A farming tycoon has been arrested for the murder of his estranged wife, a former beauty queen, a month after she was gunned down in her $1.6 million home.
Michael Abatti, 63, was arrested in Imperial Valley, California, around 2 p.m. Tuesday for the Nov. 20 murder of his wife of 31 years, Kerri Ann Abatti, 59, the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office said.
The couple was going through a bitter divorce battle over the farming mogul’s fortune when the wife, a former Miss Navajo County, was found dead in her home in Pinetop, Arizona.
The husband was arrested for first-degree murder. He was booked into jail in Imperial County — a rural border area where he owns one of the largest agriculture operations — and is awaiting extradition to Arizona, police said.
The husband was booked into the Imperial County Jail on a charge of first-degree murder and is awaiting extradition to Arizona, police said.
Detectives had earlier searched Abatti’s family homes and vehicles in El Centro, Calif., where the couple lived before the former beauty queen left in 2023.
She had accused her husband of stonewalling her attempts to uncover the truth about their income and real estate holdings, and said he had made changes to their finances without consulting her or an attorney, according to divorce filings seen by the Los Angeles Times.
She claimed to be struggling on just a few thousand dollars in monthly spousal support that was temporarily awarded to her by the court earlier this year, according to the filings.
Following her split from her husband, Kerri Ann Abatti had moved back to her hometown in California, where her family had roots going back over a century, the LA Times reported.
She was prom queen and student body president, as well as the band’s drum major and first-place winner of the talent show during her senior year at Blue Ridge High School, according to the paper.
That same year, 1984, she was named Miss Navajo County, receiving a $1,000 scholarship to the University of Arizona to study music education and studio performance.
Ms. Abatti didn’t graduate from college, but acquired an Arizona real estate license in 1989, and also had an EMT firefighting license, according to divorce filings.
She worked as an office manager and did her family’s bookkeeping, but quit both jobs in 1999 to focus her “time and attention on raising our young family,” a decision her husband supported, according to divorce filings.
Ms. Abatti was given a $1,000 monthly allowance by her husband, who owns one of the largest agriculture operations in the Imperial Valley.
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