First posted September 12th, 2009
On Friday afternoon Eric Stukel washes his car, gets “stood up” by Tammy, (but has the foresight to throw a chili party for his friends,) then he goes to the Yankton high school dance, and tells classmate Darcy Isburg he’s ready to marry Tammy.2
The next day, Tammy’s aunt calls Stukel to ask if he’s seen Tammy.1
He responds (according to his own testimony) by driving out to a party spot north of Yankton.2
In search of what?
Supposedly, according to Stukel, Tammy walked southward to her aunt’s house at the end of her night with Stukel. So to go in search of her, Stukel travels northward to the site of the first party he and Tammy attended Thursday night, the place where they also first met?2
Was this an act of panic on Stukel’s part—what did I do that night? What do I do now? How do I explain myself?—or when asked by law enforcement whether he helped search for Tammy that weekend, did Stukel make up the story about going northward toward the airport to look for Tammy?
Friends who testified said Stukel did not seem concerned Tammy was missing (and wanted to talk about a book that included a chapter on beating polygraphs instead).1
Did Stukel say he searched for Tammy at the party spot north of Yankton to make law enforcement think he had no idea what happened to Tammy, to make law enforcement think he had no idea where to start looking for her, to disconnect his activities at the Stephenson farm and ravine Thursday night?
Sure, I looked for Tammy. I just didn’t know where to begin.
The plot thickens.
According to Jason Adamson, Eric Stukel’s best friend, he and Stukel drove around Nebraska in the Gavin’s Point area that Saturday afternoon after “learning” Tammy never arrived back at her aunt’s on Thursday night.
If Tammy did walk from Stukel’s house to her aunt’s and disappeared somewhere along the way, why would Stukel and Adamson be lurking around over in Nebraska, on the very road where Tammy’s body was discovered?
In other words, Stukel tells law enforcement he drives to the party spot north of town to look for Tammy, mentioning nothing about Adamson, while Adamson says he and Stukel were down in Nebraska, on Nebraska Highway 121, “searching for Tammy.”
Why would Adamson say one thing and Stukel another?
One of them had to have been lying.
Is it safe to assume Stukel felt he could not tell law enforcement he was in Nebraska for fear of drawing suspicion his way?
What about Adamson—why would he say he was on Nebraska Highway 121 with Stukel?
If Stukel told him nothing, Adamson had nothing to hide by being out on the road.
If Adamson knew he had to account for his vehicle being in Nebraska, the truth was his best option.
What if, however, he feared somebody might have seen Stukel and him lurking about on Nebraska Highway 121 near or in that ravine?
Adamson knew he had an alibi Thursday night. He had no good reason to lie about being in Nebraska with Stukel. He might not have even been aware of the cover story Stukel had told Tammy’s friends and family (that Tammy had walked from his house.)
Then again, all of this may be a bit too much speculation.
What we do know is that Adamson told law enforcement that he and Stukel were on Nebraska Highway 121, and Stukel did not reveal this fact — one of them had to be lying.
If Stukel’s story about taking Tammy home on Thursday night were true, if he truly believes this is what happened, being out on Nebraska Highway 121 “looking for Tammy” would make no sense.
In fact, why did they not search the route Tammy supposedly took home that night like her friends did after they asked Stukel if he had seen Tammy?
If Eric Stukel believed Tammy was “dead in a ditch” somewhere and if he truly loved her and was not her killer, why didn’t he call the police with his concern, why didn’t he search all the ditches in the area—north, south, east, west? Stukel did tell people that for all he knew Tammy was dead in a ditch or field.1
The only logical reason Stukel had for being out on Nebraska Highway 121 was that he knew where Tammy’s body was hidden and he was paying his first visit that Saturday.
WORKS CITED
1. Rothanzl, Lorna. “Friends Testify at Stukel Trial.” Yankton Press and Dakotan. Oct. 2nd, 1996.
2. Rothanzl, Lorna. “Stukel Takes Stand: Prosecution Rests, Stukel Denies Knowledge Of Death.” Yankton Press and Dakotan, Oct. 3, 1996
3. Rothanzl, Lorna. “Stukel’s Sister Back Up Alibi at Trial.” Yankton Press and Dakotan. Oct. 4th, 1996.
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