Making a Murderer
On December 18, 2016, Netflix released Making a Murderer, a documentary series that rocked the viewing public with its gross miscarriage of justice. I got reeled in like a cod, with a hook firmly planted in my cheek, helpless to glance away or — gasp! — take a break from binging the entire series.
With each episode, more and more outrage burned inside me.
For those who haven’t watched this series, Making a Murderer revolves around the case of Steven Avery, who was wrongfully convicted of raping a woman on the shores of Lake Michigan. Even with sixteen people to verify his alibi, Avery served 18 years of a 32-year prison sentence before DNA evidence set him free in 2002.
Thrilled to be vindicated, Steven Avery tried to reassemble his life. He even found a girlfriend, Jodi, whom he planned to marry.
In March, 2004, the Wisconsin Department of Justice investigated the Manitowoc Sheriff’s Department and found no criminal offenses nor ethics violations. This ruling ignited Steven Avery’s attorney to sue for 36 million dollars. The lawsuit raised valid arguments. Local police called the Manitowoc Sheriff’s Department with information about a sexual predator named Gregory Allen, who matched the victim’s description. But Sheriff Kocourek and the then-Deputy DA Denis Vogel had tunnel vision. They even tasked Deputy Sheriff Dvork with convincing the victim that Steven Avery was her rapist.
Her eyewitness testimony sealed Avery’s fate.
The lawsuit specifically targeted Manitowoc County Sheriff Kocourek, Chief Deputy Sheriff Kusche, former Deputy DA Denis Vogel, Lt. James Lenk, and Sergeant Andrew Colborn. Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Lt. James Lenk and Sgt. Andrew Colborn were also suspected of becoming aware of evidence that could clear Avery, and ignored it while he rotted in prison.
Less than three weeks after their sworn depositions, a young woman named Theresa Halbach went missing. Lenk and Colborn thrust themselves into the investigation and focused on Avery. On Nov. 1, the morning after Theresa was reported missing, Lenk questioned Avery.
Theresa Halbach was last seen at the Avery junkyard at 3p.m. on Oct. 31, 2004, the day she disappeared. Steven Avery confirmed this fact. For context, Steven Avery lived in a mobile home on the property and knew Theresa Halbach from her work with Auto Trader Magazine. It was not uncommon for her to photograph vehicles at the junkyard for classified ads.
The town rallied around the disappearance of this young woman and, prompted by the family, formed search parties. Two women volunteered to search the Avery property, which was a whopping 40-acre junkyard.
Here’s where things get fishy. Rather than use the main entrance, the two women entered through the back. Within 30 minutes on foot, they found Halbach’s SUV. Imagine that. Why use the back entrance? How could they possibly find the SUV so quickly with no prior knowledge of its whereabouts? Someone laid a few scattered branches on top of the SUV, but it was in no way hidden. The quick discovery of the vehicle was almost laughable, considering the Averys had a car crusher on site.
Guess who they called to the scene? Lt. Lenk, a named defendant in Avery’s lawsuit.
Surprise, surprise, he found blood on the backseat and around the ignition on the steering column. To avoid the appearance of impropriety — little late for that, no? — he passed the case to Calumet County Sheriff’s Dept., aided by Two Rivers Police Dept., who searched Steven Avery’s trailer six times and couldn’t find any evidence linking him to the murder. It wasn’t until Lenk assisted in search number seven that the car key appeared on the floor next to Avery’s nightstand.
Keep in mind, if the court found in favor of Steven Avery, Lenk and the other named defendants in the lawsuit were personally liable. That gave them 36 million reasons to lie.
Now, this nightstand had been emptied, moved, turned upside-down, and scoured around at least six separate times. All of a sudden, Lenk happened to find the key? Please.
For some reason that I still cannot fathom, someone suggested digging through Avery’s fire pit — a pit that sat ten feet from Avery’s bedroom window. And, sure enough, they unearthed bone fragments and teeth belonging to Theresa Halbach.
The once innocent Steven Avery was then arrested for murder.
Manitowok County officers hounded Avery’s girlfriend, Jodi, for information, which she did not possess. At the time of the murder, she was in the county jail for a DUI.
Didn’t matter. They continued to harass her until she told them something they could use against Avery.
But, she explained, she spoke with Steven the night of the murder and he sounded fine. In fact, since she called from jail, the documentarian found a recording of their call. If he’d been in the middle of murdering a woman, he should’ve won an Academy Award for his performance. He wasn’t out of the breath, anxious, nor in a rush to hang up the phone.
