Authorities have executed search warrants on properties related to a strong Imperial Valley farming magnate whose spouse was discovered shot and killed in her Arizona residence final month.
Detectives with the Navajo County Sheriff’s Workplace on Tuesday served warrants on the El Centro, Calif., residence of Mike Abatti, in addition to a number of constructions and properties related to Abatti’s household and their enterprise operations, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned in a information launch. Abatti and his members of the family run among the greatest farming operations within the Imperial Valley, rising onions, cantaloupes, broccoli, lettuce, sugarbeets and hay, in response to the web site of Mike Abatti Farms.
Investigators additionally served warrants on two camp trailers and two automobiles belonging to the Abatti household, the discharge mentioned.
“These warrants had been obtained and executed primarily based on the outcomes of the continuing murder investigation and proof developed by detectives,” the discharge mentioned. It didn’t state what proof investigators had been searching for or in the event that they recovered something. Authorities declined to reply follow-up questions.
Abatti’s spouse, Kerri Ann Abatti, 59, was discovered fatally shot inside her residence in Pinetop, Ariz., on Nov. 20 in what investigators have confirmed to be a murder. No arrests have been made, and the investigation stays ongoing, in response to the sheriff’s workplace.
Kerri Ann Abatti was dwelling individually from her husband amid divorce proceedings that started in October 2023, when she cited irreconcilable variations in petitioning to finish her marriage of greater than 31 years, in response to court docket information first reported by the Arizona Republic. She anticipated to hunt at the very least $30,000 in month-to-month spousal help, however she was first working with consultants to evaluate the couple’s intensive earnings from farms, leases and different sources, in addition to the worth of their properties in California, Arizona and Wyoming, court docket filings state. Within the meantime, the court docket had awarded her $6,400 in non permanent month-to-month help.
Mike Abatti Farms didn’t instantly return messages searching for remark. Along with his farming enterprise, Abatti has gained hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in publicly funded vitality contracts and is thought to exert outsize affect over native elected officers, in response to reporting by the Desert Solar. He and his spouse additionally donated greater than $50,000 to San Diego State College, which provides a scholarship of their identify, the paper reported.
