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

[MsBetsy]

From accuweather.com:

https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/san-jose-ca/95110/october-weather/347630

View attachment 208847

Edited because I posted the wrong dates at first!

Thanks! I would think the low fifties would be cold enough to want to have the heat on.
I wonder if there was something wrong with the car.
It's very strange that she would turn her phone off after talking to her mom all that time while she was lost. She would know she was worried about her. I wonder if the battery died because she didn't have a charger.

That's another reason the car may have been running, though, if she was trying to charge her phone.

Or she met with foul play and someone else turned it off.

Imo

 

[MsBetsy]

BBM
I haven't read anything about her aunt, but her mother is a nurse. MOO

Maybe that's what I'm thinking.
Well, with a psychologist and a nurse who were likely the two closest people to her, they would certainly know if she had any mental health issues. They seemed to be confident that her behavior was very unusual and out of character for her.
They had a good reason to be so concerned for her safety. I wish the officer who called her had been able to locate her that night. Or someone had.

Imo

 

[MsBetsy]

You make a good point. It's still in the 80's daily in southern CA, so maybe equally sunny/warm in San Jose. If she fell unconcious during a "nap" in the back of her car, she could've overheated/died (?) due to the heat in the closed car...

I wonder how long the tox report will take...

The preliminary report usually doesn't take long but some toxicology tests can take several weeks to come back. I hope it's not that long.
I would think if she had a large amount of a toxic substance they would be able to determine it quickly, though. Imo

 

[PixieStix]

Yes, there's no way to know until the autopsy report is complete and LE has a chance to investigate further.

I would be interested to know what the friend who last saw her has to say. He or she will be able to give some insight as to her mental state.

Edited: I read that her husband was a psychologist and also thought I read that her aunt was as well. Is that right?


Imo

I am not sure if it's an aunt who is also a psychologist but there are definitely two in the family along with the mother who is a nurse. This was posted on the Help Find Erin FB page,

BBM

"I would like to emphasize how out of character this would be for Erin. While she is adventurous, she is not foolhardy and would never intentionally be out of contact with her family. As a psychologist, I am especially concerned about her last calls which were confusing and disjointed. It is completely possible to have a sudden onset of symptoms like this for a variety of mental health and physical reasons (even if there have not been previous symptoms). Erin should be considered a vulnerable person at severe risk and the police should be involved, although they have continued to treat her as a voluntary missing person. If anyone has any influence with the San Jose of California police, I urge you to make this point.

Harrison is also a psychologist and Erin's mother is a nurse. It is difficult for me to understand why the police are not giving greater credence to people who have experience with people in psychiatric and medical crises and who absolutely believe that Erin's last calls indicate that she was at peril."

Help Find Erin Valenti

 

[Birmingplumb]

I am not sure if it's an aunt who is also a psychologist but there are definitely two in the family along with the mother who is a nurse. This was posted on the Help Find Erin FB page,

BBM

"I would like to emphasize how out of character this would be for Erin. While she is adventurous, she is not foolhardy and would never intentionally be out of contact with her family. As a psychologist, I am especially concerned about her last calls which were confusing and disjointed. It is completely possible to have a sudden onset of symptoms like this for a variety of mental health and physical reasons (even if there have not been previous symptoms). Erin should be considered a vulnerable person at severe risk and the police should be involved, although they have continued to treat her as a voluntary missing person. If anyone has any influence with the San Jose of California police, I urge you to make this point.

My family member suffers from schizophrenia- I believ the described phone call exibits a possible onset of phycosis whether triggered by genes or other reasons is the question but stress triggers it .

