CA CA - Lydia "Dia" Abrams, 65, Idyllwild, 6 Jun 2020

[Curious Me]

Were the Trust instructions part of the motive? I imagine we won't know that until this case gets solved.

LE has been investigating Dia being missing as a homicide. IMO, what's important now is to figure out who did this to her and where they hid her remains. It does seem her properties and wealth may be part of the motive, but there's no telling. Sometimes there's unexpected surprises.

I'm trying to keep an open mind to all possibilities, but to also keep a close eye on where LE seems to be headed. It'd be wonderful if Dia just took off voluntarily because she felt she was in danger, but LE has looked into everything and it doesn't point to that.

Going by what was happening last with the LE investigation, I am wondering if they are looking for the remains in another state.

"Harper previously told News 8 he left the ranch two days after Abrams went missing, and drove his RV to Colorado and New Mexico for business."

He drove all the way to Colorado and New Mexico while everyone else was on the ranch searching for Dia. Why do you think the RV was possibly left in NM? How will LE ever figure out where to look for Dia now? Do you think there's a GPS in that RV that would have tracked and recorded his travel routes? It's important to find Dia to move this case forward.

Only MOO here. Please know I'm only speculating using LE's investigation as a possible guide to where this may be headed.

 

[stuntpuppy]

Were the Trust instructions part of the motive? I imagine we won't know that until this case gets solved.

LE has been investigating Dia being missing as a homicide. IMO, what's important now is to figure out who did this to her and where they hid her remains. It does seem her properties and wealth may be part of the motive, but there's no telling. Sometimes there's unexpected surprises.

I'm trying to keep an open mind to all possibilities, but to also keep a close eye on where LE seems to be headed. It'd be wonderful if Dia just took off voluntarily because she felt she was in danger, but LE has looked into everything and it doesn't point to that.

Going by what was happening last with the LE investigation, I am wondering if they are looking for the remains in another state.



He drove all the way to Colorado and New Mexico while everyone else was on the ranch searching for Dia. Why do you think the RV was possibly left in NM? How will LE ever figure out where to look for Dia now? Do you think there's a GPS in that RV that would have tracked and recorded his travel routes? It's important to find Dia to move this case forward.

Only MOO here. Please know I'm only speculating using LE's investigation as a possible guide to where this may be headed.

Google pretty much knows everywhere you go and where you have been as well as how long you stopped there.
If he had his phone on him they may have that.....
You can't hide some evidence. With today's technology it is out there. But! you can dilute it with false evidence that looks just as likely. He would know that. By going all the way to New Mexico that soon after the disappearance of course they are going to think he did something. If he deliberately took his phone and stopped 50 places along the way on dirt roads and off the road in different places it would look very suspicious. They would try to investigate them all. He could just say he has to pee a lot. That is how you dilute the evidence. Run them all over. With all that confusion and no body.....no crime.

 

[stuntpuppy]

Then again it may have been to throw them off. He didn't hide it. We'll see...

 

[Desert Cruiser]

If it did go down this path, there are some very remote areas that may have NOT cell towers to ping off of... A person being of a tour guide nature has to know some pretty remote areas in mo man's land pick it out haystack NM, CO... and all along the way.

 

[Desert Cruiser]

Saw a program on Bob Crane's murder on Reelz last night, I guess LE does not have to provide a motive, but a jury always look for one... interesting.

 

[slowpoke]

snipped Curious Me’s post for focus on this part:

Do you think there's a GPS in that RV that would have tracked and recorded his travel routes?

CBS8 included the search warrant of KH’s van
https://interactive.cbs8.com/pdf/RV_warrant.pdf

Quoting from the search warrant:
“There is in San Juan County, New Mexico, the following Recreational Vehicle (RV) in which I seek a warrant to search in reference to the crime of missing person/possible homicide:
- White in color RV bearing NM 29221RVB (currently in possession of the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office” (bolded by me, to note the plate no.)

I found a license plate lookup site and input the number. It says:

“1999 FORD E-35029221RVB license plate is registered to a 1999 FORD E-350 in New Mexico state. This FORD E-350 is a Parcel Delivery 2D and is manufactured by FORD MOTOR COMPANY, USA. “(Source: Reports For Plate Number 29221RVB In New Mexico, United States) (bolded by me, to note the year)

So, pretty old. May not have the fancy stuff like gps unless he added it. If he had a smartphone like is common for most these days as @stuntpuppy suggests, LE may be able to track his movements. Interesting it is a “parcel delivery” van. Not what I pictured when I hear/read a vehicle is an RV, but maybe that’s just me and my ignorance of what an RV is, I dunno.

