Narrator: A quaint getaway
On an island paradise.
Ursula: It wasn't on the beach, but it was kind of funky
Because it always had pink flamingos up front.
Narrator: Becomes the center of a mysterious disappearance.
Art: He reported that she left the apartment.
[♪♪]
Narrator: A strange incident on the mainland
Deepens the mystery.
Art: He said he ran into a couple
And that in exchange for crack,
They gave him the use of the vehicle.
[tires screeching]
Barbara: She wouldn't have left the car there.
[♪♪]
Narrator: And leads to a desperate hunt
To find a beloved motel owner.
Narrator: Police comb every inch of beach.
Art: An extensive digging operation commenced.
Narrator: At for years, an island community
Is left to wonder, could the answers
Be right beneath their feet
Buried in the sand?
Bonner: That's where people watch the sunset.
[♪♪]
Narrator: Anna maria island is a pristine jewel
Tucked away on the southwest coast of florida.
With miles of unspoiled beaches,
And the turquoise water of the gulf of mexico,
It's a little slice of heaven
For residents and visitors alike.
Ursula: It's mayberry in paradise,
Is the way we like to describe it.
It's a sand barrier island,
Five blocks wide,
Eight miles long.
Tina: You feel good all the time,
And you wanna be outdoors.
It's a beautiful spot with amazing sunsets.
I still pinch myself sometimes living here.
Narrator: But on a sunny October morning in 2015,
Something unusual is stirring on the beach.
Barbara: I was at home
And my husband came in
And he said, "barbara there are
Three sheriff's trucks at the end of our street.
And fox news is in our driveway.
Something's happening."
This was unusual for anna maria island.
Narrator: Island residents hear rumors that police
Are following up on a tip
About a woman's body supposedly buried
Beneath the white sand.
Sheriff brad: When I drove out here this morning,
It was a different place that we've never dug before.
It was like, "yes, I think we've got the right spot."
But we'll find that out in a couple hours.
It's extremely important we find that body.
Det. John: Our forensic people went in
With the medical examiner and worked through the day.
We wanted to be meticulous in how we did it.
In a grid pattern.
And I started seeing bones
And then the skeleton.
It was buried in the sand on the beach.
Bonner: I heard the news in the morning
From holmes beach police chief,
And I stood straight up out of my chair
With goose bumps from my head to my toes.
That's the pavilion where people go and watch the sunset.
No one suspected that she would be buried there.
[♪♪]
Bonner: Anna maria island is more of a mom-and-pop
Kind of a town, motels,
Restaurants, and the stores are basically locally-owned.
Narrator: Places like haley's motel.
Ursula: Haley's motel has always been
A very nice motel.
Reasonable prices.
It wasn't on the beach
But it was kind of funky because it always had
Pink flamingos up front.
Narrator: In 2002, the motel has new owners,
Tom buehler and his german-born wife,
Sabine musil-buehler,
Or sabina as her friends call her.
Barbara: Tom did the repairs,
Tom did the yard work,
And sabina did the books.
Tina: Sabina was really in her element.
She just felt very comfortable there.
And she was on the go all the time.
Narrator: Sabina manages the small bungalows
With her unique personal style.
Sabine really was aggressive about marketing the hotel.
Det. John: She used to have island-renowned
Halloween parties and, uh, to be honest,
I was like, "why aren't you enlightened with me?"
[ chuckles ] and also, uh...
Narrator: Sabina is also a passionate
Environmentalist and animal advocate.
Barbara: She never saw a bird with a broken wing
That she didn't help.
She really wanted to help animals that were in distress.
And she hated people who smoke and eat meat.
[ laughs ]
At one point, I ordered my chicken salad
And she goes, "I'm not sitting
At that table with you, if you're eating that."
So yeah, it was pretty extreme.
[ laughs ]
Barbara: She had strong opinions.
I remember that well before hotels and motels
Were going non-smoking,
She decided
Nobody was going to smoke there anymore.
I know that they lost business,
But she believed it was not good for anybody.
And it wasn't going to happen there.
Narrator: Always guided by her strong convictions,
Sabina finds a new cause
To get behind in October 2008
When she begins working on barack obama's
Presidential campaign.
Barbara: She was really involved
In campaigning for him.
Ursula: She was doing canvassing, knocking on doors
Just before the election.
I know the night of the election,
She was so jazzed up that he won.
Barbara: She had asked me if I was going to go
To the party that the island democrats
Were having, and I told her no.
But I know she was looking forward to it.
And she didn't show up for the party.
