Killer confesses, Sabine found
Case closed.
William J. Cumber III has confessed to killing Sabine Musil-Buehler in 2008 and the burden of not knowing what became of her is lifted.
Cumber told the state attorney and law enforcement what happened seven years ago Nov. 4, when he punched, strangled and buried his girlfriend.
It started with an argument about his smoking cigarettes, something for which Musil-Buehler had little tolerance, and escalated to her wish to end their relationship.
Cumber exploded, punched her twice with his fists on the head and, as she sat on the couch in the living room, choked her. Choked her until she was dead.
In a calm voice, based on the recording of the confession, he said he realized what he’d done and he knew he didn’t want to go back to jail. He knew he needed a plan to get rid of her body and conceal his crime.
Cumber took his time and he took great risks, such as carrying her body to the car, driving to the beach access at Haley’s Motel, and taking a shovel from the maintenance area. He then carried her — at about 11 p.m.-midnight under a waxing crescent moon — to the beach.
Anybody could have seen him. But no one did.
He stayed on Anna Maria Island for a week or so, before finding a ride out of town, and that was a key mistake. He left with a man in a truck with an expired tag and was stopped early in the morning on the interstate near Ocala.
He had violated a term of his probation for a Bradenton arson by leaving Manatee County and he now faced serving out the term of that earlier arson sentence.
Cumber was back in jail.
And so we have the story of how he killed Sabine Musil-Buehler.
Her friends and family will have closure.
But it doesn’t end here with facts and a story.
The community can be satisfied that the mystery of Sabine’s disappearance is solved and her killer will remain in jail for 20 years.
But Sabine Musil-Buehler deserves a legacy.
And each one of us who knows an abused person or child can lend a hand, step up and stop the cycle. We can make a difference, and that is how she can be remembered.
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Let’s reach out for Sabine.
And now, for the rest of the story.
— Bonner Joy
