Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Wealthy Lady Rancher DISAPPEARS from Cali Ranch: WHERE'S DIA?

Episode Date: December 8, 2023

Lydia "Dia" Abrams marries a wealthy La Jolla, California, real estate developer, Clem Abrams. They have two children. After more than 30 years of marriage, Clem Abrams passes away after a long illness and Dia steps up to run the 116-acre family ranch.  After years as a widow,  Abrams meets Keith Harper on a dating website. According to the Mercury News, Harper is a retired parole agent for the Utah Department of Corrections.  The two hit it off and six months later, Harper moves in with Dia at the ranch and becomes the ranch manager.   According to Harper, he works to upgrade the Abrams’ property:  building dams, bridges, and fences, and helping care for Abrams' animals. Harper also claims to be Abrams’ fiance. Keith Harper is also named as trustee of Abrams' estate, and her beneficiary in the event of her death. On June 6, 2020, Dia Abrams is seen at her ranch in Mountain Center, California. Then she is captured on doorbell-cam footage delivering cinnamon rolls to a neighbor undergoing cancer treatment. According to Keith Harper, he and Dia have lunch around 2:30 p.m. before he leaves to work around the property.  Abrams reportedly goes to tend to her horses at another property she owns in Garner Valley. Harper says he mows for five hours before returning to the house around 7:30 p.m.   Abrams’ Ford F-350 pickup is parked outside, but Harper cannot find her.  Harper says he calls her phone and hears it ringing upstairs. It is plugged into a charger next to a nightstand. Abrams’ purse and keys are also there. A search begins.  Dozens of locals scoured the ranch and surrounding mountain area on foot, horseback, and all-terrain vehicles. Harper is seen riding an ATV around the property. When Riverside County sheriff deputies begin a days-long search, Harper packs up his RV and takes off for Arizona. He says he needs to take care of a tax issue at a property he owns there.  Where is Dia?  Joining Nancy Grace Today: Brenda Geiger, J.D. -  Managing Attorney of Geiger Law Office, P.C. (a Trusts & Estates Law Firm; Author: “Secrets of Great Estate Planning, Fourth Edition” and “Estate Planning Secrets of the Affluent, Third Edition;" FB: Geiger Law Office, P.C./ IG: geigerlawoffice   Dr. Bethany Marshall – Psychoanalyst (Beverly Hills); Twitter: @DrBethanyLive/ Instagram & TikTok: drbethanymarshall; Appearing in the new show, “Paris in Love” on Peacock Dan Goldsmith -  Private Investigator & Owner of Goldsmith Investigations; Former Law enforcement Officer and Senior State Investigator Mike Hadsell – President and Founder of Peace River K9 Search and Rescue; Twitter: @K9River David Jerome - Correspondent for the Idyllwild Town Crier Newspaper   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. She's beautiful. She is accomplished. She is wealthy. She runs a huge ranch and she's missing. Or is she dead? I'm Nancy Grace a wealthy widow. Gorgeous, stunning, vibrant. Her name is Dia Abrams. Something is very wrong with this scenario. Listen.

Lydia Concello Abrams, Dia, she and her sister grew up in San Diego, California. Dia met and married Clem Abrams, a wealthy La Jolla, California, real estate developer. They had two children, Clinton and Chrisara. After more than 30 years of marriage, Clem Abrams passed away after a long illness, and Dia stepped up to run the 116-acre family ranch. Over a 100-acre ranch, and she has no problem running it? So how does this woman, I mean, if you look at her, beautiful, smart, runs the ranch all by herself, how does she somehow vanish off the face of the earth? Last seen on a neighbor's door cam, you know, the ring door cam. Well, things change. Listen. According

to her son, Dia Abrams is sweet, kind, and a caring person. She loves animals, especially her dog Ruby, miniature donkeys, and a miniature pony, which live at the ranch. Clinton Abrams says animals and nature are his mother's two favorite interests. Dia inherits some of her late husband's properties, as well as a marital trust, and nominates her daughter as trustee. Her children will be the beneficiaries in the event of Dia's death. After years as a widow, Abrams meets Keith Harper on a dating website. According to the Mercury News, Harper is a retired parole agent from the Utah Department of Corrections. The two hit it off, and six months later, Harper moves in with Dia at the ranch.