They took a “section of front driver seat”. What do you think they saw or were looking for, to take that part of the seat? Blood? Fibers? Very curious. Then, back to the search warrant, I note it says “in reference to the crime of missing person/possible homicide”

IMO this shows they definitely think foul play has happened. They use the word “crime”. Being a missing person isn’t a crime in itself, so I think all the evidence they’ve gotten thus far is pointing to what we all fear has happened.
-Just My Opinion-

 

[SoHelpMeGod]

He could just say he has to pee a lot. That is how you dilute the evidence.

(Moo)If the person in charge(Successor Trustee) finalizes the trust and eventually sells the properties, then all the proceeds sit (as Directed) until the 5 year period matures...

I assume eventual sale of the properties is a part of the motive for her disappearance. And the trustee(s) acting on Dia's behalf while she is missing is/are probably not beneficiaries. I assume she uses a wealth management service of some sort for personal and business financial management.
AirBNB apparently allows a host to be a non-owner with permission (whatever 'permission' means). While her trust may indicate that business is to go on while she is not able to participate, and list the business(es), I assume the specifics of how the business is to run is detailed outside of the trust. AirBNB apparently deposits the proceeds from the rentals into the host's account. However, I assume Dia set up the original host account and then gave permission for Diana to act as host. I assume Diana does not have direct access to the account and she instead gets paid out of the account so there is profit left in the account for Dia.
But of course "assume" means I'm guessing.

Why do you think the RV was possibly left in NM?

It has occurred to me that, especially given the complexity of this case, there could be another explanation for why Harper got the RV out of there.
First of all, I don't think we know where the RV was parked. I'm assuming it could have been parked on any of Dia's properties.
Hearsay indicates that friends and acquaintances of Dia did not know Harper was her fiance.
Given Harper's background that has already been exposed on this site, I am wondering IF it is at all possible that maybe something else happened in the RV? And maybe, being ex LE, Harper realized the RV would be searched ASAP because of Dia's disappearance, so away it went? Totally guessing here, it's just a thought and probably incorrect......

I had a thought about the grow too. There are some 'natural healing' type practitioners in the general area. I wonder if Dia was perhaps trying to get into the legal cannabis business but was duped? It would be interesting to know if Dia had any friends or previous renters who might have worked with her on trying to set something up but there was a bad connection? Really DON'T know, but it's a thought.

 

[Curious Me]

......

Really appreciate everyone's thoughts on this case. I need to think out loud on here now, and hope you'll share your thoughts too.

Some people are diabolical and good planners. Jodi Arias did a great deal of planning with her gas cans to avoid stopping along the way, and she even tampered with her license plate. Gannon Stauch's stepmother had LE looking in Colorado, earlier this year, when she somehow transported his remains to Florida. How planned or unplanned was this supposed homicide?

Please know I'm allowing for the fact that KH is perhaps not a suspect, and Law Enforcement is checking out other persons of interest. However, I am quite interested in that RV trip. It may show an unplanned crime and a scramble to get the body off the ranch before LE got there.

Not sure I view this crime and the reporting of Dia missing as a planned event. The most logical motive would be financial gain, but suppose it was rage from that "talk".

Run them all over. With all that confusion and no body.....no crime.

^^^ Then again, purposely, throwing them off... it's possible. Some people have wondered if it happened, by a week or more, earlier to throw LE off and there was another earlier trip. I was really hoping for a GPS, or a smart phone. Guess we have to consider anything and anyone.

Sure, a possible motive would help us figure out who did it, but this case seems to have several. There's the court battle with the children, there's the illegal grow site on "rental" property, not to mention all those property parcels, there may be some business deal we don't know about, some motive to do with her Trust and being in line to benefit, or an unplanned domestic violence and rage that suddenly erupted.

KH may be innocent and I want to give him the benefit of doubt. That grow site could have brought bad people around the ranch.
I have only seen one person do interviews and that person, KH, is the only one I know that put up a reward.

I remember one case (Heidi Brossard and her baby missing) where the boyfriend acted so obviously guilty, and we all said he's so guilty, and he wasn't guilty at all. He was totally innocent. Her best friend had done it, We all felt terrible we blamed him. So, I don't know.

 

[Curious Me]

Arguing with myself now.

Possibly of interest (about an hour west of Garner Valley):
7 killed in shooting at illegal marijuana grow operation in Riverside County, Sheriff’s Dept. says | FOX 5 San Diego

I'm glad you pointed out this recent grow site case not all that far from the ranch. Normally, it seems killings on grow sites that the dead bodies are left there, not hidden. Some of the product was left, $ome ready for sales, and it's been said they were maybe after money and/or guns. I wonder if Dia kept large sums of cash on the property, maybe some valuables in a safe?

I had a thought about the grow too. There are some 'natural healing' type practitioners in the general area. I wonder if Dia was perhaps trying to get into the legal cannabis business but was duped? It would be interesting to know if Dia had any friends or previous renters who might have worked with her on trying to set something up but there was a bad connection? Really DON'T know, but it's a thought.

