CA CA - Lydia "Dia" Abrams, 65, Idyllwild, 6 Jun 2020 #2

[coastal]

Quoting from the MSN article so we have some of the info to discuss here. It's going to take me awhile to process all this, and grapple with the fact that this has been deemed a suspicious possible homicide. Dia disappears so mysteriously, and now this woman dies.

Another woman lost at Bonita Vista Ranch near Idyllwild (msn.com)
She had been working on the sprawling property since early August, as a ranch hand taking care of the horses.

“My sister was what you would describe as an outdoors woman. She was a horse trainer,” said Newkirk’s sister, Kelly Berkowitz. "She was extremely strong. Although she was probably 100 pounds soaking wet and barely over five feet, she could hold her own. When you were in her presence, she was intimidating even with her small stature because she was just a very strong, outdoorsy, capable woman."

Berkowitz said she last spoke to her sister the day before she died.

“She was in a great mood. She was up in the mountains, and she loved being in nature. And she spent all day outside. So, she really felt like she had gotten her dream job,” recalled Berkowitz.

[...]

He [Harper] was her boss. He was the one who gave her direction and told her what needed to be done. And she kept lists of everything he told her to do. And she would check those off,” said Berkowitz.

Harper, 72, also was Newkirk's landlord, as she was living in a house ten miles away in Garner Valley, a property also once owned by Dia Abrams at the time of her disappearance.

“She [Newkirk] was paying him rent. And she was struggling. I don't think she was making what she deserved.,” said Berkowitz.

And the bombshell:

Woman dies at Bonita Vista Ranch near Idyllwild | cbs8.com

>>>snip

Harper declined to be interviewed for this report. Previously, he has denied any involvement in Dia Abrams' disappearance a year and a half ago.

In a series of text messages with News 8, Harper indicated he received information that one of Abrams’ workers “escorted her off the ranch into the hands of those who execute[d] her” and “they then waited [sic] her down and put her in the bottom of Lake Hemet.”

Via text message, Harper claimed a Riverside Sheriff dive team recently attempted to locate Abrams’ remains in Lake Hemet but failed.

<<<snip

Just horrible. I can't help but wonder if poor Ms. Newkirk was informed of this theory of Harper's. I suspect she wasn't.

She sounds like someone Dia would have liked to be taking care of her horses. MOO

 

[Curious Me]

He told sheriff investigators that Newkirk had been riding a quad on the property, during a rainstorm, because she wanted to cut down a live Christmas tree.

Harper said he discovered the quad on top of the woman and performed CPR on her before authorities arrived and found Newkirk deceased.

KH seems to put the blame on her for zipping around on an ATV in the rain wanting to cut down a tree.

People do lose their lives in ATV accidents.
Death Associated With ATVs by State | CPSC.gov

Did she have a helmet on? He moved her around, I bet, to perform CPR. She might've broke her neck or moving her around did. Wonder what makes LE think it's a Homicide. (speculation only, maybe choke marks on her neck, Petechiae spots in her eyes from being strangled?) Sounds like she was living under KH's thumb, her boss, paying him rent, living by his say so and not being paid enough.

 

[Curious Me]

In a series of text messages with News 8, Harper indicated he received information that one of Abrams’ workers “escorted her off the ranch into the hands of those who execute[d] her” and “they then waited [sic] her down and put her in the bottom of Lake Hemet.”

^^^ Extremely disturbing that KH is now saying he knows what happened to Dia and actually describing someone else putting a hit on her. Implying someone else that worked on the ranch handed her over. Who? Isidro? DF? Another ranch hand? Hmm... HIM?

Did he tell LE all this at the time or when he found out? Did he give LE names on who ordered the hit? Or is now coming out with this, just trying to defend how suspicious he's starting to look? Seems if someone ordered a hit plus KH was so recently named new Trustee... that 1 + 1 = 2.

This post is all MOO, of course.

 

[coastal]

I just remembered the odd fact of KH's previous conviction for assaulting women while riding an ATV. Is it too far a stretch to suspect a similar situation may have happened here? Not for me.

I don't much like coincidences. Don't trust 'em. MOO

 

[Curious Me]

...previous conviction for assaulting women while riding an ATV.

