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The Alameda County Coroner’s Bureau confirmed Monday that the driver found dead inside a car upside down in a canyon in Sunol over the weekend was the Fremont teen who had been reported missing nearly one week earlier.
The victim was identified as 19-year-old Atharva Chinchwadkar, a student of the University of California at Santa Cruz.
Fremont Police Department officials, who had been investigating Chinchwadkar’s disappearance on Feb. 21, issued a statement later Monday confirming the news and sending “sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Atharva.”
The circumstances of the fatal crash, including cause and date, remain under investigation by the California Highway Patrol’s Dublin area office.
Chinchwadkar had been missing since he left his family’s home to buy dog food and didn’t return on the evening of Feb. 21, according to Fremont police. Investigators said last Thursday that there was no evidence to suggest “Chinchwadkar’s voluntary disappearance was suspicious.”
Fremont police had released a photograph of the 19-year-old and a description of his 2010 dark gray Toyota Camry in the hopes of tracking down information about his whereabouts.
The Camry would be discovered on Saturday morning, upside down approximately 100 feet below Calaveras Road south of Sunol, according to the CHP. A bicyclist spotted the sedan in a canyon while pausing on a ride west of Welch Creek Road just before 10:30 a.m.
Alameda County Fire Department personnel arrived and rappelled down to find the driver deceased inside the vehicle, according to the CHP. When the car was recovered, officers confirmed the victim was Chinchwadkar.
There were no skid marks indicating where the car went off the roadway, according to the CHP. The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Potential witnesses or anyone with information about the crash can contact the CHP-Dublin office at 925-828-0466.
