True Crime All The Time - The Murder of Bonnie Haim

Episode Date: March 1, 2021

Bonnie Haim was a wife and mother who disappeared on January 6th, 1993. There were indications that her marriage to Michael Haim was in trouble and that he was abusive. Bonnie had been making preparations to take off with her 3-year-old son Aaron before she disappeared. Little Aaron made incriminating statements to police against his father, but the authorities could never had enough evidence to charge Michael Haim with anything.Join MIke and Gibby as they discuss the disappearance and murder of Bonnie Haim. Her case went cold for 21 years until her son Aaron uncovered her remains at the family home while doing some renovations. This revelation helped confirmed for the police the suspicions they had since Bonnie disappeared. Michael Haim was charged with Bonnie's murder and his trial hinged on his son's statements as a three-year-old. Who would the jury believe?You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 22 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in true crime, Mike Gibson. Gibby, what is going on? Hey man, I'm doing good. How about you? I'm doing good. You and I have a lot going on this week. We have this episode that's out right now.

We also have part two of the Grime Sisters murders that's out on Unsolved. And Saturday, we put out a brand new. Patreon episode on Walter Hill. You know, this was a man who couldn't seem to stay out of prison, but in his 40s, he killed three members of his 13-year-old girlfriend's family because they wouldn't let him marry her and take her away. Shocking. Yeah.

That somebody would not want that to happen. Yeah. You cannot marry her and take her away. Yeah. It's a good episode. They're both good episodes. Make sure that you check those out. Gives, we continue to see some great Patreon support.

Let's give our shoutouts. We had Tammy. Hey, Tammy. Betsy Davis. What's going on? Betsy. Lauren Porter jumped out at our highest level. Hey, Lauren.

Lupe Porter jumped out at our highest level. It's a lot of Porter in the house. It's a lot of Porter house. That's a lot of Porter. What do you think of those apples? Deborah Minkie. Hey, Deborah. Nate Wells.

What's going on, Nate? Katie Doss jumped out of our highest level. Well, thank you, Dawts. Jen Paul. Hey, Jen. Linda McAdams. What's going on, Linda? Sierra Mosheamer.

Well, what's up, Mosheemaw? Liz Schaefer. Hey, Liz. Cody York. What's going on, Cody? Jimmy Friday. That's one of those names make you think a little bit.

Just like... Think about what? They just got you thinking. Okay. Just in general. That's right. Thanks, Jimmy. Libby Sims.

Hey, Libby. Nancy McGrail. What's going on, Nancy? Cammy Bileck. Hey, Camie. Michael Bergman. What's what happened in, Michael? Anne Kelly.

Hey, thank you, Ann. Mike Kenley. Hey, Mike. Ilya. Ill you what? Exactly. Yeah. Ronda Bolito.

Hey, Balito. Lisa Craig. I appreciate that, Lisa. Jessica Mayweather. Hey, Jessica. And Cassie Samson. What's up, Cassie? So that's a lot of great new support.

And then if we go back into the Vault Gibbs, this week, we selected Gabby. Oh, my sister. Yep. Been with us. Gibby and Gabby. Yeah. Been with us a long time. We appreciate that.

long-term support so much. And we had some great PayPal donations from Clifford Veneer. Hey, Clifford. Joe Zoo Garcia. What's going on? Garcia. Aubrey Eldridge. Hey, Aubrey.

And Christina Wolf. Well, thank you, Christina. So thanks to all of you as well. All right, buddy. Are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I am so ready. We are covering the murder of Bonnie Hame. Bonnie Hame disappeared on the night of January 6th, 1993.

Her case went cold for 21 years. Her remains were not found until 2014 by her own son, Aaron Fraser, for years. I think Gibbs people believed that her husband Michael Hane murdered Bonnie. But much to the frustration of family and law enforcement, there was absolutely no physical evidence tying him to her disappearance and murder until that fateful day in December of 2014. Although the details of that night have been forgotten by Aaron and Michael will seemingly never confess, there is now justice for Bonnie's murder. Her life ended far too soon. And her death represents the tragedies that abusive relationships often lead to.

There are not a lot of details about what happened on January 6th. In fact, there's not a lot of details about Bonnie and Michael's relationship. Due to childhood amnesia, Aaron Fraser has no memories of his mother or what happened the night of her murder, even though he witnessed it. The only facts about what happened to come from statements he made when he was only years old, statements that he doesn't even remember making. Michael Hame is never publicly given any details of the night he killed Bonnie. Bonnie was born May 21st, 1969. Bonnie married Michael Hayne sometime around 1988. They had their son Aaron around 1990. Like we said, there's not a lot of

details about Bonnie's early life, but from her actions and the statements of friends and family, we know that Bonnie loved her son very much. She was described as a hard worker, intelligent, and brave. She was loved by everyone who knew her. And again, they knew how much she loved her child. The Hames lived in a home on Dolphin Avenue in the suburbs of Jacksonville, Florida. And they both worked for a local business. Michael's aunt, Evan Hayne, owned a construction supply company. Michael was the manager and Bonnie kept up the business accounts. By the holiday season of 1992, their marriage was going through a really rough patch. They had frequent, sometimes violent arguments. Evan did an interview for the show Unsolved Mysteries. And she talked about an incident that

occurred in the business's parking lot. She said Bonnie entered the building, crying and bleeding because Michael slammed her hand in the corridor, breaking some of her nails. This incident confirmed Bonnie's decision to leave Michael and take their son with her. She opened a bank account and began saving money and gives she was careful about this secret account. she had the statements mailed to work. But one day Michael discovered the account and forced her to close it.

