BODIES FOUND IN SHALLOW GRAVE IDENTIFIED.

Byline: Gina Keating Staff Writer

PASADENA - Two bodies found buried together in a shallow grave near Yucaipa were identified Thursday as those of an accountant and his wife from La Canada Flintridge.

Harold ``Skip'' Tillman, 57, and his 52-year-old wife, Joni, were reported missing from their rented home on Bramblewood Drive on Feb. 10. A San Bernardino County man discovered the bodies Feb. 9 while walking his dog near the Crafton Hills, said Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Cindy Beavers.

Pasadena attorney Walter Kaye, who represented the Tillmans in two civil lawsuits, said he had been informed that the couple had been found dead in Yucaipa. The San Bernardino County Coroner's Office has not released the cause of their deaths.

Kaye said their funeral was set for Monday at a North Hollywood church.

``It's just stunning what happened,'' Kaye said. ``These are wonderful people. I don't know who would feel compelled to kill him and to kill Joni.''

Kaye said he didn't know of any threats against the couple, who had been sued for breach of contract in April 1998 in connection with a Georgia land deal. Harold Tillman had also been accused last year of embezzling more than $350,000 from a client.

Jane Drake of Los Angeles alleged that the couple borrowed $100,000 from her to develop a 60-acre parcel of land into residential lots, then refused to pay back the money.

The Tillmans countersued their would-be partner a couple of months later, alleging that Drake promised to lend them $300,000 and was to be paid back when the lots were sold.

Tillman agreed to repay the money on the eve of the trial ``because of the cost of litigation,'' Kaye said. He was supposed to pay back the money by the end of March, Kaye said.

Kaye had also prepared ``a rigorous and convincing defense'' against allegations by the state Board of Accountancy that Tillman embezzled about $370,500 from clothing designer David Hayes.

The board was considering lifting Tillman's license for allegedly writing himself checks on Hayes' account between 1987 and 1995, while employed as the designer's accountant.

Tillman was scheduled to go before the board for a hearing in June, Kaye said.

Board officials said Tillman changed his address from Glendale to Strongville, Ohio, in October 1999. His license was in good standing, said board Assistant Executive Office Mary Crocker.

A small dog wearing tags naming the Tillmans as its owner was reportedly buried with the couple, although sheriff's officials would neither confirm nor deny the report.

Kaye confirmed that Joni Tillman had a small dog. ``I know she was really fond of it,'' he said.

The man who discovered the bodies ``saw some strange marks on the ground like drag marks and walked a little further and saw the actual grave,'' Beavers said. ``It must have been apparent to him what it was.''

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Detective Keith Gibbons confirmed that the couple's friends called authorities after they did not show up for a dinner engagement.

The friends hired a locksmith to get them into the Bramblewood Drive home, where they apparently discovered something that alarmed them, Gibbons confirmed.

He could not confirm that a threatening message had been left on the Tillmans' voice mail system.

San Bernardino Sheriff's spokesman Chip Patterson said no suspects have been identified. ``I don't think that we are particularly close to that now,'' he said.

Mary Hennessey, a longtime resident of Bramblewood Drive, said sheriff's department cars have been coming and going all week at the Tillmans' rented residence, known as the Ackerman home.

Hennessey said she didn't know the couple, who were the latest in a long line of renters.

``I've been here 33 years in this home and the neighborhood has changed,'' she said. ``Years ago, we knew everyone because we all had children who played together.''

Staff Writer Elizabeth Lee contributed to this report.