I’ve finally managed to pull my nose out of the birthday books (though they’re not all finished arriving in the mail) and plan to update today. I also made a huge score on Amazon’s free Kindle books. A publisher made their ENTIRE COLLECTION of Holocaust memoirs available for free, 35 in all. I snatched up every one of them.
Anyway, on to the news:
One Anthony Joseph Palma has been arrested and charged with Kirsten Renee Hatfield‘s abduction and murder. Kirsten disappeared in 1997, taken from her bedroom in the middle of the night. Palma was almost a literal next-door neighbor of Kirsten’s; he lived two doors down. His arrest has made news as far away as France. Right now they’re looking for Kirsten’s body at his house. I hope they find it. Kirsten’s disappearance was one of the earliest MP cases I remember reading about, and it really touched me. I wrote a poem about her when I was twelve or thirteen (that would be in 1998 or 1999) and posted it on the internet, and her mom found it and emailed me.
Moving on: Toni Ann Bachman‘s husband Norman has confessed to strangling her during an argument and he’s pleaded guilty to manslaughter. His son Frederick, Toni’s stepson, is awaiting trial in another murder. Frederick was ten when Toni disappeared. All in all…pretty awful.
Authorities have located Lee Jan Marie Kratzer, who disappeared from Roanoke, Louisiana in 1982. She wasn’t reported missing until 2014. Lee had walked out of her life, changed her name to Lisa Neese and given birth to a daughter, and then died of cancer in 2008, at the age of 46. I wonder if her post-disappearance daughter will establish a relationship with her pre-disappearance children.
Sabine Musil-Buehler’s killer, William Cumber, has confessed to her murder and lead authorities to her body in Holmes Beach, Florida. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and got a 20-year sentence, with credit for time served. As Sabine’s daughter noted, it’s pretty stupid, given that some non-violent drug offenders in Florida get more than that.
Barry Whitton was convicted of his first wife’s murder last month, and the other day he got sentenced to life in prison. Barry is also a suspect in the disappearance of his second wife, Kimberly Whitton, and her daughter, Haleigh Culwell, who vanished from Section, Alabama in 2007. I fear we may never know what happened to them, unless they give Barry an incentive to talk by reducing his prison sentence.
The Charley Project Blog 
Which publisher for the memoirs? I’m hoping to snap them up too.
I follow your blog and appreciate all the work you do.
Thank you.
It’s called the Azrieli Series of Holocaust Memoirs.
I really will never understand how sentencing works sometimes. Norman Bachman gets 13.5 years – and if Toni Ann’s Body is found it will be reduced to 10? He killed her, dismembered her and hid her body … and lied about it for 18 years and all he gets is 13.5 years? I don’t know – I feel like if you take a life (In this type of manor) you should lose yours… (i.e life in prison). Maybe I am harsh – but I think if that was MY loved one I would be FURIOUS that all he got was 13.5 years. I suppose since its considered “Manslaughter as apposed to 1st or 2nd degree its a “Lesser” crime – but then all that after math should count for something as well… abuse of a corpse etc…
I totally agree.
I still cannot believe it took so long to arrest Palma. He has been under their nose this whole time. Was there not enough of his DNA to link him 20 years ago? I hope OK has the death penalty, even though her body has not been found its possible the DA may still go for it.
Kimberly whitton is my cousin I bbelieve with all my heart he killed them .I bbelieve that he chopped them up .they was not there long eenough to search the property if they had of they would have found the bodies ..I’ve had dreams of an old building n water behind it n body parts laying around it..I haven’t forgotten about u both ..Kim mother has lung cancer n she would love to knw what happen to her daughter n granddaughter…. They need to search that place again or tie him up by his balls n make him tell what happen .Kim I believe your spirit needs to rest