Haley’s owners in foreclosure

HOLMES BEACH – Citing his wife’s status as a missing person and a fire that claimed part of Haley’s Motel shortly after her disappearance, motel owner Thomas Buehler has requested relief from foreclosure in Manatee County Circuit Court.

BankUnited sued Buehler, his missing wife, Sabine Musil-Buehler, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, nominee for Countrywide Home Loans, and two unknown tenants for foreclosure, claiming the Buehlers owe $574,293 on non-motel property at 512 72nd St. in Holmes Beach. More...

Beach search ends

ANNA MARIA – The front-end loaders have been pulled off the beach and the search for clues in the disappearance of motel owner Sabine Musil-Buehler will go in a new direction, according to investigators.

Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Investigator John Kenney brought the front end loaders to the beach several weeks ago the beach between Palm Avenue and Magnolia Avenue next to Gulf Boulevard. The beach at that location is within two blocks of where Musil-Buehler lived with her boyfriend, William Cumber, whom she had befriended while he was in prison for an arson conviction. More...

Clues scarce in Sabine mystery

ANNA MARIA – After a week of digging on the beach at Magnolia Avenue, Manatee County Sheriff’s Office homicide investigators and crime scene specialists are no closer to solving the mystery of Sabine Musil Buehler’s disappearance.

The department brought out two front-end loaders to dig 3 to 4 feet deep in the sand from the Magnolia Avenue entrance to the beach north 200 feet. The only thing they found was a pair of flip-flops buried about a foot down. Homicide Detective John Kenney said they are looking for a possible link to the missing motel owner who disappeared Nov. 4, 2008. He would not say whether they feel she might have been wearing flip flops when she disappeared. More...

Judge lets Buehler request stand

A judge has denied a motion to throw out Thomas Buehler’s request to have his estranged wife declared dead.

Circuit Judge Edward Nicholas ruled Tuesday against Great American Life Insurance’s request, agreeing with Buehler’s attorney’s assertion that law enforcement authorities are treating Sabine Musil-Buehler’s disappearance as a homicide. More...

Investigators turn to radar in search for Sabine

ANNA MARIA – With the Gulf on one side and the chalet-style homes along Gulf Boulevard on the other, Manatee County Sheriff’s Office investigators teamed with two Sarasota County counterparts to use ground-penetrating technology in search of the body of Sabine Musil-Buehler, who has been missing for more than a year.

The search for the missing motel owner was unsuccessful Tuesday morning, Dec. 1, but investigators for the sheriff’s office special homicide team, led by Sgt. Pete Ramone, are undaunted. More...

Remembering Sabine

ANNA MARIA - More than 25 people gathered at the beach behind the Sandbar restaurant Wednesday evening to commemorate the first anniversary of the disappearance of Sabine Musil-Buehler, co-owner of Haley’s Motel.

Tina Rudek, who used to walk the beach with Musil-Buehler, said she still feels the missing woman’s presence at the beach.

“This is a place she enjoyed and she’s still here,” Rudek said. More...

A year later, no breaks in Sabine case

HOLMES BEACH – One year ago on Nov. 4, 2008, Haley’s Motel co-owner Sabine Musil-Buehler had an argument with her boyfriend, William Cumber, not about the election, but about his cigarette smoking, and left their home.

That’s what Cumber told police when they came knocking on his door at 208 B Magnolia Ave. after she was reported missing by her husband, Tom Buehler, two days late. More...

Corona sentenced to four years

BRADENTON – Robert Corona was sentenced to four years in prison on Friday for stealing a car belonging to missing Haley’s Motel co-owner Sabine Musil-Buehler.

Corona, 38, pled no contest to grand theft of a motor vehicle, a third-degree felony, and misdemeanor charges of resisting, obstructing or opposing an officer without violence and no valid driver license. More...

Corona pleads no contest

HOLMES BEACH – Robert Corona pled no contest on Monday to grand theft of a blood-stained Pontiac Sunfire convertible belonging to missing Haley’s Motel co-owner Sabine Musil-Buehler.

Besides the third-degree felony charge, Corona, 38, also pled no contest to misdemeanor charges of resisting, obstructing or opposing an officer without violence and no valid driver license.

The maximum sentence for the offenses is six years and 60 days; a sentencing hearing had not yet been scheduled as of press time. More...

