Since just about everyone else involved has had their say after the release of Netflix’s Making A Murderer, it’s finally time to hear from the accused himself, Steven Avery. The 53-year old convicted killer sent a 3-page letter to Milwaukee news reporter Colleen Henry after she requested a jailhouse interview. In the letter, Avery asserted “The real killer is still out there.” He went on to say, “I am really innocent of this case and that is the truth!!! The truth will set me free!!!!!!!”
In addition, Avery instructed the reporter to conduct an investigation of the sheriff of Manitowoc County and was stunned by the comments his ex-girlfriend made on Nancy Grace‘s HLN show, calling him a “monster”. He wrote, “How much money Jodi get to talk bad!”
Currently, letters are the only way Avery can communicate with the media, as the Wisconsin prison system is not allowing Avery to speak to any reporters. “We are not facilitating interviews out of respect for the victims,” Joy Staab, director of public relations for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections told The Hollywood Reporter. Jerry Buting, half of Avery’s original defense team, told THR, “I’ve never heard that explanation given before.” He added that the department of corrections has “full discretion” over interviews but noted that other convicts, including ones he represented, were allowed to take part in on-camera interviews at Waupun Correctional Institution, where Avery is housed. Maybe Avery’s new legal team can help get him the chance to tell his side of the story soon – as well as get him another trial.
I don’t see the harm in letting Avery speak. We’ve heard that the warden won’t even let him see Making a Murderer and that his request to watch it has been denied. As long as he’s not making any money from interviews, I think he should have his say. There are still so many unanswered questions and bonkers theories floating around, so all of us amateur sleuths could use all the information we can get, right?
Sorry. I think he’s exactly where he is supposed to be.
He’s a repulsive human being and as guilty as hell.
Yea, we know he threw a cat over a bonfire as a drunk teen. Hang him high, right? He so deserves punishment for a murder he may not have committed because…dead cat.
Meanwhile…crickets…on Tamir Rice, John Crawford and Trayvon. More crickets on the slaughter of a kajillion pigs and cows many of which cross your dinner table.
Cliniqua-THANK YOU!
Judyk- Even repulsive human beings deserve a fair trial.
Did you just lump murdered humans in with slaughtered animals?
Agreed. I don’t buy for one minute he’s innocent.
Is he exactly where he’s supposed to be because he’s a crappy person or because he committed this crime?
Because he COMMITTED THE CRIME. Stop basing a person being innocent on a documentary that only showed small portions of what really happened. Next thing you know you’ll believe everything you read on the internet.
What really happened to Teresa is only speculation as they didn’t find much evidence to prove the matter of death or the rape and torture they said she endured. So I am not basing things on a little documentary. I’m basing it on the actual evidence presented by the State.
So I guess that what you read on the internet is fine and dandy but what I read didn’t?
He maybe guilty but the man did NOT receive a fair trial, which is his right. He is not where he belongs until that happens.
I don’t think he killed her. I think he’s innocent. Check this theory out, I’d love to hear what you guys think about it.
http://www.sunnyskyz.com/blog/1244/This-Is-The-Most-Credible-Making-A-Murderer-Theory-I-ve-Seen-So-Far
It came from YouTube so I can see why many wouldn’t pay attention, but I think it’s the most plausible. I don’t think the police deliberately set him up, but I do believe they wanted to ensure a conviction and did many illegal things in the process.
Frankly, two different parties framing the same person for different reasons sounds too far-fetched for me. That’s something more likely to rather happen on “Elementary” than in real life, in my opinion.
He sure is.
All this makes me so upset for Teresa’s family. She is the REAL victim in this mess. The MAM show didn’t reveal all the actual evidence. Yes the justance system was messed up but he did it. They got the right guy. Look up hard facts that were left out of the show. It all made so much more sense. He was harassing this young lady. She had told her boss she didn’t want to ever go out to his house again because how he was behaving. He called and requested her that day. Made some shady *67 calls to her the day she was murdered. Then, called her after he murdered her without the block to show he called to see where she was. This, and so much more. They have the right man behind bars, they just went about it in the wrong way. I can’t imagine being Teresa’s family. All the heartache being brought up all over again, on top of that, everyone wants her murderer freed?!
