The former White Bear Township man charged with murder in the 1997 disappearance of his wife is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday afternoon.

Norman A. Bachman Jr. is scheduled to appear before Ramsey County District Judge Salvador Rosas at 1:20 p.m. at the Ramsey County law enforcement center. The hearing is a continuation of his first appearance from last week.

Bachman, 53, was charged last week with second-degree murder without intent and first-degree manslaughter in the disappearance of Toni Bachman, who was last seen outside the home she shared with Norman Bachman in April 1997.

Toni Bachman's body has not been found.

Charges filed against Norman Bachman showed that forensic evidence, behavior out of character for Toni Bachman and information from Norman Bachman's three sons from a previous marriage helped build authorities' case against him.

It's unclear what evidence led authorities to finally charge Norman Bachman after years of suspicion that he was the killer. Information gleaned from his sons in several interviews over several years had also implicated their father.

Toni Ann Bachman, missing person from the White Bear Township area, foul play suspected.

The boys told police that they heard a scream from Toni Bachman's bedroom the last weekend she was seen alive, and that a few days later, their father took them to a family farm in a car that smelled of a human corpse, and that the car was packed with coolers.

DNA tests on 12 suspected blood spots and one piece of fat tissue found in the White Bear Township home showed they matched Toni Bachman's DNA profile, according to the charges.

Chao Xiong • 612-270-4708

Twitter: @ChaoStrib