goes on. if clubs patrons don't seem to be worried about maybe a hunter in the midst, the police have done the worrying for them. >> we do have a deranged, sadistic killer out there that is preying on vulnerable women and we need to locate this person a soon as possible. >> back in michigan, her sister kelly and boyfriend kevin have waited so many years for a call that so far hasn't come. 2010 was a very short year for paula sladewski, murdered at the age of 26. >> that's all for this edition of dateline, i'm andrea canning, thank you for joining us.

>> she loved the beach. the tragedy of it all. the violent, horrible, final moments of her life. unimaginable. >> she was a free spirit in paradise. >> that had always been her lifelong dream, to have her own resort. >> then, like footprints in the sand, she disappeared. >> just strange. >> something is not right. >> some said the motel owner had simply checked out and left town. >> they saw her in line to get onto an airplane. >> but her prized car turn up the next calm behind the wheel. >> we thought, oh my god, it's, him he killed her. >> was it really that simple? her personal life is very complicated. a younger boyfriend. >> the young man was very charismatic, drop dead gorgeous. >> and an estranged husband. >> he had caught them having sex in room 11

>> the case really started to sizzle when someone torched the motel. >> we didn't know. >> this is a murder mystery of epic proportions. >> both of us were obsessed with the case. >> can this get any more bizarre? ♪ ♪ ♪ knew >> hello, and welcome to dateline. she had moved there for her own piece of heaven on earth, life on a sunny island in florida. so, when she vanished, her friends knew it wasn't her idea to leave. but, that wasn't all they were sure about in this complicated missing person case. here is keith morrison with, a place on the sand. >> there is a little island,

it's own bit of fantasy, off the coast of florida. >> a little bit of paradise? >> it is paradise. it just gets better and better, we think. >> anna maria island, where high rise condos are banned, is seven miles of unspoiled white sand, unspoiled houses, unspoiled people, too, most of them. >> when you come across the bridge, it's a whole different life, you're like, i'm here. >> and here is where he she found her little paradise, too. came all the way from germany for it. sabine musil-buehler, and whether they called her sabina or sabine. they all knew her here on the >> a larger than life person? >> absolutely, and the minute you met her, you were drawn to her. she was just one of the people you wanted to get to know better. >> and even now, looking back at what happened to sabine, on

the awful mystery, it doesn't seem possible. not here. >> nothing happens on this island. it's sweet town, we don't have things like that happen here. >> no, and certainly not to her. sabine made good things happen here, crazy things, happy things. here at the 50s motel she bought and reimagined, along with tom buehler, the man she married within two weeks of meeting. her partner at haley's motel. long-time friends nancy ambrose and suzi fox. >> it had always been a lifeline dream to have her own resort, and haley's came on the market. and at the time it was pretty rundown. and we were like, oh, you've got your hands full here. we knew that she and tom could do it, if anybody could do it, the two of them could turn this around. >> oh and they did. tom did the fixing, and sabine

had the ideas. they invited the whole town to the quirky events and dress up parties. >> hello, welcome to haley's motel. please, join me for a tour. >> this is her with jack mo, her ever-present parrot. she was a star of her own promotional videos for the hotel. >> i hope you like our rooms so far, but with all the activities we offer you you won't spend too much time there. >> neighbor barbara hines. >> sabine a never saw something that had broken wing that she didn't try to fix. >> sabine it was a rescuer, people, pets, dogs, turtles. when suzi fox took over the anna maria turtle watch, nesting turtles are very big deal here, she asked for help. >> tom and sabine were my fourth volunteers, and there's nine sections on the one mile long iland. and they said they take as many

as i needed to give them. >> i watched her with a huge leatherback in the water. unfortunately, the leatherback was missing a flipper, and he swam in circles so he kept coming back to the beach. and sabine jumped in the water without a second thought, and she was up to here talking to the turtle's face like, she can tell this 400 pound turtle to turn around or will him too. >> so, you get the idea. >> she was just amazing, she was one of those people that cared about everybody. >> like nancy ambrose, for example, when she was battling cancer, and nobody would give her a job because of her demanding treatment schedule. until the day she met sabine. >> explained what my situation was, she is like, great, that's fine, i want to work. i was like really? it was one of the happiest days of my life, because she was giving me a chance. >> so sabine had passions, animals, her motel, her white

