SWAT officers surround a luxurious mansion in Hillsborough. Within hours, they will arrest 30-year-old Tiffany Lee, the heirs, to a multi-million dollar real estate empire. Her new boyfriend will be taken into custody as well. By that point, investigators already know that the father of her two children, 27-year-old Keith Green, did not simply disappear.
Two weeks earlier, he had left his apartment for what was supposed to be a brief meeting with Tiffany. He left behind his wallet, his car keys, and told people he would be back soon. No one ever saw him alive again. A few days later, a tourist discovers his phone near a trail in Golden Gate Park. Then, 2 weeks after that, Keith’s body is found in a field hundreds of miles away from the place where he was last seen.
He is barely clothed. His front teeth are broken. The cause of death is a gunshot wound to the neck. As the family struggles to understand what happened, investigators uncover a strange detail. Shortly after the meeting, Keith’s phone briefly connected to Tiffany Lee’s home Wi-Fi network. Then, a man comes forward claiming he knows the whole truth.
The couple’s personal bodyguard and trainer tells police a story involving money, jealousy, secret arrangements, and a body that was allegedly brought right to his house. But before long, another question begins to emerge. What if the key witness in the case is lying? Hey guys, let me grab you for just a second.
I’m really curious where my audience is watching from. So, I’d love for you to drop a comment and tell me what city you’re in and what time it is for you right now. Thanks for taking a moment. Go ahead and share that in the comments. And now, let’s keep going. When Tiffany Lee went on trial for the murder of her former boyfriend, the media began calling her the Hillsborough Killer.
Tiffany came from a wealthy real estate investment family whose fortune was estimated to be worth tens and possibly even hundreds of millions of dollars. In the spring of 2016, the father of her children vanished without a trace. In the months leading up to his disappearance, the two had been involved in ongoing disputes over money, and Tiffany was believed to be the last person to see him alive.
On Friday, April 29th, 2016, a tourist in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco came across a cell phone that had been discarded near a trail. The phone belonged to 27-year-old Keith Green, a culinary school student and the father of two children. Keith had left his apartment in Milbury the previous evening at around 9:00, leaving behind both his car keys and his wallet.
For the previous 6 months, he had been living with a family friend, Angela Dunn, after ending his long-term relationship with Tiffany Lee, the mother of his children. Angela told investigators that Keith planned to meet Tiffany that evening to discuss custody arrangements for their two daughters, Viven and Nia, who were four and 2 years old.
When Keith left the apartment, he was wearing dark sweatpants, a t-shirt, and sneakers. The plan was for them to have a brief conversation in the parking lot of a Pancake House restaurant located directly across the street, which was already closed for the night. After Keith left for that meeting, he never came home. The following day, he was officially reported missing.
The park where his phone was discovered is located about 30 minutes north of the Pancake House in the direction of the Golden Gate Bridge. For weeks, friends and family members posted flyers throughout Milbre and the San Francisco area, desperately searching for any clue that could explain what had happened to the aspiring chef and devoted father.
On May 11th, deputies from the Soma County Sheriff’s Office discovered a body in a field near Highway 101, close to Geyserville. The location was roughly another 2 hours north of Golden Gate Park by car. By then, 2 weeks had passed since Keith had last been seen alive. Dental records were used to identify the remains.
A week later, authorities officially confirmed that the body belonged to Keith Green. When he was found, he was wearing only socks. His front teeth had been broken. Keith had died from a single gunshot wound to the neck. His cell phone was found unattended the next morning in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. They left his car and his wallet, so that raised some suspicion with us.
He was identified through dental records and uh as far as it being a homicide, it was evidence that was located at the at the at uh on his person. Keith’s former girlfriend, 30-year-old Tiffany Lee, told investigators that she had indeed met with him on April 28th near the Pancake House, where they talked for about an hour.
Shortly after 10:00 that night, she left the parking lot in her Mercedes-Benz SUV. According to Tiffany, Keith stayed behind alone while she drove home. At first, she was skeptical that Keith had actually disappeared and believed he might have been trying to deceive her by staging himself as the victim of a kidnapping. Following their breakup several months earlier, their relationship had become extremely strained.
