Un-Blog Aug 25th, 2009

For a brief overview of the basic facts surrounding this
case, please see the post from Sept. 9, 2009.

MORE PECULIAR BEHAVIOR

When Tammy’s friends Travis Novak and Marjo
Swedeen visited Eric Stukel on Sunday afternoon,
Sept. 20th, 1992, still searching for Tammy, they found
him in his bedroom playing a song called “Chloe
Dancer,” which he described as Tammy’s song.

The room was dark and there were candles and incense
burning around pictures of Tammy, as well as a shot
glass filled with an unidentified substance. The scene
seemed strange, but Swedeen and Novak weren’t likely
thinking the worst—that Tammy was dead.

In retrospect though, if Stukel truly believed at that
point that Tammy had run away in an attempt to get
pity—as Stukel would suggest to law enforcement the
next day—why would he build a shrine in her honor?

When Novak and Swedeen asked Stukel if he knew
Tammy’s whereabouts, Stukel quickly changed the
subject to a book he was reading called The Mind’s Eye,
which interestingly enough had a chapter that covered
techniques for beating polygraph machines.

(Eric Stukel would fail a polygraph administered by
Fred DeVaney on Sept. 25, 1992. When asked if he
killed Tammy, Eric answered, no – and deception was
detected.)

According to Swedeen and Novak, during this visit,
Stukel showed no emotion and offered no assistance in
searching for Tammy. *

Again, in retrospect, this must have seemed confusing,
considering Stukel claimed he loved Tammy so much.

How do we know, though, that Novak and Swedeen
were telling the truth about this shrine?

How can we trust any of Tammy’s friends or family?

Perhaps, Tammy’s friends had it out for Stukel from
the beginning, and made up this story about the shrine
and Stukel’s strange behavior...perhaps, perhaps,
perhaps...

However, Eric Stukel’s friend, Brian Sedlacek, also
noted Eric Stukel’s shrine when he took the stand in
Stukel’s defense. And he also added that Stukel was
carving notches into his desk for every day that Tammy
was missing. **

In the end, the defense would use the story of the
shrine as a means of demonstrating Stukel’s innocence
and love for Tammy, but…

Why would he put notches in his desk for all of the
days she was missing?

How would he know when to begin carving those
notches?

Did he start carving those notches into his desk on
Friday, on Saturday…or Sunday?

Stukel had the shrine erected on Sunday, before too
many other people were taking Tammy’s disappearance
seriously.

Was it indifference Swedeen and Novak were
detecting—or deflection?

All of this behavior just seems far too peculiar to
discount.

Though Swedeen and Novak thought this behavior
peculiar, they tried retracing the steps Tammy might
have taken from Stukel’s house to her aunt’s, looking
for cigarette butts, soda bottles, anything that might
have been linked to Tammy’s travels home, giving
Stukel the benefit of the doubt.

And they found nothing...nada...zip.

As mentioned, the following day, Monday, September
21st, Stukel would explain to law enforcement that he
thought Tammy “could be looking for sympathy or pity
to get attention because of her unhappy home life” ***
and so ran away, and he would also tell numerous
classmates, earlier that day in shop class and at lunch,
that for all he knew Tammy was dead in a ditch. This
would be a repeat of the very statement he had made
Saturday night to DeeDee Budig.

So according to Eric Stukel:

a.) he believes Tammy has run off to get attention;
b.) she’s dead in a ditch for all he knows;
c.) he's not concerned about her disappearance
d.) he's built a shrine in her honor and is carving
notches in his desk for all the days she's been missing;
d.) when asked where Tammy has gone, he wants to
talk about a book involving beating polygraphs;
f.) he thinks he killed a girl.

Defenders of Eric Stukel have said that Stukel has
stuck to the same story all these years, so must be
telling the truth.

As terribly flawed as this logic is, it's just not accurate.

I have to believe that from the moment Eric Stukel
killed Tammy, his version of events went skewing
every which way from the truth.

                       m.c. merrill

Tomorrow: Stukel and his buddies go on a road trip.

* SOURCE: Rothanzl, Lorna. “Friends Testify at Stukel Trial.”
Yankton Press and Dakotan. Oct. 2nd, 1996.

** SOURCE: Rothenzl, Lorna. “Stukel Jury Recesses Until Today.”
Yankton Press and Dakotan. Oct. 5th, 1996

*** Law enforcement interview of Eric Stukel, Sept. 21st, 1992.