According to Harper, he worked and upgraded the Abrams property, building dams, bridges, fences, and helping care for animals. Harper also claims to be Abrams' fiancée. Okay, right there. Is there a fox in the hen house? With me, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now. But first, I'm going straight out to a correspondent for the Idlewild Town Crier newspaper, David Jerome. David, thank you for being with us.

How much money are we talking about that Dia, I think she has this huge ranch. I'm not talking about a little farm like my grandparents had, where we would go out and feed the chickens and take care of all the animals. This is a big operation. What is it, like two hours from San Diego? About, a little more than two. How much money are we talking about? How big is the ranch exactly?

It's at 116 acres. There's five houses, five buildings on the ranch, smaller buildings also. So five houses or buildings plus other buildings? What exactly do you mean? Well, they were running an Airbnb. So five houses or buildings plus other buildings? What exactly do you mean? Well, they were running an Airbnb. I don't really know how many of the buildings are dwellable. Okay, wait a minute, wait a minute.

I'm writing that down. David Jerome with me, guys. Did you say not only is her home there, but there's an Airbnb there? As Dia began looking for ways to make money, she had friends help her rent out units on the property as an airbnb and keith attempted to do her her supposed fiancee continued to do that after her disappearance so i'm still not getting this it's not you it's me how many structures are on the 100 plus acre ranch i've heard five mentioned. I mean, those would be buildings you can live in.

There are probably also barns and garages and things like that. Okay. All right. The ranch off Apple Canyon Road in Mountain Center is apparently gorgeous. Dia has blonde hair. She's about 5'4". She's last seen on a Saturday 2 p.m. wearing jeans, a yellow shirt, and a black multicolored windbreaker. She was heading to the Garner Valley area. However, her vehicle, handbag, keys, and cell phone were all still at her home.

Okay, that's a conundrum right there, but let's keep going. Let's see what else we can find out. Also, I heard you say, David Jerome, her supposed fiance. Very quickly, was there ever an engagement party, an announcement in the paper? Was there a date set for the wedding? Whose word do I have? They were engaged other than his. No one. Her friends all referred to him as a boyfriend and had not heard of this engagement. That's curious. David Jerome, that's highly curious.

Was there an engagement ring? Keith alleges there was, but can't remember where he got it from. Can't remember where he bought it from. Guys, we're talking about Keith, a ranch hand. His name is Keith Harper, and he had been working on the ranch and now says he was her fiance and she's missing. That's just the tip of the iceberg. But I want to talk about not knowing where you get an engagement ring. I got a problem with that. Let me go straight out to Dr. Bethany Marshall, renowned psychoanalyst.

You can find her at drbethanymarshall.com. You have a lot of your practice on Rodeo Drive. FYI, the rest of us say rodeo, but go ahead. Dr. Bethany Marshall, I think I've told you this. My grandmother, Lucy, gave me in her life her engagement ring. I know I can tell you right now exactly where she got it and when she got it, when my grandfather gave it to her. And I can tell you where it is right now. My wedding band, as you know, I didn't have one or an engagement ring for a really long time because I use my grandmother's as mine. One day I was about to give birth. David and I were walking down the street on third Avenue, by the

way, in New York. And there was a little jewelry store. He said, just let's look in there for a ring. And we'd already looked everywhere. I didn't like anything. I wanted something flexible, you know, that wasn't hard set. And we walked in. I told the lady what I was looking for. She owned the little store. She held up her hand, Bethany, and she said like this. And she took it off and it was flexi, like it squishes.

And I'm like, yes, where did you get that and she said from Italy and I can get you one and we waited like six months and we got it I can tell you how do you not know where your engagement ring comes from and Nancy I know where mine came from it came from my husband's grandmother and I know where they got the stone I know the color of the stone I know it's slightly off color because the grandfather was colorblind, because we know the stories around the stones, the rings, the things that are such an important part of marriage and commitment. But, you know, I have a couple other problems with this story. I've just stood out as you and the reporter were talking when Harper says that he made improvements to the property. That's not how somebody talks when they're in a cohesive relationship. They say we made improvements to the property. I didn't even catch that, Bethany. I thought I've been hanging around with you long enough

that I would catch everything. I did not catch that. But you're right. Also, the fact that she's a wealthy woman, but they are Airbnb, putting one of the properties up as an Airbnb. That stood out to me, too, because it tells me or begs the question, is Harper trying to monetize his relationship with Dia? Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Hold on right there. There's another thing. David Jerome joining me, correspondent with the Idlewild Town Crier. David, I also know that it's been said she loved adventure. So if they open use a couple of those buildings on a property. And remember, all this came from her original husband and he passed away.