So Bonnie started giving cash to her friends to keep for her. By January 1993, she had saved up about $1,200. So I think, you know, if you analyze this, it's pretty easy to see. This is a marriage that was crumbling. It was falling apart. Right. Michael was abusive. at least from this account given by his own aunt.

So, you know, this happened in public or, you know, at a business, you can only imagine if he was willing to do that or able to do that in that type of setting. What was going on at home? Oh, yeah. Makes you wonder. Well, it couldn't have been good, right? If Bonnie is thinking about or not even thinking about, she's made the decision that she has to get out of this relationship and she's going to have to take her son with her.

It's serious. When you get to the step of, okay, I've got to set up secret bank accounts. I've got to start squirling away money for my escape. To me, you know, that is more than just, okay, we can't get along. We're squabbling a lot, right? Right. We're not compatible. This is I have to escape and I need to do it in secret.

It really paints a picture to me of a lot of abuse, most likely, in the home. Because why else do you need to be so secretive unless you're deathly afraid of the repercussions that you might suffer if this or that gets out? It got to the point where Bonnie picked a date, January 23rd, 1993, as the date she was going to flee her home with Aaron. Why has made the movie sleeping within me? Very much so. Yeah. The planning.

Right. The I know I'm going to do this. I'm picking a date. And in those days leading up to that date, I've got to do this, this and this. Yeah. To be ready. Saving the money. making sure you have your change of clothes.

Make sure you have your wig. You know, this is how you're going to disappear. Yeah, I don't know if she was planning to do all that. No, no, but I'm saying I could,

you know, you see that kind of scenario. I absolutely get to comparison. And, you know, you think about that movie, it's scary. Yeah.

The, the whole movie, or not the whole movie, but a lot of that movie is very scary. But really, if you think about that beginning, it's much more scary

to me, now after you and I have done X number of cases that involved domestic abuse, domestic violence. I know so much more about it now than when I would have seen that movie originally. Oh. It scares me so much more today. Yeah. Because I think I have a deeper understanding of the issues involved from having done this podcast. Right.

Michael was supposed to be on a business trip. So she would have had a few days based on that date to get a head start on running away. She put deposits down for two different apartments. She enrolled Aaron in a new preschool. This whole time kept her plans hidden from Michael. Yeah. Smart. On Christmas morning, 1992.

Michael filmed Bonnie and Aaron opening presents. The video basically shows what's a. seemingly normal happy family probably doesn't look that much different from video that you and I would shoot with our family. But again, how much do you see in a picture? How much do you see in a video? Well, you see what people are showing you. Yeah, what they want you to see. What they want you to see. That's exactly right. What you don't see is everything that's going on behind the scenes. But this was the last footage of Bonnie Hame alive because she was going to disappear just a couple of weeks later. Bonnie and Michael had an argument on January 6th, 1993.

From Michael's statements to police, he said that the argument was about their marriage. He said Bonnie arrived home from work at 7.30 p.m. But she wanted to go back to work to meet Evan and make plans for a friend. baby shower. Bonnie called Ivan Hame at 8.30 p.m. She was crying. This was after an argument with Michael and she was extremely upset. Evan asked if she could call Bonnie back later that night, but Bonnie said no. She would call her in the morning. According to Michael's statements, Bonnie left the home at 11 p.m. that night and drove off in the car. Michael called his mother. Michael called his mother, Carol Hame, and asked her to come to the house to watch Aaron so he could go search for

Bonnie. According to both Michael and Carol, Michael was gone for about 45 minutes. He returned home, and the next day, he called Evan to tell her that he was taking a sick day. The one thing he didn't do was call the police. Which is alarming. Why wouldn't you call the police? Where's your sense of urgency. Well, I'm speculating here, but I think Michael would make the argument that we got in a fight. Right. My wife stormed out, took the car. Yeah, I went to look for her, but it's not like I thought she was in trouble or missing or needed help. And therefore, that's why I didn't call the police. Well, you can see that side of it. Now, we know ultimately that's not going to be the case. Right. Now, we know Michael didn't show up for work the next morning because he had already called, told his aunt that he was taking a sick day, but Bonnie didn't show up for work either.

And she never called the next day. January 7th, 1993, Bonnie was reported missing by the police, not Michael. Detectives went to the home and they told Michael that they found Bonnie's purse with ID, credit cards and cash. inside a dumpster at the red roof end near the Jacksonville airport. This was just about five miles from their home. Michael told detectives the same story, right? Bonnie left the house the night before around 11 p.m. after they got into an argument. He really didn't offer any details of where he thought she was or where she could have gone.

He's just sticking to the story. This is what happened. This is all I got for you. She left that 11 p.m. and I haven't seen her since. Yeah, he's definitely sticking to his story. You know, what else is he going to do? I think what I really want to analyze here is, okay, Bonnie left.

