How Did This Tech Founder End Up Dead In An Abandoned House?

Bo Man is finally ready to be a father.

After years of building successful apps for addicted people, Mann and his fiancé have finally agreed to adopt a child. The decision comes after a difficult journey for the 39-year-old tech founder, which has included a battle with drug addiction and several rounds of rehab.

Mann was in Texas visiting family on November 28, 2021 when she began writing to fiancé Jason Abate, who lives in Michigan, about her decision to begin the adoption process. Before Mann moved from his home to Los Angeles and started submitting web pages to his father's adoption agency.

"He sent me two adoption links in November because he wanted to start now," Abate told the Daily Beast: "He asked me to start a family, and I really wanted to start a family, so I was really excited."

But the couple never made their dreams come true. On November 30, 2021, Mann disappeared without a trace after a mysterious Uber ride and reported him to the police.

At first he wasn't too concerned as he hadn't heard from Mann in several days. They had spoken on the phone the day he left for Los Angeles, and he had no reason to believe that this would be their last conversation.

Panic didn't set in until the fourth day, when Mann's parents finally declared him missing.

The Los Angeles Police Department said Mann was last seen in 2011. November 30, 2021 at the 7-Eleven Store Studio City at approximately 2 p.m. Surveillance footage shows them buying several items, including a large bag of ice, before getting into the Uber. . With less than 10 minutes to go before leaving for Santa Monica, Mann Abate did what still matters to him.

"Last had sex with 911," said Abate, who found the message in Mann's phone records. "The message was 'I'm in a gray Uber.'

Santa Monica Police Lt. Erica Akulufi told the Los Angeles Times the article was "a ridiculous article", and Mann did not respond to attempts by law enforcement to contact him. An Uber spokesperson confirmed to The Daily Beast that Mann left without incident on November 30, 2021, and the driver immediately picked up another rider.

Mann's disappearance sparked a media frenzy after he was officially reported missing, making headlines across the United States and a segment on Dateline's "Lost in America."

The murders are tied to Ted Bundy. Then the case came out.

But what started as a suspicious disappearance last month turned into a murder mystery after the Santa Monica Police Department received a lead about human remains found in "separate yards" less than a mile from where Mann was last seen.

Days later, on May 6, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner confirmed who he was from dental records. The medical examiner's office is working to determine the cause of death, and authorities say it is being investigated as a possible homicide.

"We are actively investigating his death and with the help of accident investigators we hope to find enough evidence to determine cause," Aklufi told The Daily Beast.

Mann's family did not immediately respond to a request for comment for the story, but said in a May 7 Facebook statement that they "have no further details as to what caused the death."

"Bo was an extraordinary man who spent most of his life helping others," the family added. "We will miss his infectious smile and positive attitude every day."

According to friends, although Mane struggled with addiction for many years, it has not hindered the businessman's professional success.

Born in Texas and raised in Massachusetts, Mann dropped out of college and ventured into sales before opening an art gallery in Houston. Last year Brett Abbott, who worked as a sales representative at the gallery in 2011, told The Daily Beast that Mann was "very straightforward" and often went to events together to show his art.

"Every time we go somewhere he always stops for coffee," Abbott said. "He likes caffeine."

Mann's success and desire to grow his SoberGrid app has been helped by constant travel around the country, which friends say sometimes makes him feel lonely. Fighting for a civilized society at the Sundance Film Festival, Mann later told Forbes magazine, was his inspiration.

"I know there are other smartphone apps for Grindr gyms, Untappd for beer drinkers and Untappd for runners, so I was surprised to see there weren't any similar apps to connect people in recovery," says Mann.

Sandy Eggers, who has known Mann for more than two decades and describes herself as his godmother, told The Daily Beast in 2011. She jumped at the opportunity to launch SoberGrid in 2015, helping find investors and funding for the app. Who started it? Three co-founders, including Tavis Morello.

I saw Bo starting a company and I spoke to him and told him I liked the idea and that I had experience with startups and that I would be there to help if he needed help.' - Morello took no active part. As he told The Daily Beast in his final years at the company. "Bo has an incredible drive to build companies and help people. He makes this project interesting because he cares about his mission.

SoberGrid, a Facebook-style social networking app for people looking to recover or stay sober, has taken off and been featured in the New York Times , Huffington Post , and Chicago Tribune . It is also a peer-to-peer training app that has been approved in more than 170 countries and used at least 20 million times, reports Crunchbase.