This.
“They have the right man behind bars, they just went about it in the wrong way.”
You see that’s the whole point for me. He’s sketchy as hell, the whole family are, and they all had access to her and access to the sites and his brothers (and brother in-law) all had priors with regard to violence and threats towards women, which they were not allowed to bring up BUT, it’s not up to the police to plant evidence in order to secure convictions or to act outside of the law. The whole system, police and DA office in this case was flawed, corrupt, and they didn’t do their jobs. It doesn’t make him innocent but to be honest the police did Teresa a HUGE injustice by not doing their job correctly, investigating all options, so there is all this uncertainty hanging over the case.
Don’t even get me started on Brendan Dassey and the treatment he got…his first lawyer should have been disbarred.
Exactly, Linda. And one thing Ken Kratz said in his closing argument is something to the effect of even if the police did things they shouldn’t have done to catch him, what does it matter if they got the right guy? That’s not how it works.
I read that evidence that was left out wasnt admissible or something.
Most of it is bs tho, that list was provided by Kratz and I just don’t trust him.
I agree that this must be terrible for Teresa’s family, but we can’t say for sure that they have the right man behind bars. We really can’t. If he isn’t the right man, how is that fair to Teresa?
@HEYTHERE!
You need to visit Reddit, and read about the so-called ‘real evidence.’ That’s b.s. What isn’t outright b.s., was trumped up by the PD that framed him (that he was suing for 36 mil at the time – Hello?!) the first time around. Check your gullibleness at the door when looking at the ‘facts,’ in this case.
No one can tell me that Avery and his mentally handicapped nephew raped, abused, beat, stabbed and shot a woman in a trailer and garage where NONE of her dna was found.
How’d they manage to cleanup his junky azz storage garage of her blood, yet it remained dirty, and junky with deer blood droplets?? How’d they manage that? Did they eyeball what was the dirt and deer blood drops and sprays and what were Teresa’s and clean up ONLY Teresa’s so that just NONE of Teresa’s DNA was there?! COME ON! THINK!
Look at the creepy ex-bf who hacked her phone and deleted her voicemails and organized the search on avery property.
A lack of DNA doesn’t necessarily mean anything. DNA is not as plentiful and as easy to come by as TV makes it appear to be. Lack of DNA isn’t proof.
People need to understand that forensic evidence doesn’t exist in every case. We simply don’t have the technology to find all the evidence left, so often it isn’t present in criminal cases.
I’m not sure about his guilt or innocence, but I do know about forensics, and I also know how many people take its absence as proof.
So it’s okay for the possibly real murderer to still be roaming free? This case was bungled by the police & prosecution in terms of a fair trial. Just that press conference alone, where the
theory was trumpeted as truth, completely prejudiced the jury pool.
Nothing you mentioned is ‘hard fact’. It’s speculation, pure and simple.
Teresa had told co-workers that Avery had once answered the door in a towel, and that she found it embarrassing and awkward, but she clearly didn’t feel so threatened that she refused to go to the Avery lot again. I’ve answered the door in a towel or dressing gown before, occasionally – to extrapolate that Avery was obsessed with her from a single, isolated incident (which Teresa didn’t seem too upset about, according to co-workers, just embarrassed by) is ridiculous.
The 67* calls do not prove jack sh*t about Avery’s motive, means or opportunity to commit murder. It makes no sense; why would he block his number when Teresa herself already knew that she was heading over to the lot in about an hour? More likely is that she was running 40~ minutes late and he was impatient, and thought she wouldn’t pick up the phone if she saw it was her next client, irritated about the delay.
There was someone harassing Teresa – her boss testified at trial that someone was calling her repeatedly and she found it a nuisance. This wasn’t investigated at all. The fact that her ex-boyfriend and brother also logged into her voicemail accounts and deleted messages was also allowed to slide with incredible ease by police, despite the fact that, as a female homicide case, the ex should have been investigated thoroughly from day one.