pontiac convertible. and in 2008, a new passion. campaigning for barack obama, an uphill battle on this predominantly republican island. so, on election night, sabine was certainly up for a party. she had arranged to meet nancy, in fact, for what they hoped to turn into a victory celebration. >> she was so into the election, she was so excited, she wanted obama to win. >> stranhe then when nancy it arrived, she could not find sabine. >> and i had thought she already left, because i got there late. >> her husband tom had been there earlier, too, but without her. still, nancy didn't worry, not then anyway. >> it wasn't until a couple of days later that i realized she was missing. >> how was it possible? the woman who loved to celebrate, didn't, the woman who loved to talk called no one. the woman who loved her motels

and there wasn't there. sabine was gone. >> coming up. the first troubling clue, her car with someone else at the wheel. >> flags started going off. >> who was this mystery driver? >> she would've driven to a very rough area, and it came to my mind that maybe she was carjacked. >> we need to know the truth, and we need to know now. >> when dateline continues.

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na musil-buehler, different, on tiny anna maria island, then november of 2008. not just because obama won the election, but because sabine musil-buehler, the one and only, was not around to celebrate. not with her friends, not with her pets, not at her motel. >> she would never, ever leave her animals. she would never ever not go to haley's to work. that was her baby. >> then, two days later, 2:30 in the morning, a seedy neighborhood across the bridge on the mainland, a patrol had pulled over a white pontiac comfortable with a burned out taillight, as the cop approached the car, the driver ran. it was a wild chase, and they caught him. his name was robert carona, and he had a story. --

and the manatee county sheriff 's office. >> mr. corona's original story, is i was doing crack cocaine with the owner of the car, and it wasn't reported stolen. >> he said he knew the owner was? >> yes, and had permission to have the car. >> but when detectives checked the registration, they learned a convertible belonged to sabine. and corona had a record. >> he's a known street criminal. >> and they learned from sabine 's friends that there had to be something very wrong with the story to have her doing drugs and drinking with a felon, in a smoky bar, in a seedy part of town. >> she would never be buying drugs, she would not even allow people to smoke around her, she would not allow people to smoke at haley's motel property. >> she was a health fanatic? >> she was, she had a personal trainer, she was very into health. >> so, they arrested corona.

installed him in the county jail. and in the morning, drove over to haley's motel to talk to sabine's husband, tom. and? tom said he hadn't seen sabine in a couple of days. he hadn't filed a missing persons report, but did after the police came around. >> what was he like? what was your impression of the guy? >> he was concerned for her well-being, she wasn't answering her phone, he couldn't find her. >> and, something else, according to tom. sabine never let anyone drive her car, not even him. now, there was a stolen car, a missing woman, and a known criminal. not adding up to a good combination for sabine. >> flags started going off, and shortly thereafter, detectives started to get involved as a missing persons case. >> but, then it got worse. when detectives went over the car, they found blood drops in the backseat, a patch of the rear seat had been cut out. so, they sprayed luminol around,

found more blood traces on the rear seat. sabine's friends were horrified. >> then we thought, oh my god, he killed her, it must have killed her. >> now it was a homicide investigation. jeff bliss decided to pay a visit to corona in jail. >> i put my business card down on the table, and slid it across, said we are homicide, as we need to know the truth now. he said, don't like me 20 murders, and then he changes story. >> corona's new story? he never met anybody named sabine, he just found her car parked behind a place called the gator lounge, a not exactly upscale wine bar. in the jailhouse interview, he claimed it was just a crime of opportunity. >> you didn't see anybody, did you? >> i didn't see anybody. so that's why decided to take the car.

