First posted September 13th, 2009
On the evening of Saturday, Sept. 19, 1992, after his drive to Nebraska with Eric Stukel, Jason Adamson had to return to work at Yankton’s Fryn’ Pan restaurant (owned by Stukel’s parents) while Stukel attended a party at Dan Fitch’s apartment. Just after 11:00 pm that same night, Eric Stukel would be seen alone at the Cork N Bottle in Yankton, a liquor store and popular hangout for teenagers.2
Here, he would be confronted by DeeDee Budig, another of Tammy’s friends, and would claim he had no clue as to Tammy’s whereabouts.2
For all he knew, “She was probably lying dead in a ditch somewhere.”2
At this point, Eric Stukel drops off the map and has no reasonable answer for his whereabouts until between 3 and 4:00 am the next morning.
From 11:00 pm to 3-4:00 am, not one person can account for Eric Stukel’s presence.
Just after 11:00 pm on Sept. 19, 1992, Stukel is seen alone at the Cork N Bottle.2
Between 3-4:00 on Sept. 20, 1992, Stukel is seen at a booth in his parents’ restaurant.1
During homecoming weekend in Yankton, South Dakota, a high school student would have a hard time going unnoticed or unseen.
There is only one place I believe Eric Stukel could have been that night between 11 p.m. and 3-4 a.m.: out in the ravine on County 121, alone with Tammy’s body.
This visit on Saturday night, I believe, provides a rather textbook explanation as to how urine matching Eric Stukel got on the back of Tammy’s underwear.
Tammy’s body was found on the floor of the ravine, facedown, with her pants pulled down until they were hanging around one leg.
“I want to f*ck Tammy’s cold body on a cold slab,” Stukel wrote, according to a witness whose testimony was heard in the judge’s chamber (but whose testimony was not admitted as evidence due to the length of time between the writing and Tammy’s death.)
Though semen found in the body might have gotten there within 72 hours before Tammy’s death, 3 the urine on the back of the underwear matching Stukel’s blood and secretion type has no good explanation unless one believes Stukel’s story about taking Tammy back to Yankton. If this were the case, why was there only urine on the back of the underwear?3
Law enforcement testified that they believed someone had been down in the ravine to tamper with Tammy’s body. Her pants had been pulled down until they were hanging off one foot. Her watch had been placed back on her wrist, the watch pin missing.4,5,6
I believe that the judge was careful about what information he allowed into the trial. I believe this because I was in the judge’s chambers when the judge ruled that the testimony about “the cold slab” was inadmissible.
Prompted by YPD Det. Bill Miller, Stukel wrote a letter to Tammy while being interviewed after Tammy’s body was discovered. In addition to writing about a dream he had about an old lady, a car, and a garage, and Tammy being dead in the car, he also wrote, “I was the last one to be with you.”3
I believe he meant that last part quite literally.
The physical evidence on its own, however, would not be enough to prove Stukel’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, but…what if, after his visit to the ravine, he confessed while sitting in the booth at his parents’ restaurant?
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. “Experts Testify in Stukel Trial.” Yankton Press and Dakotan, Oct. 1, 1996
4. Rothanzl, Lorna. “New Clues Revealed: Sufficient Evidence Binds Stukel Over To District Court.” Yankton Press and Dakotan. Oct. 31, 1995
5. Rothanzl, Lorna. “Testimony Begins in Stukel Trial.” Yankton Press and Dakotan, Sept. 27, 1996
6. Rothanzl, Lorna. “More Evidence Offered In Stukel Trial.” Yankton Press and Dakotan, Sept. 28, 1996
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