{"id":7302,"date":"2026-02-28T09:25:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T09:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=7302"},"modified":"2026-02-28T09:25:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T09:25:06","slug":"california-dad-thomas-simpkins-found-dead-near-levis-stadium-vanished-after-super-bowl-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=7302","title":{"rendered":"California dad Thomas Simpkins found dead near Levi&#8217;s Stadium, vanished after Super Bowl party"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F02%2Fnewspress-collage-nkiegen9p-1772268640389.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall%261772250658\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A missing California father who was last seen partying with his friends on Super Bowl Sunday in San Jose was found dead six days later in a creek behind Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas Simpkins, 44, had been celebrating the big game at a barbecue a couple of miles from the stadium, where the Seattle Seahawks defeated the New England Patriots before jumping in an Uber to go to his Santa Clara home at around 9 p.m. on Feb. 8, his sister <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcbayarea.com\/news\/local\/santa-clara-man-found-dead-near-levis-stadium\/4044387\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told NBC Bay Area.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMe and my brother text messaged a lot,\u201d Brandi Stroud told the outlet. \u201cI had talked to him on Feb. 8 before he had went to this barbecue.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Thomas Simpkins was found dead in a creek behind Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara on Feb. 14, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">NBC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Simpkins told his sister he was going home to relax, but he was not heard from again after he returned to the residence.<\/p>\n<p>The next day, Simpkins\u2019 19-year-old son, Tyler, went to the Palo Alto restaurant where his father was an employee and learned that he didn\u2019t show up for his shift.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Tyler filed a missing persons report for his dad, according to the outlet.<\/p>\n<p>Stroud, who lives in Oregon, flew to the Bay Area to help search for her brother, but the family came up empty-handed without any possible leads in Simpkins\u2019 whereabouts until a stranger sent a police scanner audio.<\/p>\n<p>Officials had found human remains in the San Tomas Aquino Creek behind the home stadium of the San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 14, nearly a week after Simpkins vanished, according to the audio sent to Stroud.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wasn\u2019t aware that there had even been a body to be recovered behind Levi\u2019s Stadium until some random lady on Facebook sent me a link,\u201d Stroud said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Officials had found human remains in the San Tomas Aquino Creek behind the home stadium of the San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 14, nearly a week after Simpkins vanished. <span class=\"credit\">NBC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Brandi Stroud flew from Oregon to Santa Clara to help search for her missing brother. <span class=\"credit\">NBC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Stroud <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/bayarea\/article\/thomas-simpkins-death-santa-clara-21938774.php?utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=yahoo_syndication\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told the San Francisco Chronicle<\/a> that Simpkins\u2019 cellphone and wallet were missing when police found him. <\/p>\n<p>Officials identified the body as Simpkins, and a death investigation is ongoing. Police are investigating Simpkins\u2019 death as a possible homicide, according to Stroud. <\/p>\n<p>No cause of death has been revealed, as results could take up to four months.<\/p>\n<p>Stroud claimed the various law enforcement agencies in the area didn\u2019t take the investigation seriously and were passing the case between each other until the San Jose Police took over.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was a huge delay,\u201d Stroud told the San Francisco Chronicle. \u201cThey didn\u2019t take my brother\u2019s case seriously at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Simpkins, who was in the midst of a divorce, told his sister he was going home to relax but was not heard from again. <span class=\"credit\">NBC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, hosted Super Bowl LX between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots on Feb. 8, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Stroud and her grieving family were left questioning how Simpkins ended up near the stadium, where more than 70,000 football fans gathered for the game. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was a deeply loved son, brother, husband, father, and friend. His kindness, strength, and unwavering love for his family touched everyone who knew him,\u201d the family <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/help-us-lay-tommy-to-rest-in-redding?attribution_id=sl:faf3baeb-f15b-4a5d-afe8-a4c79d759b2b&amp;lang=en_US&amp;ts=1771515289&amp;utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&amp;utm_content=amp17_ta&amp;utm_medium=customer&amp;utm_source=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote on GoFundMe.<\/a> \u201cOur family is devastated and still trying to process this loss.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The fundraiser is being used to raise money to cover transportation and funeral expenses, where he would be buried next to his father, brother and grandparents in Redding, Calif.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support, love, and compassion during this painful time. We are forever grateful,\u201d said Simpkins\u2019 family, including his son, wife, stepchildren, mom and sister.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/28\/us-news\/california-dad-thomas-simpkins-found-dead-near-levis-stadium-vanished-after-super-bowl-party\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A missing California father who was last seen partying with his friends on Super Bowl Sunday in San Jose was found dead six days later in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}