Michael Haim, convicted in wife's murder, sentenced to life in prison

A 26-year-old murder case came to a close Tuesday when the convicted killer, Michael Haim, was sentenced to life in prison.

In April, Action News Jax reported Haim was convicted of killing his wife, Bonnie Haim, and burying her body in the family’s backyard in 1993.

The sentencing came one day after Bonnie Haim's birthday.

On Monday, she would have turned 50 years old.

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“With life (sentencing), we know that we don’t have to live in fear anymore, no more bricks under the pillow,” Bonnie Haim's sister, Liz Peak, said.

Peak prepared a statement on behalf of Bonnie Haim's family, which she read after the sentencing. It said in part, “For 26, years we searched for answers to many answers concerning to many (regarding the) event that night. However, none of us wavered in our belief of what happened to Bonnie and who did it.”

State prosecutor Alan Mizrahi said the key piece of evidence that convicted Haim was finding Bonnie Haim's body in 2014.

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“Finding her in the location we found her was the key piece of evidence,” Mizrahi said. “Law enforcement always suspected Michael Haim. He was found responsible in a civil court and we just needed the one piece of evidence to make it proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Now, members of Bonnie Haim's family said they can begin to heal and hope to bury her body soon.

“We got justice, but we don’t have Bonnie,” Peak said. “So we’re just going to take it one day at a time. Learn what it feels like to not have to keep searching anymore.”

Cox Media Group