Family and friends of Toni Bachman will finally have some closure when the sentencing for Norman Bachman is concluded on Dec. 11.

Toni Bachman had been working for Hamline until she disappeared in April 1997. According to the charleyproject.org, her husband Norman Bachman confessed this October that on April 27, 1997 he strangled her until she died, and then stored her body in their cellar. Days later, he dismembered and disposed of her body in a location two hours from their home in White Bear Lake.

“She was always laughing, smiling and being really friendly. Everybody loved her,” said Executive Assistant to the CLA Dean, and friend of Toni Bachman, Laurie Schwaab. “She was just one of those people that everybody liked.”

Toni Bachman and Schwaab met during the latter’s 25th year at Hamline. At the time, Toni Bachman worked in the ITS department, transferring to HR shortly before her disappearance.

“I can’t even remember how we met exactly. We just started chatting, and she was a very humorous person, very easy to talk to, and very likable, so we just kind of were naturally drawn to develop a friendship,” said Schwaab.

As Schwaab remembers it, Toni Bachman’s personality was best represented in her choice of vehicle—a cramped, rusted through hunk of metal on wheels.

“We used to laugh a lot because she drove this little yellow yugo car. Toni was a large person, and the car was very small, but she openly laughed about that fact,” said Schwaab. “It was a rust-bucket…You had to be careful where you put your foot, or it was literally going to go through to the ground.”

According to Schwaab though, these faults didn’t bother Toni Bachman one bit.

“People teased her a lot for driving that car, but she said, ‘doggonit, I love my yugo.’ And so it just kind of became her trademark, this little, yellow junky yugo parked in the parking lot,” said Schwaab.

 For more memories of Toni, check thehamlineoracle.com.