Missing an election night party when a person
You're supporting wins,
I mean, that-- that doesn't fit.
[♪♪]
Barbara: The day after the election,
I walked over to haley's, I said, "where's sabina?"
And they said, "we don't know where she is."
I started to worry.
Narrator: As the day fades and sabina's friends
Become more and more concerned,
Just across the bay in bradenton,
Sheriff's deputies conduct what seems to be
A routine traffic stop.
Art: On November the 6th
At about 2:25 in the morning,
Now deputy of the manatee sheriff's department
Attempts to stop a pontiac sunbird
-For traffic infraction. -[indistinct radio chatter]
Art: When the deputy attempts to stop the vehicle,
The driver flees, uh, from the area.
Narrator: In the middle of the chase,
The driver jumps out of the car
And takes off on foot.
He doesn't get far before officers
Take him into custody.
He's identified as 38-year-old robert corona,
A man with numerous convictions for auto theft.
Art: Robert corona tells officers
That he ran into a couple
And that in exchange for crack,
Uh, they gave him the use of the vehicle.
Mr. Corona's story was not unfathomable.
Certainly it's been known to happen to people
Trade the use of their vehicles for drugs.
Narrator: Police discover that the pontiac sunfire
Is registered to sabina musil-buehler,
The owner of haley's motel on anna maria island.
When officers call the motel,
Tom buehler confirms it's his wife's car.
Det. John: There's very tough areas in bradenton
And manatee county
And he did say that she wouldn't have been
In that area of town
2:30 in the morning,
And let mr. Corona, you know, borrow her car.
Art: Tom was concerned about sabine.
Det. John: Nobody had filed a missing person's report
Until corona got caught,
You know, in the stolen car.
So we had no idea that anybody was missing
Up until that point.
It was now apparent upon us to find sabine.
The first step was starting to look at what evidence we had.
From the car that was recovered.
Barbara: At the moment that they found the car,
The immediate thing that went into my head
Was, "she wouldn't have been there.
She wouldn't have left the car there.
She must be dead."
Art: The lady hasn't been seen
And we found blood in her car.
Tina: And they were naked,
So it was obvious what was going on.
Det. John: She could have just said, "I just wanna
Get out of anna maria. I'll just take cash
And just take off."
-[siren wailing] -tina: My phone rang
And she said, "tina, there's a fire at the hotel."
[♪♪]
Narrator: A routine traffic stop
Has unexpectedly become
A missing persons case.
Robert corona, a convicted felon
Is under arrest for driving a stolen car.
But there's no sign of the car's owner
Sabina musil-buehler.
In fact, no one has seen her
For the past 48 hours.
[♪♪]
Art: The first thing law enforcement does
Is they question,
Uh, the missing person's associates
And spouse
To find out when they've last seen her.
Officers spoke to mr. Buehler.
He indicated to them
That he hadn't seen her
Since November the 4th and he was concerned.
Mr. Buehler was extremely cooperative.
He was willing to give information
And, uh, allow police to search anywhere
On his premises that they thought
Might yield evidence.
Narrator: A search of the motel doesn't give detectives
Any reason to doubt what tom buehler
Has been telling them.
But when detectives press tom
About his relationship with sabina,
He admits something that surprises them.
The marriage is not on solid ground.
Art: Ms. Musil-buehler and tom buehler
Had been married for approximately 10 years.
But at that time, they were simply friends
And business partners.
They were not romantically involved.
Tina: I don't think their relationship
Was more than, you know,
"we're business partners and we're friends."
They weren't hugging and kissing at any point
That I can remember.
Narrator: Tom suggests that detectives talk
With a former motel employee
Named bill cumber.
He tells them sabina has been spending
More time with bill than him recently.
He explains that he and sabina met bill,
A woodworker, three years earlier.
[♪♪]
Ursula: Bill came on the property looking for work
And sabina being the kindhearted
Kind of person that she was said,
"we've got a handyman work that you can do."
Narrator: Thirty-year-old bill performs chores
Around the motel grounds...
[♪♪]
Narrator: ...And instantly draws the attention
Of guests and sabina's friends.
Bill cumber
Was an extremely attractive man
And knew how to flaunt it.
You're not used to going out of your house
And seeing somebody in tight jeans
And no shirt that's young.
[ laughs ] that's--
I mean, it was like, "who the heck is he?"
Narrator: But after just a few weeks on the job,
Bill draws some unwanted attention
From the police.
They arrive with an arrest warrant for arson,
A crime committed two months earlier.