He had a long illness and she got the bolt, a lot of the estate anyway. If she loved adventure, David Jerome, she might've thought it was an adventure to start an Airbnb. I mean, that starting a bed and breakfast, that's a lot of people's dreams. Okay. There's a whole other side to this, which is that there's the question of the marital estate and the marital trust and the family trust. Clem, her husband, was too clever by half and had put in some clauses having to do with the estate tax that meant that in the end, when he died, nothing went into the marital trust. And Dia had to file papers against Clinton and Krasara to try to get that funded. So she was house rich and cash poor. She did not have the,

she was used to getting maybe $15,000 a month to pay taxes, insurance, mortgage expenses, everything. And now, and again, I can't confirm that she was cut off without a penny, but she was cut off. So she got property, right? Right. She has real estate. Okay. So she gets real estate and the children get money. Okay. Got it. I got it. House rich. She had a few properties that were put in her name. The properties in Garner Valley were put in her names and she put them in her own trust, but everything else was with the family. The intention of Clem's will and trust was that the money up to the limit of the estate tax would go into a family trust and the remainder go to Dia. And if the estate tax was repealed, she would get $6 million corrected for inflation. What he didn't foresee was that the estate tax would be doubled to over $10 million, and all the money went into the

family trust and nothing into the marital trust. And she was filing and fighting her family, trying to get funding. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Another thing I'm noticing, David Jerome, is that she met Keith Harper on a website. That's what people say, yes. Okay, what is Farmers Only? I've actually never heard of that website. Of course, by the time I find out about a dating website, somebody's missing or dead. But what is farmers?

Did you hear that, Sidney? What's farmers only? It's a great way to meet ladies who own land. Well, you just cut the chase right there. A great way to meet ladies that have land. Dan Goldsmith with me, joining us from this jurisdiction in California, private eye, owner of Goldsmith Investigations, also former law enforcement and senior state investigator. I don't like the sound of that, although it may be entirely true, Dan Goldsmith, that farmers only is a great way to meet ladies with land. Well, apparently it's one way to do it, but he took advantage of it because it looked like he moved in fairly, fairly quickly after with her i mean do we know david jerome whether he was a farmer did he have land

as well yes he apparently had 85 acres in needville arizona which is near the grand wash cliffs he owns a storage business in mexico his family apparently still runs his what was called outlaw tours in durango and has probably changed its name since then. Outlaw Tours in Durango. OK, so he's bringing something to the table. But let's go beyond this. This is a wealthy widow, gorgeous, accomplished, running a ranch. She meets up with him on a website. Shortly after, she goes missing, but not before she names him, the ranch hand, as trustee of her estate.

Listen. After her new romance begins, Abram amends her trust and instead names Keith Harper, the manager of her ranch, and Diana Fetter, a neighbor and friend, as trustees of her estate. Harper is named beneficiary in the event of her ranch, and Diana Fetter, a neighbor and friend, as trustees of her estate. Harper is named beneficiary in the event of her death. On June 6, 2020, Dia Abrams is seen at her ranch on doorbell cam footage that morning delivering cinnamon rolls to a neighbor. According to Keith Harper, he and Dia have lunch around 2.30 p.m. before he leaves to work around the property. Abrams reportedly goes to tend her horses at another property she owns in Garner Valley. Okay, Dr. Bethany Marshall, I hope you tell your clients, especially your lady clients, don't mix sex with business. It's not a good

outcome. Don't do it. Why do you, when you fall in love, you certainly have to, you have to hand over all your money and your titles to property, everything over to the boyfriend? Why? You know, Nancy, I have seen this time and time again. Women who are competent, bright, they built their own estates, they have money, they really have success in life. And then they meet a man and all of a sudden they feel that the man has greater expertise than they do. I see this with celebrities. I have some really, really famous celebrities in my practice who they became rich and famous all on their own. They act on a world stage. They sing on a world stage. They got a boyfriend, maybe a PA, production assistant somewhere. And all of a sudden, that PA becomes the expert managing their life, running their life. And they turn over the keys to the kingdom.