Good memory, only thing you got wrong is the vehicle. It was snowmobiles. His modus operandi? LE should take notice of this past tidbit. The conviction was for groping 2 women in 2011 while they were on a snowmobile outing at his business and he was "helping them out" on the snowmobiles. There was a 3rd woman in another county, but that trial didn't get a conviction.

 

[tvscum]

Journal entry and audio recording shed light on woman’s death at ranch near Idyllwild | cbs8.com

 

[coastal]

Good memory, only thing you got wrong is the vehicle. It was snowmobiles. His modus operandi? LE should take notice of this past tidbit. The conviction was for groping 2 women in 2011 while they were on a snowmobile outing at his business and he was "helping them out" on the snowmobiles. There was a 3rd woman in another county, but that trial didn't get a conviction.

Love you, Curious Me! Thanks for keeping me straight!

Snowmobiles are different from quads. They are. And a suspicious accidental possible homicide is not the same as thing as an "execution" and water burial, or a disappearing person, either, but they all share KH. Curious me, Curious Me! Curiouser and curiouser.

I just saw the latest report from David Gotfredson. Wow. Thanks, tvscum!
Sitting on my hands.

 

[yurintroubl]

Journal entry and audio recording shed light on woman’s death at ranch near Idyllwild | cbs8.com

I wonder if that phone call KH made to the relative occurred before or after Newkirk's journal was discovered and read by her family members.... because, IMOO - it seems like KH's "tribute" was crafted to specifically address some of the questions that journal would likely raise.

Also - Unless I've misheard/read something - this is a major disconnect: Harper mentions that the ATV incident occurred on a hill... but first responders found Newkirk in an open field (which to me reads as a flat area of land).

 

[Curious Me]

Journal entry and audio recording shed light on woman’s death at ranch near Idyllwild | cbs8.com

A big thank you for this latest. It's like a puzzle and we have to gather all the pieces to get a clear picture. The great reporting has been a huge help.

 

[Curious Me]

I wonder if that phone call KH made to the relative occurred before or after Newkirk's journal was discovered and read by her family members....

Confusing, huh. It sounded like KH knew what was in Newkirk's journal and address it with his slant. He wants us to perceive him a certain way and it always comes across phony to me. That's just my own personal feelings though.

 

[Curious Me]

For those catching up:
Woman dies at Bonita Vista Ranch near Idyllwild | cbs8.com
Another woman lost at Bonita Vista Ranch near Idyllwild (msn.com)

I just saw the latest report from David Gotfredson. Wow. Thanks, tvscum! Sitting on my hands.

I like when you share your thoughts, [B]@coastal[/B].
Please everybody listen to the video. Hearing what's in Jodi's journal and hearing what KH has to say is making my head spin. Their relationship? I thought she only worked on the ranch 4 mos. or so. Why are they talking so personal? Why would she write all that in a journal? Why would she end up dead soon after?

It should be easy for LE to find out if he was on dating sites. He says he didn't have internet access. This whole thing is creepy. Sorry, it's just how i feel, but KH creeps me out.

Have to agree with KH on one thing. I am shocked LE left her body out there all that time. I can see how KH, and probably Jodi's family, thinks that was inhumane.

Journal entry and audio recording shed light on woman’s death at ranch near Idyllwild | cbs8.com

“She wanted to go get a Christmas tree and she took the ATV up on the hill and, I don't know, I don't know if she turned the wheel wrong, or what happens. But the machine flips and when I find her, she has been under that machine probably a half-hour, I would suspect,” said Harper during the call.

“The only thing I could see was her face and probably six inches of her chest, the rest of it was underneath the machine. You know, because it was on her chest she couldn't breathe. I moved the machine off. I moved it off so I could do CPR on her,” he said.

Riverside County Sheriff responded to the Bonita Vista Ranch at 5:39 p.m. and soon realized the victim had "unexplained injuries." First responders called in homicide detectives and secured a crime scene.


“I've got to file a complaint against the sheriff's office because they leave her body for a day and a half in that rain and snow, and it just pisses me off,” said Harper during the telephone conversation. “I’ve never seen inhumane treatment like that.” BBM

 

[tvscum]

I wonder if that phone call KH made to the relative occurred before or after Newkirk's journal was discovered and read by her family members.... because, IMOO - it seems like KH's "tribute" was crafted to specifically address some of the questions that journal would likely raise.
.

