AP reports about the Higher Source deaths in Rancho Santa Fe noted the strange circumstances of last time the area had a major news story, in 1992. Police found the wife and three children of purported spook Ian Spiro shot to death at their posh home the neighborhood. Spiro himself was found dead in Anza-Borego Desert State Park three days later. The case was never officially solved. The Octopus: Secret Government and the Death of Danny Casolaro ($19.95 from Feral House, POB 3466, Portland, OR 97208) reports on Ian Spiro in a chapter entitled "Mysterious Deaths": "The mysterious death list came also to include the execution-style slaying of Ian Spiro and his family, a wife and three daughters, near San Diego on November 1, 1992. Spiro reportedly worked for US and British intelligence agencies on operations that included the October Surprise, Iran-Contra and the hostage crisis in Lebanon. Spiro spoke with [Casolaro informant Michael] Riconosciuto, for whom he was helping collect documents to present to a grand jury, only a few days before his death." No connection has yet been made between the Spiro and the Higher Source deaths.

Steamshovel!