Art: Mr. Cumber had been socializing
With some people at a house.
There was a woman apparently he took a fancy to.
At some point, he became disruptive
And the woman asked him to leave
And he retaliated by setting the house on fire
With the occupants still inside.
No one was hurt.
Mr. Cumber ultimately admitted
That he had done it
Because the woman had scorned him.
Det. John: And after his arrest,
He was ultimately convicted and sent to prison.
Narrator: After three years in prison for arson,
Bill cumber is released on probation.
Tom and sabina are there to help him
Get back on his feet.
Barbara: I thought, "okay,
Now she's trying to help him
Like she helps birds with broken wings."
Narrator: By the fall of 2008,
With bill out of prison only a month,
It's clear to some of her friends
That sabina's attraction to bill
Is more than just friendship.
Suddenly, you know, you can tell she would dress differently,
And she was made up more.
Narrator: Then one day when tom is cleaning rooms at the motel,
He stumbles upon sabina and bill together.
And they were naked.
And, you know, so it was obvious what was going on.
But I think tom had already figured it out.
This was just like the confirmation,
"okay, she's now with this guy."
Barbara: I never saw him angry.
But one thing he did say to me was,
"I never knew she was that unhappy."
[♪♪]
Narrator: Within days of tom's discovery,
Sabina rents an apartment and moves into it with bill.
But just a few weeks later,
Sabina is missing.
Tom insists to detectives that although his wife
Left him for another man,
He bears her no ill will.
Police find bill at the apartment.
Det. John: Bill cumber was cooperative.
He wanted to do everything he could
To help find sabine.
Narrator: Bill tells police he hasn't seen sabina
Since election night two days ago.
Art: Mr. Cumber reported to law enforcement
That on the night of November 4th,
He and sabine cooked dinner.
They then sat down to watch the election returns.
At some point, he went to smoke a cigarette.
This was a point of dispute between him and sabine.
She did not like him to smoke.
They did have an argument and he reported
That she left the apartment at that point.
He described the clothing she was wearing,
Flowered shirt, jeans,
A silver necklace he had given her and sneakers.
[♪♪]
Art: Mr. Cumber allowed the police
To search the apartment he shared with sabine.
They didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
Det. John: Sabina's purse is not found in the apartment.
It's a possibility that she could have just
Driven off the island.
His story about sabine could have happened.
[♪♪]
Narrator: Detectives fan out across the island
And speak to sabina's friends
Hoping someone has heard from her.
She wasn't in contact with anybody.
Tina: We had made some photocopies
Of pictures of sabina
And we literally walked around
From place to place and said,
"hey, have you seen this lady?"
Narrator: With no sign of sabina
Three days after her disappearance,
Detectives press harder
On the man found with sabina's car,
Convicted felon, robert corona.
Art: The police were concerned that ms. Buehler
Had not simply disappeared,
Uh, of her own accord.
And so they were contemplating
This was a possible homicide investigation.
[♪♪]
Narrator: Sabina musil-buehler has been missing
From her home on florida's picturesque,
Anna maria island for three days.
Her friends in the small beach community fear the worst.
Bonner: She was on her way to a celebration for obama.
And that was downtown.
The democratic headquarters were downtown
So maybe she stopped at a red light,
Gave someone a ride and it just didn't go well.
I thought somebody carjacked her and took her out
To the interstate and left her there.
And I was thinking maybe someday we'd find her body in a ditch
Next to the interstate.
Narrator: Detectives also suspect foul play is possible.
Their strongest lead is the convicted felon
Arrested for driving sabina's stolen car, robert corona.
And what the forensics team discovers while processing
Sabina's pontiac sunbird is troubling.
Art: When the car was found,
They noted that there was a round hole
In the back seat that had been apparently
Dug out and, uh, that aroused suspicion
On the part of law enforcement.
Det. John: Whoever did it used a knife and--
And cut it around
And then took out the padding and the leather.
We surmised that they tried to clean up the car
As best they could and, uh, cut that-- that part out.
The forensics unit used luminol on the car
And they found blood evidence around that padding.
[♪♪]
Art: The blood is taken and processed for dna.
A couple of days after his first interrogation ,
Robert corona is interrogated a second time.
At that point, law enforcement told mr. Corona
The lady hasn't been seen
And that we found blood in her car.
At that time, he changes his story.
Once he heard that, mr. Corona fessed up
That he had in fact stolen the car.
Narrator: Robert corona's first version of events
May have been a lie.
But detectives wonder whether the story
He tells them next is also a stretch.
