A judge at a Palm Springs probate hearing removed Keith Harper as trustee of missing Garner Valley resident Lydia “Dia” Abrams’ estate this week. The judge was responding to a motion by Abrams’ adult children Clinton and Crisara, reporting that Harper was trying to sell the Bonita Vista Ranch, where he lived with Abrams before her disappearance, and where he continues to live.

Judge Russel Velasquez ruled based on declarations of Jennine Daniels, an Orange County real estate agent, and Richard Munro, the court appointed trustee for the estate. Munro’s company, Invenz, describes itself in online profiles as having “developed a niche in contentious, complicated equity cases in state and federal court involving bad actors and dangerous situations where the faint of heart would not survive. We handle tough risky cases.”

Munro’s declaration says that Harper had made the rounds of local Mountain Center/Garner Valley realtors trying to sell the ranch. Dia’s son Clinton emailed Munro, writing, “I am getting calls and texts from people telling me they are getting many calls from realtors soliciting buyers for the Bonita Vista Ranch Property …”

One of these realtors, Daniels, said that Harper contacted her by text on Friday, Nov. 10. She called him and they discussed the property. He said the 117-acre ranch had been in the family for 16 years, and he valued it at $5.2 million. She agreed to look at it the next day and asked a title representative at her office to find the address Harper provided. The address was incorrect: She did some online research and found Keith had written Apple Canyon Road instead of Bonita Vista Road. She texted a neighbor in Garner Valley, who explained the back story about Dia, and related that Harper was under investigation in her disappearance. It seems that this neighbor also contacted Clinton Abrams.

Daniels decided that instead of going to meet Harper herself, she would send a male agent, but when she suggested this by text, Harper stopped responding. A phone call was dropped, and a message went unanswered on Saturday, Nov. 11. A few hours later, Munro called her and identified himself as the trustee for the ranch. He explained that Harper did not have the authority to sell the property and said that she should cease correspondence with him about it.

According to David Gotfredson of CBS 8, Harper’s attorney, Rob Schilling, began the hearing denying that Harper had tried to sell the property. When screen shots of the conversation between Harper and Daniels were provided to the court, he and his client “withdrew their objections” to Harper’s removal from the trust. Gotfredson’s story quotes the judge as saying, “My concerns are Mr. Harper’s alleged efforts to hypothecate property that he has no authority to hypothecate or sell.” Hypothecate means to mortgage or pledge as collateral.

Harper has shown an entrepreneurial spirit and a talent for imaginative marketing, from his “Outlaw River & Jeep Tours,” in Colorado, (which also provided snow mobile tours), to his recent attempt to rebrand the Bonita Vista Ranch, now known as “Cali’s Great Escapes,” as a wedding and event venue. It has been reported that he has poured concrete slabs for RV hookups on the ranch. He may be seeking new lodgings soon; eviction is one course now open to the court appointed trustee.

Dia was last seen, by Harper, on June 6, 2020. Harper claimed to be her fiancé, and revealed, to the surprise of Abram’s children, that Dia had transferred her real estate into a new trust just weeks before her disappearance, naming him and a neighbor, Diana Fedder, as trustees. The Palm Springs attorney who drafted that trust, Dennis Healey, has since died.

Harper sparred with Abram’s children in court over the trust, and has continued to live on and manage the property. In December 2022, another woman, ranch hand Jodi Newkirk, was found dead on the property after what Harper described as an all-terrain vehicle rollover. The coroner’s report stated that she had no injuries compatible with an accident, but had died of a methamphetamine overdose.

Harper is required to register as a sex offender as a result of a 2012 Colorado conviction for a series of misdemeanor “unlawful sexual contact” incidents during his “Outlaw” snow mobile tours. He claimed innocence and appealed this verdict, and because he refused the judge’s terms of parole, was sentenced to nine months in jail, ending in 2015. He must still register until 2025.

The Crier asked Harper if he wished to comment on Channel 8’s reporting, whether he had tried to sell the property, and what his plans are now. Harper responded with a series of rambling text messages and phone calls. He denied attempting to sell the ranch, and claims he was only trying to get a fair market appraisal of the property. He also elaborated on his own theory of the crime, a theory he has shared with CBS 8.

According to Harper, surveillance cameras at the ranch captured three individuals, two “Spanish” males and a “white girl,” accosting Dia on the day of her disappearance. One of the males struck her with a wrench and she fell. He claims to have given this evidence to Alberto Loureiro, the lead Riverside County Sheriff’s investigator on the case.

He maintains that the three suspects returned to the ranch and committed a burglary on Memorial Day weekend of 2023, and that on both occasions video captured them communicating with hand signals indicating a level of planning and coordination. According to Harper, the three were arrested and finally convicted this last Tuesday (Nov. 14) being essentially sentenced to time served. Harper alleges that these persons are part of a criminal enterprise that supplies “50% of the drugs in Riverside” County. Harper provided what he said were the names of the three assailants/burglars, and the Crier can confirm that Jessica Brouckaert, Miguel Angel Gomez and Jon Eric Gallarde were convicted of a May 27 burglary and released last week. No further details were gathered before press deadline.

Harper also repeated the claim that Dia is said to have told her friends that if anything happened to her, they should look for her son, Clinton. Dia alleged in a court filing that Clinton tried to poison her while she was in the hospital. Harper claims the police never questioned Clinton, but in a June 2023 NBC “Dateline: Missing in America” segment, Clinton said he had spoken with the police “a number of times … I’ve sent them everything I have. I’ve sent them extensive notes.” Harper also was interviewed for that program and did not mentioned the alleged video.

Following Harper’s theory of the crime, Dia was buried at a site “below Idyllwild.” He referred to “Arizona Search and Rescue,” but he admits the search was done by the nonprofit group findmegroup.org, the creation of one J.E. “Kelly” Snyder. It organizes volunteer searches, and among the services offered are referrals to mediums, remote viewers and “forensic astrologers.” Harper said they used dogs to locate Dia, and four dogs independently “indicated” a spot, but the group is not allowed to dig, and can only notify law enforcement. Harper said the GPS coordinates have been given to the sheriff’s office, but it has not investigated.