But once you find her purse and the IDs are in there, the credit cards are in there, most importantly, the cash is still in there. I mean, that is very suspicious because you think, okay, if she was robbed, if she was carjacked or if anything like that had happened, somebody might throw the purse in a dumpster. Yeah. But after they've cleaned it out of things that, and especially cash, you know, that's the first thing that's going to go. They might decide whether or not they want to take the credit cards or that, but no thief is going to leave, you know, cash inside the purse. And then later that day, a detective found Bonnie's Toyota Camry in the airport park.

parking lot. So now we have more mystery. Did she jump on a plane? Did she put her plan into action and take off? But there's some holes there. Sure there is. Number one, she doesn't have Aaron. And that was never part of the plan. She wasn't going to leave without. No. Yeah. And why would she leave her purse behind with cash and credit cards and things that she might need? Her photo ID. And a photo ID to get. where she needs to go. The other thing about her Toyota Camry was that, you know, authorities noticed that the driver's seat was pushed back very far. Now, Bonnie was only 5 foot 3.

That's about, you know, the same height of my wife. Right. I'm 6.2. There is a huge difference in where the seat needs to be in the vehicles that we drive. Yeah. She doesn't like it when you drive her vehicle. No. As you don't like it when she borrows your truck and doesn't put the seat back because now you're scrunched.

I can't get in. Right. So you have to mess with that button and all that. I literally have to push the seat back before I can even get in the car. She has to have it so far up. My knees won't get in. So they looked at this and thought, okay, it looks like the seat is positioned to suit someone closer to Michael's size. Because we know Gibbs are going to look at the husband.

right? Right. Sure. Especially if they find out that, hey, they've been arguing, they've been fighting. He slammed her hand in the door. The other thing that they found was a near perfect shoe print on the driver's side floor. The tread pattern was traced to a pretty rare style of tennis shoe, but it was a pair owned by Michael Hane. But, and this is something that you really have to look at, he's the husband. Sure. Just like I talked about. right he's most likely driven that car how many times yeah probably recently i mean just proves he was in the car but why wouldn't he be in the car it's his it's his car too yes it's their car so you have this evidence but it's really nothing that detectives can do something with i don't think that stopped them from thinking right away that Michael may have done something to Bonnie. But they didn't have the evidence to prove it. Right. Not even close.

Robbery was quickly ruled out as a motive due to the same thing that I've already talked about, right? Cash left in the purse, credit cards left in the purse. Well, you're not much of a thief if that's how you operate. Yeah, you're not a good one. And then Bonnie never showed up for. work on the eighth. So now people are very concerned that, you know, she's missed two days of work. She hasn't called. They found her purse. They found her car. Something bad has happened to Bonnie or

she's left and she's never coming back. I know Michael's aunt, Eve Ann, believed that Bonnie was dead. And that was based on the fact that she knew Bonnie would have contacted someone. even if she was distraught and thought, hey, I've got to get out of this house. I've got to leave right now. She would have contacted someone in the family. Well, she never left Aaron either. Yeah. And I think that was probably even a bigger point.

Aaron was her whole life. There was a lot of people that talked about it. Evan said on that Unsolved Mysteries episode that when Michael spoke to police, he didn't seem concerned about Bonnie at all. even though, you know, she'd been missing for, you know, quite some time, a day or two at that point. I think about myself and my wife. Okay. We get into a dust up every now and then.

Yeah. Not physically, but, you know, just like any married couple, you're going to have a dust up. Sure. Every now and then. If my wife stormed out at 11 o'clock at night and I didn't hear from her or nobody in, her family, her mother, anybody had not heard from her in a day. They found her purse in a dumpster and her car parked at the airport. I would be worried sick out of my mind. Major concerns. Yes, because I know my wife. I know she's not going to, you know, leave the kids behind. She's not

going to leave me over a dust up like that. But even if you didn't know her like Michael should have known. I mean, if I was like a stranger hearing this for the first time, I'd be like, that's concerning. Yeah. What do you mean? You're not, that's concerning. Right. It should be concerning to you. And I think, you know, you can point to a lot of episodes where the husband turns out to be the killer. And you see that quite a bit. Sure you do. It's just like, they just don't act the way that you expect a husband to act when something has. You know, happens. Now, you've also seen it the other way around. You've seen some Oscar winning performances. Oh, we sure have. From husbands that have gone so far over the top in their grief. And it turns out they knew

the whole time what happened to their wife. So, you know, it's hard to figure it out. But to have really no concern at all seems like such a big red flag. And I think it was to police. It had to be. Gibby no intuendo locidesis. Now, in case you don't speak Spanish, that means Gibby. I don't understand what you're saying. And I just learned it from Babbel, the number one selling language learning app. One of my goals for the new year was to learn a new language, and Babel has made the whole process addictively fun and easy with bite-sized lessons that you actually use in the real world.

