Choking back tears, Philip Kreycik's wife and parents addressed the news media on Thursday morning, just days after they got the call their husband and son's body was likely found in Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park.
Jen Yao, Kreycik's wife, thanked the total strangers who helped search for her husband, and brought food and water to volunteers.
"I would really like to meet every single one of them, of you, on an individual level," an emotional Yao said. "I want to learn their names and what you do for a living, if you had to take off work to come and help us."
Kreycik, a 37-year-old Berkeley resident, went missing on a run at the park on July 10. The family said Thursday that Kreycik had never run in the area before.
A volunteer on Tuesday found remains near a tree, on a trail typically used by animals. Pleasanton Police Department Lt. Erik Silacci said the body was found within 100 or 200 yards of where law-enforcement crews had previously searched.
"It was hard," Marcia Kreycik, Philip's mother, said of receiving a phone call informing her a searcher found a body in the park. "It broke us. But, we had each other."
The missing persons investigation will continue. Silacci said a smartwatch was recovered near the body found on Tuesday, which could provide police with answers and Kreycik's family with closure.
"We're in the process of trying to see if that is Philip's watch," Silacci said. "And then obviously, if there is data on that watch, being able to get some information from that to assist with our investigation."
Silacci said the watch could show investigators the route Kreycik took, compared to the one he planned to take on a day when temperatures rose as high as 106 degrees.
Foul play is not suspected, according to officials.
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