LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: A 22-year-old Cornell University graduate, who recently came to California for his dream job at Netflix, has vanished.
The Rochester native in New York had begun work in the streaming company as a software engineer.
Who is Yohanes Kidane?
Yohanes Kidane had been working with Netflix for two weeks before he was last seen getting into an Uber at 28 North Fourth Street in San Jose at around 7.15 pm Pacific Time on Monday.
Fox News reported that his friends confirmed his rideshare experience had been bad and he had pledged not to ride alone ever again.
His family and friends are puzzled about his disappearance and are seeking answers.
"What we do know is that he was on camera leaving the apartment building and getting into an Uber on Monday evening," said Yosief Kidane, Yohanes' older brother.
He added, "We know that his belongings, his phone and his wallet, were found at the Golden Gate Bridge Tuesday morning by a citizen, who collected them and tried to help us return them to him.
"We know that an officer found his backpack at the Golden Gate Bridge later Tuesday afternoon, and we know that he was never at home at work on Tuesday or Wednesday," he further said.
No money was missing from his wallet
No money was missing from his wallet and his laptop was still inside the backpack.
Kidane's family and friends from Cornell have formed a "task force" and travelled to the Bay Area to take part in the search, the outer mentioned.
Moreover, they have hired a private investigator and are hopeful someone will come forward with information which may be helpful in finding Kidane.
"We just really hope that if some people saw something, or saw someone, or something unusual or someone that looked like him to come forward with anything they have to the San Jose Police Department," Yosief said.
Yosief and Kidane are close and people even mistake them for twins. "People couldn't tell us apart – they mixed up our names," he said.
Kidane's strange and suspicious rideshare experience
Kidane has had a strange rideshare experience. "The Uber driver insisted if it was an actual Uber driver," his former roommate told the publication.
"Instead of taking him to the location that he needed to be, he's like, 'Oh, I'm going to take you to Oakland. It's much safer there,'" Farmer said.
"He just wouldn't let Yohanes go where he needed to go. So they took him to downtown Oakland. I guess he eventually got back to his apartment or wherever he lives, but that was pretty suspicious," the former roommate added.
During the experience, Kidane texted another friend that he might be in trouble.
"He asked me to cancel to pay extra," Kidane wrote. "I got a sense he's taking me there for no good reason."
San Jose police are leading a multi-agency investigation into Kidane's disappearance
Following the ordeal, he had said, "Never going in Uber solo again in SF."
San Jose police, who are leading a multi-agency investigation into Kidane's disappearance, the outlet that the investigation is ongoing but that they had no additional information they could provide to the public as of Friday morning.
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 408-277-8900. A fundraiser on GoFundMe has also been set up to help with the search.
