A heartbreaking report from the missing radio DJ’s wife on Wednesday stated that he “will not be coming back.” The radio DJ went missing a week ago.
Hours after discussing his health issues on-air, Jeffrey “JV” Vandergrift, a veteran host of the Bay Area’s Wild 94.9, went missing on February 23.
His wife, Natasha Yi, mentioned that Vandergrift is still having trouble with Lyme disease in a post on the station’s Instagram page on Wednesday.
Yi, who is also a 94.9 host, said, “It’s been overwhelming to see how much people care about what JV has been going through physically for the past two years.”
“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
“JV and I have always thought of this community as our family, so I want to let you know that we recently found personal information that makes us think JV won’t be coming back. I tell you this with a heart full of pain and sadness.”
Yi said that the San Francisco Police Department still thinks Vandergrift is missing, even though the new information is scary.
No foul play is suspected in his disappearance.
“We are very grateful that the SFPD is still trying to find JV, and they have asked us to keep the details to ourselves and close family. I know how hard it is for you to hear this, so please know that I’m thinking of you,” Yi wrote.
Yi asked the people who listen to Wild 94.9 to forgive her silence, saying, “My heart is completely broken, and the pain is too much to bear.”
“I’ll do my best to let you know what’s going on, and I ask that you keep JV in your thoughts and prayers,” she said.
The longtime radio host, who most people know as “JV,” hasn’t been seen since Thursday night around 10 p.m. He has been thought to be “at risk” by the police.
Vandergrift mentioned his problems with Lyme disease in his last segment. He has been open about this since he was diagnosed with it in 2021.
“The things I’ve been thinking about, which they’re trying to figure out. “Ugh,” he said on the show on Thursday morning. “I can handle the body, the pain, and everything else. I could never tell you what it’s doing to my brain.”
Vandergrift had painful “brain fog,” headaches, dizziness, extreme bouts of depression, and other bad symptoms for eight painful months before he found out what was wrong, according to a post on the station’s website that describes how he found out what was wrong.
Yi had to call 911 once before the diagnosis when she found Vandergrift passed out in their car.
“I snuck out of the closet and went downstairs with a backpack and a blanket with a picture of Natasha and me on it. I then went to my car and put the blanket around me. I started drinking a lot of alcohol and taking a lot of sleep and mental health pills at the same time,” Vandergrift wrote.
Vandergrift also changed the caption of his last Instagram post right before he went missing. He wrote: “Thank you for a wonderful life filled with joy, laughter, pain, and struggle. It’s been a wonderful trip.”
His Twitter location at the time of his vanishing simply read “the other side”.