Human remains found in a courtyard of an abandoned building in Santa Monica, California, have been identified as those of a man who was first reported missing in December 2021.
Beau Mann, a 39-year-old who grew up between Massachusetts and Texas, was last seen in surveillance video at a convenience store on Nov. 30, 2021, according to NBC News.
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On April 25, Santa Monica police received information about remains found at an abandoned property in the 2900 block of Santa Monica Boulevard. The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office took possession of the remains and on May 6 identified them as being those of Mann.
Roy Mooneyham, who lives nearby, was there when the coroner's office arrived and took the remains.
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"The body was found right over here. Police were originally standing above it and taking pictures of it," Mooneyham said. "I watched him fold that body bag up onto the table. A body wouldn’t fold like that unless it was a skeleton."
Mann was last heard from by his fiancé Jason Abate the night before his disappearance as they went to bed. The two were in a long distance relationship in California and Michigan, and they were set to get married in June 2022.
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Abate began to get worried after messages stopped going through to Mann's phone for a few days, according to NBC News. When Mann did not initially respond to messages, Abate was not concerned as his busy schedule often meant he was slow to respond.
"He was just so wonderful. I never felt more love in my entire life than I did when I was with Beau," Abate told NBC4 Los Angeles through tears.
Mann was the founder of Sober Grid, an app designed to provide help and resources to those at any stage in their recovery journey. According to a the company website, Mann got the idea to create Sober Grid while attending the Sundance Film Festival.
His mother, Amy Mann, told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette last year that her son had planned to return to her home in Oxford, Massachusetts, for Christmas. "He never forgets their birthdays or Christmas."
She told the newspaper she believed Beau Mann may have been hurt by someone, but wasn't sure why they would have.
Abate told NBC News that Mann had suffered from substance abuse issues when he was younger and wanted to help those struggling by creating a support system.
"I called some people close to him and they were not able to go check on him," Abate said.
After a few days Abate took matters into his own hands and reached out to Los Angeles police to conduct a welfare check on him. According to Abate, the police told him that they needed someone in the LA area to be present at Mann's apartment in order to conduct the check.
Abate reached out to Mann's assistant, who had a key to his apartment. When they finally made a visit they did not find Mann. Mann's assistant filed an official missing persons' report on Dec. 4, 2021.
After police began their investigation, they learned Mann had been dropped off by an Uber at a 7-Eleven store. They were able to obtain security footage and were investigating the Uber but said that they did not believe foul play took place.
Abate said that after looking at the Uber records it says Mann was dropped of at the 7-Eleven on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City around 2:05 p.m. Then it shows him as being dropped off at Berkeley Street in Santa Monica at 2:35 p.m., but Abate said no one saw him there.
Mann's remains were found only about a mile from the location where his Uber dropped him off.
“I just have a very hard time understanding how he could be so close to that drop-off address, and nobody found him or saw him there," Abate said.
Abate along with his family went through Mann's phone records and saw that the last text he sent was to 911, asking for help. He told NBC News that he believes Mann's disappearance points back to the Uber.
According to NBC News, Officer Jill Calhoun, who was assigned to investigate Mann's case, said that they did receive a 911 text message from Mann — and that "several attempts were made to contact [him] via that correspondence."
The Santa Monica Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division, along with the LA County's Coroner's Office, are continuing to investigate the death. A cause of death is unknown.
“I just hope that he didn’t suffer," Abate said.
Anyone with any information pertaining to this incident or person(s) involved is strongly encouraged to contact SMPD Detective Ismael Tavera at 310-458-2256, Ismael.tavera@santamonica.gov, or the Watch Commander (24 hours) at 310-458-8427.
NBC4 Los Angeles' Macy Jenkins and NBC10 Boston's Asher Klein contributed to this story.
