A 44-year-old California father who vanished after attending a Super Bowl Sunday barbecue has been found dead in a creek behind Levi’s Stadium, prompting a possible homicide investigation and leaving his family demanding answers.Thomas Simpkins, a resident of Santa Clara, was last heard from on the night of February 8 after he returned home from a friend’s barbecue in South San Jose. According to his sister, Brandi Stroud, Simpkins took an Uber home and arrived around 9 pm, telling family he planned to relax after watching the big game nearby.The following day, his 19-year-old son Tyler grew concerned when his father failed to show up for his shift at a Palo Alto fine-dining restaurant and did not call in. A missing persons report was filed soon after.
Body found near Levi’s Stadium
Nearly a week later, on February 14, authorities found human remains in the San Tomas Aquino Creek, which runs behind Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers. The stadium had drawn more than 70,000 fans for the Super Bowl festivities days earlier.Stroud said she was unaware a body had been found until a woman contacted her through social media and shared police scanner audio referencing the recovery.When she reached the medical examiner’s office, she identified her brother through a distinctive tattoo reading “Simpkins” across his shoulder blades.Police later confirmed the body was that of Simpkins. His cellphone and wallet were missing when he was found, according to family members.
Death under investigation
The Santa Clara Police Department said the cause and manner of death have not yet been determined.The Santa Clara County medical examiner’s office confirmed that the case remains under investigation, with further findings pending. Stroud said she was told the death is being examined as a possible homicide, though officials have not publicly confirmed that classification.Stroud, who travelled from Oregon to help search for her brother, expressed frustration over what she described as delays and confusion over jurisdiction between Santa Clara and San Jose police.“There was a huge delay,” she said. “They didn’t take my brother’s case seriously at all.”Police, however, denied any lapse. In a statement, Santa Clara authorities said the case “was not delayed and was investigated with the protocols and investigative steps required.”Simpkins’ family has been left grappling with how he ended up in the creek near the stadium.“He was a deeply loved son, brother, husband, father and friend,” the family wrote in an online fundraiser created to cover funeral and transportation costs. They plan to bury him in Redding, California, beside his father, brother and grandparents.As investigators work to determine how Simpkins died and how he came to be in the creek, his grieving relatives say the unanswered questions are compounding their pain.“How my brother ended up in the creek — that’s the part that’s killing my family,” Stroud said.
