A Wisconsin prisoner has allegedly confessed to the murder of Teresa Halbach, a case made famous through Netflix’s Making A Murderer.
The series details how Manitowoc County resident Steven Avery was accused and ultimately put behind bars for the 2005 murder, though it sheds light on inconsistencies in the investigation to suggest the 57-year-old may have been set up by corrupt law enforcement officers.
Making A Murderer became hugely popular after the first season was released in 2015, followed by season two last year, with many fans convinced Avery was wrongly accused.
Filmmaker Shawn Rech was one of millions to watch the show and in an interview with Newsweek he admitted he felt ‘angry with law enforcement’ and ’embarrassed as an American’ for what happened to Avery.
After conducting his own research into the case he felt he had been misled by the series.
In an attempt to tell the ‘whole story’, Rech is creating his own series, titled Convicting A Murderer, which will include parts the Netflix series left out.
The creator claims he got the confession while filming the series, though it did not come from Avery or his nephew Brendan Dassey, who was also convicted for the crime.
Instead, it came from a Wisconsin inmate who has not been named but is said to be a ‘notable convicted murderer’.
Though the legitimacy of the confession has not yet been verified, the filmmaker is passing it on to Wisconsin law enforcement.
He told Newsweek:
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.
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.
If the inmate’s confession is found to be reliable it could exonerate Dassey and Avery, both of who have already spent more than a decade behind bars. Avery is serving a life sentence without parole, while Dassey, who is also serving a life sentence, currently will not be eligible for parole until 2048.
Watch the Convicting A Murderer trailer below:
The two men fought their charges; Dassey took his case all the way to the Supreme Court, where his attempt at a new trial was rejected, while Avery continues the appeal process.
Avery’s lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, has spent years recreating parts of the crime scene and collecting evidence in an attempt to prove the wrong person was convicted. Earlier this month, she offered a $100,000 reward for the real killer.
Zellner’s law firm told Heavy they knew of the person who had confessed, stating:
The inmates [sic] name is familiar to us but I do not want to release it yet. We were contacted a week ago by the inmate. 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.
Zellner added on Twitter:
We received the handwritten confession on Saturday. It is worthless unless it is corroborated.
If Avery is exonerated, it would be the second time he was wrongly incarcerated of a violent crime in the state of Wisconsin.
In 1985, he was wrongfully convicted of sexual assault and attempted murder, for which he spent 18 years behind bars before DNA evidence proved him innocent.
Convicting A Murderer will include interviews with relatives of Halbach as well as Ken Kratz, the former District Attorney who put Avery away.
Kratz took to Twitter to respond to the news of the alleged confession, writing:
To be clear, like everyone else, this is news to me. I have NO COMMENT until I see the details.
Convicting A Murderer is set to be released in 2020 on a to-be-determined streaming platform.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.