MOUNTAIN CENTER, Calif. — The boyfriend of missing woman Dia Abrams filed a motion this month asking a Riverside County probate judge to award him $494,298 for managing Abrams' estate over 43 months.
Keith Harper, 74, claimed he worked 10 hours a day, seven days a week on the estate after Abrams mysteriously went missing on June 6, 2020 from her ranch in Mountain Center near Idyllwild.
Harper billed his labor at $25 per hour, and subtracted monthly rent because he was living at the 117-acre Bonita Vista Ranch after Abrams went missing, according to the motion. Her body has not been found.
“Petitioner proposes that a reduction for rent at $ 1500.00/month for 43 months, be reduced from the compensation calculated. Therefore, petitioner requests a compensation after the reduction of rent in the total amount of $236,500,” the motion stated.
Harper also claimed he loaned the estate trust $257,798 in personal funds.
“Petitioner took care of the ranch grounds, managed and paid trust liabilities, took care of the animals, made repairs, managed labors, took care of the properties of the estate,” the motion continued. “Petitioner requests an order authorizing and directing the current Successor Trustee to reimburse Petitioner for loans advanced to the Trust from June 6, 2020 to December 1, 2023 in the amount of $257.798.”
The motion claimed the estate collected “rental income” of $127,599, which included rental of the nearby Sky High Ranch, also owned by Abrams. Additional claimed rental income included wedding events held at the Bonita Vista Ranch, as well as VRBO and Airbnb rental of cabins and the main ranch building while Harper was managing the estate.
Expenses detailed in the motion included $7,350 in payments to Jodi Newkirk, a ranch worker employed by Harper who died on the ranch on December 23, 2021. An expense log said the payments to Newkirk were for animal care and yard work.
Harper reported Newkirk's death occurred after the 46-year-old rolled an ATV on the property while riding at night. An autopsy report released nearly a year later determined Newkirk’s cause of death was “acute methamphetamine toxicity.”
The manner of death remained “undetermined” because there was “no evidence to determine if Newkirk administered the drugs to herself or if someone else administered it to her,” the autopsy report stated.
Harper agreed to leave the ranch property under a signed stipulation with the existing court-appointed trustee. He was seen leaving the ranch for the last time on January 29.
The registered sex offender signed off on the probate court motion on April 1, 2024 in Colorado. Harper’s location of residence has not been updated on California’s Megan’s Law website, which still lists him as living near Idyllwild. Currently, Colorado’s sex offender registry does not have Harper listed online.
A hearing on Harper’s motion for payment is set for April 23 in Palm Springs probate court department PS3.
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