When the county released Jodi from jail, she got arrested multiple times for phony probation violations. Finally, Manitowok County officers told her if she dumped Avery and had no contact with him, they’d leave her alone. Though she loved her fiancé, she agreed.
A person can only take so much.
Isolated and afraid, Avery contemplated suicide. Again, he was in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. And now, he lost the love of his life. The future looked grim.
As time flew by, Avery’s parents grew older and more frustrated but refused to give up.
To avoid spoilers about all the outrageous tactics used by the sheriff’s department to support their case against Avery, let’s fast-forward to Steven’s nephew. Sixteen-year-old Brendon Dassey lived on the Avery property with his mother, Steven’s sister. Brendon had an IQ comparable to a developmentally disabled and/or cognitively impaired teen — the perfect patsy to help convict Avery.
Manitowok County’s deputies dragged Brendon out of school and questioned him without a lawyer, parent, or legal guardian present. Which, if not out-right illegal, was certainly ethically wrong, considering he was a minor in special education classes.
Brendon told officers he got off the school bus around 3 p.m., noticed Theresa Harbach snapping photographs, and went straight inside his home. An hour later, his friend called to ask if he wanted to play video games. He left, then came home for dinner. Around 7 p.m., Steven called to ask if he wanted to sit by the bonfire. Brendon agreed. They talked and laughed till around 10 p.m. – 11 p.m. At which time, Brendon went to bed. This statement he repeated multiple times on tape while detectives hollered, “Tell the truth!”
For hours, they bullied this kid till his fragility crumbled. But when asked how Avery killed Theresa, he had no idea.
Little by little, detectives fed him information. “What happened to her head, Brendon? Something happened to her head.”
He guessed, “Steven cut off her hair?”
“Okay. What else?”
“Umm…I dunno.”
“Yes, you do. How did she die?”
This ridiculous charade continued until Brendon made up the following story:
When Brendon arrived at his uncle’s house, Steven answered the door, sweaty and hot. Steven urged him inside, led Brendon into his bedroom, where Theresa lay spread-eagle, her wrists and ankles bound to the bedposts. Steven raped her, then forced Brendon to rape her. After which, Steven stabbed her repeatedly in the chest, but she didn’t die, so he strangled her with his bare hands. She still didn’t die. Steven sliced her throat. She still didn’t die. Steven dragged her into the garage and shot her six times in the face with a rifle. Finally, she died.
If a woman didn’t lose her life, this story would be comical. The prosecutor, Ken Kratz, who’s a self-righteous ass, ran with this story and actually kept a straight face as he explained this horrific scenario to the media.
The first thing that sprang to my mind was, “Where’s the blood?” If a woman was stabbed multiple times and had her throat slit, blood spatter would fly everywhere. Not only would the mattress be saturated with it but there’d be castoff spray on the walls and ceiling. Yet, they found no blood in the bedroom. Not one dot. Never stopped Kratz from repeating this nonsensical story.
Incidentally, they also arrested Brendon for his role in the murder.
During another sweep of the property — I’ve lost count of how many times they’ve searched this home — a bullet magically appeared on the garage floor. The garage in question had “stuff” crammed into every nook and cranny, from floor to ceiling. They found no blood. None. From six blasts to the head? High velocity spatter scatters everywhere. Even professional crime scene cleaners wouldn’t be able to spot-clean every blood droplet in a packed garage.
Still, Manitowok County Sheriff’s Department believed Steven Avery, who had his own mental challenges, managed to scrub the garage and all items inside to a point where Luminol couldn’t reveal even one blood droplet? Investigators jackhammered the floor under a crack in the cement — the site of where Avery allegedly shot Theresa six times in the face.
Let’s say, Steven Avery was a secret genius who was capable of cleaning every droplet of blood off all the stuff in the garage, including the floor, walls, and ceiling. How in the world did he manage to contain the blood to avoid leakage through a crack in the cement? Am I the only one baffled here?
Remember, investigators found blood in the SUV. Why didn’t he use his blood-scouring superpowers to clean that, as well? And why leave bone fragments and teeth in the bonfire, a burn barrel, and an acre or so away in another part of the junkyard? Why scrub blood so meticulously off everything in the garage and then scatter bone fragments all over his property? Doesn’t make sense.
