Jason Abate tells Inside Edition Digital "He is who he is, because he's still saving lives with his legacy.”
Beau Mann was planning a wedding with his fiancé, Jason Abate. The couple, who had been together for over five years, were planning their lives together, including filing papers for adopting a child. They were also planning on living between California and Michigan.
Mann was even getting ready to celebrate his 40th birthday in February 2022 with Abate who was ready to help him usher in a new decade.
Then, on Nov. 30, 2021, Beau Mann disappeared in Santa Monica, California.
It wasn't until earlier this month that Santa Monica Police announced that the body of the 39-year-old tech CEO had been discovered.
Officials have yet to say much about the circumstances surrounding Mann’s death.
While his remains had been found, Abate is looking for justice and answers as to what happened to his partner.
“We want answers to these questions because Beau is gone now and we want justice for Beau,” Abate tells Inside Edition Digital.
The Santa Monica Police Department tells Inside Edition Digital via email that it could take “months” for toxicology reports to come back in Mann’s case.
As Abate and Mann’s family wait for news on what happened to him, his partner fondly remembers the spirit of the man he called “his soulmate.”
“Beau was a person who put everybody else above himself, and so oftentimes when people pass away, you hear people say things like that, but Beau really was like that,” Abate says. “He could really meet people where they were in life, from all walks of life, because he could see himself in everybody.”
In 2015, Mann founded the app Sober Grid and had worked tirelessly to make it a success around the world.
Sober Grid is a digital health company that provides mental-health addiction care with services including peer recovery counseling and social networking.
“Beau was always, deeply, so ashamed of his addiction. And it wasn't until very recently, I think, that he was okay with his sexuality,” Abate says. “I think it took him longer than most to accept that he was gay.”
Mann, who was born in Texas, had suffered with addiction as a young person and wanted to help others as much as he could.
He spent much of his life in Massachusetts and was close with his family before settling down in Los Angeles.
Yet, for Abate, it wasn’t just the tireless work that Mann put into Sober Grid that inspired him. He also worked so hard for others.
“He not only formed Sober Grid, but there was a lot more outside of Sober Grid that he did that most people don't even know, where he would constantly helping people who normally maybe couldn't get jobs because they did have a record, or just people that needed help. He never judged anyone,” Abate said. “What really caught my attention early on was the fact that he wanted to do big things, and I was really moved by that. We weren't talking about my small town in Michigan, or his humble beginnings. He would ask me questions like, ‘What are we going to do to change the world?’ And I knew he was being extremely serious because Beau would work sometimes upwards of 18 hours a day.”
Abate says the man who worked for others now needs others to help his case.
On Nov. 30, 2021, Mann was last seen at a 7-Eleven in Studio City, California, when an Uber picked him up from the store and dropped him off on Berkeley Street in Santa Monica, according to reports.
Mann had been in contact with his family two days prior, but a text to 911 just before he left the convenience store that night was the last time anyone heard from him, according to CBS News.
Abate remembers the last conversation he and Mann had, sharing with Inside Edition Digital that “he said, ‘I love you.’ And the last three messages I ever received from Beau had the words, ‘I love you,’ from him.”
Days went by and Abate, who was in Michigan at the time in a hospital hotel room by his dying mother's side, had realized something was wrong when he didn’t hear from Mann. Abate says he called the few people he knew in Los Angeles, including Mann’s sponsor and assistant, but no one had heard from him. He then contacted authorities and filed a missing person report.
For 18 long months, Abate and Mann’s family waited to hear something.
“A few months after he disappeared, where I could actually pull myself off the couch and try to keep going, what motivated me was to actually keep doing the social cause work,” Abate says.
Mann’s remains were found in the courtyard of an abandoned property earlier this month on Santa Monica Boulevard, according to Santa Monica Police, who posted the news on social media.
Mann’s remains were discovered just 1,000 feet from where he was dropped off in that Uber, according to Abate.
His remains were identified by the L.A. County coroner through dental records, according to KTLA.
While it remains unclear as to when Mann died, Abate doesn’t think his partner made it to his 40th birthday. He believes that Mann died on Nov. 30, 2021.
“I don't think Beau made it to his 40s. Now that I know that he was deceased, my personal opinion is, I think Beau died on Nov. 30, or shortly thereafter, at 39 years old. Because that's when everything stopped. That's when all the phone calls stopped, the text messages, the financial activity. That's when every trace of life stopped, was Nov. 30,” Abate says. “My gut is telling me that's probably when he died.”
On Saturday, Abate and Mann’s loved ones held a vigil in Santa Monica and the pain still hits him.
“I think my brain still hasn't fully comprehended it yet,” Abate says. “You know the moments where you wake up and you see I have the rose from the service, and you see that, and you're like, ‘Holy crap. This is real. This is really real.’"
While Mann’s loved ones pick up the pieces and attempt to make sense of what happened, Abate says that his partner was “the real deal.”
“He was the most amazing guy ever,” Abate says. “That's who he was. He is who he is, because he's still saving lives with his legacy.”
On May 8, Sober Grid released a statement on their Facebook page and called the news of his death a “sad day.”
"We hope you will take a moment to think about Beau today. His bright smile and endless energy and compassion will be missed. While he is no longer with us, we know Beau's spirit will live on in Sober Grid's mission to help those in need," Sober Grid wrote.
When Inside Edition Digital reached out to Uber for comment, a spokesperson said in an email, "The trip ended with no incident reported to Uber, and the driver immediately picked up the next rider. We defer to law enforcement for any additional details about the investigation."
Santa Monica Police Department tells Inside Edition Digital via email that “We are not providing any updates as our investigation is ongoing.”
Anyone with any information on Mann’s death is asked to contact the Santa Monica Police Department at 310-395-9931.
