Atherton Property Former Proprietor Reported Buried Automobile as Stolen in 1992 – NBC Bay Space

A former proprietor of the $15 million Atherton property the place a buried automotive was found Thursday has reported the NBC Bay Space Investigations Unit has been stolen. He additionally has a decades-long historical past of being arrested for fraud and even homicide.

Johnny Bocktune Lew, who died in 2015 on the age of 77, owned a newly unearthed Mercedes Benz convertible with the highest down, containing luggage of cement.

Information present Lew bought the property in 1994 for $7 million, about two years after he reported his Mercedes stolen from the Stanford Procuring Middle. Neighbors informed us Lew lived on the mansion till promoting it in 2014. He handed away a yr later.

“, what number of unusual circumstances I’ve seen in my 45 years in enterprise – that is at a really excessive degree,” stated San Mateo County Legal professional Steve Wagstaffe, whom investigators are investigating. attempt to discover the underside of the unusual episodes.

Our Investigations Unit appears to be like at former Atherton property proprietor suspected of burying a automotive within the yard. Jaxon Van Derbeken has analysis outcomes.

“It could possibly be a rip-off, it could possibly be foul play. Hey, that may simply be a weirdo considering it might be enjoyable to bury a automotive within the floor,” Wagstaffe stated.

Lew lived on the mansion in 1999, when, as court docket information present, state insurance coverage investigators allege he unwittingly paid undercover workers $50,000 in money and jewellery to sink the automotive. 56-foot yacht – valued at $1.2 million – throughout the Golden Gate Bridge. At one level, he bragged about having connections to organized crime in Asia. In 2000, he was discovered responsible of perjury and insurance coverage fraud.

However Lew’s legal historical past dates again to the Sixties. He was convicted within the 1965 Los Angeles taking pictures that killed his then-girlfriend. That conviction was later overturned due to listening to proof. unacceptable. Nonetheless, he was later convicted in 1977 for an unrelated premeditated homicide and sentenced to three years and 5 years to life. Wagstaffe says Lew’s unusual legal previous makes the case concerning the buried automotive all of the extra intriguing. “Like we are saying this, it is one of the best e book you can presumably need to learn since you simply cannot determine every little thing out till you get to the final chapter. I definitely hope we get to the ultimate chapter right here. “

The thriller continues in San Mateo County as police examine the invention of a automotive buried in Atherton’s yard. Thom Jensen stories.