A San Francisco woman whose death is being investigated as a domestic violence homicide worked in tech, according to officials, neighbors and a former co-worker.
Kimberly Wong, 27, lived in an apartment at 3295 Clay St. with a male partner, according to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office and voter roll records. The Standard was unable to reach the man for comment. Two neighbors, who asked not to be named as they didn’t want to disturb the investigation, told The Standard they knew Wong and the man lived together at an apartment in the building but weren’t close with either of them.
Wong was found dead on Thursday after police responded to a welfare check at 7:12 p.m.
“She always struck me as just extremely responsible, professional, outgoing and super bright,” another neighbor said. “She would honestly be the last person I would expect something like this to happen to, but you can never predict that with these type of crimes.”
A LinkedIn profile that appears to belong to Wong says she worked at the banking software integration firm Plaid and previously worked for cybersecurity company Splunk. Both companies are based in San Francisco.
A spokesperson for Splunk told The Standard that Wong worked for the company from 2017 to 2021.
“We are deeply saddened to hear of Kimberly Wong’s passing and we extend our heartfelt condolences and support to Kimberly’s loved ones during this difficult time,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Kimberly was a hardworking, dedicated employee and will be missed.”
In a statement provided to The Standard on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Plaid said the company was heartbroken to learn about Wong’s death.
“She was smart, talented, positive, and a valued member of our team who made an impact on everyone who worked with her,” the spokesperson said. “Our thoughts and deepest condolences go out to her family and her friends.”
A former Splunk co-worker previously told KTVU Wong was “really nice, really smart and energetic” when he worked with her as her manager at Splunk.
No suspects or arrests have been announced by police so far.
“This is an active homicide investigation, and we are not releasing any additional information or confirming any information at this time in order to preserve the integrity of the investigation,” San Francisco police Sgt. Kathryn Winters said Monday afternoon.
‘This Is a Tragedy’
Beverly Upton, a San Francisco advocate against domestic violence, said she’d been monitoring the situation.
“We’re hoping for an arrest,” said Upton, the head of the San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium. “This is a tragedy.”
Upton said that the death appeared to be the first domestic violence-related homicide of the year in San Francisco, down from around 12 annually when she joined the organization in 2001.
“The trend is going in the right direction,” she said. “We just have to keep it on the radar screen, no matter what else is going on.”
One of the neighbors who spoke to The Standard said he and his wife never heard anything out of the ordinary coming from Wong’s unit.
“Our walls are pretty thin,” he said.
They sometimes heard Wong playing classical music on the piano and could even hear when the shower in her unit was running, he said. But last week, when Wong was found dead, they were out of town.
“It’s a bit of a weird, like regretful situation,” the neighbor said. “Maybe if we were around we would have heard something.”