Arguments over the fair division of finances, and the amount of time each of them spent with their daughters had become a constant source of conflict. Keith and Tiffany first met in 2009. Not long afterward, they moved into a $7 million mansion that Tiffany’s mother purchased for her in the upscale community of Hillsborough.
Although their relationship progressed very quickly, they seemed like an unlikely couple from the beginning. Before meeting each other, their lives had followed very different paths. Born in Beijing, Tiffany was raised in Silicon Valley, attended prestigious schools, and was expected to eventually join the family’s highly successful business operations.
She earned a master’s degree in business from the University of San Francisco. After graduation, Tiffany began working for the family company, helping manage its real estate holdings while earning a salary of around $100,000 a year. According to reports, her mother, Lee Hong, built the family’s fortune in Beijing during the 1980s through joint ventures with construction companies owned by the Chinese military.
The family controlled an enormous real estate portfolio that included at least two high-rise buildings in Beijing, as well as numerous properties throughout the Bay Area. By 2016, Tiffany estimated the family’s wealth at roughly $50 to $100 million, although outside estimates suggested the true figure could be significantly higher.
Keith Green, on the other hand, was born in a workingclass community near Silicon Valley. His parents divorced when he was still a child, and he was raised primarily by his mother, Colleen. As a young man, Keith excelled in sports. In high school, he was a standout quarterback and was known for making friends easily.
After leaving college, he alternated between periods of unemployment and various temporary jobs. However, after meeting Tiffany, he was given the opportunity to continue his education. Reports indicate that Lee Hong paid for his tuition at Lordon Blue Culinary School in San Francisco, which cost approximately $4,000 per year. Keith was expected to graduate that September.
In 2012 and 2014, Keith and Tiffany welcomed their two daughters. Their Hillsborough home was staffed with nannies, housekeepers, and gardeners. The couple also had access to exotic sports cars and luxury SUVs. For more than 6 years, their life appeared almost perfect from the outside. On May 3rd, less than a week after Keith disappeared, Tiffany sent an email to the Hillsborough Police Department expressing concern about his disappearance.
Although she had initially suspected that her former boyfriend had orchestrated an elaborate scheme to extract more money from her, she eventually came to believe that he was genuinely in danger. I guess you’re missing or something. Like I give you a call back like you know I like Trump. Give me a call back when I hear this desperate.
Tiffany also asked the police whether they could provide information about placing a billboard to help search for Keith. Later that same day, she sent a message to his mother, Colleen. Hi, Colleen. I know you believe Keith’s disappearance somehow has something to do with me, and I understand that you don’t want to talk to me, but I just want you to know that I’m really worried, too.
The day after sending that message, Tiffany was asked to come to the police station for an interview with detectives. Her relationship with Keith had ended six months before his murder. Keith had discovered that she was having an affair with someone he knew, a man who may have also been his marijuana supplier named Cave Bat.
After the affair came to light, Tiffany moved Cave into the mansion and Keith moved out. The tension between them was extremely high. The situation became even more volatile when Tiffany and Cave began openly showing off their relationship. As a celebratory gift, Tiffany bought him a Ferrari and she even encouraged their two young daughters to call him dad.
Her first donut, y’all. My daughter doing her donuts. While Tiffany and Cave were building their new life together, the conflicts with Keith only continued to escalate. Tiffany secretly recorded phone conversations, not only with Keith, but also with friends who found themselves drawn into the ongoing disputes between them.
He wants cop killed and just now hang up saying I’m going to kill you. That’s not cool. So, okay, hold on. So, Keith said that. So, if I ask Keith right now, he’s going to say yes. Right. We’ll say we’ll send you the record. Hold on. In front of you, I’m asking him. Okay. Did you say that you’re going to have Cav killed? Talk to Isa. Okay.
But why? Okay. But why? Those recorded phone conversations were filled with insults, accusations, and threats. Many of the arguments revolved around money. Keith was struggling to make ends meet while attending culinary school in San Francisco. He frequently asked Tiffany for financial support so he could maintain the lifestyle he had become accustomed to.
