Federal investigators have joined in the nearly yearlong search for the father of a wealthy cryptocurrency investor whose house was mysteriously cleared out last year as $1 million was drained from his bank accounts.
Naiping Hou, 74, was first reported missing to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department in California on May 4, 2025 after his wealthy son, Wen Hou, became suspicious of his father's apparent behavior.
Nearly one year later, the FBI shared on social media that it was working with the sheriff's department to investigate Naiping's 'suspicious disappearance' and urged anyone with information to come forward.
Wen, a prominent hedge fund and crypto investor who serves as the chief investment officer at Coincident Capital, has said he last saw his father in March 2025 when they rented a boat at the San Pedro Pier and went on a family fishing trip.
'He was in a very good mood,' Wen recounted to KTLA. 'He caught a lot of fish. His friends were there too. He was very happy.'
But by April, Wen said he began to suspect something was wrong when he started to receive weird text messages from his father.
He explained that his father was giving robotic responses in the family group chat, became more silent and refused to see his grandchildren.
Naiping was always saying 'he's tired or he'll call me later - just reasons that were strange,' Wen said, adding his father 'had very short responses and didn't share photos anymore over the course of those couple of weeks.'
The final sign that something may be wrong came on Naiping's birthday on May 3, when Wen told the Los Angeles Times his father refused to answer any calls.
Then, instead of thanking Wen for the handmade Chinese noodles he sent as a gift to his father's Rancho Cucamonga home, he simply replied: 'Yes, I receive[d] it.'
Surprised by the answer, Wen said he asked family friends to go check in on his father the following day.
When they then arrived at the house Wen’s parents have lived in for roughly 20 years, they found the noodle package still sitting on the stoop.
Eerily, there were also handprints all over the garage door, according to KABC.
Even stranger, when they went inside the home, Wen said they found that it had been stripped of all its furniture and had a shoddy new paint job on all of the interior walls.
Naiping's cars were also missing from the premises, and he was nowhere to be found, Wen said.
'Something really strange has happened here,' Wen previously told KABC. 'There's absolutely nothing in there - completely empty. Not even trash.'
Concerns grew when Naiping did not thank his son for the homemade Chinese noodles he sent him for his birthday
Family friends went to check on Naiping on May 4, 2025 and found his house completely emptied and the walls painted over
Investigators are asking for any information about a Toyota Yaris believed to be connected to the case (pictured)
An ensuing investigation revealed that more than $1 million was withdrawn from Naiping's account to purchase physical gold online as well as crypto currency.
'He's not an online-savvy person, so I don't know how he's able to buy gold online,' Wen said of the mysterious withdrawals.
Someone was also reportedly trying to sell Naiping's vehicles and rent out his home.
Meanwhile, Naiping's wife had been visiting family in China around the time he apparently went missing and received a text message from his phone telling her to cancel her flight home and saying that he would join her in Asia.
Detectives now believe someone had been using Naiping's cellphone to impersonate him for more than a month, and the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department confirmed to Fox 11 its deputies are treating the case as a possible kidnapping.
Wen has also suggested the contractors who performed work on the house following a massive water leak in January 2025 may have preyed on his father or even kidnapped him.
He said he now fears his father's disappearance may be tied to his success in the crypto industry.
As the investigation now continues, investigators said they are seeking any information about a silver Toyota Yaris believed to be connected to the case.
At the same time, Wen has created a website to bring awareness to his father's case.
It includes photos of his father - including one showing him holding a fishing rod after catching a fish - and a poster offering a $250,000 reward for any information leading to his father's recovery.
The website also includes a video in which Wen pleads to the public for help.
'The family is heartbroken,' he said in the video. 'We just want him back.'
Naiping is described as five-foot-seven inches, weighing roughly 170 pounds with black and gray hair and dark-colored eyes.
He has a birthmark on his upper left shoulder and a surgery scar on his lower back.