The body of a 23-year-old Google engineer was found floating in San Francisco Bay next to a bike trail on the morning of Friday, Dec. 8.
Police are investigating how Chuchu Ma, a software engineer at Google, ended up face down and naked in the water next to the Bay Trail, according to Department of Public Safety Capt. Shawn Ahearn.
A cyclist riding the trail spotted the body near Moffett Field, near the border between Sunnydale, and Mountain View, shortly after 10 a.m. and called the police.
“Someone biking along the trail thought they saw a body in the water,” Ahearn told Mercury News.
Body of an unknown female has been recovered recovered by the @SCCoSheriff Dive Team. Circumstances are unknown. The investigation is on going by the Medical Examiner & DPS Investigation Unit. Press release to follow. No press conference.
— Sunnyvale DPS (@SunnyvaleDPS) December 7, 2017
The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office dive team helped recover the body.
A missing person matching Ma’s description was reported missing a few hours after the body was recovered, according to Mountain View Police spokeswoman Katie Nelson.
The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety has declined to release details of the situation as the investigation is ongoing. The body is still at the coroner’s office; no official cause of death has been stated.
The police will not yet specify if Ma was the victim of a crime.
The @SCCgov Medical Examiner has confirmed the identification of the body found along the Bay Trail as that of 23-year-old Chu Chu Ma. Ma was reported as missing from Mountain View. Our investigation is ongoing awaiting the results of the autopsy report. Media:408-598-9186. pic.twitter.com/mPTXtZ43J3
— Sunnyvale DPS (@SunnyvaleDPS) December 10, 2017
Ma lived in Mountain View, California, a few miles from where her body was found.
She had worked for Google as a software engineer for eighteen months and was doing well, according to Google spokesperson Gina Scigliano.
“Chuchu was an excellent software engineer in our developer product team,” Scigliano told Mercury News. “We are devastated to learn of her passing, and our deepest condolences are with her family and friends.”
Ma had a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin. While in school, she worked as an Software Development intern with Telogis, and a Platforms and Services Developer intern for Yahoo, Inc.
She worked as an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant for the University of Texas at Austin for five months before starting at Google.