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Friends Of Missing Manatee Motel Owner Fear For Her Safety

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By HALLE STOCKTON

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: November 8, 2008

  Sabine Musil-Buehler

  Robert Corona

MANATEE COUNTY – Authorities say there is no evidence of foul play in the disappearance of a Holmes Beach motel owner, but her friends and family fear otherwise.

Sabine Musil-Buehler, co-owner of Haley's Motel on Holmes Beach, was last seen Wednesday night in the area of 14th Street West and 26th Avenue in Bradenton, according to Manatee sheriff's reports.

Her husband, Tom Buehler, believes his wife is in grave danger. He said he does not know of anyone who would intentionally harm her, but he worries she got caught up in a bad situation.

And Muli-Buehler's good friend, Debby Hall, believes her friend of 11 years is no longer alive.

"Sabine doesn't have her cell phone, no car, and police are saying there has been no bank activity," Hall said. "What would she be doing? Just walking around? This is just not her."

The 49-year-old hotelier — who they said was active in her community and devoted to her business – would not typically hang around in that neighborhood, Buehler and Hall said.

Rather, they think she was there to help someone, most likely a man who was recently released from prison who Hall said had worked at the hotel as part of a prison work-release program.

Musil-Buehler was officially reported missing Thursday.

The investigation began after deputies pulled over her vehicle, a white Pontiac Sunfire, in the 1200 block of 26th Avenue West around 2:30 a.m. Thursday, according to a report. Musil-Buehler was not inside.

The car's driver, Robert Corona of Bradenton, pulled the vehicle over and ran, according to a sheriff's report. Two other men stepped out and spoke with deputies.

After arresting Corona, 38, on charges of resisting arrest and driving with a suspended license, Corona told deputies he did not know the car's owner.

Re-interviewed at the jail, however, Corona said he and Musil-Buehler partied together and looked for cocaine to buy before she left for a bar, Sheriff's spokesman Dave Bristow said.

On Friday afternoon, Corona changed his story again, saying he found her vehicle at a bar on 14th Street and took it, Bristow said. Investigators are currently seeking the car's passengers for further information.

Buehler and Hall firmly denied that Musil-Buehler may have been in the area to use drugs, as some reports have indicated.

"People can't even smoke cigarettes at our motel," Buehler said. "That's how anti-drug she is."

Drugs would not fit into Musil-Buehler's healthy lifestyle, Hall said.

"Sabine would never put a drug into her body," Hall said. "She has never touched a cigarette. She doesn't even drink coffee. And she works out three times a week with a personal trainer."

Musil-Buehler is also an active community member, they said. She belongs to the Anna Maria Island turtle watch, the Amber Alert watch, the garden club, a wedding group and the Chamber of Commerce, among other organizations, Buehler and Hall said.

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