you know, so i gotta side, and see the keys on oh, no one i mean? and joyride, you know? >> so the vehicle was left, like somebody wanted it stolen. so he just took the liberty of stealing that car. >> was the second story any more true than the first? the local paper jumped on all this, of course, and bonner joy heard a lot of stories. >> there were a number of people who speculated that she might have gone to town to an obama celebration, the area she would've driven through was a very rough area. and it just came to my mind that maybe she had been carjacked. >> certainly, something very bad must have happened. something, maybe, that happened in her car. so, was corona her killer? or was he finally telling the truth, that he stole her car outside that bar. but if that was true, how did we get there? and where was sabine? >> could it be, sabine had

plans that nobody knew about? had this free spirit simply skipped town? coming up. >> there were two women at the sarasota airport, and they were sure they saw her up ahead in line. you know, to get onto an airplane. >>--when dateline continues. is thick. let's put it to the test. let's do it! look how it's absorbing! and locking it right on in! - look at that! - no liquid, no nothing. totally absorbed! - you feel no wetness. - oh my gosh! are you a believer now? i'm a believer! i got to get some always discreet! teeth sensitivity is so common.

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keith morrison (voiceover): ait was a disturbing time on anna maria island. what happened to sabina? when they found her car, there was blood in it, >> it was a disturbing time on and the felon who'd stolen it kept changing his story,

anna maria island. what happened to sabine? when they found her car, there was blood in it. and the fellow who had stolen it kept changing his story. so, the logical conclusion was dark indeed. but still -- she could've gone back to germany to see her family, or something? >> right, and there was extensive leads and investigation to determine that. >> in fact, apparently she had been seen alive and well at the local airport. her friend chris tollette heard the story. >> there were two women at the sarasota airport, who said they were sure they saw her up ahead in line to get onto an airplane. >> but when detectives checked out the tip. >> her passport wasn't used, checking surveillance cameras in the sarasota airport, the tampa airport to make sure that she did not leave the country

or fly out. >> a couple of weeks went by that way, lots of tips, no verifiable sightings. and then finally they got the dna back on that blood in the car. >> we were able to get her toothbrush and some other kinds of items for a dna comparison. and we're able to match it up, that was in fact her blood. >> her husband tom told a local news reporter from that first morning, when he was told about her car. >> the second i knew, when the police told me that they found her car without her in it, and with the keys in the car, i knew sabine was no longer with us. i knew something had happened to her, immediately. >> so, it looked like this guy corona might be on the hook for murder. but beyond the blood? the evidence did not exactly jump out. but who else? had she made an enemy? when detectives started looking

at her life, that cast a wide net, after all sabine was like a magnet. everybody wanted to go to her lavish parties. >> there is a waiting list to get on her party list. >> exactly. >> she could even get a little racy for sleepy little anna maria island. >> one of the more unusual things, she hired some people from germany to come here to do nude body painting. that blew up. nude body painting on anna maria island? you can't do that here. >> but, sabine did what had to be done, it could be a tough business with a little old hotel. and with the economy begin to tank in 2008, what once was sunny and light, was gray with worry. sabine and tom were in trouble. neighbor barbara hines -- >> the real estate market had folded. i knew from sabine, not from tom, that they were highly, highly leveraged. >> please call me for a

reservation. >> and while sabine tried to use her marketing skills to try to keep the motel afloat. she and tom couldn't do the same for the marriage. after more than a decade, as husband and wife, they were that in name only. but what they did not do was divorce or divide up the business. >> they were always still good friends. very good friends. >> as for the romance, the marriage front? >> the romance part kind of -- >> maybe romance changed. >> it certainly did, as detectives couldn't help but discover that tom and sabine had taken up with other people, both of them. he, with a woman he'd known quite a while, she with a local artist, who once worked at the motel as a handyman. and then, there was the matter of the life insurance. how much did he take out on her life, the cops asked? $100, 000, said tom.

despite what was apparently an amicable break up, people on anna maria island could not help but wonder about tom. more than a few said sabine's friend caryn hodge. >> a lot of people whispering inspecting him in a way, because they didn't know. >> he did promotional stills for the hotel, and became good friends. >> there is no evidence found, there is no, nothing about who did it. this is a murder mystery of epic proportions. >> so it was. but then, 12 days after sabine vanished from the face of the earth, somebody set fire to haley's motel. >> i'm sure my mouth was hanging open. just going, can this get any more bizarre? >> what was this all about? >> we just didn't know. >> dead or alive, where was sabine?

