In May of 1997, eight-year-old Kirsten Hatfield vanished from her bedroom in Midwest City, Oklahoma. It took almost twenty years before her killer was brought to justice
According to court documents, Palma was interviewed by an FBI agent on May 17th, 1997 at his home but was never arrested.His wife, who married him after Hatfield disappeared, said “Tony still gets upset about the case when it is mentioned.”
Officials asked why he got upset and his wife said “because it happened so close to his house.”
Prosecutors alleged Palma snatched Kirsten Renee Hatfield from her bedroom after she went to bed May 13, 1997. She hasn’t been seen since.
Palma denied any involvement. He was arrested in October 2015 after new DNA testing connected him to items at the crime scene, according to prosecutors. He lived two doors down from the victim in 1997 and hadn’t moved. The new forensic testing revealed Palma’s DNA matched blood found on the girl’s bedroom windowsill and on her underwear, which was discovered in her backyard, police reported.
The sentencing phase followed, and Palma was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Palma would only serve less than two years of that sentence. In January of 2019, he was found dead in his prison cell at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. He had been strangled and beaten to death by his cellmate. He took with him to his grave the location of Kirsten’s body.
#jcsinspired
#interrogation
#policeinterview
#abducted
#policeinterview
#childmissing
#truecrime
5 сен 2024