@Lindy97, @Asiyah – you summed it up. Putting someone away because you think he did it based on his past/reputation/some incredibly dodgy evidence (complicated further by the complete lack of blood DNA at the ‘murder scene[s]’) is not justice for Teresa.
@Goodnight
You’re right; a lack of DNA evidence is not proof. But when we’re talking about the levels of brutality put forward by the prosecution – slitting throats, shooting people in the head at point blank range, violent rape – it is a little fishy that there was absolutely nothing found. When you compound that with the fact that a) Avery was an utter slob who didn’t even wear pants, b) his house/garage was a hoarder’s nightmare which would be impossible to clean, c) he has a low IQ and was apparently assisted by his mentally handicapped nephew, the lack of DNA evidence becomes even more fishy.
Funny, just like O.J. Simpson…
I finally finished watching it. I won’t say that he’s an innocent person and won’t act as if he’s a martyr but if I were on that jury based on the information provided to me I would have gone with not guilty. I don’t know if he did or did not kill that women but there was reasonable doubt.
Brendan’s case was such a travesty and Len Kachinsky should be disbarred. I strongly disliked Ken Kratz but still felt he was just doing his job UNTIL his closing argument: “reasonable doubt is for innocent people” and going in on “if you don’t think Avery is guilty then you think the police killed Teresa.” To me, that was typical emotional blackmail and manipulation. This wasn’t even a theory postulated by the defense. Even with all of the information the filmmakers left out against Avery I’m still left with doubt. Do I think he’s a great person who has never abused women? Absolutely not. As a matter of fact, I entered the show thinking this would be a documentary about a man who, after spending years in jail for a crime he didn’t commit, eventually became a killer. So I entered this whole thing thinking he is definitely guilty. Now I’m more like if he did do it, it wasn’t in the matter the State said he killed her.
I’m with Dean Strang here. In a way, I hope he is guilty and he actually did do it because if he didn’t Teresa’s killer is still out there and this is another miscarriage of justice.
His defense attorneys were/are awesome. Upstanding men.
God willing, Brendan comes out soon. No physical evidence linking him to this whatsoever and inconsistent statements. He shouldn’t have been tried in the first place.
Kratz was terrible. He contaminated the jury pool with that press conference about poor Brendan’s confession.
It’s unbelievable. While I agree there is super sketchy stuff happening with Teresa and the Avery family (someone in that family killed that poor young woman) – it’s so hard to tell what with the meddling of Manitowoc County. Those cops tampered with evidence. The body was in the back of the Rav4 and moved. Teresa’s belongings were in a burn barrel on the Avery property. Her body was burned there or relocated there. So there’s super sketchy business all over the Averys. I do believe in an effort to put Steven away, Brendan was used (and horribly; everyone should be ashamed of themselves for what happened to that kid). I do believe evidence was tampered with and planted (again in an effort to make sure Steven Avery went to jail and stayed there). But where the justice system failed all the way around is that there’s no truth for Teresa or her family – there’s no culprit. There are no answers. There is just grief and loss and nothing to make any of it make sense. It’s a mess.
*kill that WOMAN
My apologies for the “Steven Avery” type grammar.
Did ya’ll read sweaty Kratz’s letter to Avery? Unbelievable.
Avery: The real killer is still out there. Me: What, is he out on leave already?!
Oh, brother. I’m going to pay my respects to this comments section (where the grammar and literacy of some matches Avery’s, by the way, so let’s not be too quick to judge) and peace out.
See you on another thread.
–TheRealPinky
??? Are you trying to be funny or just rude…? It’s seems you are implying that the people commenting on this thread are stupid. It’s just weird.
Aussie girl is proving your point in more ways than one.
Please don’t put me down. I really have no interest in making a murder ( yes I have seen it) but I read the post and comments, as I do with all and was confused by that comment. I read it as a dig at the people commenting.?