>> coming up. sabine's husband, that $100,000 policy, wasn't the whole story. >> it came out later it was 300,000. money, a motive? or just maybe jealousy? >> he had caught her having sex in room 11 at haley's motel. >> when dateline continues.

here are the hours top stories. police in delaware are investigating after a sedan crashed in a part of president biden's motorcade, sunday night. the president, who was rushed to an armored vehicle by secret service, was not harmed. and, political strategist jethro announced saturday he would beat leaving never back down, a super pac affiliated with iran desantis campaign. it comes in the wake of a washington post story detailing tensions between the two parties. now, back to dateline. >> welcome back to dateline,

i'm craig melvin. the missing persons case of sabine musil-buehler had just taken a turn toward the bizarre. just 12 days after she disappeared, a fire at her motel. had any chance of finding her also gone up in flames? keith morrison picks up our story, a place on the sand. >> the torching of haley's hotel here in anna maria island, turn out to be this just as -- what they did know was that it was no accident this was arson. it started in a building beside that main hotel structure, a building that once served as tom and sabine's living quarters. nobody was hurt, but there were questions. was it personal? an attempt to destroy evidence? for what? around town, some people wondered if tom had something to do with it. others dismissed that as just plain nonsense.

photographer jack covered the fire. >> that's when the mystery really started to wow, another element of this puzzle. >> why would somebody do that? >> it's bizarre. >> surely, it had to have something to do with whatever happened to sabine. >> why would that place burn down? somebody trying to destroy some evidence? >> it was a theory. we weren't sure if something happened there, or issues buried somewhere, we just don't know. >> months went by without a decent lead, though it was not for a lack of trying to find one, especially where their instincts were telling them, that sabine was likely buried on the beach. >> we'd always come out here to this very spot, and stand here and review the case, and brainstorm the case. >> detective sergeant john kenney, and jeffrey bliss kept organizing searches of the beach, looking for any area where the white sand beach looked disturbed.

>> we took cadaver dogs, walked them up and down the beach, we used ground penetrating radar to check various spots on the beach, trying to find skeletal remains. >>--to no avail. and in november, 2009, the first anniversary of whatever it was had happened, on the beach sabine loved, they had a little memorial. husband tom tossed a flower wreath into the surf. >> there was no hope. we knew she was gone, she was no longer alive. >> but apparently, the life insurance company wasn't so sure. and right around the time of that memorial service at the beach, tom went to court to take the first step to get that money. >> wasn't it tom who petitioned the court to declare her dead? >> yes. >> if he's declared dead, he has a lot of insurance money. plus the ownership outright of

the motel. >> correct. >> yes, that. funny, tom had told the detectives before, that he held a 100,000 dollar policy on sabine but when he filed papers to declare her dead? turned out, there was a second, larger life insurance policy that he forgot to mention. >> it came up later, that it was 300,000. >> the revelation made the newspapers. attorneys for the insurance company argued that, under florida law, sabine had to be missing at least five years before she could be declared dead, and any insurance money paid out. at the hearing, reporters noted unusual group of observers listening to the proceedings. >> the whole back row of seath was taken up by detectives and if they weren't there for the insurance company, why were there?

>> but tom was not successful. >> they denied a deficit of get, and he was denied the insurance. >> but then police knew, corona didn't kill sabine, a barmaid was able to confront essentials of a story. so, he was convicted of car an island cop in known sabine and tom for years, decided to have another try much closer to home. he asked tom for any detail, no matter how small, that might take the investigation beyond the conjecture and whispers of suspicion that floated on the island breeze. >> he wanted the whole background of their courtship, their marriage, and how disintegrated. >> well, how did it disintegrate? >> he told me that it just slowly, like, blew apart. and they stayed together because they're very good friends, and they owned a business together. >> but this seemed unusual, while they stayed married, they moved in with other people.

