Police say ‘no evidence’ of crime in Yohanes Kidane’s disappearance

The ongoing investigation into missing Netflix software engineer Yohanes Kidane has found “no evidence” of a crime, according to cops — despite his family’s fears over a recent “strange encounter” he had on a rideshare trip.

San José Police gave the update Monday, a week after the 22-year-old New York man went missing after taking another Uber despite his fears over a ride just two days earlier.

“The investigation has uncovered no evidence to suggest that a crime has occurred,” police tweeted of the college grad who vanished just weeks after moving to Silicon Valley.

“San Jose Detectives have kept Mr. Kidane’s family advised of all pertinent developments in the case. The case will remain open until Mr. Kidane is located.”

Kidane was last seen on surveillance footage leaving his apartment and getting into a black Toyota sedan Uber bound for San Francisco late Aug. 14, just weeks into his new job as a software engineer at Netflix.

He was reported missing by his family the following day.

“Two young colleagues of his saw him and were able to talk to him. He said he was heading to San Francisco to maybe meet a friend,” Kidane’s older brother Yosief told KTVU last week.

“The last footage I’ve seen of him was leaving his apartment building and getting into a black Toyota Camry.” 

Just two days before, on Aug. 12, Kidane allegedly had a “strange encounter” with an Uber driver that prompted him to cancel the ride after crossing into San Francisco from Oakland, the family wrote on a GoFundMe.

He was subsequently wary of using rideshares alone, the write-up explained.

Kidane’s family became officially concerned on Aug. 14 when this phone location kept placing him at the Golden Gate Bridge, which is more than an hour from his apartment, the relatives told NBC News.

Kidane’s location was still on the bridge the next morning, which prompted his younger sister, Sarah, to panic.

“She’d been calling, trying to see what he’s doing. He never picked up,” Yosief told the outlet.

The family later learned that Kidane never showed up for work on Aug. 15.

That same day, a commuter found Kidane’s wallet and cellphone at the Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Center, and handed them in at the Marin California Highway Patrol, KTVU reported.

“Someone who was in San Rafael, who was on a commute, saw a phone and wallet sitting on this small grassy hill right between the Welcome Center and coffee shop,” Yousief said.

“Thirty bucks in cash was in his wallet, IDs cards, phone untouched.

“Later his backpack was found near the Golden Gate Bridge and had two of his laptops and personal documents seemingly untouched,” the concerned brother continued.

Records show that Kidane took the Uber to his destination – the Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Center – without issue, Uber told NBC News.

Kidane’s father and brother traveled to San Francisco last week to aid the search.

“My family started hanging posters around San Francisco, around medical centers, youth shelters, homeless shelters, anywhere you might have looked for aid or respite,” Yosief said of the desperate effort.

Kidane’s parents immigrated to the US from Eritrea, and raised him and his siblings in Webster, New York.

“He is just a really sweet person, a beautiful soul,” Robby Merkov, who has known Kidane since third grade, told ABC13.

“He is just one of those people you want to cherish in your life.”

Merkov, Kidane, and two other hometown friends texted in their group chat the day of the disappearance, but did not note anything out of the ordinary.

“We were trying to figure out plans to have me go out there to visit him. This was his dream job at Netflix and he was thrilled to go out there,” Merkov lamented.

Both Kidane and his brother Yosief went to Cornell University, and the family celebrated Kidane’s graduation in May.

“When he came in doing computer science, it kind of piqued my interest and made me a little competitive. So I started taking some classes and ended up really enjoying it,” Yosief told NBC of their time in college together.

“Even though he’s a year younger than me, I had the privilege of being his homework partner in our algorithms class.”

Kidane, Yosief added, was “very smart” and eager to start his new position at Netflix. “He was super excited to start working at Netflix,” he said.

“He was always talking about how wise and capable his coworkers were.”

The pair last spoke on the phone for about an hour on August 13.

“We’re going to find him and we’re going to bring him home,” Yosief insisted. “We’re not going to stop. We know our friends and family and the community is not going to stop.”

Kidane’s mother, Mehret Hana Beyene, called her son “a good man who has a bright future.”

. “We want to take him home. I need my son. I need my son,” she begged KTVU.

As of Wednesday morning, the GoFundMe for the search had raked in almost $85,000 of its $100,000 goal.

Police did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for a comment on the case.