Brother of student found dead in rented Tesla launches fundraiser to reunite with his family in China

The family of the student who was found dead in a Tesla he rented has launched a fundraising campaign to help cover arrangements for his funeral.

Former University of San Francisco student Christopher Liang, 21, made headlines last week after his family declared him missing. According to his older brother Jerry, Christopher had set out on an “erratic” and “impulsive” road trip on Feb. 28 and never returned home.

On Saturday, Christopher’s body was discovered inside a Tesla he rented that reportedly crashed on Panoche Road near California’s city of Los Banos. It remains unknown how exactly he died.

During the period of several days when Christopher was purportedly missing, Jerry documented the ordeal on Instagram.

“The erratic nature of this trip combined with his mental health issues has made our family extremely concerned for his safety,” he wrote.

He also noted that he was concerned about his brother’s safety, as this was the first time his brother had driven since he got his license in March, and Christopher had never booked a hotel before.

Christopher’s family has set up a memorial for him at Saint Ignatius Church in San Francisco on Thursday.

Jerry has since created a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe, asking for financial support reuniting with their parents and sister from China.

“In addition to funeral costs, we hope to raise money to reunite our family soon in the United States,” he initially wrote. “The trip will be for my college graduation (delayed until this spring by the pandemic) and my brother’s college graduation, during which I will walk for him.”

He later lowered the goal amount and updated the campaign to just seek help flying to China instead of flying the rest of his family to the U.S. He also mentioned that he will use a portion of the fund to honor his younger brother’s life and legacy.

“Chris had an incredibly challenging upbringing, but it didn’t stop him from being himself,” Jerry wrote. “He loved and shared his truth with others wholeheartedly and unapologetically. Unfortunately, he died at a young age before he could see the love and truth he sent out in the world come back to him. My heart shatters and goes up in flames for what could have been.”

As of this writing, Jerry’s crowdfunding campaign has raised over $16,000 out of its $22,000 goal.

Featured Image via Jerry Liang

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