The prosecution wants us to believe Theresa Harbach arrived to take pictures of vehicles for sale. Avery coaxed her into his bedroom, wrestled her onto the bed, where he bound her wrists and ankles but did not gag her. We know this, they claim, from Brendon’s statement, where he hears Theresa screaming. After Steven raped her, he called his developmentally challenged nephew into the bedroom so he could rape her, as well. Avery then stabbed the poor woman multiple times in the chest — y’know, where her heart and lungs are — but miraculously, she survived.
He strangled her with his bare hands.
Somehow, she survived that, too.
Next, he slit her throat.
Again, she survived.
Avery dragged her out to the garage, leveled a rifle at her face, and pumped six rounds into her skull.
After he’d finally killed her, he carried her lifeless body to her SUV, jumped behind the wheel, drove around the property for some mind-boggling reason, and then parked out front of his house while he dragged her into the fire pit, where he set her on fire.
Once he’d burned her body beyond recognition, he scattered bone fragments…well, everywhere, in case someone missed them in the fire pit and burn barrel. Avery managed to clean two crime scenes so meticulously that there wasn’t a trace of blood, but he didn’t bother to wipe down her vehicle? Or, better yet, crush it like a tuna can. Instead, to ensure his conviction, he smeared his own blood on the steering column.
Does any of that sound plausible to you?
At trial, the defense showed a vial of Steven Avery’s blood taken from the first wrongful conviction. A visible puncture hole marred the vial’s rubber stopper. Not only was the evidence seal broken but someone inserted a needle to withdraw blood. For what purpose, if not to frame Avery?
In my mind, the verdict should’ve been clear. Yet, the jury found Steven Avery and Brendon Dassey guilty of 1st degree murder.
Later, jurors admitted they didn’t dare return a verdict of not-guilty for they feared retribution from the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department. Though I understood their reasoning, they sentenced an innocent man to life without the possibility of parole and his cognitively disabled nephew to 41 years in prison, eligible for parole in 2048.
After the conclusion of this case, the prosecutor was forced to resign for sexting with rape victims. That’s right. Mr. High and Mighty perversely harassed victims of sexual assault. Did he stand trial for his crimes? Hell, no. He wasn’t even charged.
Did you watch Making a Murderer? If so, who do you think murdered Theresa Halbach?
If you enjoyed this post, please share. Thank you!
Sue Coletta
Sue Coletta is an award-winning crime writer and an active member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers. Feedspot and Expertido.org named her Murder Blog as “Best 100 Crime Blogs on the Net.” She also blogs on the Kill Zone (Writer's Digest "101 Best Websites for Writers"), Writers Helping Writers, and StoryEmpire. Sue lives with her husband in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Her backlist includes psychological thrillers, the Mayhem Series (books 1-3) and Grafton County Series, and true crime/narrative nonfiction. Now, she exclusively writes eco-thrillers, Mayhem Series (books 4-9 and continuing). Sue's appeared on the Emmy award-winning true crime series, Storm of Suspicion, and three episodes of A Time to Kill on Investigation Discovery. When she's not writing, she loves spending time with her murder of crows, who live free but come when called by name. And nature feeds her soul.
36 Comments
David Hermens
As we all know the quality of your defense is based on the amount of money you have. Steve was no OJ. He and Brendan got less than required to be really considered as being supported by someone who was a real advocate. If your attorney believes you to be guilty, hang it up.
Sue Coletta
I couldn’t agree more. Matter of fact, I was just coming online to get ID (Investigation Discovery Channel) back. Dish did away with it, probably so we’ll upgrade our plan, and Dateline is doing a special on the Avery case. I’m hooked on this case. I need to know what happens next.
Jayne
Absolutely disgusting, if something is not done to free those men, find the real murdered and bring justice to this county, I am embarrassed and scared for this country.
Sue Coletta
Couldn’t agree more, Jayne.
Colette Sartor
Love this post and this comment thread. I was particularly appalled by the behavior of Brendan Dassey’s first lawyer. That smug little bastard should have been disbarred, and someone should have kicked the ass of the investigator he hired. They may as well have been working for the prosecutor’s office, so clearly did they believe in Brendan’s guilt and so hard did they work to coerce a confession from him that coincided with the police and the prosecutor’s theories. Between that lawyer and investigator and their contemptible behavior, that kid never stood a chance.
Colette Sartor recently posted…Make It Stop: Talking to My Son About Violence
Sue Coletta
I know. He was more concerned about getting his five minutes of fame. I so wanted to wipe that smug look off his face. How about the pictures they made Brendan draw? Unbelievable.