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That's B-A-B-B-B-B-B-E-L.com code T-Cat for an extra three months free. Babel. Language for life. Detective Robert Henson, who was working this case, had a child psychologist interview Aaron. Aaron gave some statements to the psychologist, revealing that Michael and Bonnie had some sort of physical altercation that night. he made the following statements daddy hurt mommy daddy shot mommy daddy placed mommy in time out wow my daddy could not wake her up now this kid's three years old yeah but you put those four statements together those are very concerning he was also able to draw a picture of his mother showing what appeared to be her being shot in the stomach those are some pretty

interesting things for a three-year-old to say. Yeah, I mean, kids say all kinds of things. Some kids make things up. Some kids tell stories. Some of this stuff seems pretty darn specific to me, though, Gibbs, as it relates to the fact that a woman, a wife, a mother has disappeared. Right. This isn't a story that a flying turtle came down and stole my ice cream. Right. This is daddy hurt mommy, daddy shot mommy, daddy couldn't wake mommy up. So you know after hearing this, police are even more in the camp that, all right, Michael was somehow involved in Bonnie's disappearance. We've got to figure this out.

The problem is they just couldn't find the evidence. You know, they searched the backyard, but they didn't dig into the ground. They didn't dig up the backyard. And that's going to come back to haunt police. Yeah. But I think one thing that's important to point out is that it didn't seem as though very many people at all believed Aaron, including Bonnie's family. Oh, he is three years old. You know, and he's missing his mom.

Could some of the stuff that he says be made up? Yeah. I mean, you have to question it, right? You can't take everything that a three-year-old says to be. a fact to be real, but Bonnie's own father told Unsolved Mysteries, the credibility of a child is something that you have to judge in perspective. And Aaron did make some statements that were not true. You know, like he said, mom's car is in the lake. Well, that wasn't true, right? They found her car by the airport. And again, there was absolutely no physical evidence to tie Michael to bring charges against Michael.

let alone convict this guy at the time. And I think that even caused more doubt about Aaron's statements. Bonnie's father also defended the footprint in the car, saying his prints were probably in his wife's car too. I mean, I think that goes back to what you said. Bonnie's disappearance divided the two families. You know, most of Bonnie's own family with the exclusion of her sister Liz, believe that she abandoned her husband and child. And that's kind of hard to think. I mean, this is Bonnie's family. You would think they would be the other way. Yeah, you would think they would be in the camp of,

well, there's no way that she would abandon her son at the very least. Now, she might leave her husband, but. And then on the flip side, there were people in Michael's family that thought, yeah, he murdered Bonnie. And see, that's so bizarre. You have the family of Bonnie saying,

she probably skipped town it just doesn't it's just the dynamics here are confusing why wouldn't it be the opposite you would think and in most cases it would be right the victim's family or the person that's disappeared their family is going to be normally in the camp of well she just wouldn't run away something had to happen to her right and the husband's family would normally be in the camp of saying, well, we know this guy. There's no way he would hurt his wife. He wouldn't take away the mother of his child. That's what we see in case after case after case. That's why I thought this was very interesting. You had members of each family kind of acting in the opposite way from what we normally see. Now, Bonnie's dad came out and said that he didn't think Michael was completely innocent,

but he hadn't seen any evidence to make him believe that he killed his daughter. Initially, Aaron went to live with his aunt, Liz Peake, his mother's sister. Michael convinced Bonnie's family that Liz was evil for taking Aaron into her custody. He essentially turned Bonnie's parents against Liz and her children. Her family stopped speaking to her. Liz was only 26 years old at the time. And I think she was very fearful of Michael. Because she's the one person that thought he was a monster.

Aaron was eventually adopted by the Fraser family and changed his last name. But Gibbs, his time went on. Aaron lost all memories of what happened that night. He lost every memory of his mother. and although he can't remember what happened on January 6th, he suffers from trauma, he suffers from PTSD. He's dealt with depression and suicidal thoughts since he was 16 years old. But Aaron always had an urge to find his mother's remains. When he was 18 years old, he drove down to the river with a shovel intending to look for his mother's body. And this was just one of a non-year-old. And this was just one of a

number of attempts. He did this quite frequently. Yeah. He just thought in his mind that he was going to be able to find her. But the years, they just kept passing by. Eventually, Bonnie was declared legally dead. A civil court found Michael liable for her death. In April 2005, Aaron won over $26 million in a wrongful death lawsuit against his

father, Michael. he also won ownership of the family home it gives you and i have talked about this before big difference between bringing a civil case against someone and bringing a criminal case right the burden of proof is much lower in a civil trial i mean you can just point to the o j i was i say the o j simpson's a perfect perfect example yes but i think the fact that Aaron brought about to suit against his father, it tells you everything you need to know about his feelings. He obviously thought that his father killed his mother. And so did whoever decided the civil case? But I mentioned that Aaron won the family home. This was huge. It was

used as a rental home until 2014. That's when Aaron began some renovations. On December 14, of that year. Aaron was excavating the backyard of his childhood home to remove the pool. He and his brother-in-law rented an excavator and they began smashing up the swimming pool. As they were doing this, the excavator cracked a large concrete slab near the outdoor shower, and it caused a leak. So they used a sledgehammer. And they began tearing down this shower pad to try to find the leak. As they were doing this in the dirt, Aaron found a plastic bag with something inside. And as he examined the contents of the bag, Aaron realized that inside was a human skull. I think at first, Aaron wasn't exactly sure what was in the bag.