Brendan needs justice… So sick of talking about Avery.
Couldn’t agree with you more. I am halfway through MAM, and can’t believe how that kid got railroaded. If anyone needs a new trial it’s him.
Meanwhile, Rodney Reed is an actual innocent black man on death row for a murder committed by a white man.
I wish someone would do a documentary on the sleaziness of the “justice” system who railroaded Rodney.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on his guilt or innocence. However, no one can deny he, nor Brendan were given a fair trail AT ALL. He may be a sketchy dude in general but that does not mean he is guilty. That type of judgement of him and actually his entire family is what got him WRONGFULLY convicted the first time. I highly doubt his new attorney would risk her stellar reputation by taking on his case if she thought for even one moment that he was guilty. Kathleen Zellner is one of , if not, THE most successful post conviction attorney in the country. She has had several innocent people exonerated. She is insistent of Averys innocence and also of impending victory for his case. Brendan has reputable new attorneys as well. Though I think it will be much easier for Brendan to be freed once Steven is.
His new attorney is boasting about it though
Wow, people are really fired up about this. Lol. Everyone is allowed to have their own opinion but don’t call me names because my opinion is different than yours. RIP Teresa.
I’m not sure why my first comment didn’t go through (I’m not spamming, I swear!) but I was trying to link to a site that a Reddit user has put together — go to stevenaverycase . com and she’s gotten hold of a lot of original documentation and has been writing about and exploring the things that were left out of (or distorted by) the documentary (and I’m talking about stuff well beyond the Kratz talking points of “Avery met her while wearing a towel, therefore she was scared of him”). She’s very upfront about thinking that Avery is guilty and that Dassey is either innocent or knew a bit afterwards, at most but she puts her cards on the table and has a ton of good links to primary sources so you can see for yourself. It certainly changed my mind on a number of things.
I’d like to see it. Very interesting.
Wow this is…comprehensive to say the least. I know what I’ll be reading for the next hour.
Thanks for sharing, Cougar Bride!
It is a good website, professional and very detailed with lots and lots of original documents, but there’s no smoking guns, at least for me, and nothing that hasn’t been rehashed a thousand times on the subreddit. This case is so complicated that I think it’s going to take years for the truth to come out. I tend to think that Avery may have committed the murder without Dassey’ s help, but there’s just no way to prove that based on the first trial. It was just too botched.
No smoking guns, certainly, but I thought the material about the lawsuit / insurance coverage and Lenk and Colburn was pretty compelling in terms of weakening their motivation for doing any serious framing (or actually committing the murder, as I’ve seen multiple people suggest). The info on the burn pit and accelerants was interesting as well. This stuff is on the subreddit but the substantive stuff keeps getting drowned out with posts about how dumb the Halbachs are for not being able to look clinically at their daughter/sister’s murder, how awesome Zellner is, and how Kratz is creepy, so it’s nice to have it all in one place.
I guess the killer is hanging out with the killer OJ is still looking for .
I believe he is innocent. I believe Theresa was absolutely murdered on the Avery property or nearby. However the lack of DNA is too much to ignore. All the circumstantial evidence the DA presented paints only a picture of they know a crime was committed and that’s about it. They don’t know where she died. They don’t even know how she died. Steven Avery was framed. I’ve read extensively on this case. I’ve researched the evidence that got “left out” of the documentary and none of it proves anything. His brothers have done far worse things than Steven has. Both lived on the family property. Both related to sexual crimes against women. The one brother sexually abused his 2 daughters! This same brother went to the cops and wanted to help in any way he could to incriminate Steven. The reason they can’t find any of her DNA anywhere is because they don’t know where she died. There’s all sorts of people with something to gain by Steven Avery taking the fall for this. His brothers, brother in law, and the cops being sued all had more motive then Steven Avery who was weeks away from a financial windfall that would have changed his life forever. The moral of the story for me is the DA did not prove the man was guilty and for that he should be free but the best he could hope for at this point is a new trial.