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September 14th, 2009
For a brief overview of the basic facts surrounding this
case, please see the post from Sept. 9, 2009.
“I THINK I KILLED A GIRL”
Early that Sunday morning, between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m.,
Stukel wanders into the Fryn’ Pan, severely under the
influence of drugs and alcohol. He sits and his server,
Josh Fry, asks him what’s wrong.
Stukel mumbles, “I think I killed a girl.”
Josh Fry only knows Eric Stukel as his boss’s son and
doesn’t know Tammy Haas at all.
He does know that Jason Adamson is Stukel’s friend
and knows something must be done about Eric, because
he looks in terrible shape, so he goes and tells Jason
Adamson what just happened.
Jason Adamson comes out from the back of the
restaurant and escorts Eric Stukel away and tells Fry,
“Stukel was just drunk.” *
When Tammy’s body is found a few days later, Josh
Fry’s girlfriend convinces him he needs to take what
Eric Stukel said to the police.
On Friday, Sept. 25th, 1992, two days after Tammy’s
body is found, Fry calls Jason Adamson’s house, while
another party is occurring. Fry tells Adamson he is
going to the police with what Stukel said. Adamson’s
response is that a couple of guys were at the party and
that he was a little trashed.
Josh Fry gets up on the witness stand four years later.
Mike Stevens cross-examines him about the night in
question. Mike Stevens suggests that Fry told the
police that Stukel might have said, “I’m thinking of
killing a girl,” not “I think I killed a girl.” **
Fry denies ever suggesting such a thing and nothing in
the police records indicates Fry claimed to
misunderstand what Stukel had said.
What Stevens seems to have done here is a bit of
Orwellian spin to cast doubt on Fry’s testimony.
Are you sure he really said it in the past tense?
Couldn’t he have been upset that Tammy was nowhere
to be found and said something about “thinking of
killing a girl”?
The seed of doubt gets planted in the minds of the
jurors with a clever little rhetorical trick.
But why did Eric Stukel say: “I think I killed a girl”?
Why didn’t he just say: “I killed a girl?”
Wasn’t he sure of what he had done?
If Eric Stukel was under the influence of LSD on
Thursday night, he might not have come to the full
realization of what he had done. If that were the case,
why would he be cleaning out his car on Friday? Why
would he later have told Foss that he knew the police
would impound his car?
“I think I killed a girl”—it is an odd and troubling turn
of phrase.
Perhaps, Stukel knew what he had done, but hadn’t
come to full terms with how he could have done such a
thing.
Maybe, he had come to terms with the fact that she was
dead, but couldn’t understand how he could have done
such a terrible thing.
Perhaps, the drugs and alcohol Stukel had taken on
Saturday night had clouded his perception enough to
make him somewhat unclear about what had happened
on Thursday night and why.
If Eric Stukel was heavily under the influence of drugs
and alcohol on early Sunday morning when he walked
into the Fryn’ Pan, he might have been so confused
about what happened on Thursday night, and might
have been so out of sorts at this point, that he didn’t
know with whom he was even speaking and only could
say what was churning through his drug-addled mind:
I think I killed a girl.
In light of his writings, in light of his improbable tale
of taking Tammy home, in light of the fiber evidence in
his trunk and on Tammy’s body, in light of his travels
on County 121 that Saturday, what Eric Stukel said to
Josh Fry—I think I killed a girl—makes perfect sense.
In the Talmud is a proverb: “In came wine, out went a
secret.”
Lacking the metaphorical sword and shield of his
friends at that moment, drunk and disoriented at
4:00 a.m. after disappearing for several hours, Eric
Stukel let a little secret slip to a near stranger:
"I think I killed a girl."
m.c. merrill
More peculiar behavior tomorrow.
* Though included in police records, Adamson’s testimony was
redacted and removed from courtroom testimony. Most likely,
the prosecution and defense agreed to strike Adamson’s
“wildcard” testimony from trial, for fear that it could unduly sway
the jury in either direction. The defense might have feared
Adamson’s loyalty to Stukel would finally shake on the stand.
The prosecution might have feared that Adamson could have
been perceived as a second suspect by the jury, thus creating
reasonable doubt. Or more simply, the Adamson family might
have had a lawyer with enough influence to keep them out of the
trial and from public scrutiny.
** SOURCE: Rothanzl, Lorna. “Friends Testify at Stukel Trial.”
Yankton Press and Dakotan. Oct. 2nd, 1996.