And it's really, really a sad problem. And it really, you know, it makes me feel that Dia on some level was desperate and vulnerable because of what was happening with the estate. Wait a minute. Why do you say desperate? Maybe she was just lonely. This woman does not seem desperate to me. Hold on. Dr. Bethany Marshall joining me right now is Brenda Geiger, lawyer, managing attorney for the Geiger Law Office, a trust and estates law firm and author of Secrets of Great Estate Planning and author of Estate Planning Secrets of the Affluent. You can find Brenda at GeigerLawOffice.com.

And there's a lot more about Brenda Geiger. All good. Brenda Geiger, jump in. Do you see this happen a lot? You've got a beautiful woman, a widow, all alone, and suddenly a man enters her life and she wants to sign over the farm. Literally, in this case, she signs over the farm. Yes. It's not totally common, but I have seen things like this before where somebody has used affection or intimidation or coercion to unduly influence somebody. And it sounds like in this case,

I don't know if this is where you're going, but there was an action filed by her children for an undue influence claim. That happened, I think, in 2021. And then there are some court documents in 2023 about a settlement of settling that estate. Instead of it all going to him, it would go 50-50 if she's determined to be deceased. You know, 50% to the children, 50% to him, to Harper.

This is all about money. I don't like the smell of it one bit. David Jerome joining us, Idlewild town crier. Is it true that Keith Harper, the ranch hand slash fiance, is a registered sex offender? Apparently so, Colorado. Well, I need to know. Is he or is he not? Yes. Not apparently. I want to know. Do I have the right person? Is the right DOB? Is it the right jurisdiction? So the answer then is yes. Yeah. He's a registered sex offender.

In Colorado. And he has to, apparently he has to register in California too. When is that going to happen? He has. But he also keeps on appealing. It's close to,

it'll expire in 2025. Okay. It's just 2023. So appealing at what? Why? For what reason? He keeps on thinking that if he can appeal it,

he can end the probation or end the registration. But it hasn't worked. He's a sex offender on the registry because he groped two women. Is that correct? Yes. What do we know about those instances? That he was running tours, his outlaw tour business in Colorado, Durango. It was a snowmobile tour. There were three women that say that he groped them.

He says he was trying to prevent an imminent accident. The jury believed them, and he could have gotten probation, but he argued with the judge and didn't like probation, so he ended up spending nine months behind bars. Okay, hold on just a moment. He could have gotten probation, but he didn't want probation? Did you just say that? Yes. He insisted on his innocence and that he didn't want probation. And the judge satisfied him by throwing him in the pokey for nine months. Two counts of unlawful sex conduct, which is a misdemeanor. I've got that he served one year in jail and had to register as a sex offender.

Yes, he served nine months of the one year. Former boyfriend of D.A. Abrams, who has gone missing, has to continue to register as a sex offender. He represented himself in court in the last months in San Juan County, Colorado. That's where he was convicted. Now, this was 10 years ago. And since that time, David Jerome, has he had any other infraction of the law? I don't think so so beyond a speeding ticket or something. He did one. He what? I'm sorry, it's Dan Goldsmith. He did have a conviction

of a domestic violence in Colorado. Really? That's the one I didn't know about. When was that, Dan? 2010, I believe. Okay, so his criminal past goes way back. Some would argue because of the time lapse that it is irrelevant. I don't know if I feel that way. Did you say, David Jerome, that a jury convicted him? Yes, although Harper said it was a jury of five people and the judge was a CHP officer, but that's his story. But yes, the jury convicted him. Okay, let's get to the day that Dia disappears. Take a listen to Dave Mack. Keith Harper says he was mowing five hours before returning to the house around 7 30 p.m. Abrams Ford F-350 pickup is parked outside,

but Harper cannot find Abrams. Harper says he called her phone, heard it ringing upstairs. It was plugged into a charger next to a nightstand. Abrams purse and keys are also there. Harper says he called a California Highway Patrol officer who lives nearby. The officer, according to Harper, told him law enforcement would not take any action until Abrams had been missing for three days. Harper began calling Abrams' friends and neighbors. A community search party is formed. Dozens of locals scoured the ranch and surrounding mountain area on foot, horseback, and all-terrain vehicles. Harper is seen riding an ATV around the

property. Okay, Mike Hadsall is joining us, president and founder of Peace River Canine Search and Rescue. You can find him at psar.org. Mike Hadsall, we've seen a lot of cases where women go missing. Yep. But from what I'm hearing right here, and I don't like a lot of what I've heard about Keith Harper, but he immediately calls a friend. We know she's alive that morning because she's caught on video. One of her neighbors is fighting cancer and she takes homemade cinnamon rolls to the neighbor and she is on ring cam. So we know that his story about that is true. He is the one that volunteers that they have lunch together.

