I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR SEVEN YEARS TO
GET MY ASS SUED...TICK-TOCK, TICK-TOCK!

But lawyers are smart, and I am lucky to be
friends with several who have offered me sage
advice about the release of a book in the works
since 2008 meant to remove all author's license
from The Homecoming.

Twenty years have passed since Tammy's death.

Whereas I found great significance in this date,
a good friend suggested to me that releasing a
product that is not publicly backed by my
sources would be a miscalculation.  

"You miss her every day, right?" he said. "Then
what makes one day any better than another
for launching this book?"

I'm holding back, but stand behind all of it:

Who the killer, yes!
Friends backing him, yes!
Forensic evidence, yes!
Failed polygraph, yes!

BUT BEFORE I PUT MYSELF OUT ON A LIMB...

LESSON ONE: Assure that my sources, who wish to remain
anonymous, whether in law enforcement or not, would be
willing to swear to their statements in court. Otherwise, what
validity would any of my claims have?

To put it another way, would my sources "put themselves out
on a limb" to offer me the same protection I have been affording
them by quoting them as anonymous?

LESSON TWO: Assure that I have the time to deal with any
reaction to what I have written. I am working 80 to 90 hours a
week in an urban school. My students need me. Can I take on
another full-time job and do both effectively?

The spirit is willing, but I do need my four hours of sleep.

LESSON THREE: Is there more to research, more to vet, more to
edit; have I only scratched the surface?

The core of what I have written comes right out of courtroom
testimony, eighty percent; another fifteen percent comes from
police records missed or redacted from the courtroom
testimony (example, a failed polygraph test, inadmissible); the
last little bit, the part that would "get my ass sued" comes from
fallout after The Homecoming -- the anonymous hearsay that
should have been reported to law enforcement years ago.

I trust my sources,  mostly because I have spent years cross-
checking, but if they won't publicly acknowledge what they
report under the condition of anonymity, they really are pretty
worthless. I don't mean to disrespect anybody, but that's the
bottom line. Other people need to step up and do the right thing.

BUT WHAT WAS I ABOUT TO PUBLISH...

I'll give a few weak examples of what I have included in my
writing and will continue to edify as time unfolds:

A half-assed death threat sent to me through this website a day
after the release of The Homecoming reads:

name = G.
email = profit_from_murder@asshole.com
phone = 555-555-5555
comments = Why don't u try accepting the fact that you are
more responsible for her death at this point than anyone else
could ever have been. If u wanted to be a celebrity in "yankton,
S.D." u could have worked at mcDonald's and made more
money. In reviewing the facts, u are probably the one who
killed her. If I were u, I would watch your back. You never
know who could end up in the ravine, this time justified.
REMOTE_HOST: 24.170.162.73


Murder versus the reporting of a murder? C'mon...

Morally twisted, don't you think?

I could tell you all day that law enforcement traced this back to
a Stukel computer, but unless the DA or any detectives who
investigated this death threat publicly acknowledged as much --
which I'm not sure they can unless the crime was prosecuted -- I
probably shouldn't publish this.

I didn't push to get this threat prosecuted. I just wanted to
know who sent it...and I was told.  

See, look at that. I'm saving the taxpayers money.

I could also publish the words of somebody whose handwriting
evidently matched Eric Stukel's. This somebody with Eric
Stukel's handwriting wrote the message just after Tammy's
body was discovered. The message was found in a notebook
seized at the Adamson household. That night, Stukel and his
friends were recording their thoughts in a notebook while
going through the regular routine of getting drunk and high:   

"Life is short—stay hard! Someone will have Mr. 'Confusious'
come and take you in! Something is wrong! They (the FEDS) can
fuck you up! I just feel so crushed. No one forget how Mr.
Bottoms became!

To 'Tea'                                         
I love you.
I’m telling the truth.
Aren’t I?

See you in another life
I love you mom and dad
and brothers and sisters
and I love you Tammy Haas
I’ll never forget you Honey.
              “E”


Hmmm... so sad.

Even Stukel questions his own ability to tell the truth here.

Bottom line. You don't kill people you love. So, no, you were not
telling the truth.

Unfortunately, the book Stukel checked out from the Yankton
High School library while Tammy was missing, the book that
had a chapter on beating polygraphs, didn't clarify the nature of
truth to him.

But, I'll diverge.

I also wonder who this Mr. Bottoms is and how he "became."

Maybe I need to "Dust" off my "List" of suspects in the cover-up
to get at who Bottoms could be...

I only know of one person from that time who went by the
nickname of Bottoms. And, boy, does old Mr. Bottoms just,
jump, jump out from that passage, that trembling tough with
Mommy's 12:13 alibi for him and his buddy.

Two kids just wrestling around the floor, playing grab ass,
while Tammy was being dumped in a ravine.  

I just wonder how Mr. Bottoms became.

The police records in that capacity are not only enlightening but
almost humorous in their transparency. Amazing how alibis
that were taken at face value indicate that several participants
in a cover-up were in two places at one time.

Witnesses exist...but will they step up and do the right thing?

I also elucidate on the craziness of four people (people who
claimed they had no clue what might have happened to Tammy
on the night she died) out looking for her in the exact spot
where her body was discovered, before she was reported
missing. Hmmm... were they out looking for her or doing what
most do in this situation, returning to the scene of the crime to
face the reality of what happened?

But, again, I need the actual, physical police records to be made
public, otherwise I'm just spewing words, words, words...

The case should have been open and shut, but in a town like
Yankton, where silence is golden, I must ask the question, "Who
will back me up on so much that should be common
knowledge?"

This is three or four pages.

I have a book full of this stuff, ready, but I need people to step
up and validate. Otherwise, what I claim will be meaningless.

I'm glad I have friends who have convinced me of this.

I'm not done. The work and the names of the anonymous
sources are in the right hands. I just need more time to do
better reporting.

I hope those who care understand that my purpose has not been
blunted and needs no whetting.

m.c. merrill