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This speech was delivered at the Mount Marty College Noon Forum on
February 2nd, 2006 to a capacity crowd. Unfortunately, many people
were turned away, so as requested, I have posted my transcript here.
Marc C. Merrill
author of the homecoming
February 2nd, 2006 to a capacity crowd. Unfortunately, many people
were turned away, so as requested, I have posted my transcript here.
Marc C. Merrill
author of the homecoming
Hello and thank you for having me today. My name is Marc Merrill. I was born and spent the
first eighteen years of my life here in Yankton, SD. After high school, I joined the Army and
served for two years as an infantry paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. I hold a
Bachelors of Science in English and Theatre from the University of South Dakota and a
Masters Degree in Writing for Cinema and Television from the University of Southern
California. Currently, I am an English Instructor here at Mount Marty College. This past
August I published my first novel, The Homecoming, which explores the 1992 murder of
Tammy Haas.
A VERY BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CASE:
On September 17th, 1992, Tammy Haas, a Yankton native, went to a high school
Homecoming party on a Nebraska farm with a young man named Eric Stukel.
According to witnesses, Tammy and Mr. Stukel were seen walking from the party toward his
car sometime around 11:00 P.M.
This would be the last time any reliable witnesses would see Tammy alive.
About a week later, Tammy’s half-naked body would be found in a Nebraska ravine, within a
half mile of that same farm.
Forensic evidence would reveal that Tammy didn’t die in that ravine, but was transported
there from a nearby location, within minutes after her death.
According to Mr. Stukel, however, Tammy returned with him to his parents’ home in
Yankton, eight miles away, and then at 12:34 A.M., walked off into the night from his
parents’ house, alone.
The problem with this story is that forensic evidence revealed Tammy could not have been
alive at 12:34 A.M.
Investigators would later find fiber evidence indicating Tammy’s body had been in Mr. Stukel’
s trunk. Further lab results—namely bodily fluids—would further link Mr. Stukel directly to
Tammy’s body. This, along with incriminating writings and statements, would place Mr.
Stukel as the prime suspect in this investigation…
However, it would be three years before Mr. Stukel would be arraigned on a charge of
manslaughter in Cedar County, NE. Another year would pass before Mr. Stukel would be
tried on these charges. After long deliberation, a jury would find Mr. Stukel not guilty of the
crime, citing lack of evidence as their rationale for this verdict.
To this day, Tammy’s death remains unresolved.
I WAS TOLD TO BE SATISFIED WITH THIS NOT GUILTY VERDICT
I could not do this for several reasons. If the Defense team was right, an innocent man was
charged with a horrible crime, while the real killer was walking our streets. On the other
hand, if the Prosecutor was right, a killer had evaded justice and was, as in the previous
case, now walking our streets. Finally, if there was more to this story, if there was a
conspiracy to cover up this crime, then there were many people out there, all of them, to this
day, selfishly holding on to a lie.
And why?
Somebody had died brutally, and the party kept raging – no sense of remorse, no sadness –
to this day.
AFTER THE VERDICT, I WAS TOLD TO BE PATIENT
I was told that the mystery would one day be solved, and with it, justice would come, so I
waited and waited...
Now, at this point, I had already spent a good chunk of my young adult life studying the case
– asking questions, probing, digging – but I could never quite put the evidence together. The
pieces of the puzzle just didn’t fit. I had a story I needed to tell… that I was driven to tell…
but I had no way of telling it…
I needed help….
Over a decade after Tammy’s death, that help came in the form of the police case files.
None of these had ever been released to the public. Here was the iceberg lying beneath the
surface. It turns out law enforcement had had their man all along, and had gotten very close
to uncovering a massive conspiracy. So, what happened in the days, months, and years
following Tammy’s death?
How could this case fall apart?
What was behind it?
Who was behind it?
This is why I believe Tammy died and this is why unfortunately I believe another death like
this is bound to happen again here in Yankton:
Rampant and unchecked drug and alcohol abuse
O, and how I hear people say, “This is South Dakota. Kids may drink a little beer, but
certainly we don’t have a drug problem!”
I hope I’m not bursting anybody’s bubble here….
“Well, kids do these things…It’s just part of growing up, right? Drink a little beer, smoke a
little pot…” comes the quick reply. “But a drug problem? Maybe in Sioux Falls, Rapid City, or
on the reservations…but not around here…”
I gave a lecture on drug addiction and domestic violence a month or so ago and asked a
class of high school students if any of them thought they could get a hold of
methamphetamines pretty easily here in Yankton. Every single one of them raised their
hands. One said, “All we have to do is walk out to the parking lot after school…”
Nearly half of all our high school students admit having smoked marijuana…
The national average is just over thirty percent.
And I bet you didn’t know – and little does our Chamber of Commerce advertise it – that
Yankton County is one of only fourteen counties in this state that has been designated by
the Federal Government as a “HIGH INTENSITY DRUG TRAFFICKING AREA.”
A High Intensity Drug Trafficking area…
SO WHAT’S BEING DONE ABOUT IT?
It’s not because there isn’t funding – the funding exists. The federal government wants to
help Yankton out. The state government wants to help Yankton out. The problem is Yankton
doesn’t want to help Yankton out.
This might simply be a matter of denial.
This might be because there is too much at stake if a major crackdown were to happen, too
much money changing hands, too many people implicated, people in positions of power and
authority.
SO LET’S JUST SAY – HYPOTHETICALLY – THAT THERE AREN’T GOING TO BE ANY
MAJOR DRUG CRACKDOWNS AS THE SYSTEM STANDS RIGHT NOW…
WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?