And that that was around, I think, between 1230 and 230. He is the last one that says he saw her. But Mike Hadsall, when women go missing, I'm very, very accustomed to boyfriends, lovers, husbands, ex-husbands, not calling the police till days pass, not taking part in the search, not calling friends or employers, co-workers. But he did. She was alive that morning. She's on a ring cam, fit as a fiddle.

We even know what she was wearing. That afternoon, he says he was working for hours and hours, comes back. She's gone. Her purse, her cell phone, her keys are all there. He calls a friend that's a highway patrol. He says she's missing. He calls neighbors and friends. They start searching. He also is searching. What

do you make of that, Mike Hadsell? Well, there's a lot of unaccounted time there, isn't there? So we know that the last time that she was at 930, the only time stamp we have is from him. But there's still about six hours unaccounted for, which is plenty of time for something to happen and put the body into hiding. So the question is, is where is it? Well, he's right, David Jerome. Where was the lunch, supposedly? In their house, in the house, the main house on the property. Do we have any digital trail left by her, such as she called a friend, she sent a text. She did an ATM withdrawal. She moved money on her computer. She went shopping on Amazon. Do we have any digital trail showing or purporting to show she's alive after that morning

at the neighbor's? Not that we know of. No, the police have not said that there's any sign that she acted after that. Okay. Dan Goldsmith, I've got a problem with that. I have a big problem with that because in this day and age, people text. She had friends. She had family. She was running an Airbnb. It's very hard for me to believe she didn't make one phone call or send one text from the time she left that neighbor's home that morning. Well, another thing too is if you see the photos of her, obviously she likes to take care of herself. It looks like she does her hair up. She uses makeup. A woman in this status is not going to sit there and leave her purse and her makeup and her phone.

That's the connection to the world. I mean, there's just no way that that's going to be a voluntary thing. She's not going to take any of that stuff with her. Well, I've got another issue. According to the boyfriend, she was going to the Garner Valley area. However, her vehicle, purse, keys, and cell phone were all still at home. So how's she going to go there without her car? Unless she got an Uber, which there's no suggestion that she did. She went everywhere in her own vehicle. Let's listen to more. Riverside County Sheriff's deputies begin a days-long search, but before it starts, Harper packs up his RV and takes off for Arizona. He says he needs to take care of a tax issue at a property he owns there. The Mercury News reports from there, he says he needs to take care of a tax issue at a property he owns there. The Mercury

News reports from there, he says he travels to a storage facility he owns in Aztec, New Mexico. He is gone seven days. Okay, I need to hear that again, Jackie. Could you please play that, our friends from Crime Online? Tell me that again, what? Riverside County Sheriff's deputies begin a days-long search, but before it starts, Harper packs up his RV and takes off for Arizona. He says he needs to take care of a tax issue at a property he owns there. The Mercury News reports from there, he says he travels to a storage facility he owns in Aztec, New Mexico. He's gone seven days. Okay, listen, the last one I want to tangle with is the IRS. When they take my check every year, I say, thank you. And I want to tip them just, I like to feed the tiger and go away. Of course, with a long handle

spoon. But you leave when your alleged fiance is missing to go handle a tax matter at a property in another state, then to a storage facility in New Mexico, and you're gone for seven days. You know, Brenda Geiger is with me and her specialty, as you know from all the books she's written is trust and estates but she's a lawyer to brenda geiger that just looks bad and any defense attorney that i would say that to would go well there's no playbook for grief i've had that thrown in my face a million times and guess what they're right but you tell that to a jury they're not buying that at least for seven days while she's gone missing. Yeah, that just sounds really weird. You know, with the thought when I read all of that is that, you know, did he potentially put her body into the RV and take off with it and bury her somewhere?

Think of that drive, Brenda. Hold on. Let me look here. So he goes all the way to Arizona. Then he goes from Arizona to New Mexico. She could be anywhere along that route. Listen, if I find out he put his cell phone on airplane mode or turned it off during the drive, I'm going to do a backflip. That's what Brian Koberger did after the four beautiful University of Idaho students were murdered. Suddenly, he's driving around near their home in the middle of the night, 3 a.m., 4 a.m., and he turns his cell phone off. Nancy, it's not only that. I was just counting the seconds until Bethany Marshall piped in. I'm glad you did, actually. Go ahead. And, Brenda, we all think you're way too polite.

