Found Deceased CA - Erin Valenti, 33, from Utah, en-route from Palo Alto to San Jose, 7 Oct 2019

[savagewoman]

IMO
Sounds like foul play. I use to travel solo for work at all times of day. One thing I would do is get gas long before I head to return the car so to avoid predators looking for an easy prey.

Do anyone know if the car rental drop off is at the airport or off site?

Very scared for her

 

[FlamingoLady]

It just seems like if she had an accident someone would have seen it happen or would have found her by now. Just don't have a good feeling about this one.

 

[PommyMommy]

Pommy, slightly O/T, I am reminded of the case of Tanya Ryder. She had a car accident and searchers passed her many many times. She was just off the highway under a bridge embankment thing totally covered by leaves. On Day 8, her husband was brought into the Police Dept and in his words (paraphrasing) was being grilled and about to be charged. It was at that moment they got the call that she and her vehicle had been found and that she was alive. If they had gotten to her any later, she would have died.

So yes, if she’s had an accident she still could be alive.

I am also reminded of the case of Terrilyn Monette. She had a car accident as well, but sadly did not survive.

I don't remember names as well as you do but I have followed cases that turned out to be vehicular accidents too. She disappeared on Monday though, and if that's what happened, she could be hanging on by a thread!

The thing that's really bothering me in this one that her phone pinged 20 minutes PAST the airport. What was her phone doing there and was she with it? LE doesn't find that curious? MOO

ETA: Not off-topic at all, IMO.

 

[Knox]

She's wearing torn jeans in this photo.
Erin Valenti on Instagram: “Chilling with a film crew at Ritz Carlton, Laguna Beach”

 

[Knox]

IMO
Sounds like foul play. I use to travel solo for work at all times of day. One thing I would do is get gas long before I head to return the car so to avoid predators looking for an easy prey.

Do anyone know if the car rental drop off is at the airport or off site?

Very scared for her

I would say she rent & drop-off at the airport.

 

[MJPeony]

Pommy, slightly O/T, I am reminded of the case of Tanya Ryder. She had a car accident and searchers passed her many many times. She was just off the highway under a bridge embankment thing totally covered by leaves. On Day 8, her husband was brought into the Police Dept and in his words (paraphrasing) was being grilled and about to be charged. It was at that moment they got the call that she and her vehicle had been found and that she was alive. If they had gotten to her any later, she would have died.

So yes, if she’s had an accident she still could be alive.

I am also reminded of the case of Terrilyn Monette. She had a car accident as well, but sadly did not survive. Her car had gone off into the water.

But if it were a car accident why would her phone have pinged down south from the airport (she was coming from the north) in Almaden, after her flight was supposed to leave? An accident would be my first assumption as well, but I can’t make
it fit with her cell ping.

MOO

 

[margarita25]

But if it were a car accident why would her phone have pinged down south from the airport (she was coming from the north) in Almaden, after her flight was supposed to leave? An accident would be my first assumption as well, but I can’t make
it fit with her cell ping.

MOO

Honestly I haven’t read the whole thread here yet. I will say generally though that cell pings can be tricky sometimes as far as towers go. I can elaborate on that more if necessary after I catch up with the details of the case. Again, I’m not saying the ping info is wrong here.

Once again I am reminded of Terrilyn Monette. LE had said that according to traffic cam footage she had turned in a direction which turned out to not be correct. Hence the search occurred in an opposite direction and Tim Miller from TES said “off an inch, might as well be off a mile”.

I think I should catch up before commenting, I may have jumped in too soon and if so my bad.

 

[MJPeony]

I don't remember names as well as you do but I have followed cases that turned out to be vehicular accidents too. She disappeared on Monday though, and if that's what happened, she could be hanging on by a thread!

The thing that's really bothering me in this one that her phone pinged 20 minutes PAST the airport. What was her phone doing there and was she with it? LE doesn't find that curious? MOO

ETA: Not off-topic at all, IMO.

Right. The 1:00am ping after her scheduled flight doesn’t make me think car accident either.

I suppose it’s possible she could have “voluntarily gone missing” to meet someone down that way, and THEN have gotten into a car accident.... but that particular scenario would be a bit convoluted.

MOO.

 

[MJPeony]

Honestly I haven’t read the whole thread here yet. I will say generally though that cell pings can be tricky sometimes as far as towers go. I can elaborate on that more if necessary after I catch up with the details of the case. Again, I’m not saying the ping info is wrong here.

