Hours before his death, Suchir Balaji appeared relaxed as he strolled to the door to collect his last meal.
The big tech whistleblower emerged from the elevators of his apartment building in San Francisco hungry and with a spring in his step.
He turned toward the front door and disappeared around a corner, returning 15 seconds later clutching a brown paper bag.
Inside was a box of take-out rice, meat, and vegetables – the scraps of which were found sitting on his desk when his body was found days later.
Balaji dressed casually in jeans, sneakers, and a zip-up sweater, strolled back to the elevator, pumping tunes through the wireless earbuds planted firmly in his ears.
To passersby he has the appearance of any tired, young professional ready to relax on the couch with his dinner.
Yet this newly uncovered surveillance footage obtained by DailyMail.com from 7.30pm on November 22 is believed to be the last time he was seen alive.
Just hours later he died from a single gunshot wound to the head. His body was found four days later on November 26.
The medical examiner concluded his death was a suicide. Police agree. But the young man’s parents are convinced he was the victim of foul play.
They believe he was punished for daring to speak out against the dangers of the world-changing technology he’d been working on.
A month earlier, Balaji had revealed OpenAI’s dubious methods of training ChatGPT and warned of its dangers to the internet.
His mother, Poornima Ramarao, claims the final footage of her son proves he did not kill himself.
‘[The medical examiner] saw this video and still concluded he was depressed and called it suicide,’ she said.
Balaji spoke to his father, Balaji Ramamurthy, from 7.12pm until a few minutes before he arrived home.
He told him him he was getting dinner and they discussed his recent holiday, and tentative plans to meet in January.
There were no signs of what was to come.
Earlier CCTV footage showed Balaji arriving home from his birthday holiday with friends to Catalina Island, off the coast of Los Angeles, at 1.33pm.
His luggage, a large canvas bag, hung from a strap slung over his left shoulder and he was wearing a black jacket, blue jeans, and black shoes.
Like the final video just six hours later, he was walking towards the elevators in the lobby of his apartment building.
‘Does he look stressed?’ Ramarao asked, rhetorically.
Hellbound and Down 