Reports Indicate Kinkade's Widow, Girlfriend Had Repeated Police Contact

The widow of the late painter Thomas Kinkade - who died at his Monte Sereno mansion the morning of April 6 at age 54 of an apparent lethal combination of Valium and alcohol - collected paintings this past summer from the home, requiring the assistance of local police.

According to documents obtained by Los Gatos Patch, at 8:12 a.m. June 22, Nannette Kinkade requested police assistance to obtain the artwork, giving police her vehicle description so they would be on standby and assist in case of problems.

Then, on at 10:39 a.m. Sept. 6, a police report released by the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department indicates that the painter's girlfriend, Amy Pinto-Walsh, contacted police to say that vandalism had occurred at the mansion, located at 16342 Ridgecrest Ave., as two vehicles were damaged.

The vandalism report coincides with statements made by Pinto-Walsh's attorney, Douglas Dal Cielo, during a Sept. 18 court hearing that his client's car - as well as some of her friends' vehicles - had been vandalized.

"Our position is that coincidence is so extraordinary that we believe foul play is involved. Do I have any proof? Do I have video tape? Do I have any witnesses who saw the damage? No, but I think under these circumstances ... it's somebody involved with interests contrary to Amy's pursuits of the case," Dal Cielo said. None of the three incidents happened at the Monte Sereno home, he added.

Daniel Casas, an attorney for the Thomas Kinkade estate, has denied that his client had anything to do with the alleged harassment and vandalism.

A third report, released by the LGMSPD, indicates that at about 3:30 p.m.  Sept. 6, over Labor Day weekend, it was reported that someone drained the water out of the mansion's pool and put padlocks on its gate.

Pinto-Walsh told police that when she had left the home on Sept. 1 at 3:30 p.m. the pool was fine; when she returned at 1 a.m. Sept. 2, the pool was drained and the padlocks were found.

A fourth report, also taken Sept. 6, indicates that the nature of Pinto-Walsh's call to report the pool incident was to suggest harassment. It names Pinto-Walsh as the person making the complaint and Douglas Taylor, the security guard, as being a witness to the incident.

The report goes on to state that Pinto-Walsh is involved in a civil suit with the painter's family and "believes members of the family or their associates are responsible for acts of vandalism and harassment against her and her friends."

In the report, the officers write that Pinto-Walsh claimed that her vehicle was vandalized in the parking lot at 333 No. Santa Cruz Ave. in downtown Los Gatos on Aug. 19, with an unknown suspect denting the roof of her vehicle and writing "f--- you b----" in the dust on the rear window.

Pinto-Walsh told the officers that after her car was vandalized, two of her friends' cars were similarly damaged by somone denting their vehicles.

She told the officers both these friends had visited her at the mansion and could be known to the Kinkade family through the security company Cook Associates, Inc. hired by the estate to guard the property until the civil case is settled.

Pinto-Walsh sent one of the officers a picture of a dent to one of her friend's vehicles. Her friend had parked her car in the same lot at 333 No. Santa Cruz Ave. the night of Aug. 31, and the fender was dented some time after midnight, the report said.

Another friend had his car vandalized Aug. 31 after midnight when it was parked near Menker and Scott avenues in Santa Clara, with the front bumper damaged as well as a scratch in the paint on the sliding door, the report continued.

Pinto-Walsh, the officer writes, took him around the mansion and showed him how she has to zip tie the door handles on the many French doors around the back side of the house, and said someone had forced open one set of the French doors, damaging the locks so they could not be secured, according to the report.

Pinto-Walsh gave the officer a letter from her attorney that chronicled the harassment issues, and retained a report of the car vandalism incidents to take to court for their civil suit, the report concluded.

On Sept. 17, attorneys for the estate and Pinto-Walsh were in court to iron out rental payments for the mansion, where the latter party has been residing since before the painter's death in early April.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cain ordered Pinto-Walsh to pay $11,000 in monthly rent to continue to live in the opulent home.

The parties are expected in court in December to continue their fight over the painter's assets. Pinto-Walsh claims Kinkade hand wrote two wills, which now have two different legal petitions.

One is for the so-called holographic handwritten wills Pinto-Walsh alleges were written by Kinkade before he died which give her the mansion, a studio next door, $10 million to run a museum that would showcase all his original artwork for the public, and all his artwork estimated at $60 million.

The other is for Kinkade's wills or codicils, which he prepared over the course of several years between 2000 and 2007, according to Casas.

To read the complete police reports related to this case, please see attached PDF.