Dead Pacific Palisades man with 1,200 guns identified by fiancee as secret agent

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. (KABC) -- The body of Jeffrey Lash was decomposing in his SUV in Pacific Palisades for nearly two weeks before he was found by authorities, an attorney said Thursday.

Inside his home, detectives discovered more than 1,200 guns, scopes, 6.5 tons of ammunition, bows and arrows, knives, machetes and $230,000 in cash.

They also located eight of the 14 vehicles stashed around Los Angeles registered to Lash, including an SUV designed to drive underwater.

Veteran defense attorney Harland Braun represents the man's fiancee Catherine Nebron. She claims Lash actually died on July 4 in a parking lot in Santa Monica.

Nebron says she and Dawn VadBunker, a woman who was reported missing out of Oxnard, tried to save his life.

"They worked for about three hours trying to keep him alive. He refused 911, he didn't want to go to an emergency room. He didn't want any police so he died there," Braun said.

Nebron says she then took him back to his home and left him there. Lash and Nebron were together for 17 years and she believed him when he told her that he worked as an undercover operative for unnamed government agencies, Braun said.

"She believed that he was involved in some surreptitious activities, governmental projects, whatever, and so her instructions were that if anything happened to him, they - whatever they is - would take care of the body," Braun said.

Nebron and VadBunker claim they then drove north to Oregon to forget about what happened. When Nebron returned about 10 days later, she was shocked to still see Lash's body in the car.

"When she got back, the body was still in the car and that's when she decided she better call a lawyer," Braun said.

She contacted Braun, and together they called police, who found the body, guns and more. VadBunker was later found alive and well in a motel in Oregon.

VadBunker's adoptive mother, Laura VadBunker, told Eyewitness News she was told Lash was "half-alien, half-man."

"He was here to save the world and he was higher than a CIA, so he was special ops for the government," she said.

There's no indication the man was doing anything illegal with the weapons, LAPD Deputy Chief of Detectives Kirk Albanese said. Detectives were reviewing everything, but so far the guns appeared to be registered to him. Many were still in boxes or had price tags.

Neighbors thought Lash was dying of cancer because his health appeared to be degenerating over the past year, but Lash told Nebron that he had been exposed to nerve-damaging chemicals on a mission and his condition was worsening.

Authorities don't believe there was any foul play involved, but won't give a cause until there is more investigation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.