Once again I am reminded of Terrilyn Monette. LE had said that according to traffic cam footage she had turned in a direction which turned out to not be correct. Hence the search occurred in an opposite direction and Tim Miller from TES said “off an inch, might as well be off a mile.”

I think I should catch up before commenting, I may have jumped in too soon and if so my bad.

Not at all- glad you jumped in! And you do bring up a good point about cell pings. Could be that it was triangulated in a way that didn’t result in exact location.

MOO.

 

[margarita25]

Not at all- glad you jumped in! And you do bring up a good point about cell pings. Could be that it was triangulated in a way that didn’t result in exact location.

MOO.

Thanks

Ping information is indeed valuable information though and perhaps this type of technology has gotten much better over the years. We know it has been solid information in other more recent cases.

What towers do we have in the area?

Pulling it up, standby.

ETA: Actually that can be a tricky rabbit hole in itself as far as...(too much to go into atm). I’ll wait on that.

 

[Kapua]

But if it were a car accident why would her phone have pinged down south from the airport (she was coming from the north) in Almaden, after her flight was supposed to leave? An accident would be my first assumption as well, but I can’t make
it fit with her cell ping.

MOO

Exactly. If she was driving from Palo Alto to San Jose Airport, she'd either be on 280 or 101; 101 would be the most direct and 280 would be more scenic with less traffic. You can't miss the airport exits, IMHO, they are clearly marked. And I can't imagine any place along these two major freeways where someone could have a car accident that went unnoticed for days. She was either lured to Almaden or abducted, IMHO, based on what little we know from MSM.
MOO

 

[cvaldez1975]

Was going to ask if there are any bars or somewhere to stop and perhaps grab a bite to eat and have a few before catching her flight, but if this is residential only, that's very concerning. I too, wonder what time she spoke with her spouse last. MOO

nope its all pricey houses.

 

[cvaldez1975]

ITA.

And she was supposed to receive an award at a ceremony. If this were just some “domestic issue” or a case where she went off with another person, it seems very bizarre to me she would skip something important and high-profile like that.

i dont think she skipped out on it. she was headed to the airport. she already got the award. or i skimmed over too fast. ETA ok i skimmed too fast. sorry!!

 

[SAMS]

On another map of this area I saw there's a Bank of America right in this location. I wonder if she stopped to get money? I hope they can get camera footage from the ATM. Might be worth looking into. Unfortunately with this being "voluntary missing" in the eyes of the police, I'm not sure how much investigation is taking place.[/QU

nope its all pricey houses.

ty!

 

[Knox]

Excellent!

Help Find Erin Valenti
Last known location was near Almaden Expressway and Camden Avenue in San Jose.

Erin Valenti missing: How Erin Valenti went missing
Last phone ping in San Jose around Vegas Drive and Menlo Street at 1 am.

(Basically, these are the same location: Google Maps)

The map shows how easy it would be to quickly leave the area with houses (Vegas & Menlo Drives) and be out in the boonies on Mine Hill Road (just my example). Wonder if LE has been searching out in that area? Also Guadalupe Reservoir and Landfill is out there.

Hope I'm jumping the gun on the above!

 

[MJPeony]

From her SM posts Erin seems to be well-travelled. I would assume she’s very travel savvy.

So right now the only circumstance under which I can imagine her being abducted would be at a gas station.

But as someone upthread mentioned, I’d think getting surveillance from area gas stations would be one of the first places LE would start. Would make sense she filled up the rental car as she approached the airport.

Hopefully LE is in process right now of checking those surveillance tapes.


MOO.

 

[cvaldez1975]

I've flown out of SJC, trying to remember the area. I don't think there could be an undiscovered car accident in the area surrounding the airport. So in my mind, not a very likely scenario.

nope its surrounded by urban density. the Guadalupe river trail is near it and that seems like open space, but it is heavily inhabited w unhoused folks with frequent police patrols.

 

[cvaldez1975]

On another map of this area I saw there's a Bank of America right in this location. I wonder if she stopped to get money? I hope they can get camera footage from the ATM. Might be worth looking into. Unfortunately with this being "voluntary missing" in the eyes of the police, I'm not sure how much investigation is taking place.

it is so fabulously out of the way unless you are local or going to see someone local, that she would never stumble upon it.

 

[PaulR]

Unless she needed gas - she seems wealthy enough to just return the car to the airport and pay them to have the tank filled. Or do the prepay thing. I fill up at the last minute when returning a car but I'm cheap.

 

[margarita25]

When I look up regular flights from SJC to SLC on Mondays, there are two regular Delta flights: 4:56-7:45 pm, and 6:45-9:33 pm.

Welcome darrnelle84