It was a family friend of Erin Valenti's parents who discovered the car parked at the curb Saturday afternoon. That person identified the body inside as Erin. The body was found in the back seat.
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Joe and Whitey Valenti told ABC7 News that their last conversation with daughter Erin was last Monday afternoon, shortly before she was due to take a flight from San Jose Airport back to Salt Lake City.
Erin was CEO of Tinker Ventures, a developer of mobile applications, including Ripl that helps to share good news articles and to encourage kindness. The family said they traced the last ping from her cell phone to an area near the airport. However, her gray Nissan rental car was found about 13 miles away.
Video from a doorbell surveillance camera has been given to police and may help to explain how she got to South Almaden.
The search for Erin was conducted on social media for five days. The family said it took from Tuesday until late Thursday before police issued a missing persons report. During that time, the Valenti's were worried that she might have had a medical or a mental health issue. The coroner's office has not yet issued a cause of death.
Erin had told her mother that the rental car was low on fuel and that she would be going to a gas station. They could not reach her on her cell phone later that evening after she missed her return flight home.
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Erin's parents are from upstate New York. Her husband, Harrison Weinstein, is from Salt Lake City. They remain in the Bay Area.
They had praise for San Jose police and fire personnel who responded when the rental car was discovered.
Shards of window glass on the pavement are evidence that they had to break into the parked car.
A San Jose Police spokesperson said no one was available to discuss the case Monday and that there was no new information to share.