Cumber sentenced to 13.5 years

HOLMES BEACH – William Cumber, the last person who reported seeing missing Haley’s Motel co-owner Sabine Musil-Buehler alive last November, was sentenced on Thursday to 13.5 years in jail for violating probation on a 2006 felony arson conviction.

Cumber, 39, had previously admitted violating his probation by leaving Manatee County without his probation officer’s consent. He was arrested for driving with a suspended license in Marion County on Dec. 22, 2008, three months after completing a 3.5-year prison sentence for setting fire to the home of a Manatee County woman whom he felt had scorned him, according to the arrest warrant. More...

Cumber sentenced to 13.5 years

HOLMES BEACH – William Cumber, the last person who reported seeing missing Haley’s Motel co-owner Sabine Musil-Buehler alive last November, was sentenced on Thursday to 13.5 years in jail for violating probation on a 2006 arson conviction.

Cumber, 39, had previously admitted violating probation by leaving Manatee County without his probation officer’s consent. He was arrested for driving with a suspended license in Marion County on Dec. 22, 2008, three months after completing a 3.5-year prison sentence for setting fire to the home of a Manatee County woman whom he felt had scorned him, according to the arrest warrant. More...

Sabine mystery drags on

HOLMES BEACH – It’s been six months this week since Haley’s Motel co-owner Sabine Musil-Buehler was last seen or heard from by family and friends.

Her Nov. 4, 2008, disappearance and a Nov. 16 fire at Haley’s are still being actively investigated, according to spokesmen for the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and the State Fire Marshal’s Office. More...

Cumber admits violating probation

BRADENTON – Former Anna Maria Island resident William Cumber admitted in court Tuesday that he violated his probation and will be sentenced May 14.

Cumber, 39, could get a maximum of 30 years in prison for the violation, according to prosecutors, a fact his defense attorney has strongly criticized. More...

Corona trial postponed

BRADENTON – The jury trial of Robert Corona was postponed on Monday when his attorney, Thomas Ostrander, withdrew from the case, citing a conflict of interest with another client, William Cumber.

Corona, 38, was arrested by a Manatee County Sheriff’s Office deputy for theft of the car of missing Holmes Beach motel owner Sabine Musil-Buehler on Nov. 6, two days after her boyfriend, Cumber, reported seeing her last, according to sheriff’s office reports. More...

Cumber offered 15 years

William Cumber, the boyfriend of missing Holmes Beach motel owner Sabine Musil-Buehler, has been offered 15 years in prison by prosecutors if he admits to violating his probation.

Cumber will not accept the plea, said his court-appointed attorney, Tom Ostrander. He is scheduled for a hearing on March 17. More...

Cumber hearing set

HOLMES BEACH – William Cumber, the boyfriend of missing Holmes Beach motel owner Sabine Musil-Buehler, is scheduled for a violation of probation hearing on Feb. 24 before Manatee Circuit Judge Gilbert Smith.

Cumber, 39, denied the violation of probation petition last month, which charged him with leaving Manatee County without his probation officer’s consent and failing to remain at liberty without violating any law. He was arrested in Marion County in December on a charge of driving with a suspended license, according to court records. More...

Cumber denies probation violation

HOLMES BEACH – William Cumber has entered a plea of denial to a petition filed against him for violating his probation, waiving his arraignment and demanding a hearing.

Cumber, 39, may have been the last person to see Holmes Beach motel owner Sabine Musil-Buehler, 49, before she disappeared on Nov. 4, 2008. He told police they argued at their home over his cigarette smoking. More...

$5,000 reward offered in missing woman case

HOLMES BEACH - The Gold Star Club of Manatee County is offering a $5,000 reward for information on the location of missing Haley’s Motel co-owner Sabine Musil-Buehler, or information leading to whoever is responsible for her disappearance.

Musil-Buehler, 49, was last seen by her boyfriend, William Cumber, 39, after they argued on Nov. 4, according to a statement Cumber made to police. More...

Beach search called off

ANNA MARIA – A tip in the search for missing Holmes Beach hotelier Sabine Musil-Buehler turned into a dead end shortly after investigators began digging in the sand on Tuesday morning.

