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The 23-year-old Google engineer who was found dead in the waters of the Bay in December had drowned, but the circumstances surrounding her death still remain a mystery, according to autopsy and toxicology reports released last week.
Chuchu Ma’s naked body was discovered floating prone in a Sunnyvale canal along the Bay Trail on Dec. 7, just hours after her boyfriend called Mountain View police to report that she had gone missing. Ma’s boyfriend reportedly said she was behaving erratically in the days leading up to her death, and that a 911 call recording “revealed her to be confused and disoriented,” according to the autopsy report. The report didn’t indicate who made the 911 call and at what time. Ma was also reportedly seen entering the water the previous day with her cellphone.
Although the autopsy report revealed the cause of death was drowning, it did little to clear up the mysterious circumstances surrounding her death. Her body showed signs of minor blunt force injuries, with red abrasions on several parts of the body including the forehead, upper back, chest and abdomen, but the report did not draw any conclusions from the injuries.
A review of Ma’s medical history didn’t reveal much either, the report stated, with no documented signs of “suicidal ideations or threats.” Medical records showed a history of slightly elevated fasting glucose levels, and she had signs of pancreas inflammation, according to the autopsy report.
A toxicology report shows that Ma did not have any noteworthy drugs or medications in her body when she died, finding only elevated levels of caffeine. The tests screened for a laundry list of substances including ethanol, amphetamines, antidepressants, antipsychotic agents, opioids and sedatives.
The autopsy report listed the manner of death as “undetermined,” but noted that Ma’s strange behavior prior to the death may have led her to get into the Bay waters.
“Her reported confused state is highly suggestive of psychotic behavior and may explain her entry into the water,” according to the report.
Sunnyvale police released a brief press release Monday afternoon stating that the department’s investigation found no evidence of foul play in Ma’s death. The investigation sought to retrace her steps leading up to the discovery of her body on Dec. 7 to determine if anyone was involved in her death, but it did not include trying to figure out why she may have entered the water and drowned, according to Cpt. Shawn Ahearn of the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety. Determining the manner of death falls under the purview of the autopsy report, he said.
“There is no evidence to indicate foul play,” Sunnyvale police said in the press release. “And because intent cannot be unequivocally determined, the medical examiner has ruled the manner of death to be undetermined.”
Ma, a Mountain View resident, joined Google as a software engineer in July 2016 after previously attending the University of Texas at Austin, according to her LinkedIn profile. The company put out a statement shortly after her death offering condolences and noting that she was an “excellent” software engineer on the developer product team.
Whoa, what an incredibly dehumanizing article. How were you able to obtain and release info from her medical records to the public? A person’s right to privacy under HIPAA extends until 50 years after their death. Who violated HIPAA codes and why?
You managed to mention her name before mentioning her naked body in the article, but just barely. If there’s a naked female corpse, the next logical question is was there evidence of rape? Why was this not addressed in the article? It’s certainly more relevant than her caffeine levels.
But the biggest question in my mind, why release info from her medical records that say she has no history of mental illness and yet come to the conclusion that she was engaging in psychotic behavior at the time of death? We still don’t know if she was alone or with someone else when she died so how can anyone conclude that she engaged in psychotic behavior?
She was a brilliant, successful young woman with many friends. Here’s her obituary: https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/redwood-city-ca/chuchu-ma-7679004
@lovinglife
My college roommate had schizophrenia. For most, the onset of symptoms is slow and gradual but quite disturbing. My roommate heard voices that weren’t there. She was depressed. She broke doors when she was in a panic. She eventually went on medication that stopped the voices but she hated how the medication made her drowsy all day.
Friends, family, and coworkers would definitely notice the sure & gradual decline before onset of symptoms that would lead to death. That’s the biggest missing piece in this article.
Feeling sad for this young woman.
Took long enough for Sunnyvale PD to reveal these meager details, it happened 4 months ago under mysterious circumstances and yet they did not try “to figure out why she may have entered the water and drowned”. This is the extent of the press release? https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaXdl_ZVAAAB3h5.jpg That’s pathetic. Despite her state of mind, this was a tragedy that deserved far more attention.
It is extremely weird for a highly educated young lady to basically cause her own death. We don’t know if other people were around her at the time, but it’s possible someone pushed her in. It’s very unlikely that a smart young lady would do that to herself, unless there was a serious medical problem(but I don’t want to know if it’s personal/confidential).
Well, the lack of any drugs in her system I removed that possibility. So what’s more likely?
A) as a result of an undiagnosed mental illness etc, she tore off her clothes and drowned herself intentionally or accidentally.
B) her boyfriend killed her and told cops she was behaving irrationally.
@lovinglife: Very disrespectful to say someone “went bonkers.”
@My Thoughts: It is not “extremely weird” for a highly educated person to cause their own death. Educated people do that often when they are struggling with mental illness. Not that I’m saying she did that–I don’t pretend to know, but it’s also not wise to speculate that suicide is ruled out by education level.
@NoNameBob: Very thoughtless and heartless to accuse her boyfriend on a public forum with little to no information.
Everyone, please have respect. A young woman died. She was a person. Would you say these things if she was someone you loved?
It’s extremely difficult to drown oneself. There is a natural urge to gain breath that under normal conditions defeats it.
Many times the first evidence of manic behavior appears at that age. Learned that when a neighbors son went bonkers at 24 years.