At one point, frustrated and desperate about his situation. He suggested that his only real option might be to move to Ohio where his grandmother owned rental property and could provide him with a place to stay. It sucks. I don’t want to leave the kids, but I just I don’t know what to do.
like I’ve been so stressed trying to figure this out and it’s been really really bad. I’m saying to you we both made mistakes and that’s that. You know, let’s just move on. There’s nothing I can say right now. It’s very easy for you to sit here and say whatever you want to say because your life has not changed at all. The only thing that’s different is that you have a new man that you sleep next to at night.
That’s it. Very happy. Aren’t you happy that I’m happy? I thought if you care about me, you would think that I’m happy. Later, text messages revealed that Keith was trying to find a more stable way to remain in California. He proposed that Tiffany provide him with a new BMW, $20,000 for furniture, and ongoing payments of $4,000 per month.
I want to build a life for myself and the kids that can stand alongside yours,” he said. According to Tiffany, she responded by offering him $44,000, including $20,000 upfront along with a Range Rover. However, neither she nor Cave was satisfied with how those negotiations were going. In a series of messages exchanged just weeks before Keith disappeared, investigators believe they may have uncovered the moment when Tiffany and her new boyfriend agreed to have Keith Green killed.
He’s trying to squeeze more money out of you again. What a slippery snake. All he cares about is money. This has nothing to do with the kids. Tiffany agreed with him and replied, “Okay, green light.” During her interview, Tiffany told investigators about the ongoing financial disputes she had been having with Keith. At the beginning, when we first drove off, he asked each kid 20 million.
He asked my mom for each kid. And my mom said, “You’re ridiculous. Would you harm Keith?” No, I will not harm Keith. Would you have anybody else? No, I would not do that. Keith’s cell phone had already provided investigators with important information about his movements on the night he disappeared.
Between 9:27 and 9:56 that evening, his phone connected to Cell Towers near the Pancake House in Milbury, where he had been meeting with Tiffany. However, by 10:49 and 10:56, the phone was already traveling toward Hillsborough. That data matched the route taken by Tiffany’s Mercedes after she left the Pancake House. Surveillance cameras at the intersection of El Camino Rayal and Milbury Avenue captured a gray Mercedes G63 heading south at approximately 10:15 that night.
He was in the car with me, Tiffany, cuz it’s following your same path. He was so He was not in the car with me. So, how did his phone stay in your car without him? That’s why I’m like when you’re telling me I’m hearing it for the first time. I’m like he was not in the car with me. Tiffany continued to insist that Keith had not been in her vehicle that night.
However, at 10:51 p.m., Keith’s phone automatically connected to the Wi-Fi network at Tiffany’s Hillsbor mansion for 26 seconds. For that connection to occur, the phone would have needed to be very close to the router inside the house. On the same day Keith’s remains were discovered near a roadway in Geyserville, a SWAT team arrived at Tiffany’s mansion and arrested both her and Cave Bat on suspicion of murder.
But they were not the only suspects in the case. The day before, Hillsborough police had quietly taken into custody the couple’s personal trainer and occasional bodyguard, a man named Olivier Adella. The information Adella provided helped investigators fill in critical gaps in the case and ultimately became the basis for the arrests.
Adella claimed that Cave and Tiffany had approached him months before the crime with a proposal to kill Keith. According to him, he refused to take part and turned down an offer of $50,000. Yet, a few weeks later, he found himself involved in the conspiracy. Anyway, Adella told investigators that Tiffany arrived at his apartment complex in her SUV with Keith already dead in the front passenger seat.
He said Cave then told him it was time to repay everything the couple had done for him. His assignment was to dispose of Keith’s body. Afraid of what might happen if he refused, Adella said he agreed. According to his account, he drove Keith’s body to a remote field and left it there. 40-year-old Olivier Adela, who at times also used the name Olivier Brandenstein, was originally from Kat Divoir.