 

[scaredtopost]

Although the mania and trouble finding the car seem to suggest trouble started after meeting with her friend, I remember a case recently of a young man pinned under a collapsible seat in a van. I don't think it was the case here, but I guess she could've been reaching in the back for a phone cord and suffered some medical emergency that prevented movement.
JMO, MOO, etc

 

[MsBetsy]

I am not sure if it's an aunt who is also a psychologist but there are definitely two in the family along with the mother who is a nurse. This was posted on the Help Find Erin FB page,

BBM

"I would like to emphasize how out of character this would be for Erin. While she is adventurous, she is not foolhardy and would never intentionally be out of contact with her family. As a psychologist, I am especially concerned about her last calls which were confusing and disjointed. It is completely possible to have a sudden onset of symptoms like this for a variety of mental health and physical reasons (even if there have not been previous symptoms). Erin should be considered a vulnerable person at severe risk and the police should be involved, although they have continued to treat her as a voluntary missing person. If anyone has any influence with the San Jose of California police, I urge you to make this point.

Harrison is also a psychologist and Erin's mother is a nurse. It is difficult for me to understand why the police are not giving greater credence to people who have experience with people in psychiatric and medical crises and who absolutely believe that Erin's last calls indicate that she was at peril."

Help Find Erin Valenti

Yes, for some reason I thought it was her aunt who wrote that statement.
The family must be very distraught considering how hard they tried to get LE to search for her. Usually when a person is considered to be in immediate danger I thought they issued an alert. Imo

 

[Birmingplumb]

My family member suffers from schizophrenia- I believe the described phone call exibits a possible onset of psychosis whether triggered by genes or other reasons is the question -but stress triggers it . Drugs trigger it as well and whoever she was with seems to be the key. Why a welfare check call was not made as soon as possible after hearing her babble was my question but dealing with this issue of family with schizophrenia allows me to admit not knowing what to do and not being trained on what to do is the norm- havn't read whole thread but what was told to police after phone call with babbling?

 

[PaulR]

It also looks like SJPD had their hands full with the planned power outage over the past week. Crazy.

 

[MsBetsy]

Although the mania and trouble finding the car seem to suggest trouble started after meeting with her friend, I remember a case recently of a young man pinned under a collapsible seat in a van. I don't think it was the case here, but I guess she could've been reaching in the back for a phone cord and suffered some medical emergency that prevented movement.
JMO, MOO, etc

I remember a case where a high school student was trapped under a seat in the parking lot and had called his family but they were unable to find him in time before he died.

I think in this case whatever caused her manic episide had something to do with her death, but something like that may have happened to her. She may have been injured or like others said, maybe there were toxic fumes entering the car. Imo

 

[rosesfromangels]

It also looks like SJPD had their hands full with the planned power outage over the past week. Crazy.

Yes, and posting this again for emphasis.
From SanJoseCa.gov webpage: In their own words -
"San José has the most thinly staffed police department of any major city in the country, severely constraining the City's ability to respond to and deter crime."
San Jose, CA - Official Website - Safety

 

[afitzy]

My family member suffers from schizophrenia- I believe the described phone call exibits a possible onset of psychosis whether triggered by genes or other reasons is the question -but stress triggers it . Drugs trigger it as well and whoever she was with seems to be the key. Why a welfare check call was not made as soon as possible after hearing her babble was my question but dealing with this issue of family with schizophrenia allows me to admit not knowing what to do and not being trained on what to do is the norm- havn't read whole thread but what was told to police after phone call with babbling?

The SJPD did make a wellness call in this case and did speak with EV. The case was still for whatever reason classified as 'voluntary missing'. Entire situation is heartbreaking. RIP DV and condolences to the entire family.

 

[PommyMommy]

My family member suffers from schizophrenia- I believe the described phone call exibits a possible onset of psychosis whether triggered by genes or other reasons is the question -but stress triggers it . Drugs trigger it as well and whoever she was with seems to be the key. Why a welfare check call was not made as soon as possible after hearing her babble was my question but dealing with this issue of family with schizophrenia allows me to admit not knowing what to do and not being trained on what to do is the norm- havn't read whole thread but what was told to police after phone call with babbling?

LE contacted EV by phone because she was driving and they didn't know where she was.

Her husband said, “The officer said she wasn’t making any sense. They drove around looking for her on Monday night and never found her."