For a brief overview of the basic facts surrounding this
case, please see the post from Sept. 9, 2009.
“I THINK I KILLED A GIRL”
Early that Sunday morning, between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m.,
Stukel wanders into the Fryn’ Pan, severely under the
influence of drugs and alcohol. He sits and his server,
Josh Fry, asks him what’s wrong.
Stukel mumbles, “I think I killed a girl.”
Josh Fry only knows Eric Stukel as his boss’s son and
doesn’t know Tammy Haas at all.
He does know that Jason Adamson is Stukel’s friend
and knows something must be done about Eric, because
he looks in terrible shape, so he goes and tells Jason
Adamson what just happened.
Jason Adamson comes out from the back of the
restaurant and escorts Eric Stukel away and tells Fry,
“Stukel was just drunk.” *
When Tammy’s body is found a few days later, Josh
Fry’s girlfriend convinces him he needs to take what
Eric Stukel said to the police.
On Friday, Sept. 25th, 1992, two days after Tammy’s
body is found, Fry calls Jason Adamson’s house, while
another party is occurring. Fry tells Adamson he is
going to the police with what Stukel said. Adamson’s
response is that a couple of guys were at the party and
that he was a little trashed.
Josh Fry gets up on the witness stand four years later.
Mike Stevens cross-examines him about the night in
question. Mike Stevens suggests that Fry told the
police that Stukel might have said, “I’m thinking of
killing a girl,” not “I think I killed a girl.” **
Fry denies ever suggesting such a thing and nothing in
the police records indicates Fry claimed to
misunderstand what Stukel had said.
What Stevens seems to have done here is a bit of
Orwellian spin to cast doubt on Fry’s testimony.
Are you sure he really said it in the past tense?
Couldn’t he have been upset that Tammy was nowhere
to be found and said something about “thinking of
killing a girl”?
The seed of doubt gets planted in the minds of the
jurors with a clever little rhetorical trick.
But why did Eric Stukel say: “I think I killed a girl”?
Why didn’t he just say: “I killed a girl?”
Wasn’t he sure of what he had done?
If Eric Stukel was under the influence of LSD on
Thursday night, he might not have come to the full
realization of what he had done. If that were the case,
why would he be cleaning out his car on Friday? Why
would he later have told Foss that he knew the police
would impound his car?
“I think I killed a girl”—it is an odd and troubling turn
of phrase.
Perhaps, Stukel knew what he had done, but hadn’t
come to full terms with how he could have done such a
thing.
Maybe, he had come to terms with the fact that she was
dead, but couldn’t understand how he could have done
such a terrible thing.
Perhaps, the drugs and alcohol Stukel had taken on
Saturday night had clouded his perception enough to
make him somewhat unclear about what had happened
on Thursday night and why.
If Eric Stukel was heavily under the influence of drugs
and alcohol on early Sunday morning when he walked
into the Fryn’ Pan, he might have been so confused
about what happened on Thursday night, and might
have been so out of sorts at this point, that he didn’t
know with whom he was even speaking and only could
say what was churning through his drug-addled mind:
I think I killed a girl.
In light of his writings, in light of his improbable tale
of taking Tammy home, in light of the fiber evidence in
his trunk and on Tammy’s body, in light of his travels
on County 121 that Saturday, what Eric Stukel said to
Josh Fry—I think I killed a girl—makes perfect sense.
In the Talmud is a proverb: “In came wine, out went a
secret.”
Lacking the metaphorical sword and shield of his
friends at that moment, drunk and disoriented at
4:00 a.m. after disappearing for several hours, Eric
Stukel let a little secret slip to a near stranger:
"I think I killed a girl."
m.c. merrill
More peculiar behavior tomorrow.
* Though included in police records, Adamson’s testimony was
redacted and removed from courtroom testimony. Most likely,
the prosecution and defense agreed to strike Adamson’s
“wildcard” testimony from trial, for fear that it could unduly sway
the jury in either direction. The defense might have feared
Adamson’s loyalty to Stukel would finally shake on the stand.
The prosecution might have feared that Adamson could have
been perceived as a second suspect by the jury, thus creating
reasonable doubt. Or more simply, the Adamson family might
have had a lawyer with enough influence to keep them out of the
trial and from public scrutiny.
** SOURCE: Rothanzl, Lorna. “Friends Testify at Stukel Trial.”
Yankton Press and Dakotan. Oct. 2nd, 1996.
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