David Hermens
Absolutely! That initial attorney should have been disbarred for sure! He was in the prosecutions pocket the whole time!
Sue Coletta
I agree. Why he hasn’t be prosecuted is baffling. If it was anyone else, they’d face disbarment for sure.
jim miller
One, they obviously coerced Brendan. His original lawyer should be disbarred, then jailed, for incompetence. The theory she had her throat cut, and was raped by both men, while chained to the bed, was incredulous, given the lack of physical evidence. You’re going to tell me she had her throat slashed in that room, and there was no blood found ? Right. No DND found on her. No DNA of hers in that room ? Really ? The key that had no DNA, except Steve’s ? Really, what about her’s ? This whole thing stinks to high heaven. The people responsible have no morals, no conscience, and are the scum of the earth. He had a lawsuit against them, for multi millions, that had no insurance, and would have nearly broke the town, not to mention the personal loss the the officers involved. These same people have access to the premises ? Really ? A vial of his blood, from his wrongful conviction, is found to have been tampered, and a syringe hole is found in that vial. Really ? A spent bullet, found after numerous searches, is discovered by one of the deposed officers, despite the fact he wasn’t even suppose to be allowed on the property, because of obvious conflict of interest ? Same cop shows up the day the car was found, and doesn’t register in the log,,,, and gives conflicting testimony about his timeline ? Unbelievable. I felt, after viewing this, like I needed a shower. The APPELLATE court in WISCONSIN actually refused to allow a new trial, after seeing Brendan’s own lawyer and investigator work ACTIVELY against him. You have got to be kidding me. Someone please expose these croney criminals.
Sue Coletta
I hear ya, Jim. I’m with you 100%. This series had my blood boiling. Still does. Glad I’m not the only one who’s outraged.
Traci Kenworth
I haven’t watched the series but from the sound of it, all roads point to the sheriff’s dept. as being the culprit. This is a travesty of justice and all involved should be ashamed. I hope that the nephew is freed now as well.
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Sue Coletta
I totally agree, Traci. Brendan, the nephew, should be freed at once, though it’s not looking like he will. At the very least Brendan and Steven Avery should get a new trial, somewhere far from Manitowok County.
bobbie
I watched it and if he hadn’t been falsely accused of the rape of a woman years before this controversy would not exist and there would be no question of his guilt.
Sue Coletta
True. That definitely casted doubt on the murder case.
Anonymous
Scary!
Sue Coletta
🙂
Mae Clair
I’ve never seen the show. So freaking hard to believe that this kind of stuff can happen, worse that it’s coerced and “created” by corrupt law enforcement. I feel so horrible for the victims…ALL of them. Just tragic.
And scary, too.
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Sue Coletta
It certainly is scary. With my browsing history you couldn’t pay me to drive through Wisconsin. LOL
Dana Delamar
Wow! I’m going to have to catch this series. That poor man and his poor nephew. I thought the prosecutor’s behavior on the Amanda Knox case was bad; this is so much worse!
Sue Coletta
You’re right, Dana. The prosecutor’s behavior in the Knox case was terrible, but in comparison he looks like a saint compared to some of the individuals in this one. Enjoy!
Anonymous
After reading your post and the comments I plan to watch the series this weekend. This sounds like a serious witch hunt. It’s like the folks with the torches and pitchforks are more dangerous than the “suspect” they are after.
Thanks for sharing—
Sue Coletta
You summed it up beautifully. That’s exactly what it’s like. Enjoy! I’ll be curious what you think of the show.
Craig
I’ve not watched the show, but such things fascinate me. I particularly like the audio recordings, and the transcripts. I’ve been trained in some of that, and they are more revealing than re-enactments.
Sue Coletta
Then you’ll love the show. There aren’t any re-enactments. It’s all done through actual recordings, taped phone calls from jail, interviews, and video of the lawyers and the prosecution making their cases, and then at trial. I didn’t even touch on Brendan Dassey’s attorney’s misconduct, which was a huge miscarriage of justice all on its own. He should be disbarred frankly. Even the judge allowed Brendan new representation because of his actions, but by that time the damage was done. Watch it. Guilty or not, you’ll be just as outraged as I am. Not only because two people got convicted on circumstantial evidence that, in my mind, was clearly planted, but because of the way the entire case was handled. I finished the series before Christmas and I needed all this time to cool off. Had I written the post immediately after watching the final episode, my post would’ve been riddled with exclamation points. LOL
Garry Rodgers
I haven’t seen the series, Sue, but have been hearing a bit about it in the past few days. Like someone said, you’d have to be living under a rock or hanging around a wildlfe interpretation center in Oregon not to hear about this documentary. Thanks for putting together this clear and concise summary
Knowing that these documentaries are meant to be sensational and therefore possibly a bit slanted, I Googled around looking to see if there was another side to this story.