Don't get me wrong, I think LE could have and should have done a lot more here but I just wanted to point out that they did attempt a Welfare Check. MOO

 

[PommyMommy]

Yes, and posting this again for emphasis.
From SanJoseCa.gov webpage: In their own words -
"San José has the most thinly staffed police department of any major city in the country, severely constraining the City's ability to respond to and deter crime."
San Jose, CA - Official Website - Safety

To me, this doesn't make a bit of difference. LE routinely calls for assistance from other agencies when needed. If they didn't have the necessary resources to look for a missing and endangered woman, they should have done exactly that.

Sadly, it may not have saved EV's life but it could have prevented her family and loved ones from having to endure days and days of suffering. MOO

 

[CSIDreamer]

Yes, and posting this again for emphasis.
From SanJoseCa.gov webpage: In their own words -
"San José has the most thinly staffed police department of any major city in the country, severely constraining the City's ability to respond to and deter crime."
San Jose, CA - Official Website - Safety

I'm wondering what their numbers are, just out of curiosity. I saw on their fb page they recently added 38 officers.

 

[PaulR]

To me, this doesn't make a bit of difference. LE routinely calls for assistance from other agencies when needed. If they didn't have the necessary resources to look for a missing and endangered woman, they should have done exactly that.

Sadly, it may not have saved EV's life but it could have prevented her family and loved ones days and days of suffering. MOO

The planned power outage was regional. It sounds it was "all hands on deck" to cover traffic lights, etc.

Will the PG&E power shut-offs affect you?

 

[otto]

Not if the manic episode lasted several hours. If she sounded manic at 3:30 and her phone turned off at midnight after she spoke to her mom, that's about eight hours of driving around lost. She would probably have been physically and emotionally exhausted by then.
It sounds like she crawled in the back to go to sleep.

How she ended up dead is the mystery.

Imo

Aneurism?

 

[MsBetsy]

My family member suffers from schizophrenia- I believe the described phone call exibits a possible onset of psychosis whether triggered by genes or other reasons is the question -but stress triggers it . Drugs trigger it as well and whoever she was with seems to be the key. Why a welfare check call was not made as soon as possible after hearing her babble was my question but dealing with this issue of family with schizophrenia allows me to admit not knowing what to do and not being trained on what to do is the norm- havn't read whole thread but what was told to police after phone call with babbling?

Her family did call police and posted statements on Facebook and asked LE for help. Her husband is a psychologist and the family was very concerned because they believed she was in danger. They thought she was showing clear signs of a serious manic or psychotic episode from what I have read.

Apparently they did ask a police officer to call her that night and he told her family she wasn't making sense. I'm not sure if he looked for her or not, but it was the family who searched and finally located her.
Unfortunately it was too late.
Imo

 

[happyday]

Oh my goodness this is so sad. I’m leaning toward an acute medical event mainly because she was found dead in the car. I don’t know of any psychoactive drugs that can kill you like that and a bipolar manic episode also wouldn’t be fatal itself.

Can an aneurism cause confusion and unusual behavior like that? Stroke or seizure? Blood sugar crisis w/undiagnosed diabetes? I remember reading about a young man who was pulled over for erratic driving and the cops thought he was on drugs but it turned out to be a diabetic crisis.
Unless it was opportunistic foul play after a psychotic episode of some sort I think a medical event probably caused her mental confusion and death.

 

[SAMS]

What a strange situation. I was not expecting this outcome in this case. It's heartbreaking that she was in contact with her husband, mother, and friend, and they did all the right things by calling the cops to try to find her because she was lost and acting strange.

What caused her to die in the back of her car? If she was having a manic episode that in and of itself doesn't kill you unless she crawled into the back of the vehicle and needed water perhaps and died of dehydration. As others have speculated, she could have been in some kind of medical crisis, or, taking something that had a reaction.

Someone above mentioned this sounding a bit like the Karlie Guse. It also reminds me of another case Mitrice Richardson. Hopefully, the toxicology results and autopsy can shed some light on her death for the family.

Yes it does. I was thinking Mitrice too.