Man finds mother’s body while renovating childhood home 21 years after she disappeared

'The truth was always out there, buried in their backyard,' says prosecutor

A man has told a court of finding his mother’s body buried in the garden of his childhood home 21 years after she disappeared.

Aaron Fraser was excavating land ahead of renovating the house in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2014 when he dug up the skeleton of Bonnie Haim.

Her husband Michael Haim had been long suspected of killing her after she vanished in January 1993. Mr Fraser, who was three at the time, told a social worker that “Daddy shot Mommy” but his father was not charged because of a lack of physical evidence.

The discovery of Haim’s remains led to her husband being arrested and accused of second-degree murder.

“The truth was always out there, buried in their backyard,” assistant state Attorney Alan Mizrahi said in his opening statement in Mr Haim’s trial on Tuesday.

Giving evidence in court, Mr Fraser said he and his brother-in-law were digging in the back garden of his boyhood home when they found his mother’s remains.

“I accidentally busted the bag and saw something I describe as a coconut,” he said, according to local TV station WJXT. “I picked up the coconut object and it ended up being the top portion of her skull. I had it in my hand.

“[I] looked back in the hole and you could see teeth. At that point in time, you could see the top portion of her eye sockets.”

Prosecutors told the jury Haim had been planning to leave her husband before she was killed.

Following his mother’s disappearance, Mr Fraser told a social worker that “Daddy hurt Mommy” and “my daddy could not wake her up”.

Mr Fraser, who was later adopted, discovered his mother’s body while renovating the home he had been awarded as part of a wrongful death lawsuit against his father.

Buried alongside her body was a used .22-calibre shell casing from the same type of rifle Mr Haim owned. A pathologist concluded Haim had died from pelvic injuries consistent with a gunshot wound.

Janis Warren, defending Mr Haim, claimed Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office had conducted a sloppy investigation in 1993 and did not investigate other potential suspects.

Mr Haim denies killed his wife.

“We agree she is dead. We agree that’s her body in the backyard. But they have to prove to you that he did it,” his lawyer told the jury. “The lack of evidence in this case far outweighs any evidence they brought you.”

The trial continues.