Book about the mysterious death of CSC math professor

[frogmarch]

Love & Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere is a memoir by Chadron, Nebraska author, Poe Ballantine. The main focus of the book is the mysterious death of Chadron State College math professor Steven Haataja in 2006. A documentary has been made based on the book, and I'm looking forward to seeing it when it finally airs on TV. Steven Haataja’s body was found just over the hill from my house.



http://hawthornebooks.com/catalogue/love-and-terror-on-the-howling-plains-of-nowhere


About the book:

For well over twenty years, Poe Ballantine traveled America, taking odd jobs, living in small rooms, and trying to make a living as a writer. At age 46, he finally settled with his Mexican immigrant wife in Chadron, Nebraska, where they had a son who was red-flagged as autistic. Poe published four books about his experiences as a wanderer and his observations of America. But one day in 2006, his neighbor, Steven Haataja, a math professor from the local state college disappeared. Ninety five days later, the professor was found bound to a tree, burned to death in the hills behind the campus where he had taught. No one, law enforcement included, understood the circumstances. Poe had never contemplated writing mystery or true crime, but since he knew all the players, the suspects, the sheriff, the police involved, he and his kindergarten son set out to find out what might have happened. Love and Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere is not only a six-year examination of this case, but of Poe’s eccentric high plains town, its kooky residents, his rocky marriage to a beautiful Mexican woman, and his purportedly autistic son.

As well as being a fascinating memoir, the book offers new insight into the Haataja case and puts to rest some of the rumors about it that have been circulating around Chadron and the Internet.

Edited to add that the book is available at Amazon and other places on the net, but I ordered my copy from Hawthorne Books because the publisher/editor of Hawthorne Books, Rhonda Hughes, is one of the "players" in the book.

[frogmarch]

1. Blog about the book

http://hawthornebooks.com/blog/article/poe-ballantine-on-the-documentary-love-terror-on-the-howling-plains-of-nowh

Poe Ballantine talks about the book and the documentary. In the comment section that follows, Steven Haataja's sisters jump all over him for writing the book. They'd rather believe what local law enforcement told them - that their brother's death wasn't a homicide; it was a suicide. It's interesting to read the heated conversation between the author and the sisters.

Edited to add that the book was scheduled to be released this coming September, but it came out in June instead.

[Doctor_J]

2. wait, what?

bound to a tree, burned to death in the hills

their brother's death ... was a suicide.

[frogmarch]

3. Yeah, I know. Doesn't make sense

as a suicide.

Law enforcement says the only footprints found at the scene were Haataja's, but the body wasn't found for over 3 months, so how could they be sure whose they were?

Another thing: Law enforcement insists he'd been drinking heavily, but decomposition of corpses can cause alcohol to form in what is called endogenous production.

[frogmarch]

4. Excerpts from the book

A very graphic description of the body is given. Here are some excerpts from what follows:

Sheriff Conaghan couldn’t tell at first if the black, ransacked mass straining against the slackness of its ligatures was badly decomposed or badly burned. As he drew closer it became clear that the body was severely burned. In his words, “99.9% burned.”

...

“You couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman” Conaghan recalled. “Though we were pretty sure who it was. I was leaning down there getting a closer look when a mouse blew out of the chest. I said: 'Oh, shit.'"

...

“You read about things like this, of course,” Sheriff Conaghan said. “You’re trained for it. But I had no experience. The upper body burned to bone and the tree that he was tied to not burned? The area all around him barely burned? How does that happen? It was Twilight Zone shit. And I didn’t have the staff or time to deal with it. I got prisoners, paperwork. I was up to my ass in alligators. So I turned the case over on the spot to State Patrol.”

I found the book fascinating and could hardly put it down (I read it in two sittings), but not everyone in Chadron appreciated it – especially if they were in it.

[frogmarch]

5. Love & Terror (intro video for the documentary)

http://www.loveandterrorthemovie.com/

I don't know when the documentary will be released.