Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Strange Case of Jeffrey Alan Lash

Jeffrey Alan Lash,
2010 Cal. DL photo

On or about July 17, police retrieved the deceased body of Jeffrey Alan Lash from a vehicle parked in Pacific Palisades, Cal. The story soon broke that two women, Catherine Nebron and Dawn VadBunker, parked the car where it was discovered with the corpse inside. Attorney Harland Braun had apparently informed authorities of its location. 

Braun was hired by Nebron and described her as Lash's longtime fiancee. Braun informed the media that Nebron and her employee and assistant, VadBunker, were with Lash on July 4 when he died of causes brought on by terminal illness. They were reportedly in a grocery store parking lot at the time. 

After Lash died, the women reportedly relocated the vehicle, left the body in it and fled to Oregon. Braun stated the two did so for reasons including they believed Lash was an ET-human hybrid working for US intelligence agencies, and that his contacts would soon retrieve the body. They reportedly opted to not seek medical treatment for the dying man for similar reasons, and maintained they were following his prearranged instructions. It would later surface that at least one additional party may have also been with the two women, and the grocery store where the man was said to have died was, oddly enough, frequented by Whitley Strieber.

Nebron returned to the Los Angeles area from Oregon approximately twelve days later to find the remains of Lash still sitting undiscovered in the vehicle. It was apparently then that she contacted Braun for assistance and legal representation, and the attorney notified authorities of the body.

Police subsequently searched a condo owned by Nebron and reported to be the residence of her and Lash, which was located in the vicinity of where she and VadBunker left the car containing the corpse. The search resulted in the confiscation of some 1200 guns, additional weapons and literally tons of ammo estimated to be worth several million dollars. The two-bedroom, 2,000 square-foot condo was located in a relatively exclusive area and was valued at $750,000 to $1 million. Every room of the structure was reportedly stacked to the ceiling with guns and boxes of gun accessories, more weapons, such as machetes and bows, and cases of ammo. Police filled the driveway and a nearby alley with items brought out of the condo. An LA police captain described the scene as the worst case of weapons hoarding she had ever seen in her 27-year law enforcement career. Some $230,000 in cash was confiscated from the condo and reportedly counted in a neighbor's garage.

Media reports described neighbors as saying Lash occasionally claimed he was an intelligence operative, and neighbors also stated they did not know how the condo became filled with weapons and boxes. They had not noticed how all the items were delivered to the residence. 

Lash was additionally reported to have owned many vehicles, one of which was described as an SUV equipped to drive underwater. VadBunker's husband, Jim Curry, told reporters the woman's job entailed renting garages all over Southern California to store what he described as Lash's dozens of vehicles. The story, Curry explained, was that Lash was CIA and had other agents who might need vehicles on a whim. 

Online sleuths and interested parties began uncovering more info about VadBunker, including an odd letter she wrote to her parents, in which the woman described her recent actions as having been for the good of the world. VadBunker's mother, Laura VadBunker, corroborated existence of the hybrid story to the media, stating that the entire episode was "worse than a Twilight Zone movie." 

"He was part alien and part human and was out to save the world," Laura VadBunker added.

Also introduced in the online community was a suspicious alleged legal doc interpreted to have been posted by the younger VadBunker, establishing her as a member of the VadBunker family, but its origins and purposes were not entirely clear. While investigating the document, an individual using the screen name SysConfig subsequently identified the judge who allegedly signed it as having been retired prior to its creation date, further calling its authenticity into question.

SysConfig identified a unit neighboring the condo owned by Nebron as owned by Assistant District Attorney Whelma T. Llanos and attorney Dominic J. Messiha. The unit owned by Llanos was near the condo where Nebron and Lash reportedly resided and the weapons stash was confiscated, and it may possibly have been Llanos' garage where the nearly quarter of a million dollars was counted. SysConfig notified a news outlet which had previously covered the story. A response was received, but no particular interest was demonstrated by the outlet in the irony of an Assistant DA possibly being a neighbor of Lash and Nebron.

