Across the River: The Unanswered Death of Tammy Haas

On September 23, 1992, a golfer went looking for lost balls near Crofton, Nebraska. The golfer found Tammy Haas instead.

She was 19. She lived in Yankton, South Dakota, just across the river. She had gone to a party near Crofton several days earlier, and she did not come home that night.

Her boyfriend was charged with manslaughter and acquitted by a jury. More than three decades later, the FBI still lists her case under two words: Unexplained Death.

Sources for this section: 1, 2, 16

Homecoming

Tamara Ann Haas was born on April 13, 1973. Everyone called her Tammy.

In September 1992, Yankton High School was in the middle of homecoming, according to the Yankton Press & Dakotan.

Her mother was Nancy Haas. Her brother was Paul. Her boyfriend was Eric Stukel. NBC spells his first name Erick.

The public record doesn’t say much about Tammy’s everyday life that fall. It doesn’t say where she worked, what she was planning or what made her laugh.

Sources for this section: 1, 2, 3, 4, 8

The farm

On September 17, 1992, Tammy went to a party at a farm near Crofton with her boyfriend. The Norfolk Daily News places the farm in Cedar County, Nebraska. The Associated Press reports that September 17 was the last day she was seen.

The FBI’s account is short. She went to the party. She did not return home that night.

The next day, she was reported missing, according to the Norfolk Daily News.

The public record doesn’t establish when Tammy left the farm, where she went next, or the last time anyone saw her alive.

Sources for this section: 1, 3, 16

The golf course

On September 23, the golfer found her.

The FBI’s poster says her body was found in a ditch near where the party had been. Newspaper accounts describe a ravine near the Crofton Lakeview Golf Course.

Sources for this section: 1, 2, 3, 4, 8

Hyperflexation

The FBI says an autopsy showed her death was caused by “hyperflexation of her neck.”

The 2021 Yankton Press & Dakotan described investigators’ finding as “a severe blow to the neck or a hyperflexion of the neck.”

Neither description says who or what caused the injury, where it happened, or when.

According to NBC, authorities at the time believed Tammy had been in the trunk of a car before she was left where she was found. That was an investigative assessment as reported, not a finding proven in court. The reporting doesn’t say which car.

Sources for this section: 1, 2, 8

Three days

In October 1995, three years after Tammy died, Eric Stukel was charged with manslaughter. According to the Norfolk Daily News, the charge came three days before the statute of limitations ran out.

The case was brought in Cedar County. The Associated Press reported that the Nebraska attorney general’s office prosecuted it.

Sources for this section: 3, 16

Hartington

The 2005 Yankton Press & Dakotan places the trial in Hartington, Nebraska, in 1996. The Norfolk Daily News also says he was tried a year after the charge. A 2021 Press & Dakotan article says 1995. Court records would settle it.

Stukel was represented by Yankton attorney Mike Stevens.

The jury acquitted him.

That verdict is the final word from the courts on the charge. The public record reviewed for this story doesn’t say what the jury heard, or why it decided the way it did.

Sources for this section: 4, 8, 16

The novel

In 2005, a Yankton author published a novel based on the case.

Stevens told the Press & Dakotan he hadn’t seen the book. He said the verdict “doesn’t end the situation” for the family. He criticized “people who are unwilling to accept the judgment of 12 unbiased (jurors).” Those were comments to a reporter nine years after the trial, not arguments he made in court.

Sources for this section: 4

Cold Case Spotlight

In 2015, Tammy’s family raised about $24,000 through social media and hired private investigators, according to the AP. That April, Dateline NBC featured Tammy in its Cold Case Spotlight.

One of Tammy’s childhood friends, Sally Smith, told Dateline she believes there was a cover-up. That’s her personal belief. No investigation has established it.

That spring, the AP corrected a story that put a line defending Stukel, “There’s no way I doubt his innocence,” in the mouth of Tammy’s mother. It was actually said by Dawn Stukel, Eric Stukel’s mother.

Sources for this section: 2, 3

Unexplained Death

On April 13, 2021, the FBI and Yankton Police held a news conference in Yankton. It was the day Tammy would have turned 48.

They announced a reward of up to $15,000. The FBI’s poster asks for information uncovering exactly how Tammy Haas died.

Michael Paul, the FBI special agent in charge, put the question this way: “What happened that night? Why did she die?”

The FBI and Yankton Police said they were continuing to investigate and hoped the reward would bring people forward.

No one has publicly said when Tammy left the party, when and where she was injured, or how she came to be where she was found. As of October 10, 2026, the FBI’s listing for Tammy is still online, and it still lists the reward.

Sources for this section: 1, 7, 8

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