This is more like a free-for-all, Brenda. So just jump in. That, actually. Go ahead. And Brenda, we all think you're way too polite. This is more like a free-for-all, Brenda. So just jump in. That's right. Go ahead. Go ahead, Dr. Bethany. Nancy, it's the hyperbole. He doesn't just say, I have a matter to take care of. I have to go to a property to take care of a tax issue.

That doesn't sound true unless the IRS is coming in and taking all your possessions because you owe them so much money. It doesn't sound true unless the IRS is coming in and you're taking all your possessions because you owe them so much money. It doesn't sound real. So the language he uses a little is a little like Casey Anthony. You know, everything was just a little too grand, a little too detailed, a lot of self-aggrandizement in the stories. I don't even know if he owns property anywhere. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but hyperbole, which just threw on us, is when you exaggerate, not necessarily when you add additional facts. It's like, oh, my headache is so bad. I think my head's going to blow up. That would be hyperbole. However, in this case, saying I've got to run out of town,

he adds these facts because they've got to see about a tax matter, about a property I own in Arizona. And then I've got to go to a facility, my storage facility in New Mexico. So you and I can split hairs about what is hyperbole and what is, you know,

methinks thou doth protest too much. I'll throw a Shakespeare quote on you. When the story shifts in depositions, he said, oh, no. Oh, wait, wait, wait. I'm so happy. Okay. He changed his story, David Jerome. That's a headline.

That's a bombshell. Hit me. He changed his story? With Keith, changing the story is the story. In the deposition, he said the only reason they were going to leaving state was that for Dia's safety, that she felt unsafe. She was worried that someone was coming to get her. Wait a minute. Is he saying Dia went with him out of the state? He was planning.

The only reason they were planning this trip was to get Dia out of the state so she'd feel safer. But then when she disappeared, he decided to go go by himself and then there's the tax issue and then the reason we stayed a week i'm sorry david jerome you're giving me too much too fast yes i'm drinking out of the fire hydrant okay i haven't heard that everything up until now i kind of already knew about tell me this again so in the deposition he gave to Clinton and Krasar as attorney. Those are the children. Yes. The only reason he was going was that Dia felt unsafe and was, she'd been writing notes

saying that she was in danger and felt threatened in the property. And then when she went missing, he decided to do the trip anyway. So now the story changes. Okay. That doesn't even make any sense. So she felt unsafe and threatened somehow, so he agrees to take her on this trip. Then she actually does go missing, and he goes on the trip alone? Did I understand that correctly?

Precisely. Oh, I'm so happy. Dan Goldsmith, don't you just love it when people waive their right to a lawyer and they talk under oath in a deposition? I'm so happy. Yeah, that was a great deposition because he did. And if you read in there, the people he's saying that she's afraid of is her son. But he kept using the word her son was going to make her disappear.

That's an odd phraseology. You think if he's going to kill me or if he's going to do murder or, you know, wants to do me in, whatever. He kept saying disappeared, which is actually what happened. And I would never phrase it like that. And he said it probably five or six times. Well, authorities have just as many questions as we do. Listen to our friend at Crime Online, Dave Mack. Authorities catch up with Harper in New Mexico and impound his recreational vehicle. Investigators remove a section of the front driver's seat as evidence. Authorities search the Bonita Vista Ranch and find a tan bed sheet,

a band-aid, and toilet paper all stained with possible blood. Two spent bullet casings, two handwritten letters, and a Netgear router were also seized. Okay guys, joining me in All-Star panel on that, I've got to go to Dan Goldsmith, private eye, former law enforcement. That's not good. Oh, no, it's not good. If there's evidence and it's pretty easy to test it and see if it's her blood, you've got some explaining to do. And that's what I don't understand has the has it been tested david jerome is it her blood the police don't say much keith's story is he's old and has thin skin and bleeds a little bit now and then and the bullet casings are the when there

are coyotes threatening the animals they make two two shots into the air. You know what? I could believe the thin skin. My dad had that and was on blood thinner. And if he got cut or even bumped his hand, he would bleed like crazy. And I could separately believe, yeah, you shoot in the air if you see coyote on your property, if you have animals there. But when you add the two together, plus the wacky story that she's afraid of her son and was writing notes that she was afraid and wanted to get away, and then she goes missing and he goes away anyway, instead of trying to find her. No, no, it's starting to become too much evidence, but that's not all. Wait for it. Another dead body pops up. Take a listen. 18 months after Abrams' disappearance, another tragedy happens at the ranch.