Actually, that's exactly what happened to Dr. Han, his wife, and little 5 yr. old girl in the Santa Barbara area. He was a brilliant natural homeopathic doctor who was going to start some kind of CBD or other cannabis product business with partners. He was approached by someone wanting into the plans, and the guy was an impatient, off his rocker connection. But, the bodies were left there, not taken along to hide.

That grow site could have brought bad people around the ranch.

Yes, illegal grow sites could've brought bad people around the ranch. Why do something to Dia...anger? Why leave so much product on the premises and take the body to hide?

 

[coastal]

I went back and read the search warrants here:

Search warrants served in case of missing former La Jolla woman | cbs8.com

No wonder Harper left town. He knew his marijuana grow biz was busted; he'd have gone to jail.
LE expected to find a BHO lab! (BHO = Butane Honey Oil, a condensed form of marijuana, which is what LE found just up the road in Augunga...with seven dead people...)

I can't copy the search Warrant, but i took notes:

6/8 Dia disappeared
6/9 6:00 pm Search Warrant signed by Judge
6/10 Harper leaves CA for NM in the Ford Van
6/12 Detectives travel to NM/seize Harper's Van/take evidence from front seat/
6/12 American Storage Complex, Aztec, NM (Harper's) searched, evidence taken (sealed)
(6/12?) Warrants served on "other properties owned by Dia Abrams, including the Sky High Ranch, located one and 1/2 miles west of her Bonita Vista Ranch."

Search Warrant (my notes; not verbatum)
...Riverside County GIS Mapping System as Parcel #567-170-006 with a listed property address of 28893 Bonita Vista Road, and Parcel # 567-170-002, in the unincorporated area of Riverside County, known as Mountain Center

commanded to search for the following properties:

1. Controlled substances
2. Paraphernalia related to the cultivation, ingestion, sales, trafficking of marijuana
3. All types of FIREARMS and WEAPONS
4. Any evidence of ownership or control of the premises
5. US Currency, money, counting machines, etc..
6. Documents tending to show controlled substances transactions including pay and owe sheets, ledgers, customer and distribution lists, etc
7. All vehicles to be searched
8. Civilian personnel to assist LEO with collection/documentation of (evidence, people, cars)
9. Any and all evidence of a concentrated cannibis Butane Honey Oil (BHO) lab
10. Seize electronics
11. It is requested that any and all US Currency be seized and might be subject to forfeiture under 11470 ct SEQ of the California Health and Safety Code to be deposited or transferred to the County's District Attorney's Office for Asset Forfeiture proceedings.

Please go read the search warrants and the affidavit of the requesting LEO, if you haven't yet. And help me with the timeline. It seems as if Dia's disappearing led to aerial searches for her, during which, the helicopter pilot saw buildings he IDed as greenhouses for growing marijuanaa, which led to LE's search/seizure of the mj on Dia's other properties.

Question: What effect will Dia's having moved her properties into a different trust have on their potential forfeiture? Will only the money and the mj be forfeited, and the cars and electronics? Or will the property also be at risk?

Thought: No wonder her kids were fighting with her. MOO
Thought: Did Dia leave of her own free will?
Thought: I wonder where KH is now.

 

[Curious Me]

No wonder Harper left town. He knew his marijuana grow biz was busted; he'd have gone to jail.

That would answer why take a dead body along to hide. It's back to KH and a motive that is all connected perhaps. It seems unexpected and unplanned tho'. They had that "talk" and it went bad? She was not cooperating with him?

I can't copy the search Warrant, but i took notes:

You did. Thank You for your notes. Wow, we're back to the grow site and the property and the transfers.

Please go read the search warrants and the affidavit of the requesting LEO, if you haven't yet. And help me with the timeline. It seems as if Dia's disappearing led to aerial searches for her, during which, the helicopter pilot saw buildings he IDed as greenhouses for growing marijuanaa, which led to LE's search/seizure of the mj on Dia's other properties.

Question: What effect will Dia's having moved her properties into a different trust have on their potential forfeiture? Will only the money and the mj be forfeited, and the cars and electronics? Or will the property also be at risk?

I did read some of the grow site warrant and posted this link before, but I tend to skim more now because my eye sight is giving me trouble. You've been putting quite a bit of this together, @coastal. It seems connected, for sure.

ETA-- He must have been forced to report her missing to someone. He couldn't keep it quiet because someone else knew she was missing. Why not keep it quiet and do further cover up? What happened so fast to Dia that he had to split and draw attention to his grow site? It says the "Search to include any and all cell phones found on persons at the search warrant locations or found at the search warrant location." I'm sure he took his phone with him, but they'd confiscate it later. The phones would be a gold mine of info about grow site connections and whereabouts of his trips, but he might have destroyed his phones. Sorry , my thoughts are racing now.

marijuana_grow_warrant.pdf

 

[Curious Me]

Question: What effect will Dia's having moved her properties into a different trust have on their potential forfeiture? Will only the money and the mj be forfeited, and the cars and electronics? Or will the property also be at risk?

