Nadine Jett’s body sat in a hole behind her own house for more than a year. Her relatives were told she had died in Mexico. Prosecutors say that was a lie. Jett was a 65-year-old attorney who lived on a rural property in Valley Center, California, and they say her foster son killed her.
That foster son is Cedric Von Ferdinand, 34. He was arrested in Los Angeles County on Oct. 20, 2026, and charged with first-degree murder. Prosecutors say he gave Jett a deadly dose of fentanyl so he could take over her estate. They also say he then used her name to get money and property.
Jett learned she had cancer in August 2023. When she found out she needed chemotherapy, Von Ferdinand offered to move back into her home. San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan says he wasn’t there to help. Prosecutors say it was a way to get his hands on her finances.
Jett was last seen alive on Jan. 14, 2024, after a chemo appointment. Investigators believe she was killed between that day and Jan. 17. Three days after she was last seen, prosecutors say, Von Ferdinand told her caretaker that Jett had died and the caretaker was no longer needed. He also canceled her upcoming medical appointments. Other relatives heard she had gone to Mexico and died there.
Her loved ones didn’t buy it. They couldn’t get a death certificate. In June 2024, several of her foster children reported her missing. They also told authorities about strange real estate deals involving her properties.
On July 16, 2025, sheriff’s detectives searched Jett’s land on Oak Creek Road. About 30 yards from her house, they found human remains in a hole. The body was partially mummified and wrapped in a bedsheet. Investigators learned someone had been asked to dig a hole about six feet by six feet around the time she disappeared. An autopsy found she died of acute fentanyl toxicity, and her death was ruled a homicide. Stephan said testing showed a massive amount of acetylfentanyl, a substance tied to illegally made fentanyl.
Jett’s foster daughters, including sisters Tiffany Lucci and Bianca Lucci, came to the news conference where the charge was announced. Stephan called the case a betrayal of a woman who took in a child in need. “She was that mom we needed,” Bianca Lucci said. “She gave us a fair chance at life.”
The murder charge carries special-circumstance allegations that Jett was killed for money and by poison. Von Ferdinand already faced felony charges for grand theft, identity theft, forgery and filing false documents. Prosecutors say the losses topped $500,000. His arraignment was delayed, and a new court date is set for Nov. 5. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
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