Sheriff’s detective on search for Sabine: ‘We’re not giving up’

Manatee County Sheriff’s Office deputies will continue their search of private property near Galati Marine in Anna Maria for the body of Sabine Musil-Buehler, although so far, in two weeks of clearing brush, digging and searches by cadaver-sniffing dogs, there has been no apparent success.

Musil-Buehler has been missing since Nov. 4, 2008, and MCSO Detective John Kenney believes her remains are on Anna Maria Island. At the time of her disappearance, she was living in Anna Maria with her boyfriend, who has been arrested and charged with her murder.

“I’m convinced we’ll find her out here. We’re not giving up,” Kenney said.

Kenney headed the MCSO-Anna Maria substation when Musil-Buehler disappeared. He is now a homicide detective and still working on the case.

The MCSO arrested the boyfriend, William Cumber, in October 2012, while he was jailed in Charlotte County Correctional Institute for a probation violation on an unrelated   arson conviction.

Cumber has since been charged with the second-degree murder of Musil-Buehler and is being held in the Manatee County jail without bail.

He entered a not guilty plea and a trial is scheduled for the week of Oct. 14.

Kenney said the search of the residential property owned by Jack Fiske on South Bay Boulevard came after an inspection of cellphone records the night of Nov. 4, 2008, revealed “the possibility Musil-Buehler might have been in this area.”

For Kenney, the search for her body has been ongoing.

“I’ve been involved in this case for almost six years,” Kenney said. “It won’t be over for me until we find her body.”

At the time of her disappearance, Musil-Buehler was co-owner of Haley’s Motel in Holmes Beach with her estranged husband, Tom Buehler.

The investigation took another twist when an arson fire broke out at Haley’s Motel Nov. 16, 2008.

No arrest has been made for the arson.