He became a United States citizen in 2011. Information from his online profiles indicated that he studied in France and served for more than 5 years in the French Foreign Legion. After moving to the United States, he achieved some success as an MMA fighter before later starting his own limousine company. It was through that business that he met Tiffany Lee and Cavebat.
In 2015, Cave began hiring Adella as a security guard for various events. The following year, they reconnected and entered into a more permanent arrangement. Tiffany provided housing for Adella and his wife Uta Brandenstein in an apartment on Trousdale Drive that belonged to her mother. In addition, she reportedly gave him approximately $113,000 in cash for expenses.
Reports also indicated that his wife had been offered a well- paid position within the family company. Separately, Adella was paid to train Cave in kickboxing. In late February or early March of 2016, their business relationship allegedly took a much darker turn. According to Adella, he was invited into Cave’s so-called man cave inside the Hillsbor home.
Before the meeting, he was searched to make sure he was not wearing a recording device and he was instructed to leave his phone on a table. He claimed that the couple then directly asked him to get rid of Keith. Adella said he agreed only to intimidate him and firmly refused to kill him. He also stated that he was later provided with an anonymous prepaid cell phone.
According to Adella, on the night Keith disappeared, he followed Tiffany to the Pancake House in his silver Chrysler 300. Contradicting Tiffany’s version of events, he claimed that around 1:00 that afternoon, Cave sent him a message saying that Tiffany and Keith would be leaving together in the SUV.
He then followed them in his own vehicle. Surveillance cameras also captured Adella’s car traveling behind Tiffany’s Mercedes from the Pancake House toward Hillsborough. Adella maintained that he did not return to the mansion where he claimed Keith was shot in the garage, but instead drove back to his apartment complex. Inside the mansion’s garage, investigators found a small amount of Keith’s blood on the floor.
Near the blood stain was a golf bag that tested positive for gunshot residue. Keith’s blood was also discovered on the passenger side running board of Tiffany’s Mercedes. Additional traces of his blood were found between parking spaces 34 and 35 at the apartment complex on Trrowdale Drive where Adella lived. Investigators also recovered fragments of blue gloves from the bodyguard’s Chrysler.
Keith’s blood was found in the trunk of that vehicle as well. Toll transponder records showed that Adella’s car crossed the Golden Gate Bridge heading south at approximately 3:30 in the morning on April 29th. He told police that he threw Keith’s cell phone out the window while driving through the park. After that, he continued searching for a secluded roadside location where the body could be abandoned.
According to Adella, Keith had been stripped down to his underwear before the trip. His clothes were placed into a blue drawstring gym bag and later thrown into a dumpster at the apartment complex. Those items were never recovered. Investigators also never found the murder weapon, a 9mm handgun that Adella claimed had been purchased and used by Cavebat.
Adella maintained that the entire plan had been orchestrated by Tiffany Lee. While in custody, he gave an interview to a local journalist. In that interview, he described a complicated love triangle and explained how, according to his account, he became involved in a murder conspiracy against his will. Cab was Keith Green’s friend, right? Yes.
He met Tiffany through Ke and he went behind Ke and brainwashing Tiffany take Tiffany from Keith Green. Ke making Tiffany k out of the mansion moving in make Kiffkin daughter call him daddy and him and Tiffany only together for six months. He then went on to say, “They told me, we want you to kill Keith. We want you to get rid of him. We want to you to get rid of Kein.
” I said, “What do you mean really keep the one talking? He want you to pretty much keep.” According to Adella, he watched Tiffany and Keith discuss matters involving their children and then drove home. He later said he was stunned when Tiffany arrived at his apartment complex with Keith’s body.
So they pull up to the car. The the the cab was on the back seat. Tiffany was on the front seat and was in front was in. Tiffany Lee made national headlines after posting a record setting $35 million bail. To secure her release, she put up nearly $4 million in cash. The remainder was backed by friends and relatives who pledged real estate assets worth more than twice the required amount.
