An Imperial Valley farmer's murdered wife was adored in her hometown; a violinist, friend and beauty queen

PINETOP-LAKESIDE, Arizona. — Before Kerri married Mike Abatti in 1992, before she moved to California and raised three children in the Imperial Valley, before she left her husband of 31 years, and before she was gunned down in their 7,000-square-foot home in the mountains of Arizona, she was Kerri Ann Penrod: a talented and beloved member of Arizona's tight-knit Pinetop-Lakeside community.

“He was one of those people who radiated light,” said his cousin Cathy Penrod. “I don't know how else to describe her. She was love and she was light.”

Cathy Penrod shows a photo of her cousin Kerri with Kerri's brother Blue and her sister Karen.

(Caitlin O'Hara / For The Times)

Local, state and federal authorities are investigating Kerri's death. Earlier this month, they expanded their investigation from the couple's 14-acre Pinetop home to their shared properties and businesses in Imperial County. A visit to Pinetop, the town where Kerri was born and which is more than 400 miles from the couple's primary residence in El Centro, leaves the impression that she came here not only to escape an unhappy marriage, but also to rediscover the family joy and comfort that this place once provided her.

Kerri “always had a smile and a big wave” as she drove down the short gravel and dirt road known as Bruin Way and passed her neighbor Rebecca Lopez, a retired high school administrator. “She even asked her guests to slow down so they wouldn't cover my cars and house in dust when they drove by. She was just a very nice lady.”

Kerri, who was found dead of a gunshot wound the night of Nov. 20, had returned to her hometown, a place her ancestors found and settled in the 1880s. Her divorce papers say she returned to Pinetop to help her ailing parents, but the miserable town 7,000 feet high in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona is also where she was once considered a rising star, where the culture is steeped in tradition and religion, and where family ties are at stake with blood ties.

Aerial view of a large house in a wooded area.

According to Cathy Penrod, Kerri said little about her marriage or divorce when she returned. But “it must have been bad” for her to walk away and return to this deeply traditional community built by pioneers and missionaries in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and still densely populated by their descendants.

“You must have felt very ashamed,” she said, describing her own experience as a divorced woman in this city, where customs and conventions reign supreme, and deliberate family destruction is abhorrent.

“But she also must have known how deep her family's love for her was. That no matter what, this was her home,” Cathy Penrod said.

While news of Kerri's death has portrayed Pinetop as an exclusive mountain community filled with immigrants from Southern California, the city (now officially called Pinetop-Lakeside, after merging with its neighbor in 1984) is no Sedona, Flagstaff or Prescott. You won't find Whole Foods, Sprouts or REI within a 100 mile radius. And while the city's mayor, Stephanie Irwin, described the area as a draw for outdoor-loving Phoenix-area plainspeople, you'd be hard-pressed, at least in the winter months, to find anyone sporting a label like Patagonia or North Face. It is a pioneering, off-brand city that has so far resisted any whiff of refined urbanity.

A couple eats in a restaurant next to a row of windows.

The town was settled by the Mormon ancestors of Kerri, Polly Ann, and William Lewis Penrod, who had been called by Brigham Young to uproot his nine children from Utah and, with hundreds of others, colonize the Little Colorado River Valley, an area stretching south and east through the White Mountains toward the border with New Mexico. After improvising carpentry jobs in the towns of Snowflake and Show Low in the early 1880s, the Penrods decided to strike out on their own and in 1886 settled in a field near a tavern, a place known as Pinetop, where they lived in their covered wagon until they could build their own log cabin.

Pinetop's geography and environment are harsh. The soil is fine, sandy and gravelly and the stands of Ponderosa pines are thick, creating a nearly permanent canopy of shade over a carpet of acidic, toxic needles that are not conducive to growing plants or feeding livestock.

To make a living here, pioneers had to rely on faith, strength, and family. More than a century after the Penrods arrived, the name is visible on road signs, in a cemetery, and on a number of business cards, phone lists, and high school yearbook entries.

Before leaving for California, Kerri Ann Penrod stood out among this hard-working, community-oriented clan.

Blue Ridge High School's yearbooks from 1983 and 1984 (her junior and senior years) show a smiling, successful young woman, surrounded by friends, participating in one of her many clubs, receiving honors, or performing. He was a member of the school orchestra and the National Honor Society. During her senior year, she was prom queen and student body president, as well as drum major of the band and first place winner of the talent show. She was a Girl Scout, cheerleader and scorekeeper for the wrestling team. In the orchestra he was first violin and was a member of the All-State Band and All-State Orchestra. There are nearly three dozen accomplishments listed under his name in the 1984 yearbook.

That same year, she was named Miss Navajo County and received a $1,000 scholarship to the University of Arizona to study music education and studio acting, which she postponed for a semester so she could fulfill her duties representing the county.

Divorce records show she did not graduate from college. However, in 1989 he acquired a real estate license in Arizona. According to the documents, he also had an EMT firefighter's license.

It is unclear when and how he met Mike Abatti. His family did not respond to requests for comment. Her cousin Cathy, 11 years older than her, also did not know the details of their courtship.

According to an April 15, 2024, spousal support declaration filed by Kerri in the years after their marriage, she let her real estate and firefighting licenses expire, but worked as an office manager for a third-party company and as an accountant for the Abatti family business, Abatti Farms, LLC.

When his second child was born, he left his job as an office manager, but continued to do the family's accounting. In 1999, she left both jobs to focus her “time and attention on raising our young family.” She said her husband supported this decision.

Court documents show that Abatti gave her a monthly allowance of $1,000 and that the couple traveled on vacations around the world (in places such as Italy, Switzerland and Hawaii) with their children, family and friends. They traveled first class, stayed in five-star accommodations, and frequented four- and five-star restaurants. The family also spent money on fishing equipment, camping equipment and weapons, among other items.

Their children attended private schools, had private tutors, and received new cars, all debt-free.

Recently in the Imperial Valley, at least five people asked about the Abatti family declined to speak on the record with The Times for fear of retaliation for themselves or their businesses.

A large house surrounded by green grass.

“Everyone is afraid to speak,” said one. The Abattis own some of the largest farming operations in the Imperial Valley, and some residents said that if they spoke to reporters, they would be shunned in political or social circles, citing the family's history of charitable giving and campaign contributions.

Mike Abatti could not be reached for comment. His divorce statements suggest he was surprised by Kerri's departure.

It is unknown what led Kerri Abatti to leave the marriage. According to statements filed by Mike Abatti, she left their California home in August 2023 while he was on a fishing trip.

Cathy Penrod said that for the past two years her cousin had been spending time at the Penrod family's private cemetery in Pinetop, where six generations are buried. His mother, Sue Penrod, had inherited the role of maintaining the cemetery. But Kerri took on the responsibility upon her return: she worked diligently to identify the dozens of graves scattered across the countryside, uncover all family relationships, clean up the stones, clear the grass and ensure fresh flowers were placed in memory of those who had died.

Cathy Penrod said that in the days before her death, her cousin had placed poinsettias on the graves of the sixth generation of William and Polly Penrod's descendants – her generation.

“I realize now that that's what he longed for: a bond, a connection with his family. That's what he needed to do,” Cathy Penrod said. “She came back because this was the center of her universe. It's where her soul belonged.”

Times staff writer Alex Wigglesworth contributed to this report.

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