The body found Tuesday in the San Francisco Bay was that of missing San Francisco tech worker Dan Ha, who vanished on Halloween, his family said Wednesday.
Ha's body was identified by his clothing and identification found with him, the family said at a press conference. They do not believe he committed suicide, but they have no other theories on how he ended up in the water.
Police have yet to confirm that the body is Ha's.
Coast Guard and fire crews pulled the body from the bay around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, an hour after police responded to Pier 22 for a report of a body in the water near the Golden Gate Bridge.
Crews brought the body back to shore on board a city fireboat. It appeared the person had been dead for about a week, Coast Guard officials said.
The body was turned over to the San Francisco Medical Examiner's office, which will determine the cause of death and identify the victim.
"In speaking with the medical examiner, while the face and body were indistinguishable, the clothes, wallet contents and phone matched Dan’s personal belongings," Ha's younger brother Joseph Ha said at the press conference. "At this time, we believe the body is Dan’s. We are still waiting to hear from SFPD for a full confirmation. We have no reason to believe that this was a suicide. Dan has never indicated having any intention of harming himself."
Joseph Ha said that his brother did not leave a note, had scheduled a doctor’s appointment the morning of his disappearance and was scheduled to attend a work event the next day. He added that his brother had even kept a note on his desk about returning a shirt he had recently purchased.
Ha, 26, was last seen Halloween night leaving his SoMa apartment. A roommate reported last seeing Ha around 8 p.m. near the intersection of Fourth and Brannan streets, police said.
Friends and family set up a "Find Dan Ha" Facebook page in the hopes of spreading the word about the 26-year-old's disappearance. Ha is an i0S developer at a local startup called Metromile and a Stanford University graduate.
"Dan was a talented and inspirational brother, son and friend with a huge heart and brilliant mind who touched the lives of so many people," Joseph Ha said. "He truly loved life and lived it to the fullest. We are overwhelmed by the love and prayers of our friends and family back home and here in San Francisco."
Ha thanked the local community for their support, including Ha's friends and roommates, his employer Metromite and the Stanford community which helped to search for him. The family also thanked StartX, Facebook, Square, Postmates, Apple, Uber and others in the tech community as well as the media for covering the story.
Ha's mother, father, sister and brothers had been desperate to find him, and they joined in a public search party for him on Sunday, driving to San Francisco all the way from British Columbia. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
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“Pray for us in our time of sorrow and shock,” Ha's father said.
Ha's family will be holding a memorial service for him Friday at 7:30 p.m. at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church in San Francisco. The family is accepting donations to help offset the cost of funeral expenses which will be held in Washington.
