Found Deceased CA - Philip Kreycik, 37, Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park, 10 Jul 2021

[ttcRider]

Every time I hear that a cell phone is left in the car all I see are red flags. We can pick apart why someone would do that when going into the woods alone till the cows come home but I will never believe that its for any other reason than to 'disconnect' from everybody. IMO

 

[ElizabethAnne]

Hmmmm, indeed!
What could they possibly need this much money for?

I doubt it's going towards a reward for information on his disappearance!

Not sure. The press reports say he is a PG&E strategic analyst for clean energy with a degree from Harvard and a masters in urban planning from MIT. His wife works in the patent industry for the law firm Kilpatrick, Townsend and Stockton and has not only a degree in Biological Chemistry from UC Berkeley but also a Ph.D. from MIT.

In terms of probably the top ranked EXPENSIVE universities in the U.S., the price tags for attending Harvard and MIT are astronomical. So you have to wonder, if the families are wealthy enough to afford the outlandish tuition for these top priced schools, what in the world are they doing asking for donations from the public?

 

[scriabina]

I personally don't think I would be choosing that particular day to check and explore a brand new set of trails alone in Pleasanton during the time of scorching heat all the while leaving my cell phone in the car.

I wouldn't either. But perhaps he felt the benefits outweighed the risks. Maybe he thought running under horrible heat would be a good training opportunity? Some marathon runners can be pretty extreme. (Edited to add this link about running addiction & compulsion.)

I'm not ruling out the possibility that he never intended to run, though.

 

[annpats]

He is a PG&E strategic analyst with a degree from Harvard and a masters in urban planning from MIT. His wife works in the patent industry for a law firm and has not only a degree in Biological Chemistry from UC Berkeley but also a Ph.D. from MIT.

Well, reading all of that makes the rest of us feel like brain-dead amoebas!

But goodness me, wow. These are people who were at the top of the top universities, studied difficult subjects and have now been rewarded with top-class careers with top firms.

I do take my hat off to them, but it's not a life I would want to lead. The dedication, commitment and drive needed would drain me......and at the end of the day, it's still just a 'job'.

The university costs for all of that must have been enormous. They either had super wealthy well-connected families or huge debts.

No wonder they are asking for such a huge sum of money on the Philip Kreycik missing donation page. The family are probably used to dealing with large amounts of money, and aren't aware how it sounds to us mere mortals.

Perhaps they are looking for corporate funding or donations from other rich and well-connected families and friends?

 

[Tutter]

Not sure. The press reports say he is a PG&E strategic analyst for clean energy with a degree from Harvard and a masters in urban planning from MIT. His wife works in the patent industry for the law firm Kilpatrick, Townsend and Stockton and has not only a degree in Biological Chemistry from UC Berkeley but also a Ph.D. from MIT.

In terms of probably the top ranked EXPENSIVE universities in the U.S., the price tags for attending Harvard and MIT are astronomical. So you have to wonder, if the families are wealthy enough to afford the outlandish tuition for these top priced schools, what in the world are they doing asking for donations from the public?

I’m not a fan of asking for money, but often the tuition is covered via grants or companies that pay for your PhD at these schools. You work and go to school at the same time. You’d be surprised, very few pay the full tuition even undergrads.

 

[mlhenn]

Find Philip Kreycik Find Philip Kreycik

Post by Chris Thoburn- Search Coordinator

I'm the one who has been coordinating the volunteers on the ground.

I'd like to leave a few details here for folks that have questions and to hopefully help reduce some of the unnecessary speculation.

Lastly, about that speculation:
while I have a lot more details around the day before (I ran with him the previous evening and was privy to his plans for the day he disappeared) and the day-of than I'm willing to share at this time, those details all point to Philip having gone on this run at this time with a specific route in mind in a totally normal fashion and something on that run having gone wrong. Speculation otherwise is borderline trollish behavior, and currently we are still in a narrow window of a safe recovery that we are praying for. Please limit your imaginations for the time being, there will be all too much time later to ponder what-ifs if we don't find him.

Bringing the post forward that includes exactly what his friend (search coordinator) stated about running with Philip the day before etc..

 

[TootsieFootsie]

DBM

Wrong thread.

 

[ElizabethAnne]

Trying to theorize that he may have left intentionally but without speculating on why or any details to stay within TOS -- if he did plan to leave, then the run in Pleasanton might have been an intentional misdirection, in other words he announced his plan to run there, and left his car there, to create a theory that something happened on the run, while he never intended to run there at that time at all.

All MOO and conceptual speculation...

There was also something that was said about he had some sort of business-related phone call he missed that was supposed to be right after the run.

If he works for PG&E, they for the most part work 40 hour work weeks. I wonder what sort of phone call he supposedly missed and what it was supposed to be about? And if he had a phone call scheduled, don't you think he would have taken a cell phone with him on the run particularly since he had a phone call meeting scheduled?

 

[Curious_in_NC]

I agree. I don't see why this man would say he had more info but wouldn't share it UNLESS the info was something very personal and significant in nature. Otherwise he could've just said "We went running together last night and chatted about the usual, nothing special. Talked about our kids, upcoming races, the weather. He didn't express any extra stress or concerns."

So why the secrecy? Did PK share he depressed? Suicidal? Oftentimes high achievers are prone to depression due to their perfectionism and high standards. Did PK confide in his running mate that he wanted a divorce? freedom from his current life? Seems like this would be the most damning piece of info you wouldn't want shared with the public. I can't imagine what else it could likely be.

Had PK been working from home with his wife and children all home all the time? That sort of environment would be stressful for most people. Would be interested to know if the wife worked and if children were in daycare or at home. Maybe he couldn't take it anymore and confided this to the friend?

