Her mother waited eighteen years to learn who took her daughter. She may never learn where her daughter actually is.
Taken From Her Own Bedroom
On May 13, 1997, 8-year-old Kirsten Hatfield went to bed in her family's home in Midwest City, Oklahoma. At some point that night, she was abducted from her own bedroom. She has never been found.
For years, the case sat unresolved, despite an active investigation. The break, when it finally came, took nearly two decades.
DNA Closes the Distance
In 2015, advances in forensic DNA testing allowed investigators to revisit evidence collected from the scene back in 1997: blood found on Kirsten's bedroom windowsill, and her underwear, recovered from her family's backyard. That evidence was matched to Anthony Palma — a man who had lived two doors down from the Hatfield family at the time Kirsten disappeared, and who, remarkably, still hadn't moved from the neighborhood by the time he was arrested in October 2015.
Investigators concluded that Palma had taken Kirsten from her bed, sexually assaulted her, and killed her, before disposing of her body somewhere that's never been identified.
A Conviction Without a Body
Palma was tried and convicted in 2017, and sentenced that October to life without the possibility of parole. The conviction gave Kirsten's family a measure of accountability after eighteen years of uncertainty — but it didn't give them what they'd hoped for most: an answer about where Kirsten's remains actually were.
Midwest City Police Chief Brandon Clabes spoke to that gap directly after the conviction: "We've not had closure on this case and we may never have closure because we wanted to find her body and bring her home. Our hopes are, with any case like this, the suspect who's convicted... that hopefully he would have some inkling of a conscience, maybe intervention by a higher power, maybe God, and come out and tell us exactly what he did with her."
A Second Killing, Inside the Prison Walls
That hope never had the chance to play out. On January 11, 2019, Palma was found dead in his cell at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. During a routine unit check, guards discovered him lying face down on the floor, covered with a blanket. When they had his cellmate remove it, they found blood on the floor and Palma not breathing.
An autopsy determined he had died from ligature strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head. Authorities identified his cellmate, 35-year-old Raymond Pillado — who was already serving a life sentence for three unrelated murders — as responsible for the killing.
Investigators had reportedly been hoping to interview Palma later that year, specifically in hopes of finally locating Kirsten's remains. His death ended that possibility outright — whatever he knew about what he'd done with her body died with him.
A Mother's Measured Response
Kirsten's mother, Kathy Hazen, spoke publicly after Palma's death, and was careful not to frame it as any kind of resolution. "Kirsten would have been 30 years old today," she said, "and she was always worth every bit of energy that it took to grieve her, but I find myself weary in the darkness that continues to ignore her worth. I cannot let that happen any longer." She made clear she wasn't celebrating Palma's killing, and that she'd hoped, before his death, to convince him to reveal where Kirsten's remains were, or disclose any other information about what he'd done. She also voiced a real, practical concern — that Palma's death might give investigators a reason to treat the case as effectively finished, rather than continuing to actively search for her daughter.
Where Things Stand
As of the most recent reporting, Kirsten Hatfield's remains have never been found. The case Chief Clabes described — built around the hope that Palma himself might one day provide the missing piece — closed permanently the moment Palma was killed. Investigators have indicated they intend to continue searching regardless, honoring the same concern Kathy Hazen raised: that the absence of a confession shouldn't mean the absence of an effort to bring Kirsten home.
Sources
Anthony Palma, Convicted Child Killer, Strangled To Death In Prison — Oxygen
https://www.oxygen.com/crime-time/anthony-palma-convicted-child-murderer-strangled-to-death-oklahoma-prison
New details released in prison murder of convicted child killer — KFOR
https://kfor.com/news/new-details-released-in-prison-murder-of-convicted-child-killer/
Convicted child killer was strangled in prison cell, officials say — FOX 13 Tampa Bay
https://www.fox13news.com/news/convicted-child-killer-was-strangled-in-prison-cell-officials-say