Sabine Musil-Buehler was the owner of Haley’s Motel, a place on the beach on Florida’s Anna Maria Island. She was known for throwing fun, elaborate parties at the motel. When the social butterfly mysteriously disappeared on November 4, 2008, the community was worried. Her estranged husband Tom reported her missing. In October 2015, Sabine’s boyfriend, William Cumber, confessed to choking Sabine to death. As part of a plea agreement, Cumber also told police where he had buried Sabine. Cumber was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Cumber told police that on November 4, 2008, at the apartment they shared, he was watching the 2008 presidential election results on TV in one room, while Sabine was watching something else on another TV in the living room. He stepped out to smoke a cigarette. When he returned to the apartment, they argued about his cigarette smoking. When the argument escalated and she said she wanted out of the relationship, Cumber said he hit her in the head twice before choking her. He wrapped her body in a bed sheet and then drove to Haley’s Motel, where he got a shovel and went down the road to bury her body. Cumber tried to explain: “When I said that she [Sabine] was getting tired of the situation, it wasn’t just the smoking, it was the controlling issues that Tom was having on us… I wasn’t digging that.” Dateline NBC will air its investigative report on February 19 at 10pm.
