Timeline | Dia Abrams missing near Idyllwild, CA & what we know
Lydia "Dia" Abrams disappeared without a trace from her 117-acre ranch in California's Apple Canyon back in June 2020. Here is a timeline of what we know.
CBS 8
Former La Jolla resident, Lydia "Dia" Abrams, 65, mysteriously went missing on June 6, 2020 from her 117-acre ranch in the San Jacinto Mountains. Records show the millionaire Abrams signed a series of property transfers just two weeks before she went missing.
The sprawling Bonita Vista Ranch, located eleven miles east of Idyllwild, was where millionaire Abrams lived with her fiancé, Keith Harper. Harper said he was the last person to see her alive.
As updates have come in from family, court documents and law enforcement, CBS 8 has closely followed the case. Here is a timeline of major events from when Abrams first went missing.
2024 Coverage Harper vacates ranch; Podcast launched into Abrams' case; Bonita Vista Ranch to be sold
July 29, 2024 | Missing woman Dia Abrams' ranch near Idyllwild to be sold
Ranch hand Keith Harper petitions court for $494K from estate.
July 22, 2024 | Podcast takes deep dive into Dia Abrams missing woman case
Host spent four years interviewing Abrams’ friends and families.
$300,000 reward offered for information that leads to an arrest in the case
The court-appointed trustee asked the judge to approve a $298,000 offer on Sky High Ranch near Idyllwild.
April 18, 2024 | Ranch hand wants $494K from estate of missing woman Dia Abrams
Keith Harper claims he worked 10 hours per day, 7 days a week to maintain Abrams’ ranch.
The first of three homes in Abrams' estate has been authorized to sell for an offer of $830K.
January 31, 2024 | Missing woman's ranch hand Keith Harper has left the building
Photo shows Harper driving off Dia Abrams’ Bonita Vista Ranch for the last time
January 25, 2024 | Boyfriend of missing woman Dia Abrams agrees to vacate ranch
Keith Harper signs off on court stipulation to move out by January 28.
2023 Coverage New search warrant served on ranch, Eviction notices posted, Video of Newkirk
December 4, 2023 | Eviction notices posted at Dia Abrams' ranch near Idyllwild
Notice gives ranch hand Keith Harper 60 days to vacate property
November 16, 2023 | Boyfriend of missing woman Dia Abrams removed as estate co-trustee
Keith Harper accused of trying to sell Abrams' ranch near Idyllwild
October 16, 2023 | Search warrant served on ranch of missing woman Dia Abrams
Riverside Sheriff investigators brought in heavy equipment over the weekend to search for the remains of Dia Abrams on her ranch near Idyllwild.
September 1, 2023 | Missing woman Dia Abrams gets national exposure on ID network
Hour-long documentary airs as court battle continues over Abrams' estate.
August 15 2023 | House near Idyllwild owned by missing woman Dia Abrams for sale
Court-appointed trustee selling house to fund $300K reward for information in Abrams' disappearance.
August 9, 2023 | New video released of woman who died on ranch near Idyllwild
Jodi Newkirk gave a photographer a tour of the property three months before she died.
Watch: Entire video of Jodi Newkirk's tour of Bonita Vista Ranch in September 2021:
Abrams, 65, is seen on doorbell-cam video delivering cinnamon rolls to a neighbor on the morning of June 6, 2020, about five and a half hours before she went missing.
Watch: Extended clips of CBS 8 interview with Clinton Abrams 3 years after Dia Abrams went missing:
March 23, 2023 | Dia Abrams' estate to be sold to fund $300K reward
A two-year court battle over the estate of missing woman, Lydia “Dia” Abrams, has been settled under the terms of an agreement negotiated last year between the parties.
2022 Coverage 2 years missing, settlements, a journal is found, more related deaths
A Riverside County probate judge will appoint a guardian ad litem to represent the interests of Lydia "Dia" Abrams, who went missing from her ranch near Idyllwild in 2020.
Nov 30, 2022 | Autopsy: Woman died of meth overdose on ranch near Idyllwild
Riverside County Sheriff Department homicide detectives have unsealed the autopsy report of Jodi Newkirk, a horse handler who died nearly a year ago under suspicious circumstances on a ranch near Idyllwild. Newkirk was reported to have died in a rollover ATV accident on the ranch two days before Christmas, 2021.
A settlement agreement in the court battle over the estate of missing woman, Dia Abrams, is set to be heard next week by a judge in Riverside County court.
If approved, the settlement would give Abrams’ boyfriend, Keith Harper, 50% of the estate, when and if Abrams is declared deceased.
In September, court proceedings were delayed again in litigation over the estate of Lydia “Dia” Abrams when the attorney representing the missing woman’s ranch manager suddenly passed away.
Abrams’ boyfriend, Keith Harper, currently lives on the ranch and manages the estate as a co-trustee under the terms of a restated trust filed two weeks before the 65-year-old went missing.
Abrams’ adult children, Crisara and Clinton Abrams, challenged the restated trust in Riverside County probate court in March 2021 and sought to have Harper removed as trustee. The probate case went to mediation on July 28, according to court records.
