Cold case: Husband arrested for 1997 killing of his wife
A man who's long been suspected in the 1997 disappearance of his wife was arrested Tuesday and is expected to be charged with murder.
Norman Bachman was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of second-degree murder in the death of Toni Ann Bachman. He is in custody in the Ramsey County jail and will make his first court appearance Wednesday, FOX 9 reports.
Toni Bachman was 38 at the time she disappeared from the White Bear Township home that she and her husband shared.
Reports at the time indicated that Bachman was using her home computer on April 25, 1997 when she emailed a friend that her husband Norman was "on his way home to fight. And I MEAN FIGHT," according to the Minnesota Crime Stoppers website.
Bachman was never heard from again, and her body has not been found.
Authorities suspected Norman Bachman of being involved at the time, but didn't have enough evidence to bring charges against him, the Star Tribune reports.
He had told police that Toni had left him, but when authorities searched the Bachman home they found evidence that she had been killed – there were traces of blood and tissue in the basement, according to Crime Stoppers.
The Ramsey County sheriff reopened the investigation into Toni Bachman's disappearance in May 2012, and did another search of the home where the couple lived.
Authorities excavated the back yard of the White Bear Township home and also looked for evidence in the basement, according to the Star Tribune.
Police did not reveal at the time what evidence they gathered. According to FOX 9, officials have not disclosed what prompted them to arrest Norman Bachman now.
It's not Bachman's first brush with the law though. In 1998, he was convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for raping and stabbing another woman, and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Toni Bachman worked at Hamline University, and was the stepmother to three of Bachman's sons.
