He was known for his ability to detect emerging market trends, particularly the decline in oil prices that began in 2014, before they otherwise became apparent, through close analysis of data.

Conspiracy theories surfaced, especially after an erroneous report that his credit card had been used overseas, suggesting his disappearance was part of a pattern of suspicious deaths in the financial sector.

However, when his body was finally found in a nearby river 14 months later, the coroner ruled his death an accidental drowning and said there were no signs of foul play.

"[3] Late in the afternoon of January 11, 2014, Bird, who was recovering from a brief stomach illness,[4] left his home in the Millington section of Long Hill Township, New Jersey.

He told his wife that he planned to go for a brief walk around nearby wooded trails, clad in a distinctive red raincoat with yellow zippers, jeans and sneakers.

[11] Searchers suffered a setback when the winter weather turned colder than usual two weeks later followed by heavy snow throughout the region throughout the next two months;[12] they continued their efforts by retracing their steps along the sides of local roadways, looking for signs of an unreported motor vehicle accident or personal items.

[13] In March, when the snow melted, the search resumed, focusing on areas nearby where Bird had been known to hike and retracing earlier routes.

[14][15][16] Dow Jones also kept paying Bird's salary through the end of July 2014, changing his status to unpaid leave of absence after that point.

[17] After Bird was taken off the payroll, the Independent Association of Publishers' Employees 1096, the trade union representing Journal reporters, donated $10,000 to the family and matched members' contributions up to another $10,000.

That day, two canoeists on the Passaic, its waters high after another winter of heavy snow and bitter cold,[18] found Bird's red jacket entangled in branches on the Morris County side of a stretch of the river near King George Road in neighboring Somerset County's Warren Township,[19] roughly one mile (1.6 km) from Bird's home.

[20] Bird was described in his Wall Street Journal obituary as "an avid hiker, lover of reggae music, a Boston Red Sox fan, cyclist, camper, marathoner and a scout-troop leader" who had traveled to more than 35 countries.

[22] Although no signs of foul play were reported in his death, Bird's fate inspired theories that what happened was somehow the result of a conspiracy of some nature that had also claimed other lives in the financial industry during the same period.

In his final column for Bloomberg View, several months after Bird was reported missing, William D. Cohan, a former Chase employee himself who had some admitted disputes with the company, looked into the rumors and found that Chase had indeed experienced an unusual number of deaths of employees in their 30s during that period, especially when compared to similarly sized investment banks.