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

There is a probate hearing tomorrow - 5/9 - I'm wondering IF it is still on? I don't have access to Riverside County court site - maybe someone here does?
Riverside County Case #D201590018

TIA if anyone can find out if this is still "a go"! :)
 
I'll shorten this up a bit...

Monday, May 9th:
*Probate Court Hearing (@ 8:45am PT in Palm Springs) - CA – Lydia “Dia” W. Kenshalo Abrams (65) (last seen @ 2:30pm June 6, 2020 from her 117-acre Bonita Vista Ranch, in a remote area east of Mountain Center, Idyllwild; vehicle, handbag, keys & cell phone still at home. Not found.
*Children of Abram’s request to remove Harper as trustee of ranch & other estate properties.
Info on disappearance & court info thru 7/22/21 reference post #44 here:
8/31/21 Update: Motion filed by Keith Harper: Objections to the first amended petition to determine claim to property; to compel production of accounting & trust records; for removal of trustee; for surcharge damages for breach of fiduciary duty; for double damages; for damages for financial elder abuse; and for attorney fees & costs. Case dockets were not properly consolidated. Hearing continued to 11/17/21 @ 8:45am.
11/17/21 Update: Abrams’ children were “informed & believe” that “The Riverside County Sheriff’s Dept. is investigating Mr. Harper as a potential perpetrator of the crime or crimes that led to [Abrams’] disappearance,” according to the probate court petition. Harper has not been named a suspect in Abrams’ disappearance by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Dept., which has been investigating the missing-person case. A hearing on a request to remove Harper as trustee of the ranch & other estate properties was set for 5/9/22 in Palm Springs probate court.
12/24/21 Update: On Friday evening, the Riverside County Sheriff's Dept. released the following incident update, which characterized the incident as a "suspicious death investigation" but made no mention of any arrest: "On 12/23/21, at 5:39pm, Hemet Station deputies responded to the 58000 block of Bonita Vista Rd., reference a suspicious death investigation initially believed to have been a traffic fatality. Upon arriving, deputies located a deceased female in the open area of a large private property with unexplained injuries. A crime scene was secured & the Central Homicide Unit responded & assumed the investigation. Investigators remained on scene until the late afternoon hours of 12/24/21, due to the terrain & inclement weather. The victim’s identity is being withheld pending next of kin notification. The reporting party was Keith Harper, the boyfriend of Lydia, according to dispatch scanner audio from CalFire/Riverside County Fire. Dispatchers also had trouble reconnecting with the reporting party, Harper. “The phone number for the original [reporting party] keeps going to an answering machine for American Storage, unable to get anything further from them,” a dispatcher reported at 5:23pm. The woman involved in the reported ATV incident worked as a ranch hand at the Bonita Vista Ranch.
12/28/21 Update: The body of Jodi Newkirk, a resident of Mountain Center, was discovered at around 5:30pm on Thursday in a large, open field near the intersection of Bonita Vista & Apple Canyon roads, according to Riverside County sheriff’s Sgt. Ed Baeza. Baeza said investigators were under the impression Newkirk was struck by a hit-and-run driver & left at the scene. But upon further examination, her body appeared to bear “unexplained injuries” that raised suspicions of homicide. The sheriff’s department lead homicide unit has since taken over the case.
1/4/22 Update: It was Keith Harper who called police around 5pm on December 23 to report Newkirk had been killed on the ranch in a ATV rollover accident. 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 & performed CPR on her before authorities arrived & found Newkirk deceased. Riverside Sheriff announced in an online news release that the incident was a “suspicious death” and that Newkirk had “unexplained injuries,” which were not consistent with an ATV rollover accident. Homicide detectives are investigating, according to the news release. “This was not an accident. But as far as the investigation, we know nothing and we're just hoping that answers come from the toxicology,” said Berkowitz. 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” & “they then waited [sic] her down & 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. In response to CBS 8 inquiries, a Riverside Sheriff’s spokesperson emailed, “Unfortunately, we are unable to provide any additional information on this open & active investigation.”
 
Any word on the probate hearing from yesterday? Is there another hearing for this?
As far back as I can remember on this case, David Gotfredson of CBS News 8 has been one of our only sources of pertinent information. The hearing was in another county, so it may take awhile, but hoping Mr. Gotfredson reports on it soon.

