Tape, Papers Reveal Dead Man’s Financial Straits : Investigation: Revelation of Ian Spiro’s anguish over money trouble leads officials to believe more firmly that the alleged spy killed his family, then later took his own life.

Financial records and a cassette audiotape apparently recording the ramblings of Ian Stuart Spiro are leading investigators to believe more firmly that the British businessman’s worsening money troubles may have caused him to kill his family and then take his own life.

San Diego County sheriff’s officials said Monday that the cassette was recovered earlier this month along with documents stuffed in two suitcases and a briefcase belonging to Spiro. Hikers found the suitcases in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park about three miles from where Spiro’s body was discovered.

Sheriff’s Capt. Jim Marmack declined to discuss the contents of the tape, and cautioned that investigators have not conclusively identified the voice on the tape as Spiro’s. However, in a carefully worded statement, Marmack said the cassette may prove to be “very meaningful to the analysis of the Spiro case.”

Despite Marmack’s optimism that the tape may help homicide investigators solve the killings, he acknowledged that there is nothing on the tape that suggests Spiro committed the murders or contemplated suicide.

Still, Marmack said the cassette’s contents did not shift investigators’ attention away from Spiro as the main suspect in the murders. Spiro, 46, was considered a suspect from the beginning.

Spiro’s wife and three children--Gail, 41; Sara, 16; Adam, 14; and Dina, 11--were found shot to death Nov. 5 in separate bedrooms of the family’s $5,000-a-month rental home in Rancho Santa Fe. Sheriff’s officials said the four victims were each shot once in the head as they slept in their beds.

Spiro, said to be a former spy for U.S. and British intelligence services, was missing when the bodies were discovered. He was found dead three days later inside his leased 1992 Ford Explorer in a desert canyon about 70 miles northeast of Rancho Santa Fe. An autopsy revealed that Spiro died from cyanide poisoning.

Law enforcement sources familiar with the tape said they believe the recording was made by Spiro over the course of at least two days. These sources said the tape contains a rambling discourse by Spiro, who talked of being distressed over mounting debts--with no apparent steady source of income.

Marmack said Spiro’s suitcases and briefcase contained personal and financial records. There was no clothing recovered.

Athough he declined to elaborate on the documents, Marmack said investigators believe that Spiro was faced with nearly insurmountable financial woes.

On Monday, county public administrator Don Billings said the initial estimate of the total worth of Spiro’s estate was put at $16,000--before debts were paid. He said the family was three months behind on the rent for their home, owing the landlord $15,000. Officials have not yet totaled the amount of Spiro’s debts.

“It is a cash-poor estate . . . Part of the mystery of this story is that it appears the family was living way beyond their means. But how that affected what happened, I don’t know,” said Billings.

The Spiros moved to San Diego in August, 1991, after living in Beirut, France, Switzerland, London and New York. A family member told The Times that Spiro sold the family’s Swiss chalet, with a view of the Matterhorn, to a Saudi prince.

In upscale Rancho Santa Fe, the family had rented an estate valued at $1 million on Avenida Maravillas, overlooking a golf course. In order to handle the rent, a real estate broker who managed the property said, Spiro had to have a monthly income of between $10,000 and $15,000.

Billings said the furnishings owned by the Spiros were modest for a house in Rancho Santa Fe.

“I don’t think it was a particularly well-furnished house. The furniture and things that normally go into a house were of less value than one would expect to find in homes in that area,” said Billings.

Apparently, the family struggled with finances almost from the time they moved to San Diego. The owner of an appliance rental agency who leased a washer, dryer and refrigerator to the family for $135 a month said Spiro had trouble making payments. At times, Spiro would fall as many as three months behind.

For a while, Spiro was involved in running a company that operated a 900 number. According to the owner of the appliance rental business, Spiro pleaded with him to invest $100,000 in his company upon learning that the businessman had just collected a sizable settlement from a civil lawsuit.

“I knew he (Spiro) was running a pretty shaky business. I had to tell him no,” said the businessman, who requested anonymity.