@coastal asked-- Or will the property also be at risk? I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago and posted a link trying to find out the answer.

Would the threat be the liability of having those illegal grow sites on her rented property in some way? Years ago, it might have meant more serious charges, but I think now enforcement may include the seizure and destruction of your crop. It still left her open to dangers of people wanting to steal it, etc., Was she going along with renting to growers or was she demanding something change immediately? What was on her mind that she wanted to "talk"?
I have no idea, just speculating here.
Cannabis Cultivation Law Enforcement

Cannabis Cultivation Law Enforcement

Well, I'm tired now. Good Night.

 

[coastal]

That would answer why take a dead body along to hide. It's back to KH and a motive that is all connected perhaps. It seems unexpected and unplanned tho'. They had that "talk" and it went bad? She was not cooperating with him?

You did. Thank You for your notes. Wow, we're back to the grow site and the property and the transfers.

I did read some of the grow site warrant and posted this link before, but I tend to skim more now because my eye sight is giving me trouble. You've been putting quite a bit of this together, @coastal. It seems connected, for sure.

ETA-- He must have been forced to report her missing to someone. He couldn't keep it quiet because someone else knew she was missing. Why not keep it quiet and do further cover up? What happened so fast to Dia that he had to split and draw attention to his grow site? It says the "Search to include any and all cell phones found on persons at the search warrant locations or found at the search warrant location." I'm sure he took his phone with him, but they'd confiscate it later. The phones would be a gold mine of info about grow site connections and whereabouts of his trips, but he might have destroyed his phones. Sorry , my thoughts are racing now.
marijuana_grow_warrant.pdf

I skimmed those warrants too, the first time I read them, but the whole thing is right there in black and white. Especially in the affidavit, there are details we need. Like:

...Riverside County GIS Mapping System as Parcel #567-170-006 with a listed property address of 28893 Bonita Vista Road, and Parcel # 567-170-002, in the unincorporated area of Riverside County, known as Mountain Center.- Further described as two separate 5.00-acre rural parcels owned by Clem and Dia Abrams, in the unincorporated area of Riverside County, known as Mountain Center...

Owned by Clem and Dia Abrams?

I don't know how much more I want to learn about this place and these people.
Where are you, Dia?

 

[coastal]

Good night, Curious Me! Sleep well!

 

[Sun Spot]

Google pretty much knows everywhere you go and where you have been as well as how long you stopped there.
If he had his phone on him they may have that.....
You can't hide some evidence. With today's technology it is out there. But! you can dilute it with false evidence that looks just as likely. He would know that. By going all the way to New Mexico that soon after the disappearance of course they are going to think he did something. If he deliberately took his phone and stopped 50 places along the way on dirt roads and off the road in different places it would look very suspicious. They would try to investigate them all. He could just say he has to pee a lot. That is how you dilute the evidence. Run them all over. With all that confusion and no body.....no crime.

MOO, I have followed crimes that the perp has used a combination of personal cell phones and then a burner cell phone.. The perp often left "hid" the personal cell in a location where he wanted the authorities to believe he was. Then used a burner phone "prepaid" phone while committing his crimes. This can make it difficult for LE to trace. LE caught on to his game while checking surveillance cameras in the area.

 

[Desert Cruiser]

Without deciphering the VIN number on the E350it could also be one of these...
It's a RV coach built on a E350 chassis...

 

[Desert Cruiser]

Not familiar with evdidence situations, thinking out loud I wonder if KH would even be walking around if Dia's blood was on the seat?

 

[Desert Cruiser]

MOO, I think the grow was not in Dia's wheelhouse, most growers would probably be excellent tenants, pay on time for rent and NOT want trouble, if the conflict was a angle from the grow standpoint, I would think that the Dia and KH would have been dealt with together since they were couple, why leave the other behind to point fingers....
I get the feeling that whole bunch was cash poor...
Overhead, farm hands, property taxes, etc, etc is a lot of cost to run a ranch
So who bought the one property for 250K?

 

[Desert Cruiser]

Could it have cash slid under the table?

 

[Desert Cruiser]

So who bought this property, something going on here that is not right... $250 K
A big red flag here?
I mean who wouldn't jump on that, that's South Carolina prices and many other states as well, not Southern California pricing.
If they needed cash would they not offer it to acquaintances first, why the need to advertise at that price? Something is just not right here....
58111 Bonita Vista Rd, Mountain Center, CA 92561 - realtor.com®