TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Blood In Car Matches Missing Woman, Deputies Say

ADVERTISEMENT

By HALLE STOCKTON

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: December 3, 2008

  Sabine Musil-Buehler

MANATEE COUNTY - Investigators have determined that blood found in the stolen car of a missing Holmes Beach motel owner matches her DNA, the Manatee County Sheriff's Office said.

Sabine Musil-Buehler, the co-owner of Haley's Motel on Holmes Beach, was last seen Nov. 4.

Her Pontiac Sunfire was found the morning of Nov. 6 when police pulled over Robert Corona, who was driving it, and two other men inside. Corona, 38, is in Manatee County Jail on a car theft charge.

Authorities found a small amount of blood on both front seats and the driver seat belt. Authorities would not say exactly how much blood and if it all matched Musil-Buehler's DNA.

Clothes belonging to the woman were also found in the back of the car, and sections of seats and carpeting from inside the car were removed, according to reports.

Manatee sheriff's spokesman Dave Bristow said the fact that the blood belonged to the 49-year-old woman was not a surprise. The sheriff's office is investigating her disappearance as a homicide.

There have been reported sightings of her, Bristow said, but none have panned out, officials said.

The man who last saw Musil-Buehler was boyfriend William Cumber, who is being investigated by authorities as a person of interest in her disappearance and in a fire that destroyed a two-story office building at Haley's Motel on Nov. 16.

Cumber, 39, has a previous arson conviction on his record, and authorities say he has given inconsistent statements about his whereabouts at the time of the fire. Cumber has said he feels he is being framed.

The fire is being looked at as suspicious, but has not been ruled an arson, Holmes Beach Police Chief Jay Romine said.

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT