Who really killed Teresa halbach?

This is the case behind the murder of Teresa Halbach in 2005. Did Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey commit the murder? Was Steven set up Manitowoc County Police Department?

Steven Avery and Teresa Halbach

“The deeper we dig into the Avery conviction the more evidence we uncover of his innocence. It does not matter how long it takes, what it cost or what obstacles we have to overcome—our efforts to win Mr. Avery’s freedom will never stop" (Kathleen Zellner)

Where it all began

Steven Avery lived in Wisconsin and owned a salvage yard in Manitowoc County. In 1985, Steven was convicted of sexual assault and attempted murder of Penny Beernsten. He served 18 years in prison before he was exonerated with the help from the Innocence Project. Steven filed a $36 million civil lawsuit against Manitowoc County and several others associated with his arrest and conviction. This lawsuit will be the main reason it looks like Steven was set up for Teresa Halbach's murder.

Teresa Halbach's Murder

Just two years later, Steven was arrested and charged for the murder of Teresa Halbach (a photographer who had disappeared). Teresa was reported missing on 3rd November 2005 after she had been seen since 31st October 2005 at Steven's salvage yard. On 10th November 2005, Teresa's car (Toyota RAV4), cell phone, license plates and car key were found at Steven's property. The car keys that were found in Steven's property is a weird one considering they were found in his bedroom, which the police had already searched days before they actually found them. It was clear the keys were not original there at the beginning of the search.

Steven instantly claimed he had been framed by the Manitowoc County once again. There were bloodstains that matched Steven's DNA from the inside of Teresa's car. Charred bone fragments were found in a burn pit near Steven's home that matched Teresa. A Manitowoc deputy found the key to Teresa's car in Steven's bedroom. Steven's attorneys accused the Manitowoc officials of tampering with evidence as a vial of Steven's blood that was collected in 1996, was found with a broken container seal and a puncture hole in the stopper. I have seen the documentary Making A Murderer on Netflix and based on this i personally believe Steven did not commit this crime and has been completely setup.

In March 2006, Steven's nephew Brendan Dassey was charged as an accessory to the case of Teresa Halbach after he confessed under interrogation. Brendan was just 16 at the time and was interrogated 4 times over 48 hours. 3 out of 4 times, Brendan did not have a legal representative, parent or any other adult present. Brendan was interrogated undere the Reid Technique which was developed to allow and encourage officers to use tactics that will pressure the suspect into confessing. In June 2006, Brendan recanted his confession as he claimed he had been coerced and most of the ideas were taken from a book. Brendan did have learning difficulties and a below average IQ which would make him easily persuaded to say what someone else wants him to say.

On 18th March 2007, Steven was found guilty of first degree murder and illegal possession of a firearm and was acquitted on the corpse mutilation charge. Only 6 weeks later Steven was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole. Steven served 5 years at the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility in Boscobel before being transferred to Waupun Correctional Institution in Waupaun in 2012.

On 25th April 2007, Brendan was convicted of first degree murder, sexual assault and mutilation of a corpse. Brendan's early confession was used as the foundation to his trial but this lacked physical evidence. Brendan was sentenced to life in prison with the eligibility for parole in 2048.

Appeals

In August 2011 the state appeals court denied Steven's petition for a new trial and in 2013 the Wisconsin Supreme Court denied a motion to review the ruling. In January 2016, Kathleen Zellner filed a new appeal accusing officials of gathering evidence from properties beyond the scope of the search warrant. In August 2016, Kathleen filed another motion for post conviction scientific testing with the clerk of the circuit court, Manitowoc County. Judge Angela Sutkiweicz signed and ordered for the testing to proceed on 23rd November 2016. On 7th June 2017, Kathleen filed a 1,272 page post conviction motion saying there was ineffective assistance of counsel, Brady violations and affidavits by experts debunking the manner in which Teresa Halbach was killed. This also included new evidence. Kathleen claims Steven's conviction was based upon planted evidence and a false testimony. She also requested for a new trial but this was denied on 3rd October 2017.