remember, in the year before she went missing, tom started dating a new woman, and sabine took up with a handsome younger man, who once worked at the hotel. his name was bill, bill cumber. >> the man was very charismatic, drop dead gorgeous. >> 10 years younger, in fact. >> sabine it was 39 years. and very different from tom. but tom, meanwhile, was still her business partner. and that's where things got a little dicey. >> he had called him having sex in room 11 at the motel, but he said it wasn't a jealousy thing, it was a lack of respect that having sex with his wife in the hotel room. >> not jealous? maybe. still the detectives knew that

sort of thing could very well drive a person to do terrible things. so, tom and bill. did one of them harm sabina? the interview bill, the first-time, back when sabine's stolen car was found, learning that in 2008 they started dating, and eventually they moved into an apartment together. sabine told her friends that she'd hit the jackpot with bill. friends like joyce. >> she even had his picture in her wallet, and she was so proud that he was so handsome, and i could see that she was head over heels. >> maybe this was going to be the love of her life, they were going to have a wonderful future together. >> the last time sabine's friend saw her, she was with bill, jack had never met him before. >> she came over to me if you

give me a big kiss and hug, how are you. and she introduced this man to me, and he shook my hand, hey jack, long time no see. and look at this guy thinking, like, i don't really know this guy. the question was, did anybody know bill? >> coming up. >> -- i think the world is somebody missing somebody special. >> motion from bill. >> and a surprise from a stranger. >> he said, you have no idea what you've just done. >> was he about to blow the case wide open? when dateline continues.

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trust colace to soften stools keith morrison (voiceover): when sabina disappeared from anna maria island on election night, 2008, >> when sabine disappeared from detectives took a good look at the two men closest to her-- anna maria island on election night, 2008. detectives took a good look at the two men close to her. estranged husband tom, and a boyfriend bill cumber, with whom she was living at the time. >> typically in any missing persons case, you look at the inner circle first. husband, paramour. >> bill gave the detectives the story of what happened the night she disappeared. sabine left the place at about ten pm, intending to go to the obama victory party. the next thing he knew, detectives were at his door telling him they found her car, and there was blood inside.

a few days after that they will tell the story again to a local tv reporter. >> i think it's a tragedy, i think that the world missing somebody special. -- somebody special. he told a reporter, he blamed himself in a way. because sabine left after they argued about a smoking. >> i feel responsible for her leaving, leaving here. as far as what happened after that, i have no idea. >> the detectives were busy looking at records, and discovered that, bill once spent some time behind bars. that was after, and unrelated to his stint as a handyman at the motel. and tom and sabine went to see him in prison, sent the money, wrote to him. and he wrote back. >> and tom, i think, she just started writing him back. and started trying to help him. >> as sabine and tom's romance cooled, her letters to bill heated up.

and was was bill was released on probation in 2008, sabine was waiting for him. sabine's friends, however, did not share her enthusiasm for bill. all right >> they didn't want him to be around her, they pretty much said, if you're gonna come don't bring that guy. >> just a saw something off about him? >> yes. that she did not. >> now, sabina saw a young, fit, artistic man, who just needed a break. bill was something of an amateur artist, though his sketches never seem to amount to much. but sabine whether determined to help build jump-start his career, it is our work strolled, maybe start about woodworking business. >> she had set him up in a wooden shop, bottle is tools. >> and around town, they certainly look like lovebirds.

still, two weeks after he sabine vanished, the detectives asked bill to come in for another interview. and that's when he told him about -- the argument. [inaudible] but they push him? they challenge them? yes, they did. >> where did you dump at her at? >> you are nothing to do with happened there? official efforts? >> no. >> but try as they might, bill cumber did not crack. so they sent him a home, but kept an eye on him. >> wht made you think that he was the guy who would've killed her? i mean, they were going out together. >> that an argument that day, at least one.

>> was there any other evidence that pointed towards him besides that? not until he vacated his apartment. >> without sabine to pay the rent, bill was evicted. the detectives got permission to go in there. >> the first time i entered the apartment, there is a heavy scent of bleach. >> wait a minute, how long after? >> four or four weeks. >> and the smell of bleach was still strong at that point? >> we went in and searched it, and we found additional blood evidence with dna. >> what did all of that say to you? >> something bad happened right there. >> but bill told the detectives, that was innocent blood. sabina once cut herself here. then she found bill's dna on the driver seat of sabine's car, but she told detectives that she let him drive it. >> we knew that even her husband was not allowed to drive our car. >> then they looked at bill's hands. >> he had an injury on his hand

