Post by Scumhunter on Aug 25, 2015 11:40:21 GMT -5
A 22-year-old cold case murder may have been solved after DNA tests on a body found buried behind a Dolphin Road home in December identified it as Bonnie Haim, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
Armed with that evidence, husband Michael Haim was arrested on Monday in Waynesboro, N.C. on a murder charge, wrapping up an investigation that saw weeks of searching for a body and even a crime recreation on TV’s “America Most Wanted,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
With State Attorney Angela Corey and the original homicide detective standing behind him, Sheriff’s Office Director Mike Bruno said that Haim will be extradited back to Jacksonville to stand trial in a case that started on Jan. 7, 1993. That’s when her purse was found in a Northside Jacksonville Dumpster and she didn’t show up for work.
Michael Haim told police that his wife had left after they had an argument late Jan. 5, and she left the next day from their home just north of the Trout River. Then her car was found abandoned at Jacksonville International Airport, Bruno said. The murder investigation begun in 1993 came full circle with a Friday arrest warrant for Michael Haim, and his arrest three day’s later by the U.S. Marshals Service and Jacksonville’s Cold Case Unit.
“He’s been residing in North Carolina with family,” Bruno said. “... There are still some elements to put together, but ultimately we had the probable cause and based on the information through 20-plus years and Det. [Robbie] Hinson’s work, we were able to build this case.”
Hinson, who worked the case initially as a Sheriff’s office homicide detective and now as a State Attorney’s Office investigator, said he is very happy to see this cold case now over.
“We used every resource we could to bring it to conclusion,” he said. “... I am really thankful and grateful that the Good Lord let me see this to its completion”
Workers renovating a home in the 2300 block of Dolphin Avenue in December found the remains while working on a pool. The home was empty and no one had lived there for some time. Neighbors speculated it could be Haim, who used to live there. Bruno said the DNA tests came back earlier this month identified the remains as Bonnie Haim.
Corey credited Hinson's doggedness and the long memory of all the investigators.
"This case involves just hundreds of individual circumstances spaning the last 20-something years that we will put together and put in front of a jury to seek justice for Bonnie Haim and her son," said Corey, who also worked on this case in 1993 as an assistant state attorney. "... I can't tell you what a long time it's been in this case. And I can't tell you the number of times after we ran out of leads, so to speak back then, that Robbie would come put a reminder in my office not to ever forget this case, and neither one of us have ever forgotten it."
The couple's son, Aaron, was 3 at the time of his mother's disappearance. But he filed and won a $26.3 million wrongful death lawsuit against his father in April 2005, the Sheriff's Office said.
Corey said she hopes to have this case in front of a jury within a year, after it goes to a grand jury.
jacksonville.com/news/crime/2015-08-25/story/jacksonville-womans-disappearance-1993-solved
Note: this case was also featured on Unsolved Mysteries:
unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Bonnie_Haim
Armed with that evidence, husband Michael Haim was arrested on Monday in Waynesboro, N.C. on a murder charge, wrapping up an investigation that saw weeks of searching for a body and even a crime recreation on TV’s “America Most Wanted,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
With State Attorney Angela Corey and the original homicide detective standing behind him, Sheriff’s Office Director Mike Bruno said that Haim will be extradited back to Jacksonville to stand trial in a case that started on Jan. 7, 1993. That’s when her purse was found in a Northside Jacksonville Dumpster and she didn’t show up for work.
Michael Haim told police that his wife had left after they had an argument late Jan. 5, and she left the next day from their home just north of the Trout River. Then her car was found abandoned at Jacksonville International Airport, Bruno said. The murder investigation begun in 1993 came full circle with a Friday arrest warrant for Michael Haim, and his arrest three day’s later by the U.S. Marshals Service and Jacksonville’s Cold Case Unit.
“He’s been residing in North Carolina with family,” Bruno said. “... There are still some elements to put together, but ultimately we had the probable cause and based on the information through 20-plus years and Det. [Robbie] Hinson’s work, we were able to build this case.”
Hinson, who worked the case initially as a Sheriff’s office homicide detective and now as a State Attorney’s Office investigator, said he is very happy to see this cold case now over.
“We used every resource we could to bring it to conclusion,” he said. “... I am really thankful and grateful that the Good Lord let me see this to its completion”
Workers renovating a home in the 2300 block of Dolphin Avenue in December found the remains while working on a pool. The home was empty and no one had lived there for some time. Neighbors speculated it could be Haim, who used to live there. Bruno said the DNA tests came back earlier this month identified the remains as Bonnie Haim.
Corey credited Hinson's doggedness and the long memory of all the investigators.
"This case involves just hundreds of individual circumstances spaning the last 20-something years that we will put together and put in front of a jury to seek justice for Bonnie Haim and her son," said Corey, who also worked on this case in 1993 as an assistant state attorney. "... I can't tell you what a long time it's been in this case. And I can't tell you the number of times after we ran out of leads, so to speak back then, that Robbie would come put a reminder in my office not to ever forget this case, and neither one of us have ever forgotten it."
The couple's son, Aaron, was 3 at the time of his mother's disappearance. But he filed and won a $26.3 million wrongful death lawsuit against his father in April 2005, the Sheriff's Office said.
Corey said she hopes to have this case in front of a jury within a year, after it goes to a grand jury.
jacksonville.com/news/crime/2015-08-25/story/jacksonville-womans-disappearance-1993-solved
Note: this case was also featured on Unsolved Mysteries:
unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Bonnie_Haim