synopsis

In the summer of 2006, following a series of massive wild fires that nearly destroyed the isolated town of Chadron, Nebraska, Dr. Steven Haataja arrived for a teaching position at the local college. A somewhat aloof but brilliant mathematician, Dr. Haataja seemed to be assimilating well into a community brimming with eccentric residents. That winter, however, Dr. Haataja disappeared without a trace. Ninety-five days later his body was discovered tied to a tree and burned beyond recognition on a private ranch in the remote hills south of campus. News teams descended upon the town while law enforcement officers, along with psychics and ghost hunters, exhausted themselves in the circus-like investigation. Conjecture and hysteria prevailed and the story quickly developed a life all its own. The case remains unsolved, a profound mystery; “Twilight Zone shit,” in the words of Dawes County Sheriff Karl Dailey. With little evidence to go on, the locally accepted “theories” range from the expected to the absurd: a hate crime, suicide, accidental death, and even space aliens.