time he was in contact with anyone was 5 PM PST Monday, and he claimed to be in Firebaugh CA (the Tesla Supercharger next to i5 with Firebaugh in address, not the town) at that time."

• "This is his first time driving since he got his license in March and he has never booked a hotel in his life."

It’s concerning that he’s a new driver on a 2-day trip.

 

[cvaldez1975]

It’s concerning that he’s a new driver on a 2-day trip.

It’s not a 2 day drive though. It’s like 6-7 hours.

 

[AnyNameIWish]

It’s not a 2 day drive though. It’s like 6-7 hours.

I think what is being said here is...


Leave Monday from SF to Irvine... that's a 6 or 7 hour drive at least.

5pm Monday still in Firebaugh?? (Still another 4 or 5 hrs to go Irvine if there's traffic.) He won't get to Irvine til laaaate.


Stay overnight in Irvine, spend Tuesday in Irvine, drive back Wednesday and return the rental.


That's a pretty tiring schedule, esp as a new driver in California. I have done it with a 2 day turnaround, but only after being really familiar with the drive.
That's a quick turnaround time.

 

[annpats]

So they tracked the car to the Firebaugh electric car charging station, 23 miles from the town of Firebaugh. Then after that the car went "offline".

Does that mean he couldn't manage to charge it?
Or the malfunction it had was severe?

Or Chris turned the car to "offline" himself....is that even possible?

 

[Protectwomenandgirls]

Saw this in local news in Berkeley.
Seems really strange that the tesla went 'offline' as well as Christopher's phone being inactive/untraceable.
Sadly I wonder if MH issues were a major catalyst, especially with him having lots of job interviews. Traveling while having job interviews is very stressful in general, but even more so being on this sort of a time crunch as a new driver in CA

 

[annpats]

Seems really strange that the tesla went 'offline' as well as Christopher's phone being inactive/untraceable.

I wonder if that would indicate they are both in water? Are there any lakes, reservoirs or rivers out near there?

 

[Cryptic]

Then after that the car went "offline".

Does that mean he couldn't manage to charge it?
Or the malfunction it had was severe?

Or Chris turned the car to "offline" himself....is that even possible?

I think those are very valid questions. In regards to the last question, large passenger jets cannot be fully turned off communication wise by pilots as the engines make periodic independent status updates to the manufacturer etc.

Carrying the concept on to Teslas and their ultra sophisticated computers, I wonder if there are similar "deep" status reports made by the car that would allow for rough tracking and that cannot be shut off by the driver- at least not in the practical sense?

Likewise, I wonder if a charging station still records Teslas using it, even if the car has been placed in "off line" mode? If so, this could indicate that the car has not been recharged after the last stop.

 

[MntnHiker]

If you look at his brother's Instagram post (linked in this article: SF college student's mysterious disappearance baffles family: 'Very uncharacteristic of him') his brother says he "has BROKEN plans he made with friends in Irvine" (caps mine). But in the actual article where they, I'm assuming, were paraphrasing the brother, they say he "MISSED plans" with friends (caps mine).

I'm curious on the "broken plans" that is how it's written in the brother's IG post. To me broken = he canceled plans. Missed means he just didn't show up. Now, it's possible when the brother says he "broke plans" he also means he didn't show up. But I'm just curious if he did actually call and cancel plans with friends, and if so, when did he do that and what reason did he give? Or did he just no-show?

 

[SimplyCass]

Can the rental company track the car, I wonder?

They should, it's pretty standard for rental car companies to track their cars. (Especially if the contract stipulates only driving through certain states, so they'll charge you if they see that the car crossed into a disallowed state.)

I think what is being said here is...


Leave Monday from SF to Irvine... that's a 6 or 7 hour drive at least.

5pm Monday still in Firebaugh?? (Still another 4 or 5 hrs to go Irvine if there's traffic.) He won't get to Irvine til laaaate.


Stay overnight in Irvine, spend Tuesday in Irvine, drive back Wednesday and return the rental.


That's a pretty tiring schedule, esp as a new driver in California. I have done it with a 2 day turnaround, but only after being really familiar with the drive.
That's a quick turnaround time.

In addition to this - also trying to do this in a Tesla that only has a real-world driving range of 320 miles per charge? Doing that solo in that time frame alone is stressful enough but in an electric car?

In the end it may not matter, but just curious - is Chris under age 25? There would be more restrictions/rules about renting a car if he's under 25.

 

[cvaldez1975]

I think what is being said here is...


Leave Monday from SF to Irvine... that's a 6 or 7 hour drive at least.

5pm Monday still in Firebaugh?? (Still another 4 or 5 hrs to go Irvine if there's traffic.) He won't get to Irvine til laaaate.


Stay overnight in Irvine, spend Tuesday in Irvine, drive back Wednesday and return the rental.


That's a pretty tiring schedule, esp as a new driver in California. I have done it with a 2 day turnaround, but only after being really familiar with the drive.
That's a quick turnaround time.

I see your point. I’m a California native and at his age that was nothing to me but I wasn’t a new driver. Nowadays not so much tho lol.

 

[cvaldez1975]

I wonder if that would indicate they are both in water? Are there any lakes, reservoirs or rivers out near there?

Yea the aqueduct is close