that was consistent with the friction burn, that i myself had gone, when we were digging test holes. just on the shovel, getting on the palm of your hand. >> bill said he fell off his bike. and the more detectives looked that bill cumber, the were selected for him. the reason he did time in prison, for example? he was convicted of arson. >> he was jealous of his girlfriend, paramour. >> they had an argument, and he tried to burn the house down with her and her kids in it. >> it turned out that the haley's motel fire was intentionally started with accelerant. bill's shoes were tested later, and had traces of accelerants too. but that wasn't enough to make a case. so, do they arrest bill, charge him with murdering sabine? no, they did not. and a no body case would be very tough, said the

prosecutors, there is no proof the woman was even dead. so, the detectives turned up the heat. >> so there's always somebody knocking at the door, i wanna talk to, you i want to talk to you. >> we had a legitimate safety concern for other residents. especially if he wound up getting with another female. >> and bill couldn't take it. he left anna maria island, left the the county. unfortunately for him, that was a probation violation. so, before long, bill was in jail while the detectives kept looking for sabine. everywhere, no trace. then, in 2011, three years after she disappeared. a man named ed moss was clearing brush in front of his house on the island right next to the beach. >> and underneath a log, there was kind of a small purse. >> looked stolen, said ed, so he showed it to a deputy. >> and his eyes got really big, and he looked to me and said, you have no idea what you've just done.

>> it was sabina's purse, her drivers license confirmed it. >> we had this lead, as far as the purse being recovered, it is only two blocks of north where they actually lived. >> so, detectives kenney and bliss, got an army of police equipment, and started searching the area for her remains. but again, after weeks of digging through the sand and bush, nothing. >> both of us were obsessed with this case. we know he did i't. >> another thing kenney new, is that tom didn't do it. some people who had been suspicion of tom, but privately detectives had long sinced cleared him. >> i could tell that he didn't do it. but we went through the steps, we alibied him, and we did everything that needed to be done to make sure. >> apparently his attempt to

cash out the insurance policy so quickly was just a matter of financial survival. >> i would've never thought that tom had anything to do with this, that's why i felt so broken hearted. >> so with tom in the clear, detectives consulted with other jurisdictions on how they handled no body cases. they lined up all the friends that and circumstantial evidence, and finally the prosecutor told them they were ready. in 2012, four years after sabine vanished, bill cumber was indicted for second degree murder. but it was not going to be an easy case. >> obviously, you have evidence that goes with the body, cause of death, manner of death, and we didn't have that. >> and what would it take for a jury to believe handsome bill was a killer? >> coming up -- >> what was that like for you after all those years of trying to find something in failing? >> we were elated. >> a final clue leads

detectives back to the beach, and puts the trial on hold. >> he was crying quite a bit, that's the first time that i've ever seen him emotional. >> when dateline continues. two breaths as you get pfizer's maternal rsv vaccine, abrysvo. the only maternal vaccine given between 32 through 36 weeks of pregnancy to protect babies against rsv from birth through 6 months. 6 millions breaths to meet your baby. know you've helped protect them against rsv. abrysvo is not for everyone and may not protect all babies of vaccinated mothers. don't get abrysvo if you've had a severe allergic reaction to its ingredients. people with a weakened immune system may have a decreased response to vaccination. the most common side effects among pregnant women are headache, pain at the injection site, muscle pain and nausea. in clinical trials with abrysvo, low birth weight and jaundice were reported more frequently than placebo. every breath matters. talk to your obgyn or other healthcare provider about pfizer's maternal rsv vaccine, abrysvo.

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if you're over 50, talk to your dkeith morrisonacist (voiceover): the days slid by rather more slowly for bill cumber, back in prison on a parole violation and under indictment for murder. the days flip by rather but he did have visitors-- more slowly for bill cumber, back in prison for a parole violation and under indictment for murder.

but he did have visitors, detectives kenny and bliss. both had moved on to other cases but they still made time to present bill to come clean. >> we traveled three or four times up to where he was in prison and try to interview him. >> what would he say? he would say he had nothing to do with it or didn't want to talk to us. >> of course, they didn't believe that. the detectives were sure bill killed sabine. and in 2015, they thought he had an offer he couldn't refuse. >> we got the blessing of the state attorney to offer a deal. >> the deal? tell detectives where to find the body in exchange for a lesser sentence. >> he makes a statement, i'll take my chances with the jury. the hair on my neck stands up, because that's a very telling statement. an innocent man is going to say i didn't do it. >> bill will be taking his chances soon. his trial was just a month away. so, detectives approach the one person who maybe could persuade bill to take the deal.