Art: Mr. Corona did say he stole the car
From the gator lounge.
Det. John: Gator lounge is an area of known prostitution
Back in 2008.
It is as rough and as-- as bad as it gets.
[♪♪]
Art: The car according to mr. Corona
Was found with the driver side window down
As if someone's begging for it to be stolen.
Narrator: Detectives head to the gator lounge
To check out corona's strange tale.
Art: The bar owner said he left some time probably
Between 10:00 and midnight and saw the car in the lot.
And then the bartendress said
She saw it approximately 2:15
As she was closing up the bar.
And that's just shortly before mr. Corona is seen driving it.
Narrator: The sightings placed the car at the gator lounge
More than 24 hours
After sabina left her apartment
The night of November 4th.
Although robert corona admits he's a car thief,
He insists he's not a killer,
And claims to have an alibi to prove it.
Art: Mr. Corona said at some point
He had two passengers in his car at the time sabine went missing.
The police spoke to them and they corroborated him
As to where he had picked them up.
There was another woman who said
That she had been with mr. Corona
Earlier that evening
That he'd had an argument with his girlfriend
And then he said he was going to,
"borrow a car."
So that tended to corroborate the premise
That he just came upon the car and stole it.
Mr. Corona lied because he presumably
Didn't wanna go to prison.
So robert corona was prosecuted for the theft
Of ms. Musil-buehler's car and convicted.
[♪♪]
Det. John: At that point, a missing persons case
Was getting national attention.
We were getting tips from around the country.
And we had to send leads to different agencies to say,
You know, "hey, could you vet this--
This investigative lead for us?"
We must have vetted hundreds and hundreds of tips
Of what could have happened,
You know, where she should have been.
But we just kept hitting dead ends.
We couldn't find sabine.
[♪♪]
Narrator: Then almost two weeks after sabina was last seen,
Police get a tip that suggests
All the worry about her may be for nothing.
Art: There was a woman who thought
She'd seen her at the airport.
Narrator: The sighting seems credible enough
To make detectives wonder.
Could sabina have been angry with her boyfriend, bill,
And just run off?
Det. John: It's a possibility that she could have just said,
"I just wanna get out of anna maria.
I'll just take cash and just take off."
We had to vet hundreds of hours of videotape looking for her.
But we couldn't find her and she wasn't there.
[♪♪]
Det. John: We did a search warrant
On her safety deposit box
Hoping to find things in that.
And sabine's passport was in there.
We exhausted every lead that we had
Showing that she just didn't up and leave.
Narrator: As hope of finding sabina alive dwindles.
-[siren wailing] -narrator: There's a stunning
Turn of events that sends everyone
On the tiny island reeling.
Tina: My phone rang and it was
A really good friend of sabina's.
She said, "tina, there's a fire at the hotel."
[♪♪]
Det. John: We dug up trash.
We drug up carcasses from sea turtles
Where we thought she might be.
Art: He did intend to kill her.
Det. John: They were business partners.
There was life insurance.
So there was motive.
[siren wailing]
Narrator: As investigators continue to search
For sabina musil-buehler, on November 16th, 2008,
12 days after she's reported missing,
Residents and police on anna maria island
Received another shock.
Barbara: It was a hot fire and it was going strong.
Narrator: The close knit island community wonders,
"could the blaze at haley's motel
And sabina's disappearance be connected?"
When the flames are extinguished,
Investigators begin sifting through the ashes for clues.
Art: It was highly suspicious to law enforcement.
It was determined that the origin
Was that it had been intentionally set
Through the use of accelerants.
[♪♪]
Narrator: Investigators are unable to determine
Why the fire was set or who might have done it.
But that doesn't stop the island rumor mill.
Barbara: Knowing cumber's background
And his previous arson,
I immediately thought cumber.
[♪♪]
Det. John: You look at all the clues
That were presented to us
And that tom and sabine
Were having problems in their marriage.
They were business partners.
There was life insurance.
So there was motive that tom may have had.
Narrator: And some islanders whisper that if tom set the fire
To collect an insurance payout,
He knew how he could throw police off his trail.
Tina: Tom was the one who told me that bill cumber
Had set a fire to another house.
Clearly, everybody would think it was bill.
Narrator: And there's another potential motive...Jealousy.
Tina: That was the building
That tom found sabina and bill
Together the first time.
I just was like, "oh, my gosh."
I-- I-- to me, that's just seemed like
The obvious thing.
Bonner: I felt like people on the island
Were looking at tom 50% he did it
And 50% cumber did it.
