‘Love and Lies in Idyllwild’

Sunday, Sept. 3, an episode of the “Disappeared” television series entitled “Love and Lies in Idyllwild” aired on national television. DirecTV carried it locally on channel 285, the Investigation Discovery Network. The episode concerned the June 6, 2020, disappearance of Dia Abrams, who at that time owned three properties in Garner Valley, including a 166-acre horse ranch and two other residences.

The program consisted largely of extensive interviews with persons involved with Abrams, including close friends Diane Fedder and Julie Sanford, Abrams’ boyfriend, Keith Harper, who managed her properties with her, Matt Owens, who is attorney for Abrams’ children, Clinton and Crisara, and Jenny Kirchner, who at the time of Abrams’ disappearance, was a reporter and photographer for the Idyllwild Town Crier newspaper. By means of those interviews, the following information was presented: Legal issues abound. Dia Abrams was not included in the will of her late husband. Clinton and Crisara were included in a trust her husband set up for them. Harper and Fedder were original trustees of Dia Abrams’ trust, but Fedder has since resigned.

Abrams was reported missing by Harper when she did not return one night to any of her homes. She is not believed to have gone away on her own because she left behind her purse, her cellphone, her truck and the keys to it, a large sum of cash, her dog and many farm animals.

Friends of Abrams conducted extensive searches of her properties for her. Psychics were employed to attempt to learn what happened to Abrams. On the suggestion of one psychic, Riverside County Sheriff’s dive team searched Lake Hemet for her body. Harper indicated in his interview that he believed that search was perfunctory and incomplete.

Abrams’ relationship with her children was not warm. Fedder related that Abrams once told her, “If anything ever happens to me, my son Clinton did it.” She notes that Clinton did not participate in the extensive searches for Abrams. Clinton released a written statement asserting that he had a loving relationship with his mother and that allegations casting blame on Abrams’ family are made by others to cover their own responsibility for her disappearance.