Estranged Husband’s Secretive ‘Hunting’ Trip Revealed to Be Deadly Sniper Attack on Wife, Court Documents Show

A prominent California farmer is facing charges of first-degree murder after allegedly killing his estranged wife amid a contentious divorce involving a $200 million trust. According to court documents, Michael Abatti, 63, purportedly told his family he was going “hunting in the desert” before traveling to Arizona, where he allegedly used a high-powered rifle to fatally shoot Kerri Ann Abatti, 59, last November.

The shocking details emerged this week from documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times. The documents, unsealed following a court hearing, reveal that on the night of Kerri Ann’s death, her family tried in vain to reach Michael Abatti to inform him of the tragic event. Family members told police he had claimed he was “hunting in the desert” at the time, as noted in a police affidavit.

On the day of the incident, Abatti’s Ford pickup was tracked by license plate readers heading south in El Centro, California, leaving a well-known hunting area around 1:30 p.m. The vehicle was later recorded in Globe, Arizona, at approximately 6:30 p.m. local time, according to the affidavit.

Authorities responded to a call at Kerri Ann Abatti’s home in Pinetop, Arizona, around 9:20 p.m., where they discovered her dead from a gunshot wound. Her nephew, who resided with her, reported hearing a loud noise before finding her in the dining room, bleeding and unresponsive, the affidavit details.

Deputies responded to Kerri Ann Abatti’s home in the area of Bruin Way and Branding Iron Loop in Pinetop, Arizona, around 9:20 p.m. and found her dead from a gunshot wound. Her nephew, who lived at the residence with Kerri Ann, reported hearing a loud bang before finding her in their dining room “bleeding from the face,” the affidavit says.

Police allegedly found a bullet hole in one of the dining room windows but no other evidence of a shooting or gun inside the residence. Investigators determined that Kerri Ann Abatti was shot by a person outside the home after a gun-sniffing dog alerted cops to a scent roughly 30 yards away. Police believe a “higher-powered rifle” was used, according to the affidavit.

Michael Abatti’s truck was caught on license plate readers in Globe, Ariz., at 11:41 p.m. and then again at his hunting grounds in California at 4:40 a.m., the affidavit says.

Police believe Abatti made the seven-hour drive to allegedly shoot and kill his estranged wife, then he “immediately returned to California” to try and take his own life.

“He attempted to kill himself because of an incident involving his wife,” Abatti told EMS workers after he called 911 and they responded, per the affidavit.

According to the Times and Associated Press, the Abattis separated in 2023 and Kerri Ann Abatti moved to the Pinetop house, which was their vacation home. She had filed for divorce, and proceedings were ongoing at the time of her death. They are said to have disagreed over money she was owed, with a $200 million trust being involved, the Times reports.

“I am barely scraping by each month, am handling all of the manual labor on our large property in Arizona and continuing its upkeep,” Kerri Ann Abatti reportedly wrote in court filings earlier this year. Michael Abatti, for his part, said he couldn’t afford to raise her monthly spousal support from $5,000 to her requested $30,000 due to two bad farming years. He eventually agreed to pay $6,400 a month.

The couple reportedly married in 1992 and had three children. In addition to having homes in California and Arizona, they also held ranch land in Wyoming, vacationed in Hawaii, Italy, and Switzerland, and sent their children to private school.

Mike Abatti Farms, which is based in El Centro, California, “has been in the agriculture industry for over 100 years,” according to its website.