Ranch hand Jody Newkirk dies in a reported ATV rollover accident. It's Keith Harper who found her. Newkirk had reportedly worked on the ranch for about three and a half months. Harper says she asked him for a shovel and then rode off to look for a Christmas tree, even though it was raining. About an hour later, Harper says he went looking for Newkirk, noticed a blinking orange light in the distance, and found Newkirk beneath the ATV. Harper calls 911 sometime after 5 p.m. A responding CHP officer finds him performing CPR on Newkirk. She is pinned underneath the all-terrain vehicle. The Mercury News reports paramedics pronounced Newkirk, 46, dead less than 10 minutes later. The responding CHP officer has questions.

He reportedly tells the coroner that there did not appear to be any trauma on Newkirk's body consistent with a rollover accident. There is no observed major damage to the ATV and tire tracks leading to the vehicle end abruptly behind it, indicating the ATV simply came to a stop. There were also no skid or slide marks and the soil around the ATV is not disturbed. And as it turns out, the COD cause of death was actually a meth overdose. Okay. So why then did he say that she died beneath an ATV from a rollover when all the evidence shows the ATV did not roll over? Her body didn't die. She didn't pass away. And the body indicates no trauma from an ATV rollover on her. So why did he say that? Now I've got one missing girlfriend and a dead ranch hand.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. There's more. Listen. Keith Harper has been living on Dia Abrams' property since he returned from his RV trip to Arizona and New Mexico less than 48 hours after she was last seen. On August 10th, Harper allegedly contacts Orange County real estate agent Janine Daniels, telling her he had owned the Bonita Vista property for 16 years. According to a sworn declaration filed in court by Daniels, Harper told her that he believed the property was worth $5.2 million and that he would like it to be listed on the market starting in February 2024. Harper's attorney Rob Schilling initially denied that Harper tried to list the ranch for sale and said, quote, we've got unsubstantiated allegations other than this woman saying he wanted to list the property. Mr. Harper denies that that

ever occurred. No way. No way, David Jerome. Isn't it true that Keith Harper's lawyer said he didn't try to list that property, but then the realtor showed screenshots of him texting her about listing the property? That's correct. This guy's telling way too many lies, way too many lies. So explain to me, Debbie Jerome, where does he stand in line to get her property and money? And why the hay are we getting an analysis on that blood, the DNA found in his RV? He still stands to take half of that property. Now, what can you tell me about some agreement between him and the children? If nobody gets charged with their disappearance, they're going to split the money in 2025.

Is that real? It's the last court document that came out was that that was, but he's been removed as a trustee since then, and he's now been evicted also. Well, I don't understand how you can do that, Brenda Geiger. Brenda Geiger is renowned for trust and estate work. And let me tell you, people have killed over a lot less than 116 acre ranch and some money, a lot less. You know, Brenda Geiger, a case I prosecuted was over a $5 hit of crack. I had another one over a $25 debt. So people keel over a lot less than a big, beautiful ranch in California.

So Brenda, I'm not sure that that's real. David Jerome, jump in if you know better, but how can three people, two children and a boyfriend agree? Hey, if neither of us get charged with her disappearance or murder, we'll split all our money in 2025. I've never heard of that. It sounds illegal. Well, basically, he was left as the beneficiary of the restated trust that she did two weeks before she died. Oh, dear. I didn't realize it was just two weeks before she died, Brenda. I'm so glad you said that. Go ahead. Yeah. So, you know, that's where the potential for what we call an undue influence claim is made with the court. That's what Dia's children did. So they filed this petition saying that he unduly influenced her decision to make

that change. And so the court looked at several different factors. And a lot of times in these cases, the parties will come to an agreement because they're slogging it out, slogging it out. And in order to, you know, shortcut protracted litigation, they'll go in and they'll make a settlement. So in this case, the parties, you know, her children and Harper, even though everything was supposed to go 100 percent to Harper, if within the five year period, you know, somebody disappears in California for five years, then if they reach that five-year period and the person doesn't appear, they're presumed to be dead. So at that point, that's when the trust terms would go into effect. Or in this case, because there was that petition that was filed with the court and approved back in March of 2023, that order by the judge says that 50% will go, the liquidated estate, you know, all the properties get sold. 50% will go to DS2 Children, 50% to Harper. But there's one rub here. If by chance, either one of the children or Harper are found to have been responsible for her death,

