Un-Blog Aug 25th, 2009

To review:

Tammy was last seen by reliable, multiple witnesses at
about 11:15 p.m. on Sept. 17th 1992, at the Stephenson
farm in northwest Nebraska.

At about this time, Tammy was getting ready to go back to
Yankton with Eric Stukel, who claims he took her home.

Nearly a week later, her body would be found within a
ravine 1 1/2 miles by road from this farmhouse.

Over the course of the evening of September 17th, about 80
people were in attendance at this party -- all potential
suspects, all subject to questioning by law enforcement.

Though Stukel claims he took Tammy back to Yankton
with him, which was eight miles away, and also claims he
was with her until as late as 12:30 to 1:00 a.m., forensic
evidence revealed that her time of death was no later than
12:35 a.m. -- and more likely much closer to 11:30 p.m. and
midnight. If Stukel claims he was the only one with
Tammy at these times, then he is the only person with
opportunity to commit the crime of her homicide.

Pathologist who studied the wounds on Tammy's body
determined that she didn't die accidentally, but was
deliberately killed at the hands of another.

Out of all the suspects who could have potentially killed
Tammy, only one would confess to this crime while Tammy
was still missing (courtroom testimony of this confession
will be revealed in later posts) and only one would fail a
polygraph administered by law enforcement (the results
of which will also be later revealed.)

With these facts in hand, law enforcement quickly
impounded an automobile and searched for physical
evidence. Here are just a few of the pieces they found.

THE THREE FIBERS

Three pieces of physical evidence would become
critical in linking Eric Stukel directly to Tammy’s
death.

Several hair fibers matching Tammy’s hair type
would be found in the trunk of Eric Stukel’s Chevy
Beretta.

These arguably could have gotten there many
different ways. However, on Tammy’s clothing were
found two types of synthetic fiber. One set of fibers
matched the floor mat of Eric Stukel’s trunk. These,
according to forensic investigators Dr. Reena Roy
and Michael Autem, both with the Nebraska State
Patrol Crime Lab, could only have gotten onto
Tammy’s clothing through DIRECT TRANSFER—
indicating that Tammy's body had been placed into
his trunk.

In other words, the clothing Tammy was wearing
when she died would have had to DIRECTLY rub up
against the trunk mat for those fibers to transfer to
her clothing.

Also on Tammy’s clothing were several pieces of an
unknown red plastic. Identical pieces of this same
plastic were found inside the trunk of Stukel's car,
suggesting the same sort of direct transfer of these
fibers from his trunk to her clothing or vice versa.

Clearly, this forensic evidence is not enough to
prove Eric Stukel killed Tammy Haas, but it does
provide convincing evidence that Tammy's body had
been in the trunk of his Chevy Beretta on the night
she died.

Anybody who knows their way around a Chevy
Beretta would attest that few people would
willingly get inside a trunk space so small;
therefore, one can reasonably assume one of three
things:

a.)        Tammy was placed in the trunk against her
will;

b.)        Tammy was unconscious or physically
incapacitated when she was placed in the trunk;

c.)        Tammy was placed in the trunk of Eric
Stukel’s car within a short time after her death.

Key to understanding why Tammy’s body would
have been placed in Eric Stukel’s trunk is the
proximity of the Stephenson farmhouse, where she
was last seen by reliable witnesses, to the location
where Tammy’s body was discovered.

The ravine on Nebraska County Highway 121 in
which Tammy’s body was discovered turns out to be
the nearest public place to dispose of a body from
the Stephenson farmhouse.

If somebody wanted to get rid of a body quickly and
disconnect the events at the farmhouse, this would
be the perfect place to do so.

Eric Stukel has claimed that the reason Tammy’s
hairs were in his trunk was because of a blanket
that they had used at some point in the preceding
days.

According to his testimony, he had stowed the
blanket in the trunk and the hairs must have
followed.

Again, according to the testimony of Dr. Roy and
Autem, only through DIRECT TRANSFER could the
two synthetic fibers from the trunk have gotten
onto Tammy’s clothing.

The blanket story, compelling on the surface, does
not account for the fibers directly transferred to
Tammy body.

Considering the chain of events and other physical
evidence, to be examined in the coming days, the
best possible scenario has Tammy’s body being
stuffed in Stukel’s trunk at or near the Stephenson
farm and driven to the ravine on County 121, where
she was subsequently dumped.


m.c. merrill