The company's website says SoberGrid has received funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

Whose power success test. Eggers said he never used the app, a decision he believes contributed to his relapse. "He was in and out of rehab a lot, and it put a lot of pressure on him to work," Eggers said. "He put business before himself."

In 2016, Mann interned at Promise Medical Center in Malibu for six weeks and met Anne Claire Pahlavi, a podcaster and media communications consultant who is the granddaughter of the late Shah of Iran.

"Bo is amazing," Pahlavi, who is receiving treatment for depression, told the Daily Beast. "He calls me covenant wife. She's just the star of the whole land. She's full of life, love and ideas."

Pahlavi said he was often struck by Man's laser focus on his work and recovery during their time together, including the emotional day they mourned the death of George Michael. He says he's always on the phone with investors or suppliers, and if he ever has to let go of the facility, "he has hired a conscientious friend to make sure that the recovery goes according to plan."

According to Pahlavi, Mann relapsed at least twice since his time at Promises, but always attempted to quickly return to treatment or seek help. According to friends, he was recovering on April 9, 2017, when he met Abate on Tinder.

Dad had just returned to Michigan but was in Texas for a wedding. He and Mann strike up a conversation, and Mann wastes no time inviting him over for coffee. The coffee date never materialized, but the pair continued to talk for weeks.

"I knew right away it was for me," says Abate. "We both feel very connected and connected."

Although his father lived in Los Angeles, Michigan and Mann, the couple never separated.

"Jason is the best thing that ever happened to Bo," said Eggers.

The couple got engaged on June 11, 2021 at the Beverly Hills Hotel. A month later, when he meets a sick mother and a dying dog in Michigan, Mann plans to spend Thanksgiving with his family before returning to Los Angeles.

The father said he was worried about the stress a family trip would put on the already busy man. Eggers said the last time he spoke to Mann was the day before he left for Texas, where he was trying to decide whether to go to Europe to talk to an investor.

"I said it was a bad idea," Eggers said. “Now burning over a simple network. Not to mention the return trip. I am worried.

Eggers soon discovered that his fears may have been justified.

Mann was in his Los Angeles apartment when his father last spoke on the phone, and everything seemed normal except for a few problems with his car.

"He asked me if it was normal for the car not to start," Abate recalled of the Nov. 29 conversation. "Well you know I said you've been here for two months. Our car is old." I told him to be careful because I didn't want him to get stuck anywhere. He says he was right then someone called him and he had to go. And that's it."

Tomorrow, he said, would always be a question for his father.

"Jason called me three days later and said something was wrong. 'Bo won't call in three days,' he said. "He was at his mom's bedside in shock," Eggers said.

After the father called the police and officially reported the disappearance of the Yemeni family, an investigation was initiated.

He said he knew Mann took several Ubers that day, one to downtown Los Angeles and another to a 7-Eleven on Ventura Boulevard. Sober Grid later said in a statement that the store was near the company's Los Angeles offices.

LAPD officer Jill Calhoun confirmed that investigators obtained security footage from 7-Eleven. Although Calhoun did not provide details about the footage, Abate said it shows Mana buying ice in large bags. (Mann's mother, Amy, told The Telegram and Gazette that her son's backpack was full of laptops.)

"Bo likes to chew on ice," said Eggers. "For him, therefore, being on the ice didn't really matter. He chewed the ice like crazy. He was no stranger to me.

Mann was last seen on Berkeley Street in Santa Monica, where Uber dropped him off at 2:35 p.m. In the months since Abate disappeared, Mann's friends and family have searched for him, saying they don't know anyone around him.

However, on April 25, Mann's body was found minutes later. Authorities have not released details of the remains, but Abate said it was a strange place. "Beau is a shy cat," said Abate. "He's not going back there alone."

While the discovery of the body answers the question of whose disappearance it has offered no closure to the father. Instead, it reinforced the belief that Mann had been "tricked" into the abandoned property.

He said he was walking home from the 7-Eleven when someone or something forced him to change his Uber destination to Santa Monica. Although it is not certain whether Ate Man reappeared on the day he disappeared, in the past his fiancé would call him immediately if he fell from the cart.

His father only suspected foul play.

"Something happened to my Bo," he said. "And I will spend the rest of my life trying to find out what happened that day."