Inmate Reportedly Comes Forward with Confession in 'Making a Murderer' Case
Twenty-five-year-old Teresa Halbach was murdered in 2005 after taking pictures of a car on Steven Avery’s property in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin.
Both Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, were charged and convicted for her murder, but they both continue to claim their innocence.
Halbach, a photographer, went to Avery’s property on Halloween Day to take pictures of his sister’s car for Auto Trader Magazine, according to Forbes. Her family reported her missing three days later, and on Nov. 5, 2005, investigators found her car in Avery’s salvage yard. Her charred remains were later found in a fire pit on his property.
Avery’s blood was found in Halbach’s car, but he claims the evidence was planted there from a sample the county had on record from a previous wrongful conviction of rape in 2003; his defense attorneys say the broken seal on the sample caused enough reason to doubt the legitimacy of the blood found in Halbach’s car.
Dassey, who was 16 at the time of the murder, confessed on tape to the rape, murder and mutilation of Halbach, but his attorneys said police interrogators manipulated Dassey, who has an abnormally low IQ.
Avery and Dassey’s fight to prove their innocence in Halbach’s murder was featured in Netflix’s docuseries “Making a Murderer,” which released in 2015. Three years later, “Making a Murderer: Part 2” explored the post-conviction process, including the two men’s appellate fights.
Filmmaker Shawn Rech watched and was enamored with the Netflix series, along with millions of other Americans. He said he was initially frustrated with what he viewed as the corruption of law enforcement officials, but the more he dug into the actual details of the case he realized “Making a Murderer” left out a lot.
“After watching the series I was angry with law enforcement, and even embarrassed as an American because of what appeared to have happened to Steven and Brendan,” he told Newsweek in January. “But after doing a little bit of follow-up research I learned that not only did I not have the whole story, but I was misled by the series.
“And I’m saying this as a fan, not as an established documentary filmmaker.”
Rech said he felt compelled to make a sequel to the Netflix series that will include information “Making a Murderer” left out. The 10-part documentary series “Convicting a Murderer” will also feature the opinions of law enforcement figures who believe Avery is guilty.
While filming footage for the new series, Rech told Newsweek, his crew received a confession from a “notable convicted murderer” from Wisconsin, who said he killed Halbach. Rech confirmed it was neither Avery nor Dassey.
“We haven’t confirmed the legitimacy of the confession, but seeing as it was given by a notable convicted murderer from Wisconsin, we feel responsible to deliver any and all possible evidence to law enforcement and legal teams,” Rech said.
“Having been in production for 20 months, we’ve uncovered an unfathomable amount of information and evidence that is leading us to the truth. Our investigation does not end here.”
Newsweek reported the individual “will remain unnamed until Wisconsin law enforcement has access to said confession.”
Avery’s attorney, Kathleen Zellner, also said she recently received a written confession to Halbach’s murder from the same unidentified inmate, just a few weeks after her firm offered a $100, 000 reward for information leading to the “real killer.”
Zellner recognized, however, that the confession was “worthless” until its corroborated.
We received the handwritten confession on Saturday. It is worthless unless it is corroborated.#MakingAMurderer2 #WorkingOnIt #NotsoFast
— Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) September 24, 2019
“We were contacted a week ago by the inmate,” she told Heavy. “He mailed the handwritten confession to us before he contacted the production company.
“The confession occurred solely because of our 100k reward offer and had nothing to do with the production company. When we did not immediately respond to this person he called the production company.”
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