Under California law, when real estate is used as collateral for bail, the total value of the property must be at least double the amount being secured. In all, nearly $70 million in assets were used to guarantee Tiffany’s release. Her codefendants, Cavebat and Olivia Adella, remained in custody. In the beginning of the case, the investigation by the sheriff’s office has provided to us that she comes from a family that has uh many, many hundreds of millions of dollars available to them.
The property was actually put up by 15 to 20 extended family, friends, business associates, people that believe in Tiffany and think she one come to court and two is not guilty. Excuse me. Tiffany from his murder. Meanwhile, Adella was attempting to negotiate a deal with prosecutors in exchange for testifying against Tiffany and Cave.
Prosecutors in San Mateo County were considering using him as a key witness in their murder case. I know he has made uh multiple comments about he would like to make a deal with us and plead to some lesser charge than a 187 um in exchange for truthful testimony against defendants Lee and Bayette. Um we have not reached any decision or conclusion as to whether or not we are going to work with him.
As it stands, all three defendants are still facing murder charges and we are set for trial against all three of them at this time um January 16th. However, as the trial approached, new information began to emerge that raised serious questions about the credibility of Olivier Adela’s testimony.
First, defense attorney Jeff Carr introduced the results of a polygraph examination. According to those results, Adella showed signs of deception when answering questions related to the murder of Keith Green. Did you shoot Keith Green? He answered no. His reactions were consistent with someone being deceptive regarding that issue.
If you were to see the the evidence that we’ve been able to see of the of what exactly they have against Mr. Adella, um, average person would would say it’s much more likely Mr. Adella did this killing than Tiffany Lee. There seems to be more evidence consistent with it being a failed kidnap than it being a murder and that something went wrong.
Tiffany’s attorneys argued that when all of the evidence was considered as a whole, the most likely explanation was that Keith died during a failed kidnapping attempt allegedly carried out by Olivia Adella, possibly with the help of one or two accompllices. In support of that theory, they pointed to a box containing more than $30,000 in cash that was found in his apartment along with an expensive watch that had previously belonged to Keith Green.
Mr. Adela and potentially confederates were seeking a gun. Uh they ultimately may have gotten one and they may have been involved in a kidnap attempt of Mr. uh Green. Despite the arguments presented by Tiffany Lee’s defense team, prosecutors reached a plea agreement with Olivier Adella in February 2018.
The murder charge against him was dismissed in exchange for truthful testimony against Tiffany Lee and Cavebat. Another 2 and 1/2 years passed and a date for jury selection still had not been set. In the spring of 2019, the trial was delayed once again after it was announced that Tiffany Lee needed treatment for breast cancer.
During that period, Adella’s attorneys successfully secured his release based on time already served. However, immediately after he was freed, he was arrested again by agents of the United States Diplomatic Security Service. He was charged with providing false information during the passport application process. Investigators discovered that Olivier Adella was not his real name and that much of the biography he had presented over the years had been fabricated.
Authorities determined that he had moved from Kot Devoir to France where he used a fraudulent French passport under the name Olivier Adela to enter the United States in 2002. After arriving, he successfully obtained a United States passport under the same identity by claiming that he had been born a French citizen.
Not long after moving to the United States, he got married. However, his first wife later learned that he had lied about his background. She also warned authorities that he was a violent man. According to her, the two had never officially divorced. I am his wife. I’ve been married to him since 2005. I’ve been literally like in hiding from him for, you know, since we’ve split up uh because he threatened to kill my family and myself.
He does not have a degree in anything. Nothing. None of that is true. But I’ve never seen any paper. Uh I’ve never seen any certificate. Who’s the real Olivier Adella? Mustafa Traor. He’s a con artist and he’s a mean person. I just hope justice deserves for um Mr. Green and and his daughters and their whole family. They have the wrong people on trial.
Who they should be pursuing is Mr. Olivia Adella. And that’s been clear from day one, but how they’re pursuing him will be up to the DA’s office. That it was perhaps a kidnap gone arai. Obviously, this man was in a trunk that had the emergency latch release removed, among other things, which is exactly what the police first thought and held with that view until Mr.
