RICHLAND CO.—September 16, 2014 will mark two years since anyone saw the late Ed Hataway alive.
And as the month of September arrives, there have been no developments whatsoever regarding a suspect in what authorities are calling Hataway’s death: a murder.
Hataway, 61, disappeared in the evening hours of that Sunday in 2012, and local authorities (City of Olney and Richland County) didn’t take his disappearance seriously, despite family claiming that it wouldn’t have been characteristic of him to leave without notifying anyone—family or friends—of his whereabouts.
It wasn’t until more than a week later that Hataway’s brother John and John’s girlfriend, Anita Scott, were able to get Illinois State Police involved; then, in early November 2012, the Richland County prosecutor’s office, having received a letter about the location of Hataway’s body in neighboring Lawrence County, caused a search to be conducted, and the skeletal remains were found north of U.S. 50 near Red Hills State Park.
Since that time, despite the homicide determination, no discernable movement has been made in the case.
However, many revelations have occurred in the two years, with two primary ones taking front and center: the probate case of Opal Hataway as it involved her four sons, Ed and John and their brothers, William Robert (Bob) and Daniel Hataway, and the seeming ignoring of that case by the lead investigator, ISP’s Tim Brown out of District 12 in Effingham.
And now, Disclosure has learned of incidents that have occurred in recent months, having to do with both the probate, and with Brown’s seeming lack of concern with how Ed Hataway met his demise.
ISP sources: ‘Look at the probate’
Regular readers will recall that following Disclosure’s July and August 2013 detailed coverage of the Opal Hataway probate—in which John and Ed Hataway were made executors of the estate, a position for which both Bob and Dan Hataway were jockeying—Brown accused Anita Scott of “feeding” information to this publication.
In point of fact, Illinois State Police sources were the ones who, in early 2013, advised Disclosure of the pending probate case and urged the publication’s staff to study the probate documents closely, as they might lead to clues as to why what happened to Ed Hataway happened, in particular, the fact that the day after Ed Hataway’s disappearance, there had been a scheduled court date to discuss transferring of executorship from Ed and John Hataway to Dan Hataway. Neither Scott, nor John Hataway, were responding to queries for comment on the probate case at that, nor any other, time.
Disclosure staff studied copies of the file for at least three months before putting a three-part series together for the Summer run of papers in 2013.
Upon publication of the probate case, however, Scott herself contacted Disclosure to advise what Brown had done when the material was revealed and questions were posed in print.
Scott said that on July 16, 2013, Brown called her and accused her of “feeding information to the media.” Upon issuance of this statement, she said, he then threatened her with obstruction of justice.
“Early in the investigation,” Scott told Disclosure, “he even advised me that I could quit my job, investigate the murder and then he wouldn’t have to investigate it.
“Right then he played his cards,” Scott said. “He had not been to the courthouse to review the probate file.”
Scott said that she doubted Brown knew of the existence of the file at all, meaning he was not investigating anything regarding Hataway’s murder with any serious intent.
OP issued during probate
During the pendency of the probate, things got so heated among the brothers that an Order of Protection had to be filed by Ed and John Hataway and Scott against Bob and Dan Hataway, this in 2005 (which material was covered thoroughly during the course of the three-part series).
The estate was not a large one, but accusations of mismanagement flew.
The OP was issued, and later let go. However, it remains on file in Richland County.
With Ed Hataway out of the way as executor, and with documents in the estate case showing that if Ed Hataway were “unable to serve” as executor, Dan Hataway would be substituted in his stead, this substitution took place on October 21, 2013. John Hataway, as co-executor with Ed, was not advised, however, of this substitution.
And things grew further strained at a January 27, 2014 meeting between Dan Hataway’s attorney and the estate attorney at the Richland County courthouse in Olney.
With both Dan and John Hataway present during an estate settlement conference, Dan asked about removing the OP from the records.
Both attorneys present told him that could not and would not be done.
Nevertheless, during the estate settlement hearing with Judge Larry Dunn, Dan Hataway instructed his attorney to ask the judge about removing the OP from the records…and Dunn, also, told Hataway that would not be done.
Strange confrontation at Rural King
It wasn’t long before the pressure came to the point of one-on-one.
