The skeletal remains of a cancer-stricken attorney who vanished from her southern California ranch were found on her 20-acre property, according to police.
Nadine Jett, 65, was last seen at her $1million Valley Center home around Christmas, 2023, when she met with one of her foster daughters, Tiffany Lucci.
Lucci told the San Diego Union-Tribute that her mother had been very ill as she battled pancreatic cancer, and was living with a caretaker named Cedric Von Ferdinand, who was also her foster son.
Over the next months Von Ferdinand told the Lucci sisters, who are quadruplets, that Jett was too ill to speak with them, the sisters said.
He then reportedly informed the sisters that the retired family law attorney died last Easter in Mexico, where he said her remains were cremated.
Concerned by the lack of answers and a death certificate, the Lucci sisters reported Jett missing about a year ago.
Nadine Jett, 65, was last seen more than a year before her skeletal remains were found in her 20-acre California property
Police were seen digging in Jett’s property in March. They did not confirm their finding until Thursday
The attorney’s foster son Cedric Von Ferdinand had been acting as her caretaker, according to her foster daughters
In July, police served a warrant at Jett’s property and found her decomposed remains. Investigators confirmed their finding on Thursday.
Meanwhile Von Ferdinand was charged in March with 17 felony crimes relating to claims that he tried to forge Jett’s signature to steal her ranch, reported by Fox San Diego.
Notary Raymond Joseph Alto was also charged in connection to the alleged crimes.
The gruesome finding came after realtor Noel Lawton alerted authorities that Von Ferdinand was trying to sell the ranch without providing Jett’s death certificate.
‘I saw what was on the tax rolls, the preliminary title report, and he was named as the owner,’ Lawton told Fox.
‘But he couldn’t produce a death certificate, and that started raising red flags with me, escrow and title.’
Von Ferdinand had requested that the property’s new owner plant a rose garden in Jett’s memory, Lawton said.
Jett’s remains are believed to have been found in the same spot where her foster son wanted the garden, Fox reported.
Jett’s foster son was charged with trying to steal Jett’s ranch in March. The vast property is pictured
Jett is pictured with the Lucci sisters, the quadruplet sisters who consider her their mom
San Diego officials said there have been no arrests in the case and detectives are still looking into the circumstances of Jett’s death.
‘We’re going to continue to fight for our mom,’ Susan Lucci told the Union-tribune.
‘My mom Nadine wasn’t just someone who took us in… I know there’s “foster” in front of it, but we consider we consider her as our mother.’
Police asked anyone with relevant information to contact Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.
