The 14-hour day searches continued last week on the Anna Maria beach where Manatee County Sheriff’s Office investigators suspect missing motel-owner Sabine Musil-Buehler was buried.
Such a burial would have taken place in November 2008, nearly three years ago — before a renourishment crew piled sand 2 feet deep on the Willow Avenue beach, before wind and waves reshaped the shore, and before sunshine and rain generated a new growth of sea oats.
After two weeks of digging, often from about 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. with breaks for lunch or a rainstorm, the MCSO’s search had turned up no new clues in the Musil-Buehler case.
A beach nearby had been searched less than two months after Haley’s Motel co-owner Musil-Buehler disappeared. Her last known whereabouts were provided by boyfriend William Cumber, the person of interest in the MCSO investigation who said Musil-Buehler left their Magnolia Avenue apartment after an argument late Nov. 4, 2008, the date of the presidential election.
The beach in the general area also was searched last year.
What brought the investigators back last month was the discovery July 9 of some of Musil-Buehler’s possessions in an overgrown area of City Park near Willow Avenue.
Resident Ed Moss said the items, which the MCSO has declined to describe, were found while clearing out invasive plants from the park.
The MCSO searched the area with cadaver dogs July 12, then dug in a couple areas of “interest” July 13 and July 15.
Then, on July 18, the MCSO, under a permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, brought three tractors and drivers from its Manatee County jail farm operation to the site to begin digging up the beach near Willow Avenue.
The operation began weekdays about an hour after sunrise and continued to dusk, with the MCSO sharing the beach with walkers, as well as sunbathers, swimmers and skimboarders.
At one point, a family gathered on the beach with a decorated tree for a Christmas card photo just outside the search perimeter. At another time, a family of 12 set up a soccer field for an afternoon of games just beyond the dig site.
“Even under these circumstances, life’s a beach,” said Rebecca Ardis of Lakeland as she paused from her morning jog July 26 to watch the MCSO activity.
Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring maintained a constant presence at the site to babysit loggerhead nests and be available in the event the MCSO found an unmarked nest.
One well-guarded nest is due to hatch around Aug. 2, and AMITW plans to invite the MCSO team — routinely detectives and crime-scene technicians asked about the hatchlings’ pending arrival — back to the beach for the nest excavation.
The search took place July 18-22 and then resumed early July 25 and continued through last week. Investigators planned to return this week, probably on Aug. 1 and possibly Aug. 2, to finish digging.
Each morning, investigators began the day optimistic that they would find Musil-Buehler’s remains, but also emphasizing they have a strong case and have been working with the state attorney’s office to make an arrest.
The MCSO plans to re-interview Cumber, who was sent to prison in 2009 for violating probation terms on a 2005 arson conviction.
Cumber and Musil-Buehler had met before he went to jail for the arson — he set fire to his former girlfriend’s home in Bradenton. And she visited Cumber while he was preparing for his early release from prison in the fall of 2008.
After Cumber’s release, Musil-Buehler leased the apartment on Magnolia, which is just over a block from where her car was ticketed for a parking violation early Nov. 5, 2008, and several blocks north of where Moss found her belongings.
The MCSO recovered Musil-Buehler’s car in Bradenton on Nov. 6, after it was stolen from the parking lot of a 14th Street bar and involved in a high-speed chase.
The driver, Robert Corona, was convicted of stealing the car, but is not a suspect in Musil-Buehler’s disappearance. He told the MCSO he was checking unlocked autos for loose change when he found Musil-Buehler’s car with the keys in the ignition. Corona didn’t notice the blood stains that quickly lead the MCSO to suspect Musil-Buehler was dead, not missing.