Remains of Missing Calif. Woman Found, More Than 1 Year After She Was Last Seen, as Her Loved Ones Seek Answers By Charlotte Phillipp

Officials have discovered the remains of a missing San Diego-area woman, whose family said she was last seen in late 2023.

According to a press release from the San Diego Sheriff’s Office (SDSO), investigators served a search warrant on a property in Valley Center, Calif. — located about 40 miles northeast of San Diego — on July 16 “after receiving information related to an ongoing investigation.”

At the time, officials were conducting a search operation for 65-year-old Nadine Jett, and they discovered “skeletal remains of a human body buried on the 20-acre property.”

On Thursday, Aug. 21, officials announced that the Medical Examiner’s Office had confirmed that the remains belonged to Jett.

“At this time, no arrests have been made,” the press release said. “Detectives with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office continue to pursue all leads and are working diligently to uncover the circumstances surrounding Ms. Jett’s death.”

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, FOX 5 and CBS 8, the 20-acre property belonged to Jett.

The 65-year-old was a divorce and family law attorney for nearly 30 years before she became sick with pancreatic cancer. She was a foster mother to several children over the years, including Tiffany Lucci and her three identical quadruplet sisters.

Tiffany told the local outlets that Jett was last seen by the sisters in December 2023, shortly after she was diagnosed with cancer.

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Although the Sheriff’s Office did not disclose when Jett was first considered a missing person, the Lucci sisters and a number of other close friends expressed concern to local media about her whereabouts.

Per the Union-Tribune and NBC San Diego, the sisters said they communicated with Jett’s caretaker, a man who was previously Jett’s foster son, as she was dealing with her cancer.

The man repeatedly told them that Jett was too sick to see them or speak with them, the sisters alleged to the outlets, and by Easter the following year, he told them that Jett had died and was cremated in Mexico.

Tiffany told the outlets that she and deputies subsequently went to the property soon after to investigate, but found it cleared out. A neighbor also previously wrote in a letter to the Valley Roadrunner that squatters had been living on Jett’s property.

The Lucci sisters said the Mexican consulate did not have a record of Jett’s cremation, and that the caretaker would not show them a death certificate. The sisters told NBC San Diego that they reported Jett missing about one year ago.

“When she disappeared, we started to investigate,” Paris Lucci, another one of Jett’s foster daughters, told NBC San Diego. “We reached out to neighbors. We reached out to anyone who lived at the ranch.”

The SDSO did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for further information on Aug. 23.

A realtor, who had been working with Jett’s caretaker to sell the property, tipped off investigators, the Lucci sisters told NBC San Diego and FOX 5.

According to Jett’s foster daughters, the realtor allegedly informed them that the house sale fell out of escrow due to the caretaker’s refusal to provide a death certificate and his multiple disappearances for days at a time, per NBC San Diego.

Back in July, the police announced that they had searched Jett’s property and found human remains.

The four sisters are now looking for answers in Jett’s disappearance and death.

“My sisters and I were all crying, devastated, but it’s closure. Like, we finally got the closure we needed, but it’s still gonna be a fight, you know, to find out who did this and why did they do it,” Tiffany said, per CBS 8.

According to Tiffany, the sisters “considered [Jett] as our mother, not our foster mom.”

“Nadine was just an amazing woman who just taught us right from wrong, always there for us, always at her basketball games, always at any kind of event we needed a mom to be at,” Paris added, per NBC San Diego. “She was a wonderful lady, and she’s made a mark in our life, and, you know, she fought for us, and what we’re doing now is we’re fighting for her.”

The SDSO is asking anyone with information regarding Jett to call Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.