Adella started giving a fairy tale that now has come to its inglorious end by Mr. Adella being arrested as a liar. Olivier Adella, whose real name was Mustafa Trare, received an additional 6 months in prison for passport fraud. But even as the trial of Lee and Bat was finally approaching, new controversies involving him continued to surface.
On two separate occasions, he was accused of attempting to influence witnesses. The first incident occurred while he was still in custody. He claimed that someone had approached another inmate with an offer of money in exchange for falsely testifying that Adella had confessed to killing Keith Green and had acted entirely on his own.
He tells me that there is an inmate on his side of the jail who has told him that Mr. Bayette has offered him money to testify that Adella says that he actually killed Mr. Green and that Adella’s wife was involved. Prosecutors investigated those claims but were unable to find any evidence to support them.
As a result, no action was taken. At the same time, they did not believe Adella had simply made the story up since making false allegations could have jeopardized his cooperation agreement with the prosecution. The second incident appeared far more serious. One of the conditions of his release prohibited him from using social media or contacting anyone connected to the case.
However, it was later discovered that he had attempted to communicate with a defense witness, his former girlfriend. Investigators suspected that he was trying to learn what testimony she intended to provide in court. In the end, prosecutors did not completely cancel their agreement with Adella, but they decided not to call him as a witness during the trial.
His reputation and credibility had become far too easy for the defense to challenge. It has taken twists and turns and I dare say I think there are going to be more twists and turns in this road. We have lost our trust in the validity of his testimony. It turns the case into an entirely different animal.
You know, you work for 3 years and a case has a particular posture with a a lead witness for the prosecution and now all of a sudden he’s gone. That changes everything. When the trial finally began, Tiffany Lee and Cave Bat were tried together. Despite losing his key witness, prosecutor Steve Wagstafer remained confident in the strength of the case and the prosecution’s theory of what had happened.
Case is based in part on Mr. Adella. I know Mr. Carr believes that it’s based entirely on Mr. Adella. Uh I don’t concur with that view of the evidence and again we’ll have 12 people decided for us. The trial began in September 2019. Although prosecutors argued that the murder had taken place inside the garage of the Hillsbor mansion, investigators found no bullet holes and no shell casings at the scene.
Only a small amount of gunshot related residue was recovered. Experts who analyzed gunshot residue testified that the amount detected on the golf bag was not consistent with a firearm being discharged nearby. Adella claimed that Keith was already dead and bleeding inside the Mercedes when Tiffany arrived at his apartment complex.
However, despite two thorough searches of the vehicle, investigators found no blood or DNA belonging to Keith inside. The only physical evidence was a tiny drop of blood located on the exterior passenger side running board. The defense argued that Keith had used the vehicle many times in the past, making it entirely possible that the blood had an innocent explanation.
The cell phone data that supposedly placed Keith with Tiffany that night also raised questions. Surveillance cameras captured Adella’s vehicle traveling nearby. The defense suggested that Keith may have still been alive and inside the trunk of the Chrysler at that time. As for Keith’s phone briefly connecting to Tiffany’s home Wi-Fi network, the defense argued that this only proved the device had come close to the house.
It could have simply been driven past the mansion without ever entering the property. There is very important circumstantial evidence that can be as strong as direct evidence that Mr. Green may have been placed in the trunk of that Chrysler vehicle that took him up to dump him off in Hillsburg alive. A friend of Tiffany’s testified that the two had dinner together at the Cheesecake Factory at around 6:00 to 6:30 on the evening Keith disappeared.
During that dinner, Tiffany mentioned that she would be meeting with Keith later that night. Around 10:00, she called her friend again and talked about how the meeting had gone. According to the witness, Tiffany said that Keith wanted to get back together with her. She also claimed that he had been telling her that Cave was not the right person for her and had even tried to kiss her.
After that, she said she left him at the Pancake House. This was the same version of events Tiffany had previously given to police. The case against Cave Bat also relied heavily on the account provided by Adella. The gun that Cave was allegedly supposed to have purchased, was never found. The anonymous phones that were supposedly used to coordinate the murder were never recovered either.
