Avery Steven - Avery: the case against Steven Avery and what making a murderer gets wrong

AVERY

AVERY

The Case Against Steven Avery

and What Making a Murderer Gets Wrong

KEN KRATZ

WITH PETER WILKINSON

BenBella Books, Inc.

Dallas, TX

Copyright 2017 by Ken Kratz

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

BenBella Books, Inc.

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First E-Book Edition: February 2017

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

978-1-944648-00-8 (print)

978-1-944648-01-5 (e-book)

Editing by Alexa Stevenson

Copyediting by Scott Calamar

Proofreading by Michael Fedison and Rachel Phares

Text design by Aaron Edmiston

Text composition by PerfecType, Nashville, TN

Front cover design by Faceout Studio, Kara Davison

Full cover design by Sarah Dombrowsky

Printed by Lake Book Manufacturing

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For my son, Andrew

CONTENTS

by Nancy Grace

by Nancy Grace

After the murder of my fianc many years ago, I abandoned plans to become a professor of Shakespearean Literature and instead entered law school. I had one and only one goal in mind... to put the truly bad guys in jail so innocent people could live free of the fear and violence that had destroyed my life and the lives of so many others.

Prosecuting in inner-city Atlanta for a decade, I ended every voir dire, or jury selection, with one simple question to each individual juror, singling them out specifically, one by one: Can you listen to the facts and evidence presented in this courtroom and render a verdict that will speak the truth?

The truth... a verdict that speaks the truth.

Fast-forward to years later to CNNs HLN Nancy Grace show. I still remember first hearing about a missing person, a lovely young woman, a photographer, Teresa Halbach. Her car had been found on the Avery salvage lot, but it was still hoped that Teresa herself was out there somewhere, alive. Sorting through literally hundreds of stories a day, hers struck a chord within me, and thats all it tookher disappearance would be one of the two to three stories that made it into the show that night.

I still cant fully explain what it was about Teresa that resonated with me. Maybe it was the brown eyes that looked at me from the photo we dug up of her, maybe it was her familys plea for helpto this day I dont recall. But I do recall one thing distinctly... that Steven Avery came onto the show live that night, and when the cameras stopped rolling, I spoke through my lapel mike to the executive producer behind me in our New York control room and said, very simply, Hes lying.

It went exactly like this:

Grace: I want to go straight out to the man you mentioned, Steven Avery. He is joining us by phone.

Steven, I understand that Teresa came to your auto salvage lot to take photos for the auto trader, correct?

Avery: Yes, she did. She came down by me.

Grace: OK, and, Steven, its my understanding that also you state that you saw her car leave?

Avery: Yes, I did.

Grace: About what time?

Avery: She was there between 2:00 and 2:30.

Grace: 2:30 in the afternoon. OK, Steven, how is it that her car could get all the way back in this pit area where there iswell, I believe were showing it right now. I mean, wouldnt she have to pass back by the office again?

Avery: Well, on the outskirts of the office, otherwise back by me, or back by (INAUDIBLE) pit in the corner, is all open.

Grace: Its all open?

Avery: Yes. Anybody can drive in there.

Grace: OK. So that says to me, Chuck Quirmbach, with Wisconsin public radio, that the assailant who took this girl would have to find her some distance away and then amazingly, incredibly, coincidentally take her car all the way back to Averys auto salvage and park it back here in the pit with all these trashed cars.

Quirmbach: Well, we do have to say alleged assailant. We do not know the whereabouts of Ms. Halbach. We do not know if someone took her against her will to where the car was found.

(CROSS TALK)

Grace: OK. Chuck, Chuck, Chuck, a womans point of view. Im not going to park my car in a pit of junk cars and then go on vacation, OK? You might find my car at the airport, if I had a car, or maybe at the bus station or the train station.

So back to Mr. Avery. Mr. Avery, did you see anyone else come in, anyone unusual that didnt belong there?

Avery: Well, Thursday night, me and my brother had to go to Menards to pick up some wood with the flat bed. And I see taillights back by me. It wasnt supposed to be.

Grace: Yes.

Avery: But we turned around. And we went back there. The truck he parked on the side. And I took the flashlight on the flat bed, and I looked around by me and behind me, but I didnt see nothing.

Grace: Well, I want to point out, everybody, that Steven Avery is cooperating with police. He is not an official police suspect, and he is with us tonight speaking freely.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Unidentified Male: At 1:00 this afternoon, myself and my staff members met just to answer any other questions they may have had about the investigation. They remain hopeful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Grace: Teresa Halbach is missing. If you have any information, dial the sheriffs office (GIVES NUMBER).

Very quickly to Chuck Quirmbach. Are they sending in divers to search in the ponds in the area of the auto salvage?

Quirmbach: Yes. Apparently, thats been done. Theres also apparently a large number of people checking fields around the Avery property. Theres up to 200 people had been there investigating over the course of the last couple of days, so its quite a wide net.

Grace: Mr. Avery, do you feel like youre being framed in any way?

Avery: Yes.

Grace: Why?

Avery: Because every time I turn around, the countys out here doing something to me.

Grace: In this case, do you think youre being framed?

Avery: Yes. Im being set up, because of my lawsuit and everything else.

Grace: Because of your previous incarceration, youre suing?

Avery: Yes. They set me up then. And then...

Grace: Well, do you think it has anything to do with her car being found at your auto shop?

Avery: No. I tell you, its because of my name and what theywhat I went through from them.

Grace: But to Dr. Robi Ludwig, psychologist, of course, with her cartake a look at thisher car turning up in the middle of that, that is a very suspicious location.

Ludwig: Sure. But we do know that there are people that are wrongly convicted and that they do appear to be guilty and very often have to defend themselves once theyre let out, and even if they are exonerated. So Mr. Avery is in a very difficult position.