Nicolas Cordoba: Where is he now?
Dr. Esfandiar “Steve” Kadivar died suddenly at his ranch in Lancaster, California, in July 2006. His death shocked both his friends and family. But at first, the police had only a few clues to follow up on. But the next year, a connection between Steve’s case and another murder led to the discovery of not one but two murder-for-hire plots. Nicolas Cordoba, whom Steve had hired to work as a ranch hand on his land, was at the center of it all. This is one of two stories told on the show “Deadly Sins: No Forgiveness: Greed Is (Not) Good” on Investigation Discovery. Let’s find out what happened, shall we?
Nicolas Cordoba
What’s Nicolas Cordoba’s name?
About six or seven years before the event, Dr. Esfandiar “Steve” Kadivar hired Nicolas Olvera Cordoba. He helped Steve take care of his ranch in Lancaster, California, where they raised cattle and grew pistachios, alfalfa, and other crops. On July 5, 2006, around 11 p.m., Nicolas went to the ranch and found Steve, who was 64 years old, dead. He had been shot many times as he fed cattle. Nicholas quickly called 911.
The police said that both a rifle and a handgun were used to shoot Steve. On the property, someone stole a safe that had money, Iranian gold coins, and jewelry in it. According to the show, Nicolas didn’t go to work that morning and denied having anything to do with the murder. After that, the investigation didn’t go very far, which made Steve’s family sad. Then, in December 2006, Steve’s wife rented the ranch to Nicolas.
Nicolas brought Efrain Martines into the business as a partner, and the two of them planned to split the money they made. But in April 2007, Efrain’s dead body was found in the bed of his pickup truck a few miles from the ranch. Several shots from an assault rifle had been fired at him. As the investigation went on, the police got a break when they were able to catch Marcos Garca. According to the show, he was arrested for illegal immigration, but he admitted to shooting Efrain. From this point on, the story moved along quickly.
Nicolas worked for Steve and saw that he had a safe full of valuable things. At one point, he let his greed get the best of him and took some of the things. Nicolas then paid Antonio Martinez and Arturo Rosales Verdn to kill Steve, promising to pay them later. So, on July 5, 2006, Antonio and Arturo killed Steve and stole the safe by shooting him. Later, the police went to Antonio’s house and found a coin from Iran and some of Steve’s missing guns. On the land where Antonio’s wife lived, the safe was found buried.
Then Nicolas and Efrain started to argue, which led Nicolas to come up with another plan to kill someone for money. Nicolas gave Marcos $5,000 this time to kill Efrain. Marcos said no at first, but he eventually said yes. On April 28, 2007, Marcos shot Efrain. Antonio and Arturo helped move his body and car. In the end, Marcos worked with the police and recorded what he said to the other three.
Where is Nicolas Cordoba at this moment?
Nicolas Cordoba told a friend in 2005 that he wanted help killing Steve, but the friend didn’t take him seriously at the time. Also, Nicolas told the police that Efrain had killed Steve before Efrain died. In the end, Nicolas was found guilty of killing Efrain. The special circumstances of lying in wait and killing for money were proven to be true by the jury.
But the jurors couldn’t agree on whether Nicolas was involved in Steve’s death. In January 2015, when he was 63 years old, he was given a sentence of life without parole and an extra year in prison. Arturo and Antonio both got life sentences for their parts in the crimes, and Marcos got 28 years to life. Nicolas is still locked up at the California State Prison in Vacaville, Solano County, according to prison records.