Prosecutors pointed to a pair of Keith’s shoes that they claimed he had been wearing during the meeting at the Pancake House. Those shoes were later found on a shelf in Cave’s room at the Hillsbor mansion. Even so, that evidence was far from conclusive. When the jury returned to the courtroom for the first time, they were able to reach a verdict for only one of the defendants.
The last hour, we spotted a 31-year-old Tiffany Lee running out of the Redwood City Courthouse. Right here, the real estate ais has been found not guilty of killing the father of her children. Her family had posted $35 million bail to keep her out of prison and jail. Immediately after her acquitt, she was released and was free to leave the country.
Once the verdict was announced, all legal restrictions connected to her custody status were lifted. The yearslong criminal case that had involved high-profile court proceedings, extensive media coverage, and constant public scrutiny had officially come to an end for her. From that moment on, she was no longer required to remain within the court’s jurisdiction and was free to decide for herself where she wanted to live. And that is exactly what she did.
Without wasting any time, she took the opportunity to begin a new chapter of her life outside the country. After spending years at the center of a highly publicized criminal case, she left behind the place where her name had long been associated with courtroom battles, controversy, and relentless media attention.
For many observers, her departure symbolized the closing of one of the most talked about chapters in a case that had remained the subject of public interest and intense debate for years. She orchestrated all of this. I knew her for six years. She was evil. She was evil to me. She was evil to my son. She was just evil. As for Cave Bat, the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision.
After lengthy deliberations behind closed doors, jurors could not agree on a single conclusion regarding his guilt. Hours of discussion failed to produce a verdict, and the divisions within the jury proved too significant to overcome. For everyone involved in the case, that meant the proceedings were left unresolved without a clear ending or a definitive answer to the central question.
A mistrial was declared due to the lack of a verdict. Because the jurors were unable to reach the required unanimous decision, the court could not issue a lawful judgment. As a result, the case ended without a final ruling on the charges. For Keith Green’s family, it was yet another painful chapter in a legal battle that had already been marked by years of twists, setbacks, and uncertainty.
5 weeks later, prosecutors announced that they would not seek a new trial. After reviewing the outcome of the proceedings and consulting internally, they decided not to start the process over again. Despite the years of investigation, trial preparation, and substantial resources devoted to the case, the prosecution chose not to pursue a retrial.
They did not believe that a different jury presented with the same evidence would reach a guilty verdict. In the prosecutor’s view, the chances of obtaining a different outcome were extremely small. They concluded that the available evidence was unlikely to persuade another jury where it had failed to do so during the first trial.
In practical terms, that meant the case against Cavebat had reached its final chapter. After spending 3 years in custody, Cave was also released. For him, it marked the end of a long period of incarceration and legal uncertainty. After three years behind bars awaiting a final outcome, he walked free.
At the same time, for many people who had followed the Keith Green case from the very beginning, Cave’s release became another controversial and deeply debated moment in a story that had remained in the public spotlight for years. Can Can you tell us what you’re feeling right now? Happy question was today for Mr.
Bay, will we retry him? that I feel there was something could occur differently in another trial and I have concluded the answer to that was no. Mr. Bay was never guilty of the crime. So, it’s the right decision. I felt the evidence was sufficient to prove that the two of them were responsible for Green’s death.
A jury told us otherwise and that’s how our system works. As of today, there will be nobody held accountable for Keith Green’s murder. The evidence ultimately was not enough. We worked so hard and I now have to rely on exactly what Colleen relies on, which is karma and the fact that these people have to live with what they did.
After his release, Olivier Adela Brandenstein, also known as Mustapa Trayor, gave an interview regarding his request to travel to Las Vegas to compete in an MMA tournament. At that point, his name still attracted attention from people who had closely followed the Keith Green case. Any appearance by Brandenstein in the media generated interest because his past remained closely tied to one of the most high-profile criminal cases in recent years.
He claimed that he could earn as much as $250,000 by participating in the event. According to him, the tournament represented an important opportunity to advance his fighting career and potentially bring in a substantial amount of money. He emphasized the opportunities he believed were opening up for him in the world of mixed martial arts and argued that chances like this did not come around often.
