Remains of missing woman found buried in her Valley Center backyard

The skeletal remains of missing Valley Center woman have been found buried on the grounds of her 20-acre ranch, sheriff’s investigators said Thursday.

The news comes a month after sheriff’s investigators descended on Nadine Jett’s rural property with dogs and digging equipment. At the time, investigators remained mum regarding what they may have found in their search July 15 for the 65-year-old retired family law attorney.

Sheriff’s homicide Lt. Juan Márquez said in a news release that the Medical Examiner’s Office had confirmed that the remains were that of Jett.

“At this time, no arrests have been made,” Márquez said.

He said detectives are continuing to work to learn the circumstances of her death.

Jett had been a foster mom to Tiffany Lucci and her three sisters in the Rancho Palos Verdes area. “Nadine took us in, and for the rest of our lives — blood or not, she’s our mom,” Lucci said Thursday

“My mom Nadine wasn’t just someone who took us in,” she later added. “I know there’s ‘foster’ in front of it, but we consider we consider her as our mother.”

Lucci said investigators told her about a week ago that Jett’s remains had been found, which she said brought closure. She took time to visit the site, and found the hole where Jett was recovered was still open. Lucci placed photos of she and her sisters and her toddler daughter inside it.

“I keep throwing memories in there,” the 28-year-old said. “Nadine’s spirit is out there. She’ll see it.”

Lucci told the Union-Tribune last month that the last time they had seen or spoken to Jett was around Christmas 2023. At the time, Lucci said, Jett was very ill, battling pancreatic cancer.

She said that they communicated with Jett’s caretaker, another man who Lucci said had been in foster care with Jett, in the months that followed. But she said he repeatedly told them Jett was too sick to speak with them. Then shortly after Easter 2024, he told the sisters that Jett had died and been cremated in Mexico, Lucci said. She said she and sheriff’s deputies subsequently went to the Oak Creek Road home, but found it cleared out.

Lucci said she was also frustrated, that she had been pushing for law enforcement to investigate Jett’s disappearance for a while. “We’re going to continue to fight for our mom,” she said. “That’s who fought for us.”

Márquez said several entities joined deputies in the search of the property in July, including crime lab staffers, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the District Attorney’s Office and private entities. He did not elaborate on what the private entities were or why NCIS was involved.

Anyone with information on the case can call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 888-580-8477. Tipsters may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest.