Is killer heir to sizable sum or a used Kia?

FORT LAUDERDALE – The probate case involving the Parkland school shooter’s dead mother took a strange turn Thursday when a hearing in the matter was abruptly canceled and documents in the court file showed the only asset is an old car — a 2010 Kia.

A family friend, Rocxanne Deschamps, of Lantana, had petitioned the Broward Circuit Court the day after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to be named the personal representative of the estate of Lynda Cruz, mother of gunman Nikolas Cruz. Lynda Cruz died of pneumonia Nov. 1 of last year.

Deschamps, a former neighbor, had told the court she is caring for Nikolas’s younger brother, Zachary.

Since the shooting that killed 17, Nikolas Cruz, who had a job at a Dollar Tree store, has been in jail without bond and is being represented by the Broward Public Defender’s Office.

The office only represents indigent people, however, and has a keen interest determining whether Nikolas Cruz, 19, is heir to assets that could cover the cost of a private lawyer. His criminal defense team was in the courthouse Thursday to attend the scheduled morning hearing on the probate case but was mystified as to why it was canceled.

Deschamps has not been giving interviews and has shooed reporters away from her home.

Her attorney, Audra Simovitch of Boca Raton, who filed papers scrapping the hearing, could not be reached for comment Thursday. The phone number for her law office was not in service and she did not respond to an email from the Sun Sentinel.

Earlier this week, Deschamps amended her request, asking a judge to name her and Zachary, now 18, as co-administrators of the estate — to be able to pay bills and find and distribute money to the beneficiaries, with court oversight. Lynda Cruz died without a will, according to the court petition.

Before the shooting, Nikolas Cruz told the parents of a schoolmate, who took him in after his mother’s death, that he stood to inherit $800,000 when he turned 22.

Where the money is — if it exists at all — is unknown, said Gordon Weekes, chief assistant public defender.

Nikolas Cruz had a comfortable upbringing, living in a sprawling five-bedroom, three-bath Parkland house with a pool. His father, Roger, was a successful businessman who died in 2004, when Nikolas Cruz was 5.

Lynda Cruz’s death certificate lists her occupation as a secretary in the import/export industry, but a close friend told the Sun Sentinel she was a stay-athome mom.

As a single mother, she managed to keep the family home until early 2017, when she sold it in a “short sale” for less than what is owed, typically done to avoid foreclosure, court and property records show. She moved with her sons into a rental home in Parkland.

Years earlier, Lynda had filed a malpractice suit over her husband’s sudden death of heart failure and won a modest settlement that included $93,500 to purchase annuities for both boys.

There could also be life insurance policies, but the court record only reflects the 2010 Kia.