Beau Mann texted 911 from an Uber to Santa Monica. Then he vanished.

Nationwide

The tech CEO with Mass. ties went lacking simply after Thanksgiving in 2021. Final month, investigators in California discovered his stays in an deserted lot.

A tech CEO with a profitable app and a vivid future. A mysterious Uber experience. A textual content to 911. Then, radio silence.

The puzzling particulars of Beau Mann’s 2021 disappearance unfold like wildfire on-line, capturing the eye of true crime podcasters, worldwide information retailers, and newbie sleuths.

A 39-year-old with deep ties to Massachusetts, Mann was final seen entering into an Uber not removed from the Los Angeles workplaces of Sober Grid, the sober dwelling app he created. Final month, practically a year-and-a-half later, authorities discovered Mann’s stays at an deserted property in Santa Monica, fixing one thriller however leaving a number of different questions nonetheless unanswered.

Right here’s what we all know.

Beau Mann, a 30-something man with short hair and facial hair. He is wearing a suit and smiling at the camera.
Beau Mann, the late founder and CEO of Sober Grid. – Sober Grid/Handout, by way of The Boston Globe

Who was Beau Mann?

Born in Texas, Mann spent a lot of his youth in Oxford, Massachusetts, and battled habit points as a teenager, in accordance with The Boston Globe. 

The thought for Sober Grid got here to him throughout a visit to the Sundance Movie Pageant.

“There have been events happening at Sundance with a number of consuming and I wished somebody to go to movies and snowboarding with,” Mann advised the Boston Enterprise Journal in July 2015, the identical month his social networking app launched.

He mentioned in a 2017 Forbes interview that he noticed an unmet want for individuals in habit restoration to seek out and join with friends. Sober Grid, he defined, permits its customers to faucet into a world sober group for speedy connection and peer assist. 

His aunt, Rhonda Mann, advised the Globe earlier this month that Beau’s “entire mission as an grownup was attempting to assist individuals who have been within the clutches of habit.” 

“He was simply such a vivid gentle,” she added. “He was a kind of guys who’ve an enormous smile, that you just couldn’t assist however actually like. You possibly can inform he was all coronary heart.” 

Mann and his fiancé, Jason Abate, had just lately mentioned beginning the method of adopting a toddler, The Each day Beast reported. 

“He was begging me to start out a household and I actually wished to start out a household too so I used to be actually excited,” Abate advised the information outlet. 

What will we learn about his disappearance?

Mann spent Thanksgiving in Texas together with his siblings earlier than arriving again in LA on Nov. 29, 2021, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported shortly after his disappearance. 

He advised his mom he’d be house for Christmas. 

“This wasn’t any person who went off for a month, and also you by no means heard from them. He was very a lot related,” his aunt advised the Globe. “He would by no means depart his household, he wouldn’t depart his firm. The corporate was a lot part of his life.”

Mann was final seen at a comfort retailer on the 11000 block of Ventura Boulevard round 2 p.m. on Nov. 30, the Los Angeles Police Division mentioned in a information launch. 

He acquired into an Uber exterior the shop and was dropped off in Santa Monica, Sober Grid mentioned in a press release. Mann texted 911 whereas contained in the automobile, although Santa Monica Police Lt. Erika Aklufi advised the Los Angeles Instances that he didn’t reply to authorities’ makes an attempt to comply with up on the textual content.  

“It was a gibberish textual content perhaps after which he didn’t reply,” Aklufi advised the newspaper. “It’s simply one other factor that we’re going to be wanting into.”

After Mann disappeared, a number of of his relations went to California to knock on doorways and seek for clues, in accordance with the Globe.

Then on April 25, 2023, the Santa Monica Police Division acquired phrase of a grim discovery: Human stays have been discovered within the courtyard of an deserted property on Santa Monica Boulevard — a few mile from the place Mann’s Uber had dropped him off, his household mentioned.

The coroner recognized the stays on Might 6, bringing the lengthy seek for Beau Mann to an finish. 

The place does the investigation stand? 

Officers have but to say a lot concerning the circumstances surrounding Mann’s loss of life. 

Aklufi, the Santa Monica Police Division spokesperson, advised the Globe that police are launching an investigation because the Los Angeles County Coroner works to find out how Mann died. She additionally advised the LA Instances that investigators plan to talk to the Uber driver, who has not been deemed a suspect within the case. 

Abate believes the indicators level to foul play. He advised The Each day Beast he doesn’t know anybody within the Santa Monica space the place Mann was dropped off and suspects his fiancé was “lured” to the spot. 

Whereas investigators seek for solutions, Mann’s household and associates are remembering his “lovely soul.” 

“We miss his infectious smile and constructive perspective daily,” Mann’s household mentioned in a press release posted to Fb. “We all know his spirit will reside on by his firm and keenness, Sober Grid, because it continues to assist these combating the grip of habit.” 

Sober Grid echoed that sentiment in its personal assertion. 

“Merely put – Beau was our gentle,” the corporate mentioned. “His vivid smile and countless power and compassion might be missed.”

Originally posted 2023-05-23 09:00:00.