Nothing mentioned yet.
 
I don’t recall Dia having any “issues” with the Fire Department who helped her protect Bonita Vista ranch back in 2013 when the Mountain Fire hit (and she bravely stayed).
The reason Dia stayed on the property during the fire was that she did not trust the fire department to fight the fire unless she was present on the property and in danger. What I was told by her was that she felt that they would let her property burn unless she was there. Those issues with local law enforcement and other agencies were long standing from what I understand.

The fact that Dia stayed on the property even when she was in mortal danger speaks to how seriously Dia loved that property and her animals. She would not have left that property to go somewhere else for awhile under her own volition. She met with foul play, IMO. I don't see any other possibility.
 
I’m not “local” but very familiar with Apple Canyon. One water draw on the East flank of the San Jacinto Mountains flows into Dia’s property. Dia told me 5 years before she disappeared that she met heavily armed guys in camouflage gear on the edge of her property. Because of Covid, trails, camping grounds, centers were closed in the area. Little or no traffic.
I don’t necessarily believe in plots or conspiracies or obvious suspects, even though KH seems like one.
Her murder and the transfer of property might be unrelated.
I have heard similar stories of encounters with militia-types. You are right that because of Covid there was a lot of opportunity.

It is not impossible that the transfer of properties and her (IMO) murder are unrelated. I don't personally believe that they are disconnected, but that is a new way of looking at this case and is worth exploring.

IMO, there are too many lies for me to believe that KH and DF don't know what happened to Dia.

I believe that there are more people involved in this. I believe that there are more people who know what happened.

Will somebody speak up? I don't see how a crime (IMO) that involves more than one/two people stays secret for forever. IMO it is a certainty that someone will, if they haven't already, come forward with important information on this case.

Fingers crossed.
 
Any news on the probate hearing back on 5/9/22?

I can not access the court site - so if someone could maybe look this up & see if there is another hearing date?

Riverside County #D201590018 / Trust Pet. #PIN2100297

TIA!
 
The online docket says the hearings were continued to Sept 19
Thank you!

So both sides seeking continuance is interesting (as I had thought the kids were trying to financially starve Harper out, but I guess he has the funds to keep supporting Dia's properties), as is their mutual desire for mediation to "potentially remove" the issues for trial. I'll be curious to see if the public ever gets to see those final terms, should they arrive at them.
 

Sex offender registration continues for ranch manager near Idyllwild​


"Newkirk's cause of death and autopsy have been sealed, as part of Riverside Sheriff's ongoing investigation."

I can't get my head around the thought that if all is as it appears and that KH was culpable in Jodi's death, that he would have been arrested by now. This (the sealing of records), to me, suggests much wider and/or deeper play is in the works.
 
Two Years since Lydia "Dia" Abrams has been missing. Don't remember ever seeing this photo of Dia that's in the news article. She looks happy and alive in that photo. Where is she? What happened to her? We know nothing more than we did.

Sheriff doesn't want to meet and be asked questions. Nothing said by LE about Dia being mysteriously missing for two whole years now. Nothing revealed about the "possible homicide" of Jodi Newkirk who died on the property. Keith Harper just happened to be the last one to see both.



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CBS 8 reached out to Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco -- who is up for reelection this year -- seeking an interview about the case. An assistant responded, “I have received your request for a zoom meeting with Sheriff Bianco regarding Dia Abrams. I am sorry but he is not available at all today, June 6th.”
 

Editor's update: @RSO emailed CBS 8 the following statement on the evening of June 6:
We have spoken with the lead investigator of the case and he said our department continues to investigate the disappearance of Dia Abrams. Unfortunately, we have no new information to report to the public. We are working diligently on any and all leads in this case and send our continued prayers to the family and friends of Ms. Abrams.
 
Two years and nothing. Nothing except a second homicide on the same property. I am so looking forward to the day that LE raids that place and makes an arrest and a conviction. This has been one of the most frustrating cases ever. Poor Dia....God rest her soul. Every time I drive by her road I think about her...she needs justice to be done. Her unfinished life belonged to her and no one else.
 

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