July 23, 2021- 9:30 p.m.
RICHMOND — A body found Thursday in San Pablo Bay near Point Pinole is believed to be that of a a17-year-old Richmond boy who went missing in early February, according to the Richmond Police Department.
Sgt. Aaron Pomeroy said Thursday that based on the active investigation and all of the information obtained thus far, investigators believe the body is that of Antoine Whittley.
Whittley had stayed over a friend’s house the previous night and was heading home. Police said once the driver missed the exit it set off Whittley even further and he began to assault the rideshare driver because he feared he was getting kidnapped, police said.
Whittley was speaking with with his friend on the phone after compelling the driver to stop on the bridge, where he climbed from the back seat to exit the car out of the driver-side door.
“Antoine stated that he was on the bridge and that he told [his friend] K.J. that ‘they were trying to kidnap me, they are trying get me,’ and I am walking on the bridge now. He also told K.J. “I may have to jump off,” said Pomeroy.
Before he went missing, police said Whittley had became paranoid and feared he was being kidnapped after he and a friend took a hallucinogenic drug. Investigators said a ride-share driver told police he had become concerned about Whittley’s erratic behavior in back seat of his car while driving on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, and while looking at him in the rearview mirror he missed Whittley’s Point Richmond exit.
Police have said there was no evidence Whittley was the victim of a crime, and that the rideshare driver was not involved in the boy’s disappearance.
Following his disappearance, U.S. Coast Guard and marine units from the Richmond police, Contra Costa County and Solano County sheriff departments spent hours searching the water below and near the bridge.
Pomeroy said Whittley’s case continues to be investigated as a missing juvenile and there has no evidence of a crime having been committed.