He described it initially to police as a coconut shell. That's what he thought was in the bag. But when he and his brother-in-law looked in the whole. hole, they saw teeth. And I think pretty quickly, he realized that this was a human skull. So he put the bag back in the hole. Police eventually figured out that this was his mother, Bonnie's skull. Yeah. They also found the 22 shell casing, which later ballistically matched a gun that Michael owned. And after digging, they found the rest of Bonnie's remains.

They were badly decomposed. Because we're talking 21 years. Her body was underneath this shower pad. They did find one of her finger bones intact. And in fact, her wedding ring was still on it. Now, what I didn't mention was that initially, Aaron didn't want to call 911. And he later said, that that was because he didn't want the media to descend on his house.

I mean, I get that. This is going to be a huge breaking story. But obviously, once the police showed up, there's no stopping the media from finding out about it. And the media was not far behind them, right? Doesn't take long for the media to figure things out. Now, I said they knew this was Bonnie, but it took eight months for DNA to confirm. that the skull belonged to Bonnie Hame.

The medical examiner concluded that she died by homicide of unspecified means. Well, they always said they needed physical evidence. Yeah, I think Michael was always a suspect. They just never had the evidence. They never had enough to arrest him. But obviously, this discovery changed everything, right? 21 years later, Michael was arrested on August 24th, 2015 and charged with second degree murder. He was 49 years old at the time. Michael was living in

North Carolina with his new wife. And according to an article in the Florida Times Union, he had at least partially lived off Bonnie's life insurance policy until about 2015. So, you know, another red flag is that, okay, he got a big payout after Bonnie was declared legally dead. And But again, if you don't have the evidence, it's really tough to move forward. Aaron was relieved when his father was arrested, but that relief didn't last long. Michael only spent four months in jail before he paid his bail and was free until April 2019 when his trial began. Well, it's a long time to be out until that trial begins.

Yeah. It's a long time for the trial to start, right? Four years it took. You know, in 2016, Aaron ran into his father at a restaurant. Now, how strange would that be? This is the man that you believe murdered your mother. He's out, still living his life, and all of a sudden, hmm, you bump into him. But apparently that was their only interaction before the trial. Also in 2016, Aaron had an interview with police to help them prepare the case for trial. He told investigators how his grandparents tried to deny.

what he saw that night. I guess they told him, you're brainwashed. Trying to convince him that he didn't see his mom and dad arguing, that he didn't see daddy hurting mom and mommy being shot in the stomach. Basically saying that none of the things you said were true or accurate. Now, Michael, meanwhile,

he appeared at some preliminary hearings. There was a case made by his defense team. to suppress Aaron's statements from 1993. Well, if you take those statements that he made in 1993 and combine it with the physical evidence, it's not good. No, it's not good. So as a defense team, you would want those statements suppressed, right? You would want to make the argument that he was a three-year-old child.

You can't allow him to get up on the stand and say what he said back then. But on February 2nd, 2017, the defense's motion to suppress Aaron's 1993 statements was denied, meaning they would be a pretty key piece of evidence in his 2019 trial. I think it's one of the biggest pieces of evidence besides the fact they have the remains of her body now. Now, we've talked about Aaron, right, not remembering what happened back then. So he couldn't get on the stand and testify about exactly, what happened. He didn't know exactly what happened on January 6, 1993, but it would be his statements from when he was three years old that would help convict his father, as well as his testimony

about the impact of that night on his mental health. Michael's trial began on April 8th, 2019. And by all accounts, Gibbs, Michael was very confident. He appeared very confident throughout the trial the entire time he professed his innocence. His defense team argued several main points. First, they claimed Michael was completely innocent on all charges. They argued the case was built on innuendo and hypotheticals that don't exist. They said there was just too much reasonable doubt in the case and the prosecution was stretching the truth to get a conviction. In their opening statement, the defense said, we agree she's dead. We agree that's her body in the backyard,

but they have to prove to you that he did it. When you listen to the evidence, ladies and gentlemen, and when you're finished, you're going to see the lack of evidence in this case far outweighs any evidence they brought you. They argued that the police didn't do enough to rule out a man who they said Bonnie was having an affair with. But there are no sources.

There are no other people that mention this man or the affair. So I think you have to make the assumption this is something either the defense made up or Michael said to them, which is probably more likely. Yeah, he probably said, let me throw something out there to give some reasonable doubt or to help some reasonable doubt. But this is your own backyard. I'm surprised he was that confident, you know, to know that they found her remains. in the backyard of your house. Yeah, you would think it'd be tough to be confident. But every source said that he appeared that way.

Maybe it was because, hey, had gotten away with this for 21 years. They're not going to get me now. The prosecution was led by three attorneys, Melissa Nelson, Nelson, Alan Mizrahi, and Mack Hevener. Bonnie's family testified that she was planning to leave Michael. after several years of abuse, they described Michael as a man accomplished at burying the truth. And I guess throughout the trial, the attorneys, they called him names. They referred to him as things like Mr. Ill Will, Mr. Spite, and Mr. Evil Intent.

