Ahmad Solaiman Nourzaie was a 25-year-old senior studying Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz when he went missing on January 18, 2016. He and several students had gone to Bonny Doon Beach; three of them used a rope to descend a cliff and stand on a rocky outcropping when a powerful wave swept Ahmad and two others into the ocean. One student swam back to safety, but Nourzaie and another student, Shireen Agha Ahsan, were lost to the sea.

Emergency responders conducted extensive searches but did not find Nourzaie. Ahsan’s body was recovered more than a week later at a remote beach, while Nourzaie’s remains have never been located; authorities believe he likely drowned. He was active in UCSC’s Muslim community, and his disappearance deeply affected the campus. He is presumed deceased but remains officially listed as a missing person. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department is handling the case and asks anyone with information to come forward.

Did anyone on campus or in the Bonny Doon area at the time see anything that could help clarify what happened that day?