JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – New documents obtained by News4Jax offer more insight into the disappearance of a Jacksonville woman who went missing 21 years ago and the allegations against her husband.
The documents claim that Bonnie Haim's 3-year-old son witnessed his mother's killing and told investigators his father, Michael Haim, killed her. Michael Haim has never been charged with her disappearance and has maintained his innocence.
The case has come to light again after a possible skull fragment was found buried behind the couple's Dolphin Avenue home on the Northside on Sunday. Investigators said a medical examiner and forensic archaeologist would help determine if the remains are Bonnie Haim's.
At the time, in 1993, police called Michael Haim their prime suspect. They said they had evidence indicating he killed his wife. The documents list some of the suspicious circumstances. Still, Michael Haim was never arrested.
IMAGES: The cold-case disappearance of Bonnie Haim
COURT DOCUMENT: $26.3 million judgment against Michael Haim
VIDEO FROM THE ARCHIVES: January 1993: Bonnie Haim missing |
April 2005: Haim's sister on judgment against Michael Haim
In 2004, however, a civil judge deemed Michael Haim liable in Bonnie's death and ordered him to pay $26.3 million to couple's son and the woman's estate.
Liz Peak, Bonnie Haim's older sister, said her sister's son, Aaron Haim, told her about what happened.
"'Daddy shot mommy in the stomach,'" Peak said of what he told her.
Peak said while Aaron Haim was young at the time, his story never changed. He told her and investigators that Michael Haim was the killer.
Peak said Aaron Haim drew pictures when he was young of his dad shooting his mom.
Aaron Haim's testimony is laid out in a 1999 document in which Circuit Judge Frederick B. Tygart officially took away Michael Haim's parental rights, ruling that it was in the best interest of the child, a boy who had "fear and hatred" toward his father.
"Aaron Haim is at serious risk of abuse from his father because he is the only living witness to the murder of his mother," the judge wrote.
Aaron Haim lived with his father for a few weeks after his mother disappeared, records show. After that, he moved in with his mother's side of the family.
In 1995, a foster family took custody of the boy. They officially adopted him in 2009 after a judge officially declared his mother dead and took away his father's parental rights.
The child kept in contact with his aunt, Liz Peak, and her family but "repeatedly expressed his desire to have no contact with his father," according a court document.
Court records also list physical evidence indicating Michael Haim's role in his wife's disappearance.
Detectives found his shoe print in Bonnie Haim's abandoned car, unexplained sand and plant mix on Michael Haim's shoes, and a shotgun in a nearby river.
The couple's son told police where it was.
"He was actually going over the creek and he said 'Stop! Stop! Stop! This is where Dad threw the gun,'" Peak said.
Peak said despite all of the evidence and testimony for Michael Haim being behind the crime, "without a body, it is difficult" to bring charges.
Attorney Gene Nichols, who's not involved in the case, believes if the possible skull found last weekend is Bonnie Haim's, the state attorney will try to prosecute the woman's husband.
"I think that there is no question that when Ms. (Angela) Corey gets enough information to suggest that this is Bonnie Haim, she will immediately take it to a grand jury based upon what the boy said back then, plus now finding the remains in the backyard of the home that the father lived in," Nichols said. "The grand jury will most likely indict, and Ms. Corey will prosecute this case."
Corey was spotted at the couple's home. She said Monday that she had no comment about the case, telling News4Jax it was in the hands of police at the moment. Jacksonville Sheriff's Office detectives have not commented since acknowledging the discovery of possible remains on Sunday.
Harry Shorstein, the state attorney at the time of the woman's disappearance, declined to comment about the case.
Haim's family is optimistic that they're on the verge of getting justice.
"Some of the things that they said back then were, 'If we arrested him and if we try him and he goes free because there is no body, then we could never retry him,'" Peak said. "Now with the body, hopefully, and with all the evidence that was found in the past, we should be very successful in a conviction."
Bonnie Haim's sister, speaking on behalf of Aaron Haim as well, said they know it could take weeks, months or even years to get the answers they want. But they feel this is the time that they'll finally be able to solve the case that had once seemed so cold.
A property search shows Michael Haim lives in Seymour, Tennessee. He has not been able to be reached. Phone messages left at his parents' home have not been returned.