Wow. I found that kind of interesting. We're not saying Michael Hame, we're saying Mr. Evil intent did this, this and this. They argued that Michael had the motive, opportunity, and the ability to kill Bonnie. He knew she was planning to leave him because he had heard her on the phone making that distressed phone call to her friend that night. They brought up evidence such as the shell casing that matched a firearm he owned, the footprint in Bonnie's car. They pointed out that the footprint was Sandy and they said that it isn't. indicated he had just finished burying Bonnie's body before he dropped off the car at the airport.

And then I think Gibbs, they talked about some of the stuff that you've talked about. It wasn't like Bonnie to leave her son. She wasn't the type of person who would have done that. No, because in all her planning, it was always about her and Aaron. It wasn't about her. It was about the both of them. They also pointed out that she didn't take a thing from the house. They listed several aggravating factors that justified deviating from normal sentencing guidelines.

The crime was committed in the presence of a family member. The crime included tampering with evidence and the crime was committed in a heinous, atrocious, and cruel manner that inflicted severe emotional trauma on the victim's family. Well, especially Aaron, right? Yeah, I think that was the key. And then on April 9th, Aaron gave. testimony about finding his mother's skull in the backyard. He spoke about how for years, he slept with a brick under his pillow because he was scared his father was going to come for him

in the middle of the night. He said at the age of six, he asked his adoptive parents if they could search for his mother. They agreed and Aaron said he walked into the garage and got a shovel. He knew Bonnie was no longer alive, but he wanted to find her. remains. The Florida Times Union quoted Aaron as saying, I have always known that my mom was buried. I just didn't know where. I tried to remember, but I couldn't. You know, it's interesting how Aaron talks about he always knew he needed to find his mom when she was buried somewhere. How bizarre how the events unfolded that led him to reclaiming his childhood home, which eventually was the opportunity that he had to find his mom.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's really one of the main things that makes this case so bizarre, right? Bonnie's disappearance, her murder, that is what it was. Yeah. But if Aaron doesn't sue his dad, he doesn't win the house, he doesn't start making renovations. Maybe her body's never found. Exactly. And we never get to find out what happened. Two inmates who said they spoke to Michael in prison testified saying that during his time in jail,

Michael confessed to killing Bonnie. CNN reported that Terrence Richardson, one of the inmates, said Michael talked about choking Bonnie, how Aaron was angry with him and about burying her body in the backyard. Michael accused Bonnie of having an affair that night. according to Richardson, he got pissed off. He beat the shit out of her. So bizarre what people will say to other inmates in prison, you know? Yeah, if they're true.

If they're true. I always take these jailhouse confessions with a grain of salt. Because, you know, allegedly Michael confessed all of this on the first day that he met this guy in jail. And that just seems very strange to me. Yeah. that a guy like Michael who had held this secret for such a long time would all of a sudden would all of a sudden tell a perfect stranger in jail, I did this, this and this.

And what's interesting is that it's really these statements by Terrence Richardson that are the only information relating to the actual details of what happened that night. If you believe what he's saying. But if you take what he says and incorporate into what. three-year-old Aaron said, and now you have the remains of this body. It leaves a story. Michael Hane took the stand and he made the statement, I love my wife. I would have never hurt my wife.

He testified about Bonnie state of mind, said she'd been unhappy for maybe a month, maybe two. He said, I can't put my finger on how long, but it had been going on where she wasn't her bubbly self like she was. when he was questioned about where Bonnie went that night. Michael said he didn't know, but he assumed that she was going to her mother's house. Michael's parents testified and told the judge that he was raised in a loving Christian home. In the prosecution's closing arguments, they made an impactful statement about Aaron's discovery of his mother's remains. They said, on that day, that mother and child reunion brought Aaron Fraser

face to face with the products of his defendant's ill will. It brought him face to face with the product of this defendant's hatred. And it brought him face to face with the product of this defendant's spite and evil intent. The problem I have with Michael saying he never hurt his wife because he loved his wife and he didn't have anything to do with this, but yet she was buried in his own backyard and all this time he never knew that. I could go out and bury something in your backyard right now, and you're going to know that I buried something there of that size. Well, especially if you pour a slab over top of it.

It's going to be kind of an indication that something has happened that I'm not aware of. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, I get what you're saying. It's pretty hard to argue that you didn't know or that you weren't the cause of this happening. It just is. but as a defendant up there on trial for your life, what else are you going to say? If you're going to take the stand, you're going to deny, deny, deny.

There's nothing else you can do. He's already lied about her having an affair. He's going to, you know, he's just going to keep pown. Oh, of course I loved her. Why would he say anything but the fact that he loved her and would never hurt her? It's just, he's so full BS. Yeah, most people that are guilty are. That's kind of their goal is to BS.

their way out of something. Well, he was able to do it for a long time. But on April 12th, 2019, after just 90 minutes of deliberation, Michael Hayne was found guilty of second degree murder. The jury agreed with two of the aggravating factors. The crime was committed in the presence of a family member and the crime included tampering with evidence. But they found that the crime was not committed in a heinous, atrocious, and cruel manner. So again, you know, you don't know how juries come up with what they do, but could that also be because they didn't know how she really did die? I think that is probably a big part of it, right? Okay, they found a 22 shell case, but they couldn't really tell how she died.