I believe early PREVENTION is one of the best ways to fight the scourge….
players, band members, Boy Scouts…
players, band members, Boy Scouts…
There must be another reason for this trend.
I BELIEVE THE PROBLEM EXISTS FOR ONE REASON
LACK OF CONSEQUENCES
It starts in the home, parents thinking they are protecting their children by ignoring or
denying their children’s illegal and destructive behavior, often times, lying for their children,
often times, participating with their children in the behavior.
But it’s not just a problem in the home.
It is a problem with the schools not cracking down hard enough, with our churches not being
outspoken enough, with law enforcement, with the justice system.
In the case of Tammy’s death, over 80 kids were involved in an illegal party, where drugs
were openly being distributed….
Who was held accountable for this?
Nobody.
“BUT PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE A RIGHT TO DO WHAT THEY WANT WITH THEIR
BODIES, MAN!!! WHY YOU COMING DOWN ON PEOPLE’S LIFESTYLE CHOICES?!!!”
I’ll tell you why in two words…
… domestic violence.
Violence against wives, girlfriends, children.
Sexual battery, sexual abuse.
Predation in all forms…
In the case of Tammy’s death, alcohol and drugs played a direct role. There is no possible
way around that.
Unless you lie…
Unless you deny…
Unless you turn a blind eye…
And that was what Yankton, as a whole, did.
It was Homecoming.
“Hey, kids are bound to go out and fool around…a little booze, a little drugs, a little sex…
hey, accidents are bound to happen.”
DRUGS AND ALCOHOL ABUSE LEAD ONLY TOWARDS DEATH AND DESTRUCTION
BOTTOM LINE!
But don’t take it from me…research the correlation between drugs, alcohol, and
violence…look at case after case after case.
WE BARELY DEAL WITH THE DRUG PROBLEM
WE SHOULD ALL BE ASHAMED WITH HOW WE IGNORE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE…
Sadly, only about 10% of domestic violence crimes are ever reported to the police. Sadly,
one in four women who visit the emergency room are there seeking treatment for domestic
violence. Sadly, half of all women in the USA will get abused sometime in their life…one in
four of them sexually abused.
WHY AREN’T THESE CRIMES BEING REPORTED, WHY IS SO LITTLE BEING DONE?
We can blame the victims, who often find it difficult to report those close to them, who often
feel like they have no power, who often feel like they won’t be believed.
We can blame law enforcement, treating victims like criminals, asking them what they did to
encourage the act of violence, embarrassing and humiliating them by questioning their
credibility, their reputation, making them repeat and relive the graphic details of the crime
again and again.
We can blame our cultural attitudes.
We can, and should, blame ourselves.
Did you know there are three times as many animal shelters in this country as there are
battered women's shelters?
In the US, 40% of victims are turned away from shelters due to a lack of space and funding.
The average sentence for people who kill their mates:
15 to 20 years for women who kill their mate
2 to 6 years for men who kill their mate.
BLAMING DOESN’T REALLY DO ANY GOOD – WHAT WE NEED ARE SOLUTIONS
Local law enforcement needs better training in dealing with victims of violent crime.
Women and children’s shelters need better financial support.
Church organizations need to get more involved in protecting victims and speaking out.
Strong laws protecting victim’s rights need to be enacted by our legislators.
Right now these laws are virtually non-existent.
And abusers, these cowards who act out violently against women and children, need to be
punished to the full extent of the law…
I BELIEVE—HAD THERE BEEN CONSEQUENCES—TAMMY MIGHT STILL BE ALIVE
We Americans are a forgiving people and that is wonderful, but it does no good to forgive
the unrepentant, because all this “forgiveness” does is give these people—these criminals—
license to do it again and again and again.
There is a thing called tough love…
And there is a time for justice…
WELL, I QUICKLY DISCOVERED, WHEN MY BOOK WAS PUBLISHED, THAT THERE
WERE QUITE A FEW PEOPLE WHO DIDN’T AGREE WITH MY POINT OF VIEW…
I have gotten plenty of anonymous emails making this very clear to me, threatening my life,
threatening my family, threatening my friends… “How dare you bring any of this up again?
You must be obsessed…LET IT GO!”
Yes, I am obsessed.
I am obsessed about doing what is right, about seeking the truth, about exposing these
individuals responsible, about exposing a system that failed, that continues to fail…
And as long as I have breath in my body, I won’t let it go. I can’t.
Nothing has changed or improved in this community as a result of Tammy’s death. In fact,
these problems have gotten worse, and we are setting ourselves up again for further
tragedy.
I UNDERSTAND THAT SOME PEOPLE DEPLORE THE DARK SUBJECT MATTER OF
MY BOOK.
Well, I deplore the reality that brought this book into existence.
Those few people who don’t want the truth told call my book total fantasy…but to this day,
not one of them has been able to bring one piece of evidence forward to prove me wrong.
If I am wrong, I want to be corrected. I don’t want people to take my word for it.
I want people to dig in and investigate the case for themselves.
I have been called a disturber of the peace.
WELL, GUESS WHAT, I’M GOING TO KEEP ON DISTURBING THE PEACE.
Because I believe that the peace that exists in this town is an ugly peace, a peace where
evildoers are given license to do whatever they please. That has got to end.
A stalled case won’t move unless pushed.
Hearts won’t change unless jolted.
That was why I wrote The Homecoming.
People need to be aware of the problems this town faces, and these problems need to be
corrected. This will take effort, commitment, sacrifice, love, but I truly believe that it is our
duty. And if good people do take action, if good people do seek the truth, what a world we
could make, starting right here, right now…
Thank you for your time and generosity.