Confusing, huh. It sounded like KH knew what was in Newkirk's journal and address it with his slant. He wants us to perceive him a certain way and it always comes across phony to me. That's just my own personal feelings though.

IMO, it does seem like KH knew the cops had JN's cell phone and so he was addressing his "weird" text message he had sent to her about missing her when she was gone. In that scenario, he made those comments to the family member with the understanding that the family member may have been recording the call and he was providing cover to himself. MOO.

 

[stuntpuppy]

I have to say this is a weird one! Two women gone under suspicious circumstances and both centering on the ranch and KH. You would think with the heat on him he would fly under the radar. Does anyone else wonder if maybe she was attacked and fled on the ATV? Which would explain the other injuries. KH must have a hidden computer some place...probably a laptop that can be gotten rid of easily. He must use a handle or fake name until he meets someone who finds out who he is and his real name. I grasping here but it sounds like he's a hunter on the hunt....always. Women seem to be high on his interest list. It feels like when the curtain if finally pulled back...we may not believe what it reveals.

 

[coastal]

I wonder if that phone call KH made to the relative occurred before or after Newkirk's journal was discovered and read by her family members.... because, IMOO - it seems like KH's "tribute" was crafted to specifically address some of the questions that journal would likely raise.

Also - Unless I've misheard/read something - this is a major disconnect: Harper mentions that the ATV incident occurred on a hill... but first responders found Newkirk in an open field (which to me reads as a flat area of land).

BBM. Right. And living Christmas trees are usually found in forests, and not so much in open fields, in my experience.

JK's journal indicates that she may have felt threatened by KH's weird text message, enough so that she wrote about it. His also-weird "tribute", which he insisted on reading to JK's grieving family member, raised the hair on the back of my neck because it was so clearly crafted to "pre-splain" any questions about that same text. IMO.
Agree with you, Curious Me. He's creepy.

 

[adot0902]

I have to say this is a weird one! Two women gone under suspicious circumstances and both centering on the ranch and KH. You would think with the heat on him he would fly under the radar. Does anyone else wonder if maybe she was attacked and fled on the ATV? Which would explain the other injuries. KH must have a hidden computer some place...probably a laptop that can be gotten rid of easily. He must use a handle or fake name until he meets someone who finds out who he is and his real name. I grasping here but it sounds like he's a hunter on the hunt....always. Women seem to be high on his interest list. It feels like when the curtain if finally pulled back...we may not believe what it reveals.

I really wasn't sure what happened to Dia, I strongly suspected KH but after this, I'm 100% convinced if they search the properties they will find Dia. I really get icky feelings from KH.

 

[sleuther007]

^^^ Extremely disturbing that KH is now saying he knows what happened to Dia and actually describing someone else putting a hit on her. Implying someone else that worked on the ranch handed her over. Who? Isidro? DF? Another ranch hand? Hmm... HIM?

Did he tell LE all this at the time or when he found out? Did he give LE names on who ordered the hit? Or is now coming out with this, just trying to defend how suspicious he's starting to look? Seems if someone ordered a hit plus KH was so recently named new Trustee... that 1 + 1 = 2.

This post is all MOO, of course.

I'm curious if KH's assertion that LE "recently" searched the lake can be confirmed. How thorough a search was it? Did they consider she could be in a container? Were any found and searched? (MOO) The degree of effort LE put into this operation could point to how seriously they take KH's assertions. And how seriously the killer(s) should feel they are being closed in on.(/MOO)

One of the biggest questions from the beginning was why Dia, who was apparently quite safety conscious, would leave without items such as her phone, gun, and dog. Having someone familiar to her who could entice her out of her safety zone was always a reasonable scenario. The question was (and remains) who. KH's texts now put this scenario under the spotlight.

(Best to call this part MOO ...) For what it's worth, there was suspicion (outside of this forum I believe) that DIA had been disposed of in the way KH asserts (the body of water was in question, with Lake Hemet being most likely because it wasn't supposed to go down the way it did; the disposal was improvised).

