3-year-old's claim that mom had been murdered by dad as she 'went missing' proven true 20 years later
In 1993, then-three-year-old Aaron Fraser told a child welfare worker his dad had 'hurt' his mommy - but it wasn't until more than 20 years later that he was proven right.
Fraser spoke to an officer after his mom, Bonnie Haim, disappeared from the Jacksonville home she shared with her husband, Michael Haim, in January 1993.
At the time, Haim claimed 23-year-old Bonnie had left home after an argument about their marital problems.
He told police he'd been looking for his wife, but he hadn't notified law enforcement about her disappearance.
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It wasn't until a maintenance worker found Bonnie's purse in a hotel dumpster that police became aware of the situation, at which point Haim became a suspect in her disappearance.
Fraser spoke with child welfare worker Brenda Medders at the time, sharing statements including: "Daddy hurt mommy," "Daddy shot mommy," and "My daddy could not wake her up," according to an arrest affidavit.
However, with no body to support Fraser's claims, detectives had trouble building a case against him.
It wasn't until 2015 that officers had a break in the case, when a water leak forced Fraser to remove a concrete slab at his family home.
Underneath, he found what he described as a 'coconut object'.
"It ended up being the top part of her skull … we looked back in the hole and saw teeth," Fraser said in court later.
Authorities conducted DNA tests on the remains, and they were determined to belong to Bonnie. After inspecting the remains, a medical examiner concluded she died from a homicide 'by unspecified means'.
Haim was consequently arrested for second-degree murder, after which he pleaded not guilty.
But in 2019, Haim was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. He attempted to appeal his sentence, arguing, among other things, that statements made by his three-year-old son should not have been allowed into the trial.
The appeals court rejected his arguments, stating: “Haim admitted that he and the victim argued the night before she disappeared. And the day after her disappearance, a child-protection team member interviewed Aaron.
"The child made statements that further implicated his father. But Haim was never prosecuted, in part, because the victim could not be found. The case remained cold until 2014.”
Medders testified at Haim's trial in 2015, telling the court that during her conversation with Fraser she was simply trying to 'gather as many facts' as she could'.
"He gave me many," she added.
Bonnie's sister, Liz Peak, shared a statement after Haim was sentenced, saying: “For 26 years we searched for answers to our many questions. However, none of us wavered in our belief of what happened to Bonnie and who did it. Over the past 26 years many people have committed themselves to uncover the truth and finding justice for Bonnie.
"We got justice, but we don’t have Bonnie.”
Following his mother's disappearance, Fraser was adopted by another family.
Emily Brown