Police received a lead indicating some possible evidence on the beach near the Magnolia Avenue home that the 49-year-old woman shared with her boyfriend, William Cumber, 39, Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Sgt. John Kenney said. More...

Missing woman’s boyfriend maintains innocence

HOLMES BEACH – William J. Cumber misses his girlfriend, missing hotelier Sabine Musil-Buehler, and has no idea where she is, he told The Sun last week.

Cumber, 39, may have been the last person to see Musil-Buehler, 49, on Nov. 4 after an argument at their home over his cigarette smoking. More...

Boyfriend’s apartment focus of search

ANNA MARIA – Investigators are focusing renewed search efforts on the Anna Maria apartment and yard where missing hotelier Sabine Musil-Buehler was living with her boyfriend, William Cumber, at the time of her disappearance on Nov. 4.

According to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, a crime scene unit was sent to the small, single-story building last week, concentrating the search in the back yard. The investigators paid particular attention to the dirt behind the building, they said, adding they could not comment on anything they may have found. More...

Blood in stolen car matches missing woman’s

HOLMES BEACH – Blood found in missing hotelier Sabine Musil-Buehler’s stolen car is hers, according to test results confirmed by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. “It’s her blood. We’re not surprised by that,” MCSO spokesman Dave Bristow said, adding that the homicide investigation is continuing, along with a state investigation into a possible arson at her Holmes Beach motel. More...

Cumber ordered to pay costs of arson

BRADENTON – A judge has ordered Anna Maria resident William J. Cumber to pay $3,629 to cover the cost of investigating a 2005 arson that he pleaded guilty to in 2006.

Cumber has been questioned in the Nov. 4 disappearance of his girlfriend, Haley’s Motel co-owner Sabine Musil-Buehler, and the Nov. 16 fire of a duplex at Haley’s, 8104 Gulf Drive in Holmes Beach. The fire is being investigated as an arson. More...

Missing woman’s case hits home

HOLMES BEACH - Haley’s Motel co-owner Sabine Musil-Buehler was like a member of the family to Sage Hall.

Referring to her in the past tense comes hard, judging by the catch in her throat.

Musil-Buehler has been missing since Nov. 4, when she reportedly argued with live-in boyfriend William Cumber, 208-B Magnolia Ave., a suspect in her disappearance. Her husband and business partner, Tom Buehler, also has been questioned by police, as has another man, Robert Corona, who was found driving her car shortly after she disappeared, told inconsistent stories about whether he knew her, and was arrested for theft. More...

State takes lead in Haley’s fire probe

HOLMES BEACH – State fire investigators have taken over the probe of the Nov. 16 fire at Haley’s Motel and local officials say it could be some time before the cause of the blaze is known.

"It’s out of my hands. It’s in the hands of the State Fire Marshall," said Deputy Fire Marshal Kurt Lathrop, of West Manatee Fire Rescue. More...

‘Person of interest’ named in duplex blaze

HOLMES BEACH – Anna Maria resident William J. Cumber, 39, has been named as a "person of interest" in the investigation into Sunday night’s fire next door to Haley’s Motel, according to Holmes Beach Police Chief Jay Romine.

Cumber, the boyfriend of missing Haley’s co-owner Sabine Musil-Buehler, is one of a number of suspects under investigation in the fire, which destroyed the Haley’s duplex at 8104 Gulf Drive, he said. More...

Search for Sabine intensifies

The search for missing Island businesswoman Sabine Musil-Buehler took a grim turn Monday when Manatee County Sheriff’s Office investigators said they found a small amount of blood inside her car and evidence that pieces of seat covering and carpeting were removed. Investigators are trying to determine if the blood came from Musil-Buehler, the 49-year-old co-owner of Haley’s Motel in Holmes Beach.

Musil-Buehler has not been heard from since Wednesday, Nov. 5. Her estranged husband, Tom Buehler, filed a missing person’s report after police called him to report finding her car in the hands of a stranger in Bradenton. The two have been separated for several years, but they continue to have a working relationship. More...

Authorities searching for missing Island woman

Manatee County Sheriff’s Deputies are asking for help in locating Sabine Musil-Buehler, 49, co-owner of Haley’s Motel in Holmes Beach.

According to a news release, the last time she was seen was Wednesday night in the area of 14th Street West and 26th Avenue, in Bradenton. More...