On February 22, John Hataway was at his place of employment, Rural King in Olney.
As he was walking toward the time clock to clock out for a break, John Hataway saw Teresa Steckler in line at the store.
Steckler is the girlfriend of Daniel Hataway and is employed as the Extension Educator in Commercial Agriculture at the Dixon Springs Agricultural Center in Simpson, Illinois, in Johnson County. While Dan Hataway claims that he resides in Pesotum, Illinois (Champaign County), reports indicate that he and Steckler, a doctor of veterinary medicine, actually have a residence in Shawneetown, and stay there more frequently than anyplace else.
In other words, it’s a rather unusual circumstance for Steckler to have been in Olney, yet there she was, in Rural King.
John Hataway advised his co-workers that he was going to lunch and was briefly stopped by a customer before he could proceed; this afforded him the opportunity to observe Steckler checking out and quickly leaving the building.
Then, as Hataway was walking to his vehicle, he spotted Steckler sitting in her parked pickup, talking on the phone. John Hataway kept walking and entered his vehicle…but as he was about to leave, Steckler suddenly drove up to him and abruptly parked next to his driver’s side.
She engaged him in conversation about a phone number John Hataway was “supposed to have” so that his brother Dan could text with him. She also advised him that the estate attorney “should have presented him the number.”
At that point, Dan Hataway pulled in front of John Hataway’s vehicle.
Realizing that Steckler had been pulling a stall tactic so Dan could arrive, John Hataway, who does not maintain contact with Dan, was somewhat startled, and considerably wary, of this situation.
Dan Hataway, however, merely said he wanted to “make sure John had his text-phone number,” and gave that number to John.
Then in the next breath, Dan Hataway asked a question:
“I don’t suppose you would sign a statement saying Ed lied to get the Orders of Protection?” Dan Hataway asked his brother John.
John Hataway replied that he would not.
Dan Hataway grew visibly and immediately angry.
“He said NO!!” Dan Hataway said to Steckler.
Perplexed, John Hataway told his brother: “It wouldn’t make any difference; it won’t come off your record anyway.”
Dan Hataway reportedly glared at his brother.
“Fine!!” he said. “You had your chance!”
Later that day, Scott, who operates the Facebook page “Missing: Ed Hataway,” placed a notation on the page mentioning this conversation.
At 4:30 p.m. that same day, John Hataway received a text from his brother Dan, asking if he knew that Scott had “placed their conversation on the internet.”
John didn’t respond, and deleted the number and the text message from his phone.
Was Ed poisoned?
To add to this, Disclosure learned earlier this year that Bob Hataway’s residence in Rusk, Texas, was searched by authorities. Disclosure could only confirm through Texas officials that it occurred; there was no information as to why, or what the search warrant was for.
No information from Illinois State Police, who were present at the search, was gleaned when queries were made. However, it was confirmed that there was no search conducted of Dan Hataway’s and Teresa Steckler’s property in Gallatin County.
Interestingly, information coming out of Lawrence County, by sources who wish to remain unnamed, continues to indicate what was said on the day Ed Hataway’s body was found November 7, 2012: That Hataway’s skeletal remains had appeared to have been torn and consumed by small animals at the scene, then those small animals appeared to have died in immediate proximity to the body. The indication from the Lawrence sources was that Hataway may have either been poisoned, or that his body had contained a toxic enough substance that small animals might have been poisoned and died where they stood, or perhaps at the very least they had ingested a substance, such as a paralyzing/anesthetic/euthanizing agent in Hataway’s body that immobilized them to the point that they later succumbed to it.
The suggestion was that the substance or agent might be the kind of anesthetic that a veterinarian would use routinely on large animals for surgery or other procedures such as euthanasia in a large dose.
Despite what Tim Brown thinks…
Disclosure has been unable to track down Dan Hataway or Teresa Steckler for comment, despite obtaining phone numbers and emails, and despite even working in Gallatin County with sources there to try and find their residence.
John Hataway has never spoken to Disclosure; Anita Scott has been in recent communication with the paper by messaging.
Scott says they are very discouraged by the investigation—or lack thereof—and by the sheer lack of professionalism Tim Brown has displayed in the course of the case.
Other ISP sources have been the primary resource for the information in this report.