RICHLAND CO.—The case of missing man Ed Hataway is now being considered a homicide, and despite the confusion that now surrounds the matter, Illinois State Police advise that the investigation into Hataway’s death is ongoing.
The confusion has ensued because of the belief that Hataway’s death occurred in Richland County, despite his body being located in neighboring Lawrence County…and because of this development, ISP is no longer in charge of press releases on the matter, but instead Richland County’s state’s attorney’s office is now in charge of all information on the case.
And that, as anyone who’s ever dealt with that office will know, literally means that NO information will be forthcoming in any developments until either an arrest is made, or the whole matter is forgotten and shelved.
And unfortunately with state’s attorney David Hyde, the latter of the two is a stronger possibility than the former.
Disappeared in September
Ed Hataway, 61, was last seen on the afternoon of Sunday, September 16, 2012, when he tended bar at the Knights of Columbus hall in Olney for a family who was having a reunion there. Hataway was an “odd jobs” worker, and was familiar with alcohol, having worked at different gigs as a bartender or at a local package store, as well as other jobs where he could find them. He was well-liked and known as an easygoing guy.
He was last heard from around 8 p.m. that night when his landlord, Don Cunningham (owner of DC Sales out on Highway 50 west of Olney) called him regarding a mowing job the next day, which he, according to Cunningham, accepted.
However, he didn’t show up the next day for the job, nor did he respond when the K of C hall tried to contact him to pick up his paycheck for the bartending job.
Cunningham went to check on Hataway that Monday and found his apartment unlocked, his truck in the parking lot (locked), and his shoes near the truck.
Family was notified and his brother John and John’s girlfriend Anita Scott arrived, ultimately attempting to file a missing person’s report on Ed.
Was not ‘missing’ until 11 days later
Olney authorities (who would be in charge of any ensuing investigation, as the DC Sales building sat on land outside of Olney but annexed so the city could take advantage of tax benefits coming from siting of the Walmart Distribution Center nearby) would not accept a missing persons report on Hataway, opining that they believed he may “want” to be gone. A search of the premises around the apartment eight days after Hataway was last seen was attended by horseback riders and one Olney police officer, who merely advised the riders that if they went into the woods surrounding the place, they might be “disturbing a crime scene”…yet no crime scene had been called.
This took place on Sept. 24. On the 27th, Hataway’s family learned that Illinois State Police had finally taken the matter seriously and were themselves reporting him a missing person, and actually doing something of an investigation at the apartment and surrounding area.
Olney police griped mightily about Anita Scott’s Facebook page, “Missing: Ed Hataway,” and generally badmouthed the group’s efforts to find him…despite the family declaring that such a disappearance “wasn’t like him.”
Discovery of body
On November 7, Lawrence County deputies were spotted standing at a box culvert on Cahokia Trace Lane in Lawrence County just off U.S. 50 between the Sumner and Bridgeport exits.
There, on the bank of a creekbed, were the remains of a body.
While Hataway supporters were hopeful, until late November, there was no positive identification made.
But on November 28, that changed.
The public was made aware, via Hataway’s “missing” page, that the remains had been identified as Ed Hataway, this occurring in the late afternoon/early evening hours.
However, there was no further information available. Calls to Olney Police Department, Lawrence County sheriff’s department, Lawrence County’s coroner (who never returns calls) and Illinois State Police made by Disclosure turned up no information confirming what the Facebook page was asserting.
An assertion that Olney police Sgt. Doug Nuttall had been the one to notify family was refuted by a call to OPD on the night the revelation was made, with an OPD dispatcher stating explicitly that she had contacted Nuttall (who was on duty at that point in time) and he had been fielding media calls all evening, stating he was NOT the one to contact family.
Confirmed the next morning
It wasn’t until the next morning it was learned that all communication and information about the case was coming from the Richland County prosecutor’s office.
The information was succinct: That ISP District 12 had made a positive identification of the remains found in Lawrence County as being those of Ed Hataway, missing since Sept. 16, and that the Richland County state’s attorney’s office was now in charge of information.
There was no indication of how the identification was made. There was no indication as to cause of death. There was even no indication as to how a Richland County entity came to be in charge of an investigation where a body was found in Lawrence County.
There was also no indication as to who it was (which entity) that told members of the Hataway family the night before that the identification had been made.
ISP reached
But on December 12, Disclosure finally reached ISP Lt. Kelly Hodge, originally considered to be in charge of the Hataway missing persons investigation.
While Hodge was limited in what he was allowed to say, he explained at least that the reason the case was turned over to the state’s attorney’s office was because of the belief that the crime that lead to Hataway’s death occurred in Richland.
Hodge also happened to mention that ISP was “working with Richland County State’s Attorney office and Olney Police Department,” the inference being that the belief was there that the crime occurred within Olney city limits (albeit that those “city limits” could be considered Hataway’s apartment at DC sales).
Officially, Hodge’s quote was that the “investigation is ongoing and that ISP, OPD and the state’s attorney’s office are working on it and following leads.”
The letter
One of those leads was presented to Hodge during the phone conversation Disclosure staff had with him.
