Third Street in Monterey is a quiet residential neighborhood between the Naval Postgraduate School and El Estero Park. When Laura and Richard Coté purchased a house on that street in 2000, they thought they had found a pleasant home in a neighborhood full of families and professionals.
Then in September 2015, they discovered the horror their property’s history held when a landscaper found the remains of Sandra McGee, who went missing in 1982 when she was 32 years old.
It was only then that they learned the remains of another woman, 30-year-old Suzanne Kay Nixon, had been discovered on their property in 1983. Both women are believed to have been beaten to death.
Now the homeowners are suing the previous owners and their real estate agent for not informing them of their home’s grisly past. In a complaint filed on June 3 in Monterey County Superior Court, the Cotés allege fraud, breach of duty and emotional distress for not disclosing the property’s history when they purchased the house for $339,000 16 years ago.
Had they known of the well-publicized murder that occurred on the property in 1983, the Cotés would not have purchased the house, they claim in their lawsuit. The couple claims that since the time of the discovery, they have experienced severe emotional distress and nightmares.
Herbert Aronson, a Carmel-based realtor who wrote the Cotés' contract in 2000, and is also a named party in the lawsuit, says he has no comment on the matter.
Alfred Powell, from Seaside, is currently serving a prison sentence of 15-years-to-life for the murder of Nixon. On May 31, he was charged with the murder of McGee, and has entered a plea of not guilty. Powell lived in a detached unit on the property in the early 1980s.