The wife of a popular San Francisco radio DJ who went missing a week ago said he “will not be coming back” in a heartbreaking update Wednesday.
Jeffrey “JV” Vandergrift, a longtime host of the Bay Area’s Wild 94.9, was reported missing on Feb. 23 — hours after opening up on-air about difficulties treating his health problems.
In an update shared to the station’s Instagram Wednesday, his wife, Natasha Yi, alluded to Vandergrift’s ongoing struggle with Lyme disease.
Yi, who is also a 94.9 host, said “the amount of compassion for the physical torture JV has been going through for the past 2 years has been overwhelming.”
“I have been in so much pain and fear and I know all of you have been so scared and concerned for JV as well,” Yi wrote.
“JV and I have always considered this community part of our family, so I want to let you know that personal information has recently been discovered that leads us to believe JV will not be coming back. I tell you this with incredible pain and sadness in my heart.”
However, despite the alarming new information, the San Francisco Police Department still considers Vandergrift to be missing, Yi said.
No foul play is suspected in his disappearance.
“We are incredibly appreciative for the SFPD’s ongoing efforts in locating JV and they have asked us to keep the details to immediate family only. I know how painful this is for you to hear — please know that I have you in my thoughts,” Yi wrote.
Yi asked Wild 94.9 listeners to forgive her silence, saying “my heart is utterly broken, and the pain feels unbearable.”
“I will do my best to provide updates and I ask for you to please keep JV in your thoughts and prayers,” she said.
The longtime radio host, best known to listeners as “JV,” has been missing since around 10 p.m. Thursday. He has been considered to be “at risk,” according to police.
During his last segment, Vandergrift alluded to his troubles with Lyme disease — which he has spoken about openly on-air since his 2021 diagnosis.
“The stuff I’ve been going through in my brain that they’re trying to figure out. Ugh,” he said during Thursday morning’s show. “The body and the pain and all that stuff, I can handle. What it’s doing to my brain I could never describe to you.”
It took eight excruciating months during which Vandergrift endured debilitating “brain fog,” headaches, dizziness, extreme bouts of depression, and other adverse symptoms before he learned what was wrong, according to a post detailing his journey to the diagnosis published on the station’s website.
At one point before the diagnosis, Yi had to call 911 after finding Vandergrift passed out in their car.
“I snuck out of the closet, headed downstairs with a backpack and a blanket that had a picture of Natasha and I on it. I then went to the car and wrapped myself in the blanket. I started guzzling alcohol as I swallowed handfuls of all the sleep and psych meds,” Vandergrift wrote.
Vandergrift also notably edited the caption of his most recent Instagram post around the time he vanished, writing: “Thank you for a wonderful life-filed w joy, laughs, pain & struggle. It’s been a great journey.”
His Twitter location at the time of his vanishing simply read “the other side”.
Police have described Vandergrift as a 6-foot bald white man who weighs approximately 180 pounds.
He has brown eyes and several tattoos on his arms and one above his right ear and was last seen wearing black sweatpants.
