He was reported missing by San Francisco Police Department on February 24, and was last seen at approximately 10pm Pacific the night before, putting him “at risk” by authorities.
Nearly one month later, the case involving 55-year-old Jeffrey Vandergrift, known to Bay Area radio listeners as the host of iHeartMedia-owned Rhythmic Top 40 KYLD-FM “Wild 94.9” morning program The JV Show, has come to a sad conclusion.
The San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office on Thursday morning (3/23) confirmed that the body found in the water at Pier 39 is that of Vandergrift.
Vandergrift’s body was spotted on Wednesday afternoon, prompting SFPD officers to arrive on the scene, KGO-7 reports.
Wild 94.9 confirmed the KGO-7 report on Instagram.
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Vandergrift was raised in Fremont, Calif., an East Bay community. As a KMEL listener, he became a fan of John London, who had a very successful run in morning drive in San Francisco after working at stations in Los Angeles in the early 1980s. He was first hired at KHQT “Hot 97.7,” a popular Top 40 station in San Jose, during the early 1990s. Vandergift, as “JV,” would eventually land his own morning show, which he dubbed the “Dog House,” at what was then “Wild 107.7.” He was 25 at the time, and was employed by CBS Radio after the show moved from Wild in 2005 to the former WXRK “92.3 FREE FM” in an era where the company attempted to lure listeners following Howard Stern’s move to Sirius Satellite Radio. That program ended in May 2007 after JV and former co-host “Elvis” aired a prank call to a Chinese restaurant that turned ugly.
Now split from his ex-partner, on Feb. 16, 2009 JV returned to Wild, now at 94.9 MHz. And, thanks to a live on-air proposal at Wild, Natasha Yi became his wife.
Vandergrift wasn’t without his demons. In a September 2011 interview with AllAccess.com, he shared, “The lowest point for me was getting hooked on drugs, losing my mind and turning a good show many years ago into a diatribe about Jesus, aliens, and motorcycles. I lost my job, my lady, and my dogs … It’s easy now to make light of it, but I was honestly at the point of being mentally sick. The road out of that dark place was long but I learned a lot about myself.”
Vandergrift was married to one of the show’s three co-hosts, Natasha Yi. She’s been associated with Wild 94.9 since “The Dog House” was its morning show some seven years ago. Yi is also known for her work in print ad campaigns and as the first Asian showcase model on The Price is Right.