There was no one percent off.
Art: The arson was still unsolved,
But in the interest of thoroughness,
Tom buehler's story was checked out and examined.
He was no longer considered a suspect
In the fire at the motel because he has a history
Of being a respected businessman.
Det. John: I interviewed tom at length
And vetted him out, and we believed
That tom wasn't responsible for sabine being missing.
Art: Although mr. Cumber was a suspect
Based on his history
And based on the surrounding circumstances,
There was no forensic evidence that could tie him to it.
Narrator: But given bill cumber's
Previous conviction for arson,
Detectives decided to keep him under surveillance
To see if something shakes loose.
Art: Sabine was footing the entire bill,
Uh, and really was paying for his life.
So when sabine went missing,
She was no longer there to provide for his needs,
He had to, uh, leave town.
Narrator: When bill can no longer pay the rent
And is forced to move out of the apartment,
It gives investigators an opening
To conduct a detailed search of the place.
Art: Law enforcement used a device called luma-lite,
Which when you darken a room, uh, blood will luminesce.
And when they did that, they found sabine's blood
On the couch cushion and on the armrest.
They also found blood later identified
To mr. Cumber on the floor of the apartment.
Det. John: There was also a little bit of blood evidence
That was found on the wall.
So it is possible that some type of struggle took place there,
But the problem was we couldn't prove what happened.
Narrator: But when the dna results from sabina's car
Are compared to the findings in her apartment,
Detectives start to get a better picture.
Art: Ultimately, they find sabine's blood in the car
And they find mr. Cumber's fingerprints,
In areas that his prints should not have been
Given that he did not drive the car routinely.
[♪♪]
Art: Law enforcement came to look at mr. Cumber
As the most likely suspect,
But we didn't have enough evidence for a conviction.
And at that point, without a body,
We couldn't definitively say if sabine was murdered.
Narrator: Without a body or any concrete evidence,
The case seems to be running out of steam.
But a few weeks later,
Bill cumber makes a little mistake
That has a major impact on the investigation.
Det. John: He was driving without a driver's license,
Left the county without notifying his parole officer.
So he was arrested.
Art: It was fortunate for law enforcement
That mr. Cumber violated probation
Because it sent him back to prison
For a period of an additional seven years.
Det. John: So now we could take the time that we needed
To put all the pieces together
And try to find the body
Or try to do a bodiless conviction.
Narrator: The detectives know that to make a murder case,
They need to prove sabina is dead,
But they just can't find any solid evidence.
[♪♪]
Ursula: A year after she went missing,
We had a memorial for her.
It wasn't much we could say
'cause there wasn't much we knew.
Narrator: For three years,
Detectives are unable to find any new evidence
In sabina's disappearance.
Then they get a call that changes everything.
Det. John: There was a gentleman
That was selling his house
And he was clearing out the brush
To try to get a better view.
And he came across sabine's purse.
Her driver's license
And other items of evidentiary value
Were recovered inside the purse.
Art: And this house was only in a couple of blocks of
The apartment that ms. Buehler and william cumber shared.
[♪♪]
Narrator: Sabina musil-buehler's purse
Has been found near the beach
On anna maria island,
The first solid clue in her disappearance
In three years.
It likely confirms sabina never left the island,
At least not alive.
[♪♪]
Art: It was a pretty momentous episode
In the investigation.
We know there was no evidence of sabine's activity
On any of her accounts for three years.
There was no evidence that sabine
Is still living after the evening of November 4th.
We were convinced beyond reasonable doubt at that point
That's sabine was dead.
It's very challenging for a prosecutor
To prosecute a murder without a body.
It can be done, it's legal to do it,
You have to put on extensive evidence
To show that the victim is dead.
And you have to have some evidence pointing to foul play.
So we were able to prove that, you know,
She's not with us anymore.
Okay, she's not here, so where's the body?
Well, we can't find the body.
In anna maria, there's not many places to hide a body,
But to bury a body there's tons of places on the island.
Chances of finding the body is slim to none.
Narrator: If detectives can't find sabina's body,
They risk not being able to convict
Their prime suspect bill cumber.
He's currently behind bars for a parole violation.
But there's only a few years left on his sentence.
[♪♪]
Det. John: We were thinking,
"well, maybe he buried the body on the beach
Near where the purse was ultimately recovered."
We dug the beach meticulously trying to find her.
We were using cadaver dogs
From sarasota search and rescue
And ground-penetrating radar.
We did a lot of digging all over the beach.
