A CALIFORNIA TECH-EXECUTIVE-TURNED-CANNABIS-ENTREPRENEUR IS KIDNAPPED FROM HIS WATERFRONT HOME - COULD GRAINY SURVEILLANCE VIDEO HELP INVESTIGATORS SOLVE THE CASE?

"48 Hours" Investigates in "Who Shot the Tech Exec?"

Saturday, April 2

Tushar Atre had it all. A successful tech-executive-turned-cannabis-entrepreneur, he had a multimillion-dollar home on the California coast, where he spent his free time surfing. The dream house turned into a crime scene in October 2019; grainy surveillance video from that time shows he was attacked and kidnapped. He was later found stabbed and fatally shot on his cannabis farm in the Santa Cruz mountains. 48 HOURS and correspondent Tracy Smith investigate Atre's disappearance and murder and the trail that led to four suspects, in "Who Shot the Tech Exec?" to be broadcast Saturday, April 2 (10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network and streaming on Paramount+.

It's a case that stunned Atre's community in Santa Cruz and took investigators on as many twists as a surfer riding the famous waves at his doorstep. The two crime scenes provided few clues, though guests inside Atre's home told detectives they heard the intruders demanding to know the location and combination of Tushar's safe.

"This was a whodunit from the start," says Steve Cercone, a former California police chief and a 48 HOURS consultant.

Investigators from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office did have that grainy surveillance video, which captured what happened on Atre's street from the moment three shadowy figures entered the neighborhood and walked toward his house. Minutes later, Atre is seen running and then tackled. He is repeatedly stabbed and eventually pushed into a BMW the suspects stole from his driveway, before they all drive away. Who were those figures, and why would they want Atre dead? It's a mystery that investigators would spend more than seven months unraveling.

"If this is truly just a simple robbery and all you care about is the money in the house, once he runs away, you let him go," says attorney Mary Fulginiti, a former federal prosecutor and 48 HOURS consultant.

"It's definitely about more than just money," Fulginiti adds.

48 HOURS: "Who Shot the Tech Exec?" is produced by Gayane Keshishyan Mendez, Richard Fetzer and Chuck Stevenson. Michelle Fanucci is the development producer. Lauren Turner Dunn is the associate producer. Ken Blum, Joan Adelman, Wini Dini, Grayce Arlotta-Berner and Diana Modica are the editors. Anthony Batson is the senior broadcast producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.

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