Redwood City mother offers $10K reward after son’s deadly crash

LOS ALTOS, Calif. (KRON) — A Redwood City mother is searching for answers and offering a $10,000 reward after her son died in a three-vehicle crash on southbound Interstate 280.

The incident happened Sept. 9 during rush hour near Page Mill Road in Santa Clara County.

Kathrin Dancer said that’s where her 28-year-old son, Patrick Dancer, made his last phone call to his girlfriend.

“She said Patrick had called her and said, ‘Kai, I love you. I’m dying,’” said Dancer.

Dancer said one driver left the scene before police arrived — and now she’s determined to find out why.

The California Highway Patrol Redwood City area office says Dancer “was splitting traffic at a high rate of speed when he hit the back of an unknown vehicle and was thrown into traffic where he may have been hit by a pickup truck.”

He was then rushed to Stanford Hospital but didn’t survive.

As of now, CHP is still looking for the first vehicle involved, and his mother is desperate for closure.

“But that initial car that made the first impact with him. We have no idea where they are,” said Dancer. “We don’t know why they would have left the scene.”

His parents are now offering a $10,000 reward for information about that driver and the vehicle that left the scene. They said it’s about finding closure and understanding what happened to their son.

“It’s keeping us up at night. It’s consuming every moment of every day — just wondering what happened,” added Dancer.

CHP is still investigating and asking anyone with information to come forward or to contact Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers.

Patrick’s mother has this message for other motorcyclists. “Slow down and be careful — because you never know what can happen. It just takes one second of not paying attention.”

KRON4 News reached out to CHP Redwood City but did not hear back in time for this report.