The legal struggle between the adult children of missing Mountain Center resident Lydia “Dia” Abrams and Keith Harper, who identifies himself as Abram’s fiancée, has passed another milestone, as eviction papers were posted on the gates of the Bonita Vista Ranch during the first week of December.

The court-appointed trustee in the case, Richard Munro of Invenz Inc., has taken this step after having Harper removed as trustee of Abrams’ estate in November. The notice is addressed to Harper and “all others in possession,” and instructs them to vacate within 60 days. It prohibits them from taking any property of the trust including vehicles, furnishings, jewelry, tools, etc., and specifically names several unusual items: a wooden horse and a red vintage fire truck.

The notice also states that although the trustee does not need to “provide a just cause” for the eviction, there are such causes. It goes on to allege the following: that Harper has withdrawn property from the rental market with the intent to sell it; that he possesses firearms on the property; that he has “maintained or committed” a nuisance on the property; that he has failed to make “insurance, utilities, and other necessary” payments; that he has marketed the property as short-term rentals without authority.

The Crier’s last coverage of this story presented Harper’s latest “theory” about Abrams’ disappearance. He began, this fall, to talk about two videos: one taken during a burglary Memorial Day weekend of this year, and another supposedly taken the day Abrams disappeared. Harper said both showed two males and a female, identical or nearly so. The burglary seems to have actually occurred; three people, whose names Harper supplied, were arrested on Apple Canyon Road on May 27, served about six months behind bars and were released in November.

That much is true, but Harper connects this event and the three perpetrators to a video he claims to have given to the police. In this alleged video from June 6, 2020, according to Harper, the same three perpetrators accost Abrams, one of the men strikes Abrams with a wrench and Abrams falls. Diana Fedder, named as co-trustee of Abrams’ estate in her May 2020 trust, told the Crier that the cameras had stopped working over six months before that day, and there was no video from the ranch from the end of 2019 until Abrams’ disappearance. The video installer wanted a hefty fee to monitor the cameras, money Abrams said she did not have. She and Abrams tried, and failed, to access the video feeds.

Beyond this flaw in his story is a greater implausibility; that Harper could see a video of three evil-doers murdering the woman of his dreams, and then never mention it during countless interviews and depositions over three years. As one Mountain Center resident who knew Abrams well, and also interacted with Harper, put it, “The guy is not even a good liar.” This is perhaps the most likely theory that explains the facts.

In other attempts to confirm elements of Harper’s back story, the Crier reached out to the Utah Department of Corrections, where Harper claimed, in a June 2022 deposition, to have worked over 20 years. He has described his job as supervising other parole officers and being in charge of “intensive supervision.” He said in the depo, “I think I had 20 years, four months, and six days,” and that he also worked in Youth Corrections, as director of recreation, at the State Industrial School in Ogden.

A Utah Department of Corrections human resources analyst found a record confirming that an employee with Harper’s name and birthday worked with the Department of Corrections from 1981 to 1994. The archivist added this note: “This former employee did have previous experience with the State of Utah starting in 1971, but it was not with the Department of Corrections.”

So, in this case, Harper’s story is at least generally true, and his law enforcement experience was not limited to his short stint behind bars in Colorado. His numbers give precise detail, not 23 years total, nor 13 years in the actual department. He also claims to have earned a master’s degree in physical therapy and physical education from Brigham Young University, but the school does not confirm attendance or degree status without a power of attorney from the student.

Friends of Abrams say she speculated that Harper suffered from dementia. One said that Harper used multiple identities and had identification with alternate names on it. Frequently, the account he gave of his law enforcement career was full of exaggerations but short on consistency or depth of knowledge, they said.

He liked to say he worked with the Drug Enforcement Agency or strike teams, but when pressed for detail, he clarifies; as a corrections officer, he worked side by side with members of other agencies.

The Crier has not yet received a call back from the Sheriff’s Deputy in La Plata County, Colorado, responsible for Harper’s registration as a sex offender, but asked if Harper carrying a firearm is a violation of the terms of this registry. Requirements for the offender registry are tiered, and a misdemeanor convict like Harper is treated differently from a child sex offender or other felon.

Harper has not responded to the Crier’s request for comment on this story. It is not known if he is still living at the Bonita Vista Ranch, the event and wedding venue he re-christened “Cali’s Great Escapes.”

He still has a court date Dec. 21. If he appears, he will either have to produce an accounting of his trusteeship or pay sanctions of $1,500. But he has until at least late January to move out or fight the eviction in court.