With tears in her eyes, runner Philip Kreycik’s wife Jen Yao entertained questions on Thursday following the prolonged search for his missing husband that was found lifeless on a ridge.
“Even when we think we’re in control, accidents can happen,” Yao said in a shaking voice.” We can’t possibly ever truly express our appreciation and gratitude enough to really truly acknowledge what you have all done for us. Family, friends, volunteers, people who know Philip. People who don’t know Philip.”
“Hug your families, because you really never know what happens,” she said. “Please take care of each other.”
The body spotted by a search volunteer in the Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park on Tuesday was confirmed by the family to be Kreycik.
Maria and Keith, Kreycik’s parents, also expressed how they are feeling. “I just love the people we’ve met here,” her mother, Marcia, said. “We had no idea how much community, how much love there is out there.”
She said they “may never know” what Kreycik has possibly encountered while he was at the park on the day he went missing.
Three close family members of Kreycik hugged each other when the press conference ended while Maria was consoling Yao.
According to the police, law enforcement officers and teams for search and rescue have searched the nearby area, only 100 to 200 years away, from the location where Kreycik’s body was found.
Last July 10, PG&E analyst and Berkeley resident failed to return home after he went for a run at Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park. An enormous search consisting of several agencies, cadaver dogs, and even drones and thermal image technology-equipped airplanes were deployed for a 24-day search but to no avail.
The missing runner’s body was found under a tree, located under a mile north of the track he planned to take.
“The environment out there, it plays tricks on your eyes,” said Sgt. Ray Kelly of the Alameda County Sheriff’s office said on Tuesday, as reported by SFGate.
The cause of death will be identified by the ongoing autopsy while the smartwatch found on his body is being subjected for analysis.
“The watch should give us his last heartbeat,” Kelly said. “So we likely will have a time of death.”