As police try to solve the mystery kidnapping of a millionaire tech executive after his dead body was discovered in his girlfriend’s stolen SUV, friends and neighbors reveal he had many enemies and was allegedly involved in illicit activity.
Tushar Atre, 50, the CEO of website design company Atrenet, was kidnapped from his Santa Cruz home at 3am on Tuesday by multiple assailants who forced him into his girlfriend’s white BMW SUV.
Police confirmed to DailyMail.com Wednesday evening that his body was found in the abandoned vehicle and said the motive is believed to be robbery.
Police found the getaway car at 10am Tuesday in the Santa Cruz mountains on Soquel San Jose Road, 14 miles away from Atre’s home.
According to social media, his girlfriend is Rachael Edith Emerlye, who appears to run a cannabis company called Benevolent Bound. Police did not comment on the whereabouts of Emerlye.
The pair are dating long-distance but Emerlye, who lives in Massachusetts, often visits and posts video to social media in Atre’s lavish Santa Cruz home on the 3000 block of Pleasure Point Drive.
She shared an Instagram video there just last week, enjoying a view of the ocean. On August 30 she shared a video dining on a sailboat in New York City with him and tagged it #perfectdatespot.
The body of Tushar Atre, 50, pictured left, was found in his girlfriend’s stolen vehicle after he was kidnapped Tuesday. His girlfriend is Rachael Edith Emerlye, who appears to own a cannabis company
Atre, a tech boss CEO and the founder of website developer Atrenet, shared this picture with Rachael in September 2017 in Vermont. The two appeared to be long distance but she often posts in Santa Cruz in his home
Rachael shared this picture on Instagram on April 26 smiling with Atre. Police have not commented on her whereabouts
She shared this picture in March posing in front of a surf board with the hashtag ‘#boyfriendadventures’ and tagged Atre in the post
Following Atre’s sudden disappearance, a friend of the tech boss revealed he had many enemies in his line of work.
‘Atre made enemies over his business deals. And specifically with his company,’ the friend, who chose to remain anonymous, told KPIX5.
Several neighbors said Atre was involved in questionable activity and illicit behavior.
One resident who spoke to ABC7 on condition of anonymity said: ‘Santa Cruz is notorious for different things going on. And you know, people with money sometimes get sucked into interesting situations.’
Atre has worked in Silicon Valley since the 1990s and spearheaded Atrenet, a corporate website design company, since 1996.
On his LinkedIn page he’s showered with glowing praise as a one-of-a kind and impressive leader.
However, reviews on employment rating site GlassDoor paint him in a very different light, as past employees accuse him of being abusive, selfish and ‘tyrannical to anyone he thinks is below him.’
One former disgruntled anonymous employee said: ‘I think Tushar Atre is the worst person I’ve ever met in my life and I wouldn’t wish my worst enemy to work for him.’
Atre’s girlfriend Rachael Edith Emerlye shared video of them (he is seen in the clip above) to Instagram on August 30 enjoying dinner at what she called the #perfectdatespot in NYC
Emerlye shared video (above) from inside his beachfront pad just last week
Another still from the video which Emerlye shared last week showing the view from Atre’s home
Police believe multiple assailants burst into his multi-million dollar home that looks out onto the ocean at Pleasure Point. Atre’s multimillion dollar home on the 3000 block of Pleasure Point Drive pictured above
This map shows Tushar Atre’s home in Pleasure Point, Santa Cruz, California where he was kidnapped at 3am on Tuesday. The getaway car was found at 10am, 14 miles away on rural Soquel San Jose Road
Another added: ‘Tushar Atre doesn’t value anyone but himself. You may get a robust product or a paycheck but it comes with a hefty price because this CEO thinks he is the only person in this world that matters. He scream abuse at employees. He treats people in ways you would not think possible.’
Another poster wrote: ‘Total abusive nightmare! The worst employment experience of my life! You’ve been warned — run away now!’
A former contractor agreed: ‘Tushar wants you to sacrifice your personal integrity, that he doesn’t have, and manipulate Atrenet team or clients to get what you want and show who has an upper hand.
On social media Atre often posts pictures of his lavish ocean-front home. In this picture, suspected to be Atre’s office, he tagged it as #PleasurePoint and captioned it saying ‘there is tension at the heart of the universe’
He was last seen getting into a white BMW SUV at 3am on Tuesday morning. Cops found that car seven hours later 14 miles away, with his body inside
‘Says the most condescending things to men and women, tyrannical to anyone he thinks is below him, which is pretty much everyone.’
The relationship between Atre and the suspects is unknown – the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office is continuing to investigate.
Pleasure Point neighbors were shocked with Atre’s kidnapping, saying nothing like this has happened before in their affluent community.
A statement from police to DailyMail.com Wednesday said: ‘The investigation is still ongoing, but we have reason to believe the motive was robbery.
‘We would like to let the community know we believe this is an isolated incident.’
Investigators combed his home and area on Tuesday searching for leads in the kidnapping
A friend who didn’t want to be identified said ‘Atre made enemies over his business deals. And not specifically with his company’
Find him! A friend named Christopher Lochhead shared a video on Facebook pleading for information on Atre saying: ‘Somebody broke into his house last night and kidnapped him at 3am, we have no idea why, we have no idea who’
Lochhead then shared this photo on Facebook on Wednesday morning, smiling left next to Atre, pictured center
Atre, pictured left, was last seen getting in to a white BMW which some reports say was his girlfriend’s vehicle
Police said that they are following a number of leads and that they believe there is more than one suspect involved in the kidnapping
Atre owns a web design company called Atrenet who provide website solutions to silicon valley tech companies
Atre had lived in the area for about 20 years, neighbors say. He moved into the Pleasure Point Drive home two years ago. Atre is an active social media user and frequently posts photographs of himself surfing or looking out at the ocean from inside his house.
One neighbor reported said they ‘saw the BMW late Monday night on Pleasure Point while walking his dog’ and ‘he heard some sort of commotion in the morning.’
‘Somebody broke into his house last night and kidnapped him at 3am, we have no idea why, we have no idea who,’ a friend named Christopher Lochhead shared in a plea on Facebook on Tuesday.
Neighbors say that Atre has lived in the area for about 20 years. A look inside the home above
Tushar Atre’s Instagram is stuffed full of arty and outdoorsy nature photos and this one shows a seal looking out into the sea from a balcony
‘We need everybody all of our friends the entire community to get behind this effort and support our sheriffs department and the FBI and law enforcement in finding Tushar.’
Based on social media, it seems the tech boss was taking a step back from work. On social media he shared many posts relaxing at home and enjoying the outdoors by surfing and biking.
Atre’s company has collected a number of high-profile endorsements on business networking site, LinkedIn. The last endorsement was posted last year in June 2018.
Atre’s plush sea-front villa overlooks the sea in Santa Cruz, California where he surfs regularly
People can be seen looking out to see nearby to his balcony on the sea front. Though the entrepreneur has many positive reviews on LinkedIn, some ex-employees say that he was a difficult employer
Atre can be seen here surfing in Santa Cruz. His company website says that they create website solutions for B2B businesses
Pictured above is a shot taken from AtreNet’s homepage where they say that they deliver web solutions for leading B2B companies
Atre’s company, Atrenet describes itself on LinkedIn as ‘a group of talented professionals that share a passion for technology, design and producing great websites.’
‘AtreNet [has] been serving the web design and development needs of many of the most innovative and successful high tech companies in Silicon Valley since 1996,’ it added.
Police said they are working ‘tirelessly’ on the case.
The sheriff’s office is urging anyone with information about the case to call Detective Ainsworth at (831) 454-7635