San Francisco Police Reveal Why Rumors About Tech Titan Bob Lee’s Murder Weren't Disputed
Cash App founder Bob Lee’s fatal stabbing in San Francisco sparked talk of a possible random robbery gone wrong, but police and his loved ones almost immediately suspected that wasn't the case.
When Cash App founder Bob Lee was fatally stabbed in San Francisco on April 4, 2023, many believed the successful tech titan had been the victim of a robbery gone wrong.
But as Dateline reports in its latest episode, “Under the Bay Bridge,” airing Friday, February 7 at 9/8c p.m. on NBC, the truth about Lee’s national headline-making murder was far more complicated.
“This week’s episode is an interesting look at a story that people thought they knew, but what happened was not exactly what you read about in the newspaper,” Dateline correspondent Josh Mankiewicz told NBC Insider.
What happened to Cash App founder Bob Lee?
A harrowing call to 911 was placed at around 2:30 a.m. on April 4, 2023, in which someone can be heard making a desperate plea for help on the phone, as heard in a preview of the Dateline episode.
“Help me, please!” the caller begged.
The man never gave his name but when police arrived at the scene, they found Lee bleeding from multiple stab wounds, including one to the heart, NBC News reported in 2024.
Who was tech giant Bob Lee?
Lee had been a force to be reckoned with in the tech world, where he was the successful founder of Cash App, a money transfer service.
“He was building some of the best tools on the planet,” Lee's friend Carlos Whitt told Dateline.
Lee’s former wife, Krista Lee, described him as someone who “loved the opportunity to make the world a better place.”
His death at the age of 43 sent shockwaves through the community and left his family searching for answers.
“I think murder is always the last thing you expect,” his brother Oliver Lee told Dateline.
Detectives didn't believe Lee was killed in "random" violence
Many speculated that Lee had been killed on the streets during a botched robbery as part of “random, violent homeless crime in San Francisco,” San Francisco Police Sergeant Brent Dittmer told Dateline, as seen in a clip from the episode.
But detectives investigating the case quickly determined that Lee’s murder was likely more personal, especially after discovering that his watch and wallet hadn’t been taken during the attack.
Although they had their suspicions that money wasn’t the motive, police didn’t rush to correct the robbery narrative running rampant on social media, for a strategic reason.
"If that’s the story people are gonna run with, that is an advantage for us because the people who are responsible, we don’t want to know, what we know,” Dittmer explained. “Let everybody think that this is whatever’s on Twitter at that time. We’ll work on what actually happened.”
Bob Lee's former wife was also skeptical about random-robbery theory
Krista also doubted at the time that a robbery attempt would have cost Lee his life.
"The main thing that people were saying was, 'Oh, he must have gotten mugged. He was walking back home to his hotel,'" Krista told Dateline. "That one, I did not believe because Bob never walked anywhere. He would have Ubered, especially at that time."
When asked by Mankiewicz if she ever worried about Lee working in San Francisco due to crime downtown, Krista responded that she "never" did.
"Had Bob been approached by someone that was trying to mug him, he would’ve given him, them, the shirt off his back, his wallet, his keys, his clothes," Krista said. "He would’ve said, ‘Hey, man, let me buy you a meal. Please don’t hurt me.’”
Though she suspected it wasn't a random robbery, Krista also found it hard to imagine that anyone who knew Lee would have wanted him dead.
“We were all confused,” she told Mankiewicz.
For the two-hour Dateline broadcast, Mankiewicz spoke with Lee’s family, including his brother and children, along with police, attorneys and colleagues from the tech industry about the victim's life and his shocking murder.
Dramatic surveillance video of Lee is also featured in the episode.
Who killed Cash App founder Bob Lee?
In December of 2024, Bay Area IT consultant Nima Momeni was found guilty of second-degree murder in Lee's killing.
To learn more about the motive and the case, watch Dateline on Friday, February 7 at 9/8c p.m. on NBC or stream the episode on Peacock when it becomes available the next day.
And for even more Dateline, sign up for the show's official newsletter and check out its podcast.