In January 2010, Brendan's attorney entered a motion for a re-trail but this was denied in December. In January 2013 the Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to review the motion. In December 2015, Brendan's attorney filed a writ of habeas corpus in federal district court for release or a re-trial due to ineffective assistance of counsel and a coerced confession. In August 2016 Judge William E. Duffin ruled Brendan's confession had been coerced and ordered him to be released but in November the Wisconsin Justice Department appealed against Judge William's decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, this stopped Brendan's release pending a hearing. In June 2017 a 3 judge panel of the Seventh Circuit upheld the magistrates decision to overturn Brendan's conviction. July 5th 2017 the Wisconsin Department of Justice submitted a petition requesting a rehearing and this was granted on 4th August 2017. On 8th December 2017 a vote of 4-3 upheld Brendan's conviction, with the majority finding that the police had properly obtained Brendan's confession.

Developments

Forensic testing was performed on the Dassey family computer and this recovered images of Teresa and other images of other women in the nature of pornography, tortured and mutilated bodies. These disturbing photographs were accessed at times when only Bobby Dassey (Brendan's older brother) was home. Kathleen Zellner hopes this leads to a new trial to prove the innocence of both Steven and Brendan. Bobby also told his older brother Bryan Dassey that he saw Teresa leaving Steven's property, reportedly the last time she was seen alive. This evidence was not explored in the original trial and could have provided a different light to the case. Kathleen says this is proof that Teresa left the property alive on the day she died.

Bryan Dassey recently doubled down on his recollection signing an affidavit stating "I distinctly remember Bobby telling me, 'Steven could not have killed her because I saw her leave the property on October 31, 2005." Kathleen's motion also mentions how Bobby and his stepfather Scott Tadych (who is Bobby's alibi) were in the same location as Teresa when her cellphone recorded its last known activity. All of this evidence provides a viable alternative suspect, that being Bobby Dassey. The motion also brings attention to that fact an undisclosed witness claims to have seen a green-blue RAV4 just like Teresa's parked on a dirt road just days before it was 'officially' discovered at the Avery salvage yard.

There is also new evidence to suggest that Teresa's ex boyfriend Ryan Hillegas was at the crime scene. Ryan ended up in the possession of Teresa's day planner, in which he tore a page and gave it to a friend of Teresa's. The friend handed this to the police on 3rd November and claims she spoke to Teresa on the phone at 11.35am on 31st October (the day she died). Teresa was driving her car at the time and made notes in her day planner. The attorneys say this evidence was in the car when Teresa died and for it end up in the possession of Ryan, this would link him to the crime scene. If you watch the Netflix documentary you will see for yourself just how dodgey Ryan is.

Forensic testing was done on a bullet fragment that was found in Steven's garage (this is claimed to have entered and exited Teresa's skull) contained no particles consistent with bone. There were wood particles identifiable on the bullet which supports a theory that the bullet struck a wooden object and not a human skull.

Forensic testing was also carried out on Steven's DNA that was found on the hood latch of the car, this testing lead to a conclusion that Steven would have tried to open the latch 90 times to be able to leave that amount of DNA. Now this seems very unlikely, who tries to open a latch on a car 90 times. Considering the fact Steven regularly dealt with many cars i feel like he would not have that much trouble.

Theories

The first theory is with Mike Halbach (Teresa's brother) and Ryan Hillegas. They were both known to be the leaders of the search party for Teresa. The boys raised suspicions when during a interview they were shown checking in with each other and stumbling over their words. The suspicions were raised again when Mike talked about the grieving process long before his sister was confirmed dead. Voicemails had been deleted off of Teresa's phone and both Mike and Ryan claim to have broken into her phone? odd right. Ryan also claims to have seen Teresa on Sunday but was unable to recall the time of the day that they met.

The second theory is that the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department officers killed Teresa in order to frame Steven for the murder. Now they have motive considering they had to pay $36 million to Steven after his 1985 wrongful conviction. This payout had the potential to bankrupt the department and completely ruin their reputation. They had Steven under surveillance so they would know that Teresa made weekly trips to Manitowoc and had met Steven at least 4 times. This would give them enough to be able to lure her somewhere else just after she left Steven's property and then plant evidence to frame Steven.

There are a few theories pointing to a 'German Man' but i personally believe this is totally unrelated. My opinion is that either the cops and the ex boyfriend did this (he is so shifty) or it was Bobby Dassey. This case is still going on and there is expected to be a second series of Making A Murderer. I highly recommend watching this and coming to your own conclusion.