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California Tech Executive Tushar Atre Found Dead After Being Kidnapped

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Authorities found California tech executive Tushar Atre dead after he was kidnapped Tuesday, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.

Atre, the 50-year-old founder of web marketing and design company AtreNet, was taken from his own Santa Cruz, California, home around 3 a.m. Tuesday and discovered dead, the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post.

“We have some unfortunate news. We have found the car associated with this case along with a deceased person,” the sheriff’s office wrote on Facebook Tuesday, adding in a Wednesday update that “the body found [Tuesday] has now been identified as 50-year-old Tushar Atre.”

He was last seen leaving the area near in his girlfriend’s BMW SUV, though it is unclear whether he was driving or in the passenger seat, ABC7 News reported.

The search for the BMW lead officers to the Upper Meadow Ranch area off Soquel-San Jose Road, about 14 miles from his home, which Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Ashley Keehn described as a “pretty secluded, remote area,” according to ABC7.

“The investigation is still ongoing, but we have reason to believe the motive was robbery,” and multiple suspects are believed to be involved in the kidnapping and killing of Atre, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said in a release.

“Our detectives are working tirelessly to get to the bottom these crimes. This is an extremely sensitive case and we’re working to bring justice for the family of Tushar Atre,” a spokesperson for the office said in a statement.

Keehan added that “there’s a lot of moving parts right now,” according to ABC7. “Detectives are working tirelessly. They have been since we got that call at [3 a.m. Tuesday].”