Kriti Mehrotra
It was in early December 2008 when 74-year-old Clifford “Cliff” Lambert suddenly disappeared from his California home without a trace, shortly following which he was presumed dead. However, as carefully explored in NBC’s ‘Dateline: The Prince, The Whiz Kid & The Millionaire,’ only his partial remains were discovered 12 years later near an area over 150 miles away. By this point, though, investigators already had a clear understanding of what had happened to him owing to the initial confessions and/or convictions of those responsible for his murder.
Cliff Lambert Was a Self-Made Millionaire in the Art Space
Born on January 22, 1934, in the midwestern state of Missouri, to Glennie May German and Hugh Wade Lambert, Clifford “Cliff” Edward Lambert was reportedly one of three children. He was seemingly raised in a loving household alongside his elder siblings, Betty Lambert and Hugh Lambert Jr., yet it wasn’t until he faced who he really is that he became genuinely happy. He was proudly gay, so to fully embrace not only his sexuality but also his innate creative passions, he eventually relocated to California and settled down in the desert city of Palm Springs.
Cliff had made a name for himself by the 1990s, having developed a process for duplicating master artworks with remarkable accuracy, which soon led him to evolve into a professional art dealer. He was gradually growing astoundingly wealthy and had a penchant for theatrics. He was a socialite by all accounts and was even considered a self-made success who had turned into a local celebrity. The fact that his personal life was also thriving around this period put him on cloud nine. After all, he believed he had found “the one” in a local California man named Travis Hobbs.
Cliff Lambert Was Fatally Stabbed and His Remains Were Recovered Near a Mountain Community
Unfortunately, though, things had completely turned upside down for the dealer by the spring of 2006. He had retired and was also experiencing trouble in his romantic relationship. From what we can tell, Cliff and Travis had parted ways in April 2006, yet the former still had such deep lingering feelings that he was utterly heartbroken when his ex suddenly died in 2007. The retired dealer thus created an online dating profile in the hopes of avoiding his loneliness and moving on, but none of his ensuing dates or potential connections ever stuck in the long run.
Then, suddenly, in December 2008, the 74-year-old disappeared without a trace left behind, with a close friend reporting him missing on the 7th after not hearing from him for a couple of days. However, thanks to subsequent investigations, law enforcement officials were able to theorize within months that Cliff had been fatally stabbed inside his own home on December 5, 2008. According to records, Cliff was then rolled up in his rug, loaded into his Mercedes’ trunk, and disposed of near the mountain area of Castaic, where a skull and jawbones were found years later. Despite the bones having been discovered along Templin Highway by pipeline workers in 2016, it actually wasn’t until late September 2020 that they were confirmed to be his with a DNA test.
All of Cliff Lambert’s Perpetrators Were Identified Within Months
Although there was an extensive search for Cliff, the police only got their first breakthrough almost a month later, in January 2009, when they were contacted by his concerned neighbors. The latter had seen someone drive up to the missing socialite’s home with a moving truck, so they dialed the local station’s number almost immediately because they felt something was gravely amiss. Thankfully, officials arrived within minutes and arrested the stranger, a bartender named Miguel Bustamante, who had reportedly decided to return and clean the then-alleged crime scene. According to records, he was soon connected to former Marine cook Craig McCarthy, who chose to cooperate with the authorities, confess to Cliff’s murder, and incriminate his conspirators.
It turned out the entire plan was orchestrated by then mid-20-something-year-old Daniel “Danny” Garcia, with whom Cliff had had a brief romantic relationship earlier in 2008. The duo had met through online dating, following which the retired art dealer invited him to a visit to Palm Springs. However, he quickly began feeling as if Danny was there for something far removed from a romantic relationship. According to reports, Danny had suggested that his date invest in his business idea, but Cliff threw him out because what he wanted was a genuine connection, not a money-related deal.
Danny was reportedly so enraged by the ordeal that he stole Cliff’s credit card, upgraded his return flight ticket to first-class, and then developed a plot to defraud and murder him. According to records, he masterminded the criminal plan alongside his friend Kaushal Niroula, a charming personality whom he had met at a bar in San Francisco a few years prior, before putting it into action. That’s when the duo recruited high-profile attorney David Replogle, ex-cook Craig McCarthy, bartender Miguel Bustamante, and fellow art dealer Russell Herbert Manning to join their brutal cause.
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Cliff Lambert’s Case Came to a Close For Good in 2025
While it’s true that all six individuals involved in Cliff’s murder were arrested in 2009, his case didn’t come to a solid conclusion until 2025, owing to legal errors and proceedings. So, as per reports, officials had uncovered the plot against the 74-year-old not long after he went missing, starting with Danny’s bruised ego, his need for revenge, and Kaushal’s charming arrogance. Their plan thus revolved around Kaushal allegedly posing as an attorney and calling Cliff in early December 2008 about having recently inherited a large sum of money and wanting to invest it in significant art.
According to documents, Kaushal even invited Cliff to meet him at Dink’s Restaurant on December 4, during which Craig and Miguel broke into his home with the plan to fatally ambush him. However, the plan somehow needed to be aborted, so the fake buyer set up another meeting with the dealer at his own Palm Springs home the very next evening, where the two accomplices broke in again. As per records, Craig and Miguel used the side door to come in, following which they fatally stabbed their target with kitchen knives before disposing of him near the Mountain Community of Castaic.
Then, in the weeks after Cliff’s disappearance/murder, the group was helped by David Replogle to fabricate powers of attorney documents and steal nearly $200,000 from his bank account. As if that’s not enough, they allegedly even met with a few real estate agents in an effort to sell his massive home, only for their entire conspiracy to start unraveling in January 2009. With all these details, the six suspects were convicted between 2010 and 2012. However, four verdicts were suddenly overturned in 2020 due to judicial misconduct, and the remaining two were upheld because of the guilty pleas.
Russell had pleaded guilty to fraud in the early 2010s, for which he was sentenced to five years in prison. Therefore, he was released upon fulfilling his term, but he passed away in 2021. As for Craig, he had pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter early on, for which he was handed down 25 years in prison, which he still seems to be serving. Coming to Kaushal, the 41-year-old was awaiting his retrial while still detained when he was attacked and strangled to death by a fellow inmate on September 6, 2022. On the other hand, following retrials in 2022/2023, Miguel, Danny, and David were all convicted of Cliff’s murder once again. So, they were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in November 2024, April 2025, and July 2025, respectively.
