EmergenSee was a personal security system app that let uses live-stream their emergencies and share their GPS locations. The entrepreneur behind EmergenSee, Phil Reitnour, pitched his business on Shark Tank in October 2014. He left the Tank without a deal. Three years later, in October 2017, Reitnour was pulled out of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. His body was found with a gunshot wound to the forehead. According to local TV station WPVI, citing court records, Reitnour was $3 million in debt and was involved in lawsuits for alleged unpaid debts. (Debt itself, of course, is not unusual for entrepreneurs and small business owners.)
Reitnour was a widow — his wife Kathy Reitnour, 41, died of breast cancer in 2005 – and a father of four children. Reitnour’s five patents (most related to monitoring use on mobile devices) lists him and his four children as inventor. The last patent was filed in November 2016. [Related: 27 Favorite Shark Tank Products]
