The longtime partner of a Southern California man whose body was found in a car two weeks after his death left him there in what appears to be the continuation of "fantasy world where he is a secret man," the woman's attorney said Wednesday.
The man's death led to the discovery of tons of ammunition and a cache of guns at the couple's Pacific Palisades condominium. An attorney for the woman identified the couple as Jeffrey Lash and his partner, Catherine Nebron.
They were at a grocery store parking lot July 4 in Santa Monica when he became ill. The man, who had said he worked covertly for the government, experienced a seizure, attorney Harland Braun said. When he could not be resuscitated by Nebron and two friends, she drove back home, thinking that "whoever was watching him from the government would know then that he died and they would take care of the body," Braun said.
"They worked on him for three hours, trying to revive him and then he died," Braun said. "It does not make any sense, but it's probably a continuation of this fantasy world where he is a secret man that's not supposed to reveal who he really is."
Her fiancé of 17 years, who suffered from cancer for more than a year, refused any professional medical attention, Braun said.
A cause of death was not immediately determined.
"The whole issue for the police, and me actually, is, is it a murder, or is it a natural death?" said Braun, who says that Nebron cared for her partner and would not harm him.
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Neighbors described the couple as reclusive. They told the LA Times they knew the man only as "Bob" and described him as a gun enthusiast who claimed to work covertly for the government.
Police have said the man did not covertly work for the government.
The man's gun collection was worth at least $500,000 and maybe more than $1 million, LAPD investigators told the LA Times.
NBC4's Jonathan Lloyd contributed to this report.
