REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (KRON) – A SWAT team stormed heiress Tiffany Li’s Hillsborough mansion in May of 2016. As Li and her boyfriend, Kaveh Bayat, were being arrested, forensic crime scene analysts from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office began combing the house for any traces of blood.
Keith Green, Li’s ex-boyfriend and father of her two children, was found dead in a field earlier that month with a terrifying cause of death: Someone had forced a gun inside his mouth before firing.
The forensic team that descended on Li’s multi-million-dollar home focused on a laundry room, a “man cave,” and a three-door garage.
Prosecutors believe Green was murdered inside Li’s residence, Bayat pulled the trigger, and Li ordered the hit.
On Thursday, San Mateo County Sheriff’s Det. Nicholas Boragho testified that while investigating the “man cave,” deputies found a box containing a .22 caliber magazine with nine rounds inside it. There was also a bar area, where two gun locks were located, but no guns. Many personal items found around the bar belonged to Bayat, including his ID, passport, and bank records.
Why were there two gun locks, but no guns in the house? The murder weapon used to kill Green has never been found, and no bullet holes were located in the mansion.
While cross examining Boragho, Bayat’s defense attorney asked the detective if gun locks like the ones found could also be used for things like locking up a bicycle, or child-proofing cabinets. Boragho said, yes.
Evidence of blood was found in two sinks inside Li’s house: One sink was in the laundry room. Another was in the “man cave.”
The vast majority of testimony Thursday focused on cleaning up suspected crime scenes, including cars and homes.
One notable witness who took the stand was Juan Zuaeta. When prosecutors asked if he recognized Li in the courtroom, he smiled at Li and gave a nod. He then testified that he cleaned three cars at Li’s residence every Saturday in 2016. When police inquired by Zuaeta did not wash any of Li’s vehicles on Saturday, April 30th, — two days after Green vanished — Zuaeta said he was unable to remember why.
Prosecutors also showed evidence that Li and Bayat’s body guard, Olivier Adella, wanted to get rid of his Chrysler 300 on May 5, 2016. He traded it in to a San Jose car dealership. On May 13, a man, Richard Serrano, bought the car from the dealership. Serrano immediately noticed a strong odor of bleach and Windex, according to his testimony.
Five days after Serrano purchased the Chrysler, police suddenly showed up and confiscated the vehicle. Blood was found in the trunk and backseat.
Prosecutors believe Green’s body was inside the Chrysler on the night of April 28, Adella drove it north to Sonoma County, and dumped the body. Li and Bayat are accused of paying Adella $35,000 to get rid of Green’s body.
Defense attorneys are arguing that Adella carried out the slaying by himself. The 6-foot, 5-inches, Mixed Martial Arts fighter told prosecutors that he accepted thousands of dollars from Li and her boyfriend in exchange for disposing of Green’s body in a remote Sonoma County field.