there's a thing called a slayer statute in California which prohibits anybody from inheriting under those circumstances. And it's not nearly as nefarious as it sounded when I said it. I kind of like my way better, but actually I think you're right. So long story short,

if the number of years pass and she is assumed dead. With that new trust that is. It was that Brenda who just put in that it was put in effect. It was signed two weeks before her disappearance. She previously had a reputable San Diego attorney that was filing her papers as she fought her children in court. But now she drove down to Palm Springs and found a new attorney, a man named Dennis Healy, who draws up this new trust and begins, shows up a few times at court with Harper, and then himself dies, you know, unexpectedly of natural causes. So we'll never know whether Dia really filed that trust or whether Keith was with her or anything like that. Mike Hadsall, founder or president of Peace River Canine Search and Rescue. What should be happening right now to find Dia? Well, the

biggest thing that sticks out, her property has all been searched a minimum of seven times as of right now we know that's happened so the route to arizona is the one that stands out and at that point we need to start looking at the route the route he took the time that he took we have to look for any turnouts that would would grant privacy and basically just start working that whole route that's that would be the next search uh that needs to happen if it hasn't happened already. But the properties have been searched, and the areas around her properties have been searched many times. And San Bernardino County and Riverside has excellent teams, so they would do a really good job with that. So I just have to believe it's not there and that they have to look elsewhere.

I agree. Dan Goldsmith joining me, private eye, former law enforcement, Goldsmith Investigations. What do you think should be being done right now? Well, I know they just did another search warrant at the property and they actually brought in excavators to do some digging, but they still didn't find anything or they're not reporting that they found anything.

I still go back to him taking off within a few days after her disappearance. And it's just a great desert all the way from Riverside County, all the way into Arizona, and then even going up to the tip in Farmington, New Mexico, where the storage facility is. Law enforcement should have, they weren't doing their job, but if they would have searched that facility within a week or so,

they may have found the body there. But who knows now, three and a half hours later. Brittany Geiger, what do you think should be done legally? Well, I don't think there's much that can be done at this point until it's determined whether or not she's deceased or that five-year period goes by. They're really, it's just going to be stuck in limbo and

the court-appointed trustee is just going to have to manage that property and or liquidate and then under the Prudent Investor Rule Act, prudently invest the proceeds from the sale of the property. Isn't it true, Brenda, that he has been removed as a trustee by the court? Yes. Yes. And I think the death nail in the coffin on that one was the fact that those text messages showed that he was trying to engage a realtor to sell the property. You know, he also failed to file tax returns. He didn't, he wasn't making the mortgage payments at some point. And he missed some fire insurance policy payments on the ranch. So, you know, he wasn't doing his duties as trustee.

It reminds me a lot, Brenda Geiger of Scott Peterson, who the moment Lacey went missing, he tried to sell her vehicle and ordered the porn channel. So obviously he's not expecting her to come back home anytime soon. I mean, Dr. Bethany Marshall, renowned psychoanalyst, joining us out of California. I had a problem with Bethany Marshall, renowned psychoanalyst joining us out of California. I had a problem with this guy the moment he said he doesn't remember where he got the engagement ring. Oh, Nancy, the relationships always tell a story, the relationship between Dia

and Harper, whoever sold them the ring, the family history. But the most important story, relationship story is between Harper and her two children. If you love somebody enough to get engaged, to put them in your trust, to bequeath property to them, you're going to sit down at a dinner table with them and your children and make sure everybody gets along. And that doesn't seem to have happened. And that is the biggest story hole in this entire situation to me is the lack of love amongst various family members that is the biggest story hole in this entire situation to me, is the lack of love amongst various family members that tells a big story. And David Jerome, joining us from Idlewild Town Crier. David Jerome, what happens next? And how do we find out the DNA results? The DNA results are when the police

choose to release any information. What happens next? I know December 20th, there's another court date in which Harper is supposed to show a good accounting of his behavior as a trustee, but that's extremely unlikely. He's very disorganized. The lawyer he's working with is mostly a producer of excuses, and they may not even show up for that. There were sanctions at the last, when he was removed as a trustee, there were sanctions, which will be stayed until this December 20th hearing. I just don't believe that by hiding a body, you can literally get away with murder. Yeah. Again, no one has been charged or named a person

of interest in this case. We wait as justice unfolds. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.