MOO This latest death ... it smells like a distraction to larger issues (Trusteeship and Candlelight Project). Not unrelated, but a setup? KH ... the perfect fall guy? Yes, he has a history, but actual violence? I haven't seen that. I don't see him being a killer. Jodi the perfect victim? Perhaps. A woman essentially on her own. Four months working there, living 10 miles away. Definitely enough time to conduct surveillance on her and determine her routine (from the sister: "And she kept lists of everything he told her to do. And she would check those off" – sounds like someone who tried to be very organized, methodical, or was routine-oriented).

As to the why. The lack of information about the probate hearing back in Nov (just one month prior to this "accident") - only that it was (again) rescheduled for May 2022 - is frustrating. Why was it rescheduled??? Technical or substantive? Was it driven by the judge or one of the lawyers? Someone trying to buy time (which least favors KH)?

The challenge has always been that KH is unreliable/unsuited to be the Trustee. Another death on the property. ... is that to sway the court? LE taking KH seriously .. is it time to make them suspicious?

Has anyone seen further info on Candlelight? Is it fully abandoned .. or just put on hold until more reliable funding is secured?

More MOO (why not, right)?
Who could have lured Dia?

Isidro? Possibly. Motive? Unknown, but his departure not long after was suspicious. Was his status an issue? Was he threatened to do this "or else"? (again, my premise is that the intention was not to kill Dia; it was to intimidate her to get her to change her position on something, so Isidro would not think he was leading her to her death - which I do not believe he would do.)

DF? Possibly. But when you recall (http://garnervalleydirectory.com/Resources/GV Newsletter 2019-01.pdf) that "Diana is enjoying an early retirement as a U.S. Secret Service Special Agent who worked in financial crimes including the protection of world leaders and the President." .. but now she takes on managing an AB&B for the widow of a guy whose life has revolved about land development? And gets out of dodge shortly after Dia goes missing? Just a coincidence, I guess ...

Follow the money. Who needs it? Who's standing in their way?

As for Jodi ... wrong place; wrong time. I'll be waiting to hear about the coroner's report. And what appeared so readily "suspicious" to LE on the scene.

 

[Curious Me]

This is me thinking out loud and JMO.
Where was Harper when he was gone? Initiate what? What was going to be initiated when he returned by one of them? Sounds like a relationship taken to another level. Computer Dog. Why would an employee be concerned about how many women the boss sleeps with?

You can bet Jodi had heard lots of rambling talk from KH, and you got to figure she heard some of "his secrets". He's a talker, as we know from several guest reviews. He may have told her too much or didn't trust her. Sounds like he had decided she had to go. He was planning a change, leaking his subconscious. (maybe in a threatening way?) She sensed something in his words. Next thing you know, she's dead.
Journal entry and audio recording shed light on woman’s death at ranch near Idyllwild | cbs8.com

Jodi wrote about a weird comment texted to her-- "I'm really feeling very strange about the "always going to miss me comment" in the text a few days ago. What the hell was that about and you never did elaborate. Anyhow, I don't like the way that sounds, not a bit, it's weird.​

 

[tvscum]

https://www.theknot.com/us/diana-fedder-and-gene-tanner-oct-2022

 

[Sun Spot]

MOO, There is more than one perpetrator involved in the disappearance of Dia.
MOO, There are other women that have been involved/used than those that have been named.
Who owned the quad/side by side?
Who owns some of the other vehicles that have been seen or mentioned being on the property and in some of KH photos of Dia?
Where was Dia's jewelry collection and other collectables marketed?
She other western memorabilia etc..Has it been sold?

 

[jash]

Journal entry and audio recording shed light on woman’s death at ranch near Idyllwild | cbs8.com

At the end of the video, it says KH "declined to comment on the nature of his relationship" with Jodi. IMO, that confirms it was more than boss/employee. He also says he hasn't online dated in "years" and doesn't even have a working computer.

Apropos of nothing, I find it interesting that Jodi called him Harper in her letter/journal entry.

I also find it really interesting that Jodi's car was still at the house she was renting. How did she get to the ranch, which was 10 miles away, that fateful day? Is it possible whatever happened actually happened at the rental home and the scene at the ranch was staged? Jodi's family says no warrant was executed at the rental home.