JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The family of Bonnie Haim still doesn't know exactly what happened to her in January 1993. Her body has never been located and no one ever faced criminal charges in connection with her disappearance.

But Tuesday, a judge ordered her husband to pay $26.3 million for wrongful death.

At a civil trial last September, Judge Brad Stetson found Michael Haim liable for the murder of his wife and mother of their child, but deferred awarding damages until now.

Bonnie Haim was 23 when she disappeared on January 6, 1993. Her purse was found in a trash container behind the Airport Red Roof Inn, still containing $150 cash, credit cards, checkbook and other personal items. Her car was found in the long-term parking lot at Jacksonville International Airport.

Police and family searched the area and offered rewards. The media publicized her case, and national television programs, including "Unsolved Mysteries," told her story. Investigators and family have wondered every time skeletal remains were found, but none turned out to be hers.

At the time of her disappearance, Michael Haim told Channel 4 that he did not kill his wife.

"She just wasn't happy and she wanted to leave, and I couldn't stop her from leaving," Haim said in 1993.

While Haim was never charged with her murder, circumstantial evidence and the testimony of Haim's 3-year-old son, Aaron, was enough for a family court ruling finding Michael Haim killed his wife.

In court documents obtained by Channel 4, Stetson wrote: "The child said his father shot his mother. ... This type of statement cannot be fabricated or fantasized by a child of such tender age. ... There is clear and convincing evidence that Michael Haim murdered his wife."

Stetson also found that Haim emotionally abused Aaron, and committed acts against his wife in the boy's presence that are likely to cause him permanent emotional harm.

Stetson awarded $15.3 million to Aaron and $1 million to the estate by default because the defense never showed up to court.

The family said Aaron, now 15, relives every day the nightmare of having to help his father hide her mother's body.

"Right now, their reason is there's no body," Bonnie's sister, Elizabeth Peak, said. "So they're hesitant to prosecute Mike and possibly lose."

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has not given up on her case, transferring it to the department's cold case unit.

A $10,000 reward has been offered to anyone providing information that leads to the location of Bonnie Haim's remains and the arrest of the person responsible. Anyone with information that could help is asked to call Sgt. Jim Parker at (904) 630-1157 or e-mail 6656jap@jaxsheriff.com.

In 1999, Bonnie Haim was declared legally dead and the parental rights of Michael Haim were terminated.

The family said the wrongful death suit was filed in an effort to keep the case in the public eye and to provide for Aaron's future.

"This victory has in no way brought closure to Bonnie's death," Peak said. "Closure will only come when Bonnie is found and given the burial and respect she deserves."

The family said they don't expect to ever fully collect on the judgment.