The person he ran with the day before has been extremely active in the Pleasanton Ridge area searches, according to his public Strava profile. I don't think ToS allow me to repeat any comments from there but nothing suggests believing anything other than a trail run by PK gone wrong.

ETA see previous post from @mlhenn. His friend IS the search coordinator and has confirmed these thoughts.

 

[ElizabethAnne]

I’m not a fan of asking for money, but often the tuition is covered via grants or companies that pay for your PhD at these schools. You work and go to school at the same time. You’d be surprised, very few pay the full tuition even undergrads.

I agree that many corporations pay for some postgraduate degrees, particularly those that involve degrees such as Executive MBAs. However, I don't see in this case where they worked part-time for a company that sponsored them. For example, I do not see where Kreycik worked for a municipal or state government while obtaining his masters degree in Urban Planning from MIT. His undergraduate from Harvard is in Planetary and Earth Science.

 

[ElizabethAnne]

The person he ran with the day before has been extremely active in the Pleasanton Ridge area searches, according to his public Strava profile. I don't think ToS allow me to repeat any comments from there but nothing suggests believing anything other than a trail run by PK gone wrong.

ETA see previous post from @mlhenn. His friend IS the search coordinator and has confirmed these thoughts.

I have looked at the Find page and when any person would ask a question or make a comment that was not in line with their position, the comment/question would be deleted quickly, the thread would in most cases be closed for comment, and in some cases, the thread would be deleted as if it never existed in the first place.

We will see what the Pleasanton Police and Alameda County Sheriff Department's next steps will be....

 

[Curious_in_NC]

I’m not a fan of asking for money, but often the tuition is covered via grants or companies that pay for your PhD at these schools. You work and go to school at the same time. You’d be surprised, very few pay the full tuition even undergrads.

In most science Ph.D. programs there's also teaching assistant-ships that cover much of the costs. Even Harvard and MIT need TA's, in addition to their grants that support grad students.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

I have looked at the Find page and when any person would ask a question or make a comment that was not in line with their position, the comment/question would be deleted quickly, the thread would in most cases be closed for comment, and in some cases, the thread would be deleted as if it never existed in the first place.

We will see what the Pleasanton Police and Alameda County Sheriff Department's next steps will be....

If you mean the FB page, there are 62 admins and moderators plus nearly 11k members. That's a lot to manage.

 

[ElizabethAnne]

In most science Ph.D. programs there's also teaching assistant-ships that cover much of the costs. Even Harvard and MIT need TA's, in addition to their grants that support grad students.

That is true, but it costs over $100,000 to attend MIT per year for Graduate School Cost of Attendance | MIT Graduate Admissions and I don't think they pay TAs $100,000 a year.

 

[realanastasia]

I agree that many corporations pay for some postgraduate degrees, particularly those that involve degrees such as Executive MBAs. However, I don't see in this case where they worked part-time for a company that sponsored them. For example, I do not see where Kreycik worked for a municipal or state government while obtaining his masters degree in Urban Planning from MIT. His undergraduate from Harvard is in Planetary and Earth Science.

Just chiming in to say that it is actually very common for an individual with a bachelors degree from a prestigious college or university to get a full ride for their graduate program. In exchange for the school covering their tuition and providing a small stipend, grad students provide their labor as teaching assistants in (usually) undergraduate classes. Especially in the context of introductory
-level “survey” courses (English 101, Biology 101, etc.) with huge enrollments, the services TAs provide (grading, taking attendance, making copies of class materials, holding office hours to meet with students, etc.) are essential to making the college or university function. This is all to say, though, that I don’t think we can infer anything about the financial status of PK’s household just based on the advanced degrees held by PK and his spouse.

 

[RumorMonger]

When I plot to disappear on my spouse I always plan to leave when I have a window of time to get at least a few states away before being noticed, rather than when I'm expected back in the city shortly.

When I plot to make my spouse disappear I often consider the most convenient places to park the spouse's car near a geography where its easy for a person to get lost.

Off topic, obviously.

 

[RumorMonger]

DBM

 

[Curious_in_NC]

That is true, but it costs over $100,000 to attend MIT per year for Graduate School Cost of Attendance | MIT Graduate Admissions and I don't think they pay TAs $100,000 a year.

From your link: "If you have a Fellowship, Research or Teaching Assistant appointment, MIT will pay for your tuition and the student health insurance premium"

 

[Auntie Cipation]

I wonder about the range of issues Philip dealt with on the job. "Clean energy" is great but maybe that wasn't the only issue he worked on.

PG&E is under a HUUGGE amount of stress right now with the connection between their electrical networks and multiple wildfires of recent years.

PG&E may (hopefully, IMO) be considering very expensive projects such as undergrounding major lines through forested areas, and how to rearrange company priorities to pay those costs without going under.

PG&E may be dealing with identifying failures of maintenance or other procedures that were the source or cause of some of the fires.

PG&E may be considering bankruptcy (again) or other shockwave changes to the company overall.

This all may have zero to do with Philip, but it can't hurt to keep in mind that this may be an upsetting or discouraging time to be a PG&E employee.

 

[Tower]

If that's all, I don't see that as indicative of anything suspicious. If I were passing through the area anyway (wasn't he on his way to pick up family?), I'd like to take advantage of exploring a new area too. As a runner he probably couldn't resist checking out a new running trail, and it wasn't that out of his way, from what I can see.

I tend to agree none of that is suspicious for an avid and adventurous runner, even running in the extreme heat. He may have wanted to challenge his body. The fact that he had a problem during only a 45-minute run that has made him totally invisible for 10+ days is what I find mysterious. ElizabethAnne is also indicating he may not have researched his course well, or at least may not have parked in the best place to access that trail, which I find odd for an avid trail runner. I hope his family finds out what happened. Moo