New Jailhouse Confession May Exonerate ‘Making a Murderer’ Convict Steven Avery

(TMU) — One of the biggest and most iconic true-crime events of the century blasted onto the scene in 2015 when Netflix released Making A Murderer and interest in the case hasn’t let up since.

The imprisonment of Steven Avery, who was convicted of murdering and mutilating 21-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach back in 2005, remains a controversy among analysts and viewers, who are pretty equally divided on whether he is innocent or guilty.

But now, a bombshell report teases a jailhouse murder confession that may exonerate Avery and prove once and for all that he was framed by corrupt local law enforcement.

The evidence against Avery was enough to convict him of Halbach’s 2005 murder, even though the defense claimed he had been framed. This evidence included bloodstains that matched Avery, which were found in Halbach’s car, as well as bone fragments from Halbach that were found in one of Avery’s fire pits.

Additionally, a confession by Avery’s nephew, Bredan Dassey—who was also convicted of the crime and who, the defense argued was coerced—sealed the deal.

But the defense as well as the Making A Murderer filmmakers were able to punch holes in this evidence, largely by highlighting the incredible history Avery had with the Manitowoc County police. Avery had been falsely accused, convicted, imprisoned, and then ultimately exonerated and released for a rape over a decade earlier. The Avery family believed the police had a vendetta against them and filed a $36 million dollar lawsuit against the county for false imprisonment.

Only a couple years later, Avery was arrested again, this time accused of mutilating and murdering a young woman. This made him the only inmate out of 174 nationwide who was exonerated by the Innocence Project only to be later charged with a violent crime after release. And once again, Avery claimed he had been framed by the police. 

The defense—and subsequent disclosures in the docuseries—showed that police officers seemed to be manufacturing how to make the evidence point toward Avery even before Halbach’s body was found. It was also revealed that Manitowoc County police owned a vial of Avery’s blood, leftover from his previous conviction, which could have been used to plant DNA evidence in Halbach’s car.

Despite the exculpatory uproar the Netflix series inspired, Avery remained in prison; and many analysts, like Nancy Grace, still believed Avery was guilty, citing circumstantial evidence that established Halbach was creeped out by Avery and other testimony suggesting Avery wanted his own “torture chamber.”

Now, a new claim from Making A Murderer director Shawn Rech suggests a Wisconsin inmate has confessed to Halbach’s 2005 murder. This jailhouse confession will apparently be featured in the forthcoming third installment of the series, Convicting A Murderer. 

Will Steven Avery finally be exonerated?

By Jake Anderson | Creative Commons | TheMindUnleashed.com