Divorce filings paint image of slain Pinetop lady’s life

• Kerri Abbati, 59, was discovered with a deadly gunshot wound in her Pinetop, Arizona, dwelling on Nov. 20.
• Authorities are treating her demise as a murder however haven’t publicly recognized a suspect.
• At the time of her demise, Abbati was in divorce proceedings together with her rich estranged husband, California farmer Michael Abatti.

Kerri Abatti, the 59-year-old lady who died below mysterious circumstances in her Pinetop residence on Nov. 20, was as soon as a well-to-do homemaker for her rich Southern California household.

During her 31-year-long marriage to Michael Abatti, a distinguished farmer in Imperial County, the couple would “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,” Kerri stated in court docket filings.

They owned properties in California’s El Centro farm neighborhood, in northern Arizona and Wyoming.

After the pair separated in August 2023, she turned a full-time Pinetop resident, dwelling within the $1.5 million dwelling the couple owned close to Bruin Way and Branding Iron Loop, in accordance with divorce information filed in Imperial County.

Born Kerri Ann Penrod, she had long-standing household ties within the space.

At that dwelling, a member of the family discovered her wounded by a gunshot, in accordance with the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office. She was pronounced lifeless after being taken to a hospital.

While Kerri’s demise was being handled as a murder, investigators have stated little in regards to the ongoing investigation that’s greater than 10 days outdated.

Navajo County authorities haven’t publicly recognized a suspect and proceed to ask for the neighborhood’s assist in offering any data. They’re additionally working with different legislation enforcement companies.

The Imperial County Sheriff’s Office declined to touch upon the investigation and referred inquiries to Navajo County.

The Navajo County workplace has not launched new data on the case since Nov. 26. A telephone name to division management was not returned on Dec. 1.

Couple was in center of divorce proceedings

Kerri and Michael Abatti had been separated for greater than two years, however they had been nonetheless in the course of divorce proceedings when she died.

Their court docket filings in Imperial County Superior Court paint a small image of their time collectively, define their property and element her monetary struggles as a newly single lady in her late 50s.

The couple married in April 1992. Together, that they had owned Mike Abatti Farms in El Centro since 1999.

Michael dealt with enterprise operations for his sprawling farming, vitality and actual property pursuits. Kerri took care of the household on the house entrance.

Kerri Abatti was the petitioner for the divorce, in October 2023. She initially collected $5,000 a month by way of a spousal assist settlement. In January, she filed a movement in search of further monetary assist and attorneys’ charges by way of the couple’s rental revenue on farm properties they owned.

“I had very limited knowledge of our complex finances, or the extent of our community property,” she stated in a supplemental submitting in January 2025.

Their companies allowed them to have a “fairly high standard of living,” in accordance with the submitting. In addition to their two properties in El Centro (valued at $624,000) and Pinetop (valued at $1.5 million), they owned land valued at $14.5 million in Wyoming and 38 parcels of farmland in El Centro, additionally value hundreds of thousands of {dollars}, in accordance with the submitting.

Kerri informed the Imperial County Superior Court the 14-acre Pinetop property required plenty of upkeep.

“The upkeep alone has seriously cut into my budget, and I have been forced to do a lot of the maintenance on my own,” she stated. “I am 59 years old and maintaining the property requires a lot of physical labor, which is very hard on my body.”

When Kerri moved into the home, she was renting the property to her nephew, who continued to assist handle and keep it, in accordance with the filings. He additionally contributed to the month-to-month family bills, such because the web, safety system and utilities.

“My nephew already makes monetary contributions to our living expenses and handles so much of the labor on the property, so I stopped charging him rent,” she said, including, “Since separation, I have had no choice but to live on an extremely tight budget.”

Challenging Kerri’s request, Michael said that Mike Abatti Farms suffered monetary losses in 2023 and 2024, partly due to gasoline and delivery value will increase.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine additionally contributed to the challenges, he stated. European international locations had been buying crops from Ukraine to assist the war-torn nation, “which has reduced the ability of farmers in other countries to sell crops in Europe at all or for good prices.”

In February, the household legislation court docket dominated in favor of Kerri, ordering Michael to extend her month-to-month spousal assist to $6,400, in accordance with court docket information.

Kerri Abatti’s legal professional didn’t reply to a request for remark. Michael Abatti’s legal professional declined to remark for this text.

Michael Abatti distinguished in California agribusiness

Michael Abatti’s household has been within the Imperial Valley for greater than 100 years and helped construct the All-American Canal, which brings Colorado River water to the area.

Abatti Farms has hundreds of acres of crops, together with melons, broccoli, sugar beets and alfalfa, which Michael stated in a 2017 authorized submitting had been value greater than $10 million a 12 months.

Michael branched out into different companies as nicely: An vitality firm he owns gained a $35 million battery contract from the Imperial Irrigation District, and he proposed a big photo voltaic farm.

Those companies and his political connections have triggered conflicts, although.

He has had buddies in elected workplace, however he additionally has efficiently sued the Imperial Irrigation District, a public utility in California’s far southeastern nook, over steps that might have restricted water utilization by him and different farmers.

As a pair, Michael and Kerri donated tens of thousands of dollars to San Diego State University, which provides the Michael and Kerri Ann Abatti Endowment Scholarship at its Imperial Valley campus.

(Palm Springs, Calif.) Desert Sun News Editor Eric Hartley and Desert Sun reporter Sam Morgen contributed to this text.

Shawn Raymundo covers Phoenix and Scottsdale. Reach him at sraymundo@gannett.com or comply with him on X @ShawnzyTsunami.