Police are examining multiple properties tied to a prominent California farmer as they investigate the fatal shooting of his estranged wife in Arizona during ongoing divorce proceedings.
On Tuesday, Dec. 2, detectives with the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office (NCSO) in Arizona served search warrants at the El Centro, Calif., home of Mike Abatti. Several additional properties linked to Abatti are also being searched, according to the Los Angeles Times.
In a press release on Wednesday, Dec. 3, the NCSO said it would be searching the Aurora Drive residence in El Centro, along with two camp trailers and two vehicles belonging to the Abatti family. Authorities said they currently have no publicly identified suspect.
“These warrants were obtained and executed based on the results of the ongoing homicide investigation and evidence developed by detectives,” the statement said.
Abatti’s wife, Kerri Ann Abatti, was shot and killed on Nov. 20 at around 9 p.m. local time inside the couple’s home in Pinetop, Ariz., KTLA reports. The NCSO confirmed in a Dec. 3 statement that it is treating the case as a homicide. At the time of her death, Kerri Ann was in the process of divorcing Mike, and the two had been living separately, per the outlet.
Kerri Ann filed for divorce in October 2023 after 31 years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences. She filed in Imperial County Superior Court, according to the Arizona Republic. In court documents obtained by the outlet, she wrote that the couple had been able to “travel the world, eat out wherever we pleased, pay for education and vehicles for our children (we still do) and live with very little debt.”
Mike and Kerri Ann married in April 1992 and, since 1999, co-owned Mike Abatti Farms in El Centro, the Arizona Republic reports.
Kerri Ann was initially awarded $6,400 per month in spousal support. After experts evaluated the couple’s properties in California, Arizona and Wyoming, she was expected to seek an increase to $30,000 per month, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Mike’s family has been established in California’s Imperial Valley for about a century, the Desert Sun reported. In recent years, he has won millions of dollars in environmental lawsuits that allowed him to pump groundwater and wield significant influence over elected officials and communities affected by use of the Colorado River, the outlet reported in 2018.
Before their separation, Mike and Kerri Ann donated $50,000 to San Diego State University to establish a scholarship fund in her name, the Los Angeles Times reported.
