A California man has been charged with murder after allegedly poisoning his foster mother, burying her in a hole and forging a marriage certificate so he could take control of her assets.
Cedric Von Ferdinand, 34, is accused of telling his foster sisters that while he was taking care of Nadine Jett during her pancreatic cancer fight she had died and been cremated in Mexico.
He was charged Wednesday after an autopsy found large amounts of fentanyl in the 65-year-old’s system, with the medical examiner concluding she died of acute fentanyl toxicity, ruling homicide as the manner of death.
Jett had been going through chemotherapy when she went missing in January 2024. Von Ferdinand, her foster son and caregiver, allegedly told her other foster children she died in Mexico of her illness and had been cremated. But he could not produce a death certificate.
Shortly after, he was given power of attorney through documents somehow bearing Jett’s signature and initials.
He then allegedly siphoned thousands of dollars from Jett’s accounts and transferred two of her properties to himself.
With his dead mother’s money, he is also accused of purchasing another property in Los Angeles County.
His alleged plan also included enlisting a woman called Kim Fifer to pose as Jett so he could “marry” his mother and take further control of her assets.
A forged and notarized marriage license dated May 18, 2024, was discovered in Von Ferdinand’s home. “This is a case of deadly greed,” San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan said.
Jett’s other foster daughters, the Lucci quadruplets, eventually grew suspicious of Von Ferdinand and reported their mother missing in June 2024.
A San Diego District Attorney’s Office investigator said the sister attempted to see their mother before she disappeared, but Von Ferdinand kept creating reasons for them not to come.
Sheriff’s deputies found Jett’s body wrapped in a bedsheet and buried in a hole 30 feet away from her home in July 2025.
Investigators later discovered Von Ferdinand hired someone on Jan. 16, 2024, to dig a 6ft-by-6ft hole on the Valley Center property.
Von Ferdinand has already been charged with dozens of felony counts related to the scheme, including forgery and identity theft, but had been out of custody. Stephan called Von Ferdinand’s plot “despicable.”
“What happened here is a deadly tragedy and it’s time for accountability,” Stephan said. “His deadly greed led to this horrific homicide.
He added: “He preyed on her in her time of need when she was suffering from cancer. It is quite despicable.”
The four sisters are devastated by their foster mother’s death and want to see justice. They said they were in and out of 10 foster homes before Jett gave them a chance.
“She was the mom we needed. She gave us a fair chance at life,” Bianca Lucci told NBC San Diego. “I’m glad justice will finally be served. I do believe that this was all out of greed and money and it’s just sad.”
“This is a case of greed. He never cared about Nadine, and now he gets to sit and rot in jail,” Tiffany Lucci added.
Von Ferdinand was scheduled to be arraigned at Vista Courthouse on the murder charge Thursday in San Diego County.
Pifer and Escondido-based notary public Raymond Joseph Alto, 46, are also charged in connection with the fake marriage license and other fake documents.
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