A Plan to Kill: What Happened to Clifford Lambert, Palm Springs Art Dealer

After the death of his partner, Clifford Lambert just wanted another chance at love—but it would cost the wealthy art dealer his life.

Because in December 2008, Lambert mysteriously vanished, leaving his friends searching for answers. 

The case, featured on Oxygen’s A Plan to Kill, took an unexpected turn when a man alleged Lambert had gifted his house to him before the disappearance.

The bold claim led investigators to uncover a sinister plot months in the making, orchestrated by a savvy group of criminals who were intent on stealing not only Lambert’s life, but everything else he loved most.

“Cliff Lambert lives a very expensive lifestyle,” Hightower explained. “When you would walk into his house, people described it like walking into Versailles.”

For years, Lambert shared that life with his boyfriend Travis, who tragically drowned in 2007.

“Cliff was just beside himself,” friend Steven Kilcullen recalled. “He was just devastated, and I don’t think he ever really got over it.”

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Investigators Find Link to Con Man Kaushal Niroula

Then, three weeks later, Palm Springs Police Detective Frank Browning received a call from a real estate agent in San Francisco who had a client claiming to have a power of attorney gifting him Lambert’s home. 

“This was essentially the big break,” Browning said, “that led me to believe that there was something more nefarious going on.”

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Investigators learned that the power of attorney and deed had been placed under the name Kaushal Niroula, a convicted con man with no known connection to Lambert.

“He would tell people that he was the Prince of Nepal and that he was exiled,” Hightower said. “Kaushal Niroula had undertaken a con scheme where he conned someone out of over $400,000 worth of artwork, he then ended up stealing $300,000 approximately worth of jewelry in order to pay the restitution for his art theft scheme.” 

Suspects in Clifford Lambert’s Disappearance Have Disturbing Ties to Fraud

Detectives asked the real estate agent to halt the sale of Lambert’s home as they dug deeper into Niroula’s past. They also learned that Lambert’s bank accounts had been used to make extravagant purchases in San Francisco, including clothes and electronics. 

Using an image captured on an ATM during one of the transactions, San Francisco Police identified the man behind the withdrawals as Daniel “Danny” Garcia—a known accomplice of Niroula’s who had also briefly dated Lambert. 

According to Browning, the two had parted “on bad terms” a few months before Lambert disappeared. 

“Daniel ended up making it clear that he was looking for an investor for a new business he wanted to open, meaning that he wanted his money,” Kilcullen explained. “Cliff told him, that’s it, this is done and he would have to leave.”

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On January 7, 2009, the case took another shocking turn when Browning learned that men were at Lambert’s property and loading a U-Haul full of his belongings. Patrol units were quickly dispatched to stop the vehicles, leading to the arrest of Miguel Bustamante, a man who initially claimed he’d been hired as a mover.

“It didn’t look like movers,” Detective Simon Min remarked. “It looked like Miguel Bustamante at Cliff’s home trying to steal all the contents of the residence.”

Within an hour of Bustamante’s arrest for burglary, he requested to talk to detectives and told them he knew Garcia and Niroula and admitted to having Lambert’s car at his apartment complex.

Although traces of blood were found in the vehicle, testing was inconclusive at the time. Crime scene investigators also detected the presence of blood in Lambert’s home, but weren’t able to link it to any specific person.

Operation Craigslist is Revealed in Cliff Lambert Disappearance

Following the paper trial left behind in the case, investigators reached out to mobile notary Gary Hirsh, who received a late-night phone call to notarize the power of attorney document between Lambert and Niroula.

But the thumb print stored in his notary journal wasn’t from Lambert, it was actually linked to an attorney named David Replogle, who had posed as the wealthy art dealer as part of the complicated ruse.

“It appears that the plan was to clear out all of Cliff Lambert’s money as well as transfer the deed of his home into their control,” Hightower explained, “but there was no evidence that these con men definitively killed Cliff Lambert.”

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That is, until data retrieved from Garcia’s devices revealed the chilling details behind the large-scale con job they called “Operation Craigslist.” 

Detectives learned that after the brief romance ended between Lambert and Garcia, a plan was set in place to kill the wealthy art dealer and take possession of his assets.

Bustamante and his roommate Craig McCarthy were hired as the muscle to kill Lambert on Dec. 5 in his home, then Replogle later posed as Lambert to sign over the legal documents.

As investigative reporter Karen Devine noted, “What these con men put together was a really diabolical plan.”