I found gobs of counter-stuff which all seem to originate from this article from Pajiba.com:
http://www.pajiba.com/netflix_movies_and_tv/is-steven-avery-guilty-evidence-making-a-murderer-didnt-present.php
I never heard of this website before, and have no idea how credible it is, but the article seemed lucid and brought up some alleged “facts” that the Netflix doc seems to have left out.
Hey, I have no doubt some of these agencies are pretty crooked, but it seems to me a pretty big and dangerous job to put together a massive conspiracy. (You know my thoughts on the JFK case 🙂
It sure seems, though, that a pile of shit went on in this investigation and prosecution. What also stinks is the jury system.
Sue Coletta
I just read the link, and I know exactly what transcript they’re referring to. In the documentary, the detectives tell Brendan to call his mother and confess. Or they’ll do it for him. He was terrified of his mother thinking poorly of him, so he made the call. However, during his next phone call to his mother (a call made without two detectives glaring at him) he told her he lied. Hey, obviously the camera crew wants to sway the audience a certain way, but this entire investigation was a joke! Let’s say he did slice her throat in the garage rather than the bedroom, where’s the blood? Steven Avery is no genius, let me tell you. And if even part of Brendan’s story was true, then why didn’t they submit the mattress or the bedding for DNA testing? If they really believed she was raped on that bed, I would think this evidence would be crucial. It doesn’t make any sense. And it’s disgraceful that anyone, guilty or not, was convicted under these circumstances. The worse part is, in 2011 the courts upheld his conviction and denied his appeal. Oh, and the bit about him threatening a female relative with a weapon. That was his cousin–who is married to an officer in the Sheriff’s Dept. She’s the one who started this entire mess. IMO, she’s no better than the rest of them. And you know me, Garry. I’m the last person to accuse an officer of misconduct, but the evidence in this case was so overwhelming. It still infuriates me. There’s so many excellent officers on the force (not in that county, but other places) that will be judged by these idiot’s misconduct. It’s disgraceful. At the very least, the judge should have allowed the case to be heard far from Wisconsin so that Avery and Dassey could at least have a fair trial. In this case, conspiracy was afoot!
Beaux Cooper
I’ve passed this show up numerous times on Netflix to watch something else… well… I guess not anymore! Thanks for the deets!
Sue Coletta
You’ll want to watch the entire series in one sitting. Trust me. It’s addictive. Enjoy!
pauldaleanderson
Such miscarriages of justice happen all of the time all over the country, but they are especially prevalent in the Midwest. Thanks for sharing this, Sue.
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Sue Coletta
Interesting. I wonder why.
Ben Sobieck
Like you, we were hooked on this series. We think it was either someone else in the Avery family or an ex-boyfriend. The odds it was Avery I’d place at 40/60 in favor of him being innocent. The nephew? His only mistake was being a scared kid.
Sue Coletta
True. Brendan was railroaded big time. I place a much higher percentage on his innocence, but that’s why it makes a great discussion post. It’s awfully convenient that she was murdered weeks after the depositions, which makes me wonder if Lenk is responsible.
Margot Kinberg
I admit I haven’t seen the show, Sue. But I have been following the press on it, and it’s outrageous! Note, I didn’t say I was shocked though. Sadly, we’ve seen this kind of thing before, and it’s really sad. And unconscionable. Hopefully the more of these things come to light, the more the police will do what they’re supposed to do in the first place, if that makes sense.
Sue Coletta
It certainly is unconscionable. Personally, I wouldn’t even drive through Wisconsin after watching this series. My luck I’d get pulled over for running a stop sign and they’d check my browsing history and arrest me for serial murder.
Andrè M. Pietroschek
It could help to start breeding more sane academics, too. Police work is pretty futile, when the man-made laws undo, hamstring, and sabotage the ‘good police officers’ time and time again.
Sue Coletta
Perhaps. But I still believe there are more good officers than bad. Maybe not in Manitowoc County, but I have many friends who would never cross the line like the officers in this case. The entire sheriff’s department should be ashamed.