First posted on August 28, 2009
On September 17th, 1992, Tammy Haas went to a Yankton High School homecoming party on a Cedar County, Nebraska farm owned by the Stephenson family of Yankton, SD, located eight miles southwest of Yankton, South Dakota. In attendance with her was Eric Stukel. They had ridden together in his silver 1988 Chevy Beretta.1
Yankton, SD, is a border town, sitting on the Missouri River, opposite Nebraska. To get to Nebraska from Yankton, drivers can cross a bridge on the south end of Yankton or drive west about eight minutes to Gavin’s Point Dam and cross there. The Stephenson farmhouse sits on a gravel road in Nebraska, about a mile south of the Missouri River.
At this party, around 11:15 p.m., would be the last any reliable witnesses would see Tammy alive. Less than a week later, Tammy’s half-naked body would be found in a Nebraska ravine, on a county road within one-and-a-half miles of that same farm.2,3,4,5
Based on livor mortis evidence, the pooling of blood in the body after death, Tammy’s body had to have gotten to its final resting place in the ravine within a half an hour or so after her death. 3, 6
Several other pieces of forensic evidence (to be examined in the succeeding posts) would strongly indicate that Tammy didn’t die in that ravine, but was transported from a nearby location.
However, according to Eric Stukel’s September 24, 1992 statement to law enforcement, Tammy returned with him at 10:45 p.m. to his parents’ home in Yankton, eight miles away, and then between 12:30 and 1:00 a.m., she walked off into the night from his parents’ house, alone.7
Based upon the contents of her stomach and the time of her last known meal, Tammy likely would not have been alive after 12:35 a.m.3
The location of the ravine is the first public wooded area west of the party location. The ravine sits on Nebraska Highway 121, a half mile south of the Gavin’s Point Dam.
Considering the proximity of the ravine to the Stephenson farmhouse, Eric Stukel’s story about taking Tammy back to Yankton some eight miles away seems dubious.
Again, according to Mr. Stukel, Tammy left his house between 12:30 and 1:00 a.m. on what was now September 18th to walk off alone into the night. Science tells us that in all probability she could not have been alive after 12:30 a.m. that night.3
Tammy’s autopsy revealed several defense wounds on her hands and arms. Tearing of the intestinal wall at the back of the spine indicated that she received a severe blow to the abdomen, one that would have knocked the wind out of her, incapacitating her.3
According to medical examiner Dr. Brad Randall, this blow to the abdomen could have been “a knee, fist or round post.”3
Finally, her spinal column was torn in a way that indicated blunt force pressure to the back of Tammy’s head, compressing the vertebrae. According to expert testimony, internal bleeding at the site of the intestinal injury suggested that the stomach injury and the neck injury did not occur concurrently.3
Works Cited
1. Rothanzl, Lorna. “Suspect Surrenders: Haas Disappearance Stunned Yankton.” Yankton Press and Dakotan. Sept. 16, 1995
2. Rothanzl, Lorna. “Friends Testify at Stukel Trial.” Yankton Press and Dakotan. Oct. 2, 1996
3. Rothanzl, Lorna. “Experts Testify in Stukel Trial: Medical Examiner Says Death Not From Fall.” Yankton Press and Dakotan. Oct. 1, 1996.
4. Rothanzl, Lorna. “Testimony Begins in Stukel Trial.” Yankton Press and Dakotan, Sept. 27, 1996
5. P&D Staff Reports. “Reports of Found Body Investigated.” Yankton Press and Dakotan. Sept. 23, 1992
6. O’Neill, Colleen. “Haas was in car trunk before ditch.” Yankton Press and Dakotan. Jan. 11, 1993
7. Rothanzl, Lorna. “Stukel Takes Stand: Prosecution Rests, Stukel Denies Knowledge Of Death.” Yankton Press and Dakotan, Oct. 3, 1996
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