Lawyers had tough questions for Keith Harper, as he appeared remotely for the six-hour deposition in a probate case brought by the children of the missing Dia Abrams.
Monday, June 6 marks two years since former La Jolla resident, Lydia “Dia” Abrams, mysteriously went missing from her ranch near Idyllwild.
Keith Harper represented himself in court Tuesday in San Juan County, Colorado, where he was convicted 10 years ago of misdemeanor sexual contact for groping two women on snowmobile tours.
“Based upon the statute, the 10 years has not run,” said Judge Edwards in court, ruling that Harper cannot petition to discontinue his sex offender registration until 2025.
The boyfriend and self-proclaimed fiancé of former La Jolla resident Dia Abrams (who mysteriously went missing in 2020 from her ranch near Idyllwild and has not been seen since) petitioned a Colorado court earlier this month to discontinue the requirement that he register as a sex offender.
March 4, 2022 | Audio released in the disappearance of Dia Abrams
An undercover audio recording has revealed new information in the mysterious disappearance of former La Jolla resident, Dia Abrams.
A private investigator hired by Abrams' son secretly recorded the audio during his investigation of the unsolved case.
More letters and journal entries have been found, written by a woman who died last month on the Bonita Vista Ranch near Idyllwild.
Family members discovered the letters among Jodi Newkirk's belongings in a nearby rental house.
Keith Harper’s arrival at Newkirk’s memorial service – at Living Free Animal Sanctuary in Mountain Center – was surprising, awkward, and upsetting to some in attendance.
CBS 8 obtained a telephone recording of the man who reported to Riverside Sheriff that Jodi Newkirk had died in an accidental ATV rollover two days before Christmas.
Jan 3, 2022 | Another woman lost at Bonita Vista Ranch near Idyllwild
The sister of a woman who died on a ranch near Idyllwild two days before Christmas is speaking out about Jodi Newkirk’s death.
2021 Coverage Family battles with fiance for control of estate
Riverside County Sheriff investigators responded to the scene and soon declared the incident a "suspicious death" and dispatched homicide detectives.
The man who claims to be the fiancé of missing millionaire, Lydia “Dia” Abrams, has fired back at her adult children with a scathing declaration filed in Riverside County probate court.
“They have attempted a hostile takeover of their mother's properties by financial strangulation and harassment,” wrote Keith Harper in a sworn declaration dated July 19.
Clinton Abrams is speaking publicly about the case for the first time in hopes of finding his mother.
“I want people to know that she was the kindest, gentlest, soft-hearted person that you could imagine,” said Clinton Abrams, 31, during an interview at his home in La Jolla.
WATCH: Extended interview with Clinton Abrams, son of missing woman Dia Abrams
A trust agreement signed by Lydia “Dia” Abrams two weeks before she went missing in June 2020 near Idyllwild, leaves her estate to the man who claims to be the missing woman's fiancé.
Petition seeks the removal of the two trustees, Keith Harper and Diana Fedder.
WATCH: Where is Dia Abrams? CBS 8 interviews a trustee to her Idyllwild estate
The search for a missing woman, Lydia “Dia” Abrams, has stretched to Arizona. She was last seen eight months ago on her ranch near Idyllwild. In January, News 8 spent two days in the Grand Wash Cliffs wilderness near Meadview, Arizona searching for any trace of the former La Jolla millionaire.
Keith Harper, 71, filed the civil complaint in San Juan County, New Mexico on December 9. It seeks $3,020 in damages – including court costs and interest – stemming from a $2,000 purchase of boots, made by Lydia “Dia” Abrams before she went missing.
2020 Coverage Dia reported missing, searches, court battles
The man claiming to be the fiancé of former La Jolla resident Lydia “Dia” Abrams took over as trustee of the woman’s estate, shortly after she went missing four months ago.
Keith Harper now co-manages Abrams’ 117-acre, Bonita Vista Ranch in Apple Canyon near Idyllwild with a neighbor named Diana Fedder.
WATCH: Former employee of missing woman Lydia 'Dia' Abrams details timeline of disappearance for News 8
Investigators with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department served the warrants in June when they seized thousands of marijuana plants from a rental property owned by Abrams.
WATCH: Keith Harper Extended Interview: Fiance of missing woman Dia Abrams speaks to News 8
Court filings show Abrams was seeking to invalidate her prenuptial agreement she signed with her husband in 1984. She also was seeking more than $6.7 million dollars in assets from the estate to fund a marital trust.
Records show millionaire Lydia “Dia” Abrams signed a series of property transfers before she went missing from her ranch in the San Jacinto mountains.
The Riverside Sheriff's Department confirmed it was investigating the disappearances of six people in and around Idyllwild-Pine Cove.
Missing person flyers were posted this week all over the town of Idyllwild and surrounding communities, from Pine Cove to Mountain Center, even as far away as Anza and Hemet at the bottom of the San Jacinto Mountains in Riverside County.
One of those reported missing was Lydia “Dia” Abrams.