Right. 21 years of decomposition, all you have is bones. Now, if he had shot her in the back of the head, right. They would have been able to make that determination. Sure. But if he shot her in the stomach, which correlates to, you know, one of the statements that Aaron made, I don't think there would be any way for them to know that. But I did find it interesting how fast the jury came back.

I mean, 90 minutes. That's fast. It is. It's pretty quick. Makes you think that, you know, when it was all said and done, they didn't have any reasonable doubt. No, I think they just went down the list. check hit all the check marks on the list you know make sure before they came back out that they can say they did a full review but this guy's guilty yeah which you hope they do sure you hope

they do that review and go through the process and all of that on may 21st 2019 michael received his sentence from the judge life in prison and what's interesting about this sentence is that it differed from the normal guidelines normal guidelines suggested a sentence of seven to 22 years for second degree murder. But Bonnie's family asked the judge to consider a 26 year sentence to acknowledge the 26 years that had passed since Bonnie's death and the 26 years that Michael had remained free. Pretty powerful statement. Yeah, it is.

And, you know, to differ from the normal sentencing guidelines, the judge has to provide a written reason. In his 11-page sentencing order, which he presented to the prosecution as well as to the defense, the judge approved two of the three factors. The jury found proving beyond a reasonable doubt to justify the aggravated sentence. Hames' defense attorney argued that there were no grounds to deviate from sentencing guidelines, but that motion was denied. Michael Hame received life in prison with a credit for 140 days served and was required to pay court costs of $253. Doesn't seem like a lot of court costs.

Pretty minimal. Before the sentence was handed down Gibbs, the family were allowed to read impact statements. Bonnie's sister Liz Peek said in her statement, for 26 years, we searched for answers to are many questions. However, none of us wavered in our belief of what happened to Bonnie and who did it. We got justice, but we don't have Bonnie. After his sentencing, Michael walked out of the courtroom without looking at anyone. He started his sentence on June 4th, 2019. Michael Hame is now 54 years old, and he'll spend many, many well-deserved years in prison. Now, the one thing that we haven't talked about gives is that investigators believe that it's possible Michael had an accomplice who picked him up

from the airport. But they've never been able to prove that or figure out who it was if it's true. Yeah, I think that'd be a tough one to prove, right? Just because you got to ride back with the airport. There could have been a stranger. Exactly. But you can see where that comes from. If he drops the car, off at the airport, how does he get home? Yeah. But the airport was only five miles away. Heck, he could have walked back. He could have run back. I can run that flat out in 11 minutes. If you could, I'm pretty sure you'd be the world record holder in the book of genius. Because I'm pretty sure, what's that? Like a two minute mile, a little bit over a two minute mile. It's a lot of coffee. It's pretty quick. Yeah. It's pretty quick. But I mean, you're Jason born. I'm not going to put it

you got always got to know how how fast you can run if you need to michael was charged with second degree murder not first degree second degree murder is intentional murder that lacks premeditation is intended to only cause bodily harm and demonstrates an extreme indifference to human life investigators assumed that he killed bonnie during their argument in the heat of anger and didn't think through his actions. But I think when it comes down to it, Gibbs, Michael is the only one who truly knows what happened that night. And he's never publicly shared any details beyond his original story

that he's kind of stuck to. Right. And I don't see any reason why he would ever give the truth at this point. So it's very possible we'll never know. Did he plan his wife's murder after he found out that she was going to leave him? Or did he really kill her accidentally during a violent argument? And why would he tell anybody at this point? He's already lost everything.

He has no relationship with his son, no relationship with his family. And he lost the life he built with his new wife. Yeah, he lost his freedom. He lost all the things that you mentioned. Now, there's nobody listed. that feels sorry for Michael Hame because the flip side of that is he took away Bonnie's life and his actions Gibbs had such a tremendously negative effect on his son's life. I think Aaron has had it extremely rough and that's pretty sad. When you think about losing your mom at the age

of three witnessing what he did trauma. PTSD. It probably will affect him forever. I go back to how rough the family was on Liz when she took Aaron in and Michael led that revolt against her. Yeah, I didn't really find out, you know, I'm assuming they've patched things up. Sure. Now that they know what really happened to Bonnie.

but even though we may never know exactly what happened, we know that Bonnie's life was taken way too soon by an abusive man who will now serve a long, long time in prison. And you hope that now that there's some justice, maybe that will help Aaron out. Maybe he can finally find some peace now that he knows he's safe from his father. But that's it gives for the case of the murder of Bonnie Hame tough, tough story from a number of different angles.

You know, a wife and mother loses her life at a young age. Yeah. A three-year-old is scarred for, you know, probably the rest of his life. And it took 20 plus years to find out who was ultimately responsible for what happened to Bonnie. Like I said, I think people had their suspicions. I think people knew or thought they knew who had done this. But there's that ripple effect.

And you kind of touched on it with the family. Family member versus family member because they don't know and everybody's taking sides. And, you know, it had to have fractured probably both of those families. And nobody comes out unscathed. No, not in this one. In a case like this. It just doesn't happen. All because of what?

the actions of one selfish, abusive man. Yeah. It just tears me up inside that one person can affect negatively so many people's lives. For what? Insurance money? Bad temper. Bad temper. He didn't want her to leave him.

