Bay Area man who disappeared on Super Bowl Sunday found dead near Levi’s Stadium

Thomas Simpkins, 44, went missing on Feb. 8. His body was found a week later in the San Thomas Aquino Creek next to the 49ers’ stadium. (Courtesy of Brandi Stroud)

A Bay Area man’s family is seeking answers after he was found dead in a creek next to Levi’s Stadium nearly a week after he went missing on Super Bowl Sunday.

Thomas Simpkins, 44, who lived in Santa Clara, was discovered the afternoon of Feb. 14 in the San Thomas Aquino Creek, which abuts the 49ers’ stadium, according to his sister, the Santa Clara County medical examiner’s office and Santa Clara police.

Brandi Stroud said her brother’s cellphone and wallet were missing, and that police were investigating Simpkins’ death as a possible homicide.

The Santa Clara Police Department did not confirm the nature of the investigation, simply calling it an ongoing death investigation. The cause and manner of Simpkins’ death was not determined yet, the medical examiner’s office said, adding that “further investigation” was pending.

Stroud told the Chronicle that her brother went to a friend’s barbeque in south San Jose on Feb. 8, the day of the Superbowl. He did not attend the game at Levi’s Stadium. After the party, he took an Uber ride and returned home around 9 p.m., she said.

The next day, Simpkins was nowhere to be found. When his 19-year-old son dropped in at the Palo Alto fine dining restaurant where Simpkins worked, he learned Simpkins had not called in or showed up.

Stroud, 34, and her husband drove from Oregon, where they live, to the Bay Area, where she called police, posted fliers about her brother’s disappearance, flooded social media with posts about the mystery and hiked trails in both San Jose and Santa Clara.

Thomas Simpkins’ family is searching for answers after he went missing on Feb. 8. His body was found a week later next to the 49ers’ stadium. (Courtesy of Brandi Stroud)

Police in the two neighboring cities bounced the case back and forth for three days until San Jose police took the case, Stroud said. “There was a huge delay,” she said. “They didn’t take my brother’s case seriously at all.”

Neither police department responded to the Chronicle’s requests for comment Wednesday.

Santa Clara police took the lead after Simpkins’ body was found.

Stroud said she learned of her brother’s fate after a woman contacted her Feb. 14 and shared a recording of scanner traffic that indicated authorities had found a body in the creek behind Levi’s Stadium, where the Super Bowl was held six days earlier. When Stroud called the medical examiner’s office, she identified the man as her brother by a tattoo that read “Simpkins,” stretching from his left to right shoulder blade.

Stroud felt a rush of mixed feelings, including a sense of relief. “I was praying that at least if he didn’t come home alive, that we’d find him,” she said. On the other hand, she said she was disturbed that it took six days to find her brother, that it wouldn’t have taken as long had the police “taken their job more seriously.”

There are still unanswered questions, including how her brother ended up in the creek, about six miles away from his home. “That’s the part that’s killing my family,” Stroud said.

As questions remained unanswered, she said, closure was put on hold.

Thomas Simpkins went missing on Feb. 8. His body was found a week later in the San Thomas Aquino Creek next to the 49ers’ stadium. (Courtesy of Brandi Stroud)

Stroud described her brother as a hard-working man and a caring father. Simpkins, who was in the middle of a divorce from his wife of more than 20 years, “always kept food on the table, always kept clothes on his kids’ backs,” Stroud said.

She was also a reliable and supportive brother. “Me and him had our little tiffs – we were 10 years apart from each other – but when I needed him, I always knew I could call him.”

Simpkins loved going to the beach; going on outings with his dog, a boxer named Kobe; and playing basketball with his 19-year-old son, who considered his dad his best friend.

“That was their whole relationship,” Stroud said. “They loved playing basketball together.”

Stroud last saw her brother five years ago. Simpkins was planning to visit her and their mother in Oregon this spring. “Unfortunately, we’ll be burying him this spring instead,” she said.

She thanked social media users who shared her posts about her brother’s disappearance.

“Without social media I wouldn’t have found my brother in time,” she said.