By Kyle Schwab
The Oklahoman
MIDWEST CITY, Okla. — Police and the FBI conducted an intensive nationwide search for 8-year-old Kirsten Renee Hatfield after she vanished from her bedroom in the middle of the night more than 18 years ago.
No trace was ever found.
Monday, investigators arrested a neighbor who still lives only two doors down.
“Oh my goodness,” said the victim’s mother, Shannon Hazen, who learned about the arrest from The Oklahoman.
“Yes! Yes! Yes!,” she said, then began sobbing.
Anthony Joseph Palma, 56, of Midwest City, was arrested in the second-grader’s abduction after new DNA testing connected him to evidence found at the 1997 crime scene, police reported.
Midwest City Police Chief Brandon Clabes, Monday night, confirmed Palma’s arrest.
“This is a huge case ... It’s one of those cases you want to solve before you retire,” said the chief, who said he has been with the department for 36 years and police chief for 16 years.
Palma was identified as a suspect in the cold case after his blood was found on the girl’s bedroom window sill and on her ripped panties, which were recovered in the backyard of her home, police reported.
Investigators concluded the blood belonged to Palma after he consented in June to giving a DNA sample. “The match was one in 293 sextillion,” police reported.
“There have been no verified sightings or contact from Kirsten since May ... of 1997,” Midwest City police Detective Darrell Miller wrote in a request for an arrest warrant. “Therefore, it can be concluded that she was killed shortly after her abduction ...
“It is likely that Palma has been motivated to stay in the same home to conceal evidence of the crime and/or the location of Kirsten’s body,” the detective wrote.
The police chief said that investigators searched Palma’s home Monday and will resume Tuesday.
After the disappearance, the victim’s mother told police she had tucked Kirsten into bed May 13, 1997. When she checked on her daughter the next morning, she was gone.
“Numerous leads were investigated in the case, immediately after the crime was discovered, but the juvenile was never found and the trail went cold,” the detective wrote.
Palma was questioned about the disappearance in 1997 and again in June.
Palma said both times he was home the night of the incident. He denied in June having any involvement, the detective reported.
Some of the information Palma provided in 1997 was inconsistent with what he told investigators in June, the detective reported.
He is a longtime groundskeeper and reportedly works for the state at Lake Thunderbird State Park.
Palma went to prison in 1985 for more than a year for a 1982 assault case, records show.
It was unclear Monday night whether Palma has an attorney.
Copyright 2015 The Oklahoman