Buried man identified as lawyer from Woodbridge

Elisa McNabney has yet to be located and is wanted by authorities, said San Joaquin County Spokeswoman Nellie Stone.

The Sacramento Sheriff’s Department reported that she was seen by investigators in Scottsdale, Ariz., in mid-January. She was also reported to have been spotted in Oklahoma City, Stone said.

Laurence McNabney’s body was found by farm workers Tuesday afternoon, partially buried in a vineyard south of Clements. The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department verified McNabney’s identity using fingerprints Thursday afternoon.

The 6 foot, 190-pound Laurence McNabney also had unique tattoos, Stone said.

Laurence McNabney was found in a shallow grave and “somebody buried him there,” said Sacramento County Sheriff Lou Blanas.

“This is definitely a homicide,” Stone said Wednesday.

The cause of death was determined by Thursday’s autopsy but remains undisclosed because it may jeopardize the investigation, according to Stone.

There were no obvious fatal wounds noticed by investigators when the body was unearthed, Stone said Wednesday.

Sacramento County officials took the original missing person report, but San Joaquin County investigators have taken over the homicide investigation.

McNabney’s children suspected something was awry when he went missing in September.

“Family members are concerned for Laurence’s welfare,” according to a written statement from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department in the missing person report. “They suggest his disappearance is highly suspicious and completely out of character. Laurence stays in constant contact with his 26-year-old son and has never missed the opportunity to spend the holidays with his family,” the memo went on.

Witnesses report that Elisa McNabney claimed to have seen her husband as recently as Jan. 11, the sheriff’s statement said. She was last seen the same day, driving a red 2001 Jaguar KX8 convertible with a tan top, which she leased in October. The car still had paper license plates.

Elisa McNabney is believed to have liquidated about $250,000 worth of her husband’s assets since September, including several of the couple’s quarter horses, Blanas said.

She sold his new model Ford F350 truck either Sept. 11 or Sept. 12. The $50,000 truck went for $27,000, what Dunn called a “bargain basement price.”

And a custom horse trailer worth about $110,000 that was to be transported to Arizona was seized by investigators, who found it filled with personal belongings. Dunn refused to say if the clothes and other personal items inside belonged to Elisa or Laurence McNabney.

The 5-foot-9 inch, 135, pound Elisa McNabney has brown hair and hazel eyes. She has used the aliases Elisa Jordan, Elizabeth Jordan and Elizabeth Anne Barasch, according to Stone.

There is a possibility that she changed her appearance, lightened her hair to blonde and put extensions in it, Stone said.

Investigators said Elisa McNabney could be traveling with her 17-year-old daughter.

Elisa and Laurence McNabney were married in Reno, Nev., in 1996 and since lived in San Joaquin and Sacramento counties, Blanas said. The couple has no children together, although they each have children of their own.

They were renting a home in Woodbridge Greens, a gated community on Mokelumne Street in Woodbridge.

They never got to know their neighbors, said an employee at Silver Creek Property Management of Stockton.

Laurence McNabney’s law office on Howe Avenue in Sacramento remained open until mid-January, when Elisa McNabney shut it down.

Laurence McNabney previously lived in Reno where he practiced law.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.