I don't know. We got some voicemails. You want to check those out? Yes, hear him. Hi, guys. My name is Tess from Alberta, Canada. Today, the voicemail day, not when you'll air it, is my birthday. I am now the wrong side of 25, and after listening to you guys for so long, I thought I would give myself a phone call and join your Patreon.

Tried to do the PayPal as well, but it's not working for me today. So I first found you guys because I was looking for an episode on Bernardo and Hamulka. You and Canadian crime have the best details information for that case, and I've been hooked in because you give that amount of effort for every episode. Speaking of Canadian crimes, I appreciate that you guys actually do your research. I've listened to other American podcasts, and they say a lot of Canadian stereotypes that are not true. I don't mind saying the A and everything, but one said that Vancouver is a frozen wasteland when it's really more like Seattle. I also appreciate how you guys approach mental health. You give your opinions in a way that you don't really make judgment or false statements.

My mom is a forensic psychiatric nurse, so I know a lot about that. I've heard about it my whole life. So it is frustrating to hear people talk about it when they don't really know what they're talking about. So thank you for keeping me company while I'm working alone at home. And I can't wait to cringe at how I sound on the podcast. Also, have you guys thought about selling an alarm clock? Just saying, I don't know, I can get some royalties. Okay, take care.

Bye. Well, we appreciate that. Some kind words there. Yeah. We do need a T-Cat alarm clock. Keep your own time ticking. You could have a bunch of cool sayings and they would differ every day. Yeah.

People would love that. Wake up to that. Gibby's word of the day. Gibby's word of the day. I mean, don't use the words, but laugh when you hear what they are. Yeah, definitely don't use them. Hi, Mike and Gibby. This is Gina calling from Vancouver, British Columbia.

I just wanted to say, I love your show. I've been listening now for a couple years. And I find you guys definitely cover the cases thoroughly and in a really interesting manner. I love the vibe you guys have as well. There is a case, a local case that I don't think you guys have covered, and I think it would be a really good one. It's the Abbotsford Killer, and this took place in the early 90s, and it was a pretty horrific case and very well covered.

However, some of the details of this case are pretty, pretty insane. And I think it would be really great to hear you guys cover this one. Yeah. So again, great show. I think you guys do an excellent job. So on that note, keep your own time taken. Thank you. Bye. All right. Love it. And two calls from Canada. Yeah. Vancouver is not a frozen wasteland. Well, at least there's one person living there. By any stretch of the imagination. Right. That case is definitely on the list. It's an interesting case. And you and I don't shy away from the gory ones.

We haven't had as many recently. But it's not because we're afraid of them. Obviously, we've done plenty that have had some really brutal details. Hey, what's going on? Mike and Gibby. My name is George. Just wanted to give a shout out to you guys. Thank you so much for everything you guys do.

I just recently got into your guys' podcast, and I think I'm down to my 30th episode with you guys, and I'm trying to pretty much finish all of them if I can. I'm in law enforcement, and, you know, I have 12-hour shifts, and I try to jam as many podcasts as possible while working, and my girlfriend's a pharmacist as well, and she loves your guys' show. She listens to it on her way to work, and when she gets off, we go back and forth, you know, given our times and stuff like that, we don't really get to see each other, times that we do and we do get the talk we talk about the podcast um again thank you so much guys for everything you guys do i really enjoy what you guys are doing and keep your own time ticking look at

a couple that does drugs and law enforcement together stays together and listens to teacat together exactly yeah well thanks for what you do as well absolutely it's a tough job and and uh we definitely appreciate it hi guys it's cnie from philand again i got my patron shout out a while ago and guys, you totally nailed it. I played it to my mom, who doesn't speak or understand English very well, and even she was proud of you, and when you said my name is cool, she had the most biggest smile on her face. In fact, she said you guys actually pronounced my name better than our relatives in the US.

I really love you guys, so please stay safe, and pitagher Elonlekello ticked-post. Did you get that last part yet? I got it all. I know you did. I did. Oh, I love that voicemail. You know, it still amazes me the amount of countries that, you know, were listened to in.

And I don't know. I sit back and I think about it sometimes that somebody over in Sweden or, you know, Denmark or someplace like Dad is sitting around and listening to TCAT. That one guy out in Timbuktu? Timbuktu. Yeah. You know, that's cool, though, that her mom got a kick out of it and she doesn't even speak English. Either do I.

No, not a whole lot. So, you know. What you do say, though, is very profound. According to me, yes. According to you. Exactly. All right. We had one thing in the mail bag.

Shannon Andrews sent you in some Twizzlers, which you love. And she sent me some of those great Duke sausages. She's from New Orleans. So she sent me the Andouie. ones, which I love, I love Andouy sausage. You know me, anything spicy. Slice that up. I'm all in. Cook it in with your omelets in the morning. The Dukes. I could, I guess. But I usually just eat them out of the back. Yeah, you do. All right, everyone. That's it for another episode of true crime all the time. So for Mike and Gibby, stay safe and keep your own time ticking.