>> detective bliss actually took the defense attorney into our property office and viewed all the evidence. >> there was sabine's blood on the couch, bill cumber's with those hands detectives believe came from burying her, and the evidence in her car, that cut upholstery with her blood and bill's dna. i think they went two bill cumber and said we are going to have a tough time with this. >> but he soon, prosecutor art brown got a call. >> i received a feeler from mr. cumber's defense attorney that he might be interested in a plea offer, 20 years in prison if you tell us the location of sabine. >> what do you know, bill bit. on october 15th, 2015, a bearded bill comfort pleaded no contest to second degree murder. then he said it -- and he sat down to answer questions of the tape recorder going. >> what was that argument like? >> chilling.

>> according to build, the argument was just about smoking. the bad parted when sabine said they weren't done. >> so sabine's actions say they can't go on with this anymore. what happens at that point? >> i lose control. i hitter in the head with my fist. and this is a disgusting situation, man. >> what's her reaction to getting struck? >> she gets scared, she covers her face with her hands. >> okay, what happens -- what do you do at that point? >> i reached and grabbed her throat and started choking her. >> he choked her until she stopped moving, he said. she never fought back. >> did he seem remorseful? >> somewhat. i mean, he wasn't teary eyed. it is kind of getting it off his chest. >> i just, i couldn't believe what i did. i stared down at her, and all kinds of things were going through my mind. i couldn't believe what i had done. >> he said he took a sheet off the bed, rolled her up in it, we did about an hour, drag her out to the car. he put her in the backseat.

she blood on the place he cut out the upholstery. and then he drove to the beach to bury her. >> did you bring a shovel with you? >> yes. >> on the way to bury her, he stole a shovel from haley's motel. and then after he buried her, he said he drove to the gator lounge, left the keys in the car hoping somebody would steal it. and then he took a bus back to the island, and a trolley back home. >> i thought he minimized certain aspects of his moment in the murder. >> minimize what? >> he says that it was just a split second moment of insanity. i think there is a little bit more calculation than that. >> after the interview, detective bliss put bill in his car and drove to the beach. but then, in handcuffs and leg irons, he shuffled down the long path to a place in the sand where he would often sit with sabine. this is where he brought the body. >> i spot they used to sit on

all the time, right down the road from haleysburg tell. and then he buried her on the beach there. >> right here, where he and sabine came to watch the sunset. >> here? which way to put her in? >> here. >> detective bliss map the area with tiny yellow flags. >> about how deep was the whole? >> about four feet, four, five feet. >> and then the detective gave bill an opportunity, whether he deserved it or not. >> gonna take a look. >> go ahead. >> i told them if you wanted to say a prayer, you could. and that's when he got teary eyed and emotional and apologized to her. i walked him back to the car and he just asked me to let her family know that she was a very good woman and she didn't

deserve to die and he was very sorry for what he'd done. and he was very emotional and crying quite a bit. that was the first time in my dealings with him that i've ever seen him emotional about what he had done. >> once he left, a team of detectives and the medical examiner dug slowly, carefully. and by the end of the day, they had found what was left of sabine. >> what was that like for you after all those years of trying to find something and failing? >> we were elated. me and my partners. it's a sense of relief, closure. >> bill cumber received a 20 year sentence. >> a lot of people aren't happy with the 20 years he got. but they are not part of the family that has to deal with it. should he have gotten life? absolutely >> detective sergeant kenney retired and detective bliss left the force.

tom buhler, who lost both the woman he loved him for years his good reputation, moved on. he remarried. and in 2021, he sold his beloved and restored haley's motel. but up and down the streets of anna maria island, sabine was not forgotten. >> i'm show blast she was in my life, even for the, time because she touch my life the plea. and it makes me really appreciate each and every day even more, because it can be cut short. >> even here in this little remnant of paradise,. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. thank you for watching hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is