Disclosure asked if Hodge could comment on a letter Richland County authorities received in early November, advising them where they could find the body. Disclosure learned of the letter on the same day Lawrence deputies were observed guarding the creekbed and culvert until crime scene investigators could arrive.
Hodge did not comment on it.
He also would not comment on the fact that Disclosure had been told, by sources very close to the case, that a house where Ed Hataway’s brother Dan Hataway was residing in, or had at one time resided in, in Olney had been the subject of a search warrant in the days following receipt of the letter and locating of the body.
Orders of Protection against older brothers
Daniel L. Hataway, 56, and another Hataway brother, William Robert Jr., 66, were both subjects of two Orders of Protection issued by Richland County judge Larry Dunn seven years ago.
The petitions for the OPs were taken out by Ed and John Hataway, as well as Anita Scott (then Everette) October 21, 2005.
At the time, William Hataway was living in Rusk, Texas, and Daniel had an address of Rte. 130 North, Olney, although court documents show a scratched-out address in Pesotom, Illinois.
In the description of incidents, Ed Hataway listed that “both W.R. Hataway Jr and Daniel Hataway made verbal threats of physical abuse, and threatened to kill me. At the same time made similar threats against John D. Hataway. On previous occasions, both respondents made similar threats not only in person, but also during phone conversations. This verbal abuse and physical threats have been taking place for over two years prior to this date.”
On Nov. 7, 2005, both William and Dan Hataway filed a joint motion for continuance in the case stating that the matter is contested and involved numerous witnesses, which would require extensive court time, and they had insufficient time to present their testimony.
Court documents don’t show how it was worked out, but it was: On December 2, 2005, Ed and John Hataway and Anita Everette all dismissed their cases against the two elder brothers.
The scene of the area surrounding where Ed Hataway’s body was found on November 7, 2012, lead to talk that small animals, believed to have been feeding on the flesh, had died in the vicinity of Hataway’s body, may have been supported by the fact that animal bones were found within feet of his remains. However, there’s nothing to indicate that the animal bones weren’t there before Hataway’s body was placed where it was ultimately found. Rumors abound that the animals died because there may have been some poison in the body.
Rumors emerge
There was no indication on record of what exactly the problem amongst the family members was.
There’s also no indication currently that this ongoing family issue may have lead to Ed Hataway’s untimely death.
If an arrest is made, the likelihood that it will be kept as quiet as possible for as long as possible is a good one, as whatever comes of it, especially in Richland County, will likely end in a plea arrangement, as David Hyde proved definitively during the Brandon Jenkins trial in April and May 2012 that he can’t prosecute his way out of a wet paper bag.
In the meantime, because of Hyde’s past failures, particularly where it comes to the criminal Earp-Trout gang in Richland County, rumors abound in the Hataway case, and it’s difficult to tell whether there might be some thread of truth through them, or whether some have been sent up as a smokescreen so that the facts, if they emerge can be obscured.
Early on in the identification of the remains (which were not as skeletal as many were initially lead to believe, just badly decomposed, having lay on a creek bank that sat next to a drainage ditch), one rumor was very prominent but easily dispelled: that Hataway was the victim of the violent Earps (what remains of them) because he was on the Jenkins jury.
Because Disclosure always takes precautions to protect jurors in high-profile cases, names were not published at the time jury selection was going on; however, careful records were kept, and Disclosure sat through every second of the trial. Ed Hataway was not on the jury that exonerated Brandon Jenkins on May 2, 2012 of First Degree Murder of Michael Scott Earp.
More rumors
Another rumor, not so easily dispelled, regarded two possibilities of cause/manner of death.
One had it that Ed Hataway’s larynx (throat) was crushed, indicating strangulation by human hands.
The other had it that small animals that fed off Hataway’s flesh were found dead near the body.
The latter may have emerged from the fact that there were, indeed, small animal bones (appearing to be canid, as in perhaps a fox or coyote) found in the immediate vicinity of the body, these bones still there a couple of days after the discovery of Hataway’s remains and photographed by Disclosure at that time.
However, just because small creatures were deceased in the vicinity of the remains doesn’t mean Hataway was poisoned, which is the inference in the rumor.
Considering the hush-hush way Hyde’s office handles everything, however, it’s no surprise that even the flightiest of rumors have emerged in the wake of the discovery of Hataway’s body, considering that no local authorities initially wanted anything to do with the man’s disappearance, and wasted precious time not taking it seriously and thus overlooking possibly valuable evidence in how he could have disappeared.
Is an arrest pending?
One rumor that has emerged has been hinted at as solid from those associated with the ongoing investigation: that there was separate DNA from Ed Hataway’s found on a location on his body.
Whether this was at his throat, on his hands, or some other location is unknown at this time.
As of press time, sources have told Disclosure, an arrest is looming. Whether it will be made within the next 30 days or so remains unknown, however.
Ed Hataway was buried with full military rites on Saturday, Dec. 8, at Haven Hill Cemetery in Olney.
It’s unknown if the elder Hataway brothers attended.