SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY, Calif. -- When Sacramento attorney Laurence McNabney was found murdered, Mitch McCluhan was shocked.

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McCluhan shared office space with McNabney and his wife for nearly a year. And when McNabney's wife, Elisa, emerged as the prime suspect, the former office partner said that he was not surprised.

McCluhan said that for a year, he spent nearly every morning talking with Elisa. During that time, the trio worked at a business complex on Howe Ave. McCluhan said it was no secret that she wanted to leave her husband.

"After a while, she started talking with me more and more about her relationship with Larry, and the difficulties she was having with him," McLuhan said. "She alleged he was still an alcoholic. It was difficult to get him to come to work. That she had to do all the work, and she was doing all the work."

McNabney's body was found earlier this month in a remote vineyard near Linden. Authorities have been looking for his wife Elisa. They said that soon after his disappearance in September, Elisa liquidated $250,000 of the couple's assets, and packed up an expensive horse trailer with her belongings.

McCluhan said that he first meet the McNabneys in 1999. For a year, he and the couple shared a receptionist and an administrative staff. At the time, Elisa was running her husband's law office. McCluhan worked with her, helping answer computer questions. He said that, in hindsight, he did witness some unusual businesses practices.

"There were a couple of the 'admin' people they brought in that there may be something going on. They didn't go into detail. She was forging Larry's signature on some letters and things," McCluhan said.

McCluhan said that he talked with Elisa at least four days a week, and that she confided in him that she was trying to leave her husband.

"She told me a number of times (that) she was thinking of leaving him, taking her daughter, who she said at the time was in a boarding school out of state or out of town, and moving to Las Vegas," McCluhan said.

McCluhan said that Elisa has friends in Las Vegas, and he wondered why there's been no mention of looking for her there.

"In my opinion, I suspect she did it. But I don't know that," McCluhan said.

McNabney's autopsy is now complete, but investigators have not released the cause of death.