However, the trip violated the conditions of his release and his request was denied. The restrictions imposed by the court remained in effect and clearly limited where he could travel. Despite his arguments about career opportunities and potential earnings, authorities declined to make an exception. As a result, the trip never happened.
He was more than willing to talk about his career as a fighter. During the interview, Brandenstein spoke at length about his training, his athletic ambitions, and his plans for the future. He readily answered questions about combat sports, his personal experience as a fighter, and the opportunities he believed were available to him after his release.
But when it came to his role in the Keith Green case, that was a different story. Whenever the conversation moved toward the murder of Keith Green or his possible involvement in the events surrounding the case, the tone of the interview noticeably changed. Questions related to the case were met with few detailed answers.
Even though that case was what made him known to the public, Brandenstein showed little interest in discussing the circumstances that had remained the subject of public attention and controversy for so many years. I’m 43 years old. And there’s still a market for MMA fighters who are 43. Yeah. Because it’s commercial.
You got to be able to commercialize. You got to be able to sell the fight. I’m still in great shape. 15 2500 push-up a day. You allowed people Keith Green’s friends and family to search for him for days upon days. And you knew where he was and what happened, right? Yeah. I think we have to go now. Then why not go to the police beforehand before Keith Green died? Can’t talk about it again.
No, I would stop you right there. You know, I can’t talk about that. I don’t know. Yeah. Well, now you know. Later, Keith’s mother, Colleen Green, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Tiffany Lee on her own behalf and on behalf of her two granddaughters. For the Green family, the case was about more than just legal procedure.
It represented another attempt to obtain at least some measure of justice after events that had permanently changed their lives. Although the criminal proceedings were over, the impact of the tragedy continued to be felt every day, especially by those closest to Keith. In early 2023, the parties reached a settlement agreement.
After years of legal battles and numerous court proceedings, the case finally moved toward a resolution. The settlement eliminated the need for further hearings and brought one of the last major legal disputes connected to Keith’s death to a close. By that time, Tiffany had already moved to China with her daughters.
After relocating, she effectively began a new chapter of her life outside the United States. From there, she continued to participate in the remaining legal matters that had not yet been resolved. Tiffany argued that she had become the target of xenophobia, anti-Asian sentiment, and misinformation spread through the media.
According to her, the intense public attention surrounding the case and the way it was covered in the press created a distorted perception of what had happened. She maintained that a negative image had formed around her name and believed that it was largely the result of bias and the extraordinary publicity that followed the case for many years.
She also asked that the terms of the settlement remain confidential. Her representatives argued that the details of the agreement should not be made public and sought to keep the financial terms and other aspects of the settlement private. However, a year later, a judge ordered the details of the case to be released.
That decision made the information available to the public and the media. Documents that had previously remained sealed became part of the public court record, allowing people to learn the specific terms of the settlement. Under the agreement, Tiffany agreed to pay Colleen $100,000. In addition, separate financial provisions were established for Keith’s children.
Each of the two daughters was to receive $5 million. That meant a total of $10 million was set aside for the girls. This portion of the agreement attracted particular attention after the court documents became public. Colleen said she was pleased that the money would belong to the girls once they turned 18 and would not be controlled by their mother.
For her, that was one of the most important parts of the settlement. She expressed satisfaction that the funds would be preserved for her granddaughter’s future and would only become available to them when they reached adulthood. She also believed that the arrangement would give them the opportunity to maintain a connection with her and the rest of the Green family in the years ahead.
In Colleen’s view, the agreement could help preserve family ties despite years of conflict, legal battles, and geographical distance. She hoped that when the girls became adults, they would be able to decide for themselves what kind of relationship they wanted to have with their father’s side of the family and would have every opportunity to do so.
the money that was given to the uh kids was going to go to the kids anyway. This didn’t cost the the Leaf family anything because those kids are in line. They’re the only heirs of Tiffany. She wanted to live her life. She wanted to move on with her private life. She wanted to raise her girls and just start living life