Authorities have not yet reported results of their investigations into the origins of the weapons, cash and additional items taken into custody. When all the dust settles, the legal status of the weapons and cash will prove to be key aspects of this truly bizarre story. The intentions of the various people involved, their lines of work, and the purposes of their actions and statements may never be entirely clear, only whether or not police ever file any charges against any of them. At this point, foul play is not suspected in the death of Jeffrey Alan Lash, whoever and whatever he may have actually been in life.   


UPDATES:

LAPD: Lash Files Will Not Be Releasable, 'The UFO Trail', March 15, 2016

LAPD Denies Request for Lash Files, 'The UFO Trail', March 7, 2016 

Romanek Trial Delayed

Note: For latest info, view Relevant Web Links on Romanek Case

Legal proceedings were delayed yet again on the charges of child sexual exploitation brought against Stanley Romanek. A motions hearing scheduled for Sep. 2 was continued until Oct. 5, 'Loveland Reporter-Herald' journalist Dana Rieck stated today by email. A jury trial previously scheduled to begin Oct. 5 is now postponed until November.

“Stanley did not appear in court Sep. 2,” Rieck explained, “his motions hearing was continued before that date until Oct. 5 at 9:30 a.m. His jury trial is scheduled for the following month. He did plead not guilty to both felony counts.”

Stanley Romanek

Rieck has covered the case for the 'Reporter-Herald' since Romanek was initially arrested. She reported in March that the self-described alien abductee was ruled mentally competent to stand trial for the felony charges stemming from possessing and distributing child pornography.

In more recent developments, Lisa Romanek continued her attempts to build public support for her husband through implicating the Loveland Police Department, and specifically Det. Brian Koopman, in acts of corruption. Det. Koopman, who was involved in the investigation of Stanley Romanek, is currently on administrative leave pending charges of attempting to influence a public servant during an unrelated murder case. Allegations of misconduct surrounding violations of constitutional rights have been leveled against the detective in two additional instances and legal outcomes are pending. Koopman has reportedly received seven meritorious service awards and 20 department performance case involvement recognitions.

Lisa recently posted comments at 'The UFO Chronicles' in which she referenced the charges against Koopman and suggested they be given more attention. Such circumstances and the promotion of the accompanying implications are not unusual.

Given much less attention, however, is the fact that to date neither the Romaneks nor their supporters have offered any specific details of exactly how Stanley was purportedly framed by corrupt police officers. Neither have they provided any verifiable evidence supporting ongoing allegations the man was targeted by intelligence agencies attempting to silence his outspoken stance on an alleged alien presence.

Further omitted from the ongoing yet vague narrative is the fact the investigation of Romanek was initiated in 2008 by Homeland Security Special Agent Darrel Franklin, not the Loveland Police Department. The latter acted on a tip provided by DHS, and it was officers from Greeley, Larimer and Loveland Police Departments who jointly served a search warrant, not just Det. Koopman and the LPD. Furthermore, it was the Northern Colorado Regional Forensics Lab that analyzed Romanek's confiscated computers and reported locating over 300 images depicting child pornography and multiple child pornography videos.

Lisa, however, maintained the resulting police reports were “filled with crap.”

“Koopman had filled these reports with lies,” she told 'The Huffington Post' in 2014.

Reporter Sebastian Murdock nonetheless observed that Koopman's was just one police report of many that corroborated the findings of one another during the serving of the search warrant. Some therefore find the ongoing fantastic claims and unsupported assertions of the Romaneks and their backers extremely difficult to take seriously, and patience has long since worn thin in many circles.

The Romanek case was briefly removed recently from a Case Tracking Summary maintained by the Larimer County District Attorney's Office. The file consists of cases that receive media attention. Public Information Officer Jodi Lacey explained in an email Tuesday that the Romanek case was not getting much attention, and it was removed due to the lack of calls and emails received. Officer Lacey subsequently returned the case to the summary spreadsheet following an inquiry of its status.

UPDATES:

View ongoing updates with links in the Romanek legal case