We dug up trash, shoes,
We dug up carcasses from sea turtles.
It was quite a big task of searching
Where we thought she might be.
We dug there like it seemed forever for weeks
And ultimately we didn't find anything.
Narrator: The failed search leaves detectives
More determined than ever to find sabina.
Art: Given his fingerprints in her car
And blood in the apartment,
The most likely suspect in sabine's disappearance
Was william cumber.
[♪♪]
Narrator: They are sure bill cumber is a killer.
But without sabina's body,
The case against him is only circumstantial.
Art: We had exhausted all the known possibilities
For looking for her body in and around the beach
And so, it didn't seem like we were gonna get
Any more evidence at that point.
The body was never found but we were going forward.
[♪♪]
Narrator: No single bit of circumstantial evidence
Can win a case.
But the collective paints a damning picture.
Art: After conferring with law enforcement
And the medical examiner,
We made a decision to charge mr. Cumber
With second-degree murder.
Narrator: With cumber facing a potential
22-year prison sentence on the murder charges,
His lawyers caused delay after delay.
But after years of legal wrangling,
He realizes his chances of avoiding conviction
Are slim to none.
Art: Ultimately, I was approached
By mr. Cumber's attorney
Who said that mr. Cumber was interested
In a plea offer.
[♪♪]
Narrator: On October 15th, 2015,
Nearly seven years since sabina's disappearance,
Bill cumber pleads guilty to second-degree murder.
Sheriff brad: This morning, mr. Cumber appeared in court
And entered a plea agreement
To 22 years in state prison
And there was a opportunity for him
To provide two other things
And he could get that reduced to 20 years.
And those two other things that he would have to provide
Would be a detailed interview with us
As to what he did
And then to show us or tell us
Where her body was located.
Art: Following his plea, I and a couple
Of members of law enforcement
Went into a room at the courthouse,
With mr. Cumber and his attorney
And I took a recorded interview with him.
[♪♪]
Narrator: In a slow, emotionless voice,
Bill cumber reveals step by awful step
What actually happened on the night of November 4th, 2008.
The argument with, sabine
Was over his smoking in the apartment
And his constant drinking.
Art: He said that he had struck her
Twice in the face
And that she bled from those injuries.
[♪♪]
Art: I believe he did intend to kill her.
Strangulation takes some time.
It's not like firing a gun
Or stabbing somebody one time in the heart,
It takes concerted effort.
Mr. Cumber had a lot of issues with rejection.
By his own admission,
Sabine's essentially breaking up with him
The night of November 4th
And sabine has been the one funding his life
Since he's gotten out of prison.
Det. John: I think he just lost his temper
And that his meal ticket
Was walking out the door.
[♪♪]
Narrator: After dragging sabina's body to her car
And putting her in the back seat,
He drove to the beach access path
Just down the road from haley's motel.
Art: He then has to take her out of the car,
Drag her along the wooden walkway,
Take her to the location
To bury her in the sand.
Mr. Cumber's thought process
Was that mr. Buehler would be a potential suspect
If the body is found that close to haley's motel.
Narrator: After burying sabina in the sand,
Cumber says he drove back to their apartment
And cleaned up.
The next day, he drove her car to bradenton
And left it at the gator lounge.
[♪♪]
Narrator: Word of the shocking confession
Spreads quickly across anna maria island.
Barbara: Cumber was an extremely vicious,
Talented conman.
I have no doubt that she was in love
With the person he pretended to be.
And unfortunately for her,
It wasn't the person that he actually was.
[♪♪]
Narrator: After confessing to her murder,
Cumber in shackles leads investigators to the beach,
Fulfilling his promise to reveal
Where he buried sabina.
Det. John: It was one beach access down
From where haley's motel was.
He took us to a small rain pavilion,
And he said that was their special place.
Bill and sabine would go down here
And have a glass of wine and watch the sunset.
[♪♪]
Art: Ultimately after several hours of digging,
They did find skeletonized remains
Closed in a flowered shirt,
Jeans, silver necklace,
Just as he had described.
[♪♪]
Narrator: Sabina's loved ones are grateful.
The long search for answers is finally over.
Barbara: I've often thought
I sat watching the sunset
With our neighbors and friends
That she was buried
In the sand underneath us
And we didn't know it.
Narrator: The beach on anna maria island
Is a place of beauty and of peace,
A place sabina's friends are comforted to know
Where her spirit lives on.
Tina: She was a free spirit.
When sabina was happy,
There was nobody
That you would rather wanna be with.
And I wish she was still here.
[♪♪]