After spending 18 years in prison for rape, Steven Avery was finally released on September 11th of 2003. Through these 18 years, did it transform Steven Avery into a cold blooded killer? After spending time in prison, Steven has built up many years of anger and pain for something he was wrongfully convicted of. It all started on July 29, 1985 when Steven was arrested for the rape of Penny Beernsten in which he did not do. He did not receive a fair trial in court and was sent away for a portion of his life. The Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department had already decided that Steven was the person that raped Penny.
Manitowoc County was contacted by another Department with information regarding Penny Beernsten’s rape that they had the wrong person in custody. The Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department informed the other Department that Steven was the rapist of Penny. After 18 years, DNA from a few pubic hairs fund on the scene were tested. These hairs freed Steven and proved that the other department was correct, that Steven was innocent and the real rapist was Gregory Allen. Soon after the DNA proved Steven was innocent he was released. Steven filed a lawsuit against the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department for 36 million dollars.
In the midst of the lawsuit, Teresa Halbach went missing on October 31st, 2005. She was scheduled to take pictures of a minivan on the Avery property on the day she was went missing. Soon after, Steven was arrested by the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department once more. Later, remains of Teresa were found behind Stevens house. Although many believe that Steven is guilty of the murder of Teresa Halbach, he is innocent because the evidence presented by the prosecution does not prove that Steven was the murderer. After searching the Avery Salvage yard, Teresa’s Rav-4 was found.
The Rav-4 is one major piece of evidence in this case. Andrew Colborn ran the tags of Teresa’s car before it was ever found by the search crews. The only way this is possible would be that Colborn had the car in his possession. Blood was also found inside the car. This blood belonged to Steven and also Teresa. This doesn’t make sense because the only open wound Steven had was on his finger, but there were no finger prints on the car that belonged to Steven. This would mean he would’ve been wearing gloves, which means there would be no way for his blood to get onto the car.
Also, prosecution proposed t story that Teresa was killed and then burned in the fire pit behind Steven’s house. If this story is true, how would her blood be found in the back of her own car? The only reasonable answer to this would be that her body was moved from one location to another after being killed. Another compelling piece of evidence in this case would be the keys in Steven’s room. The keys were found by James Lenk after 4 days of searching, and they were found in plain sight under a pair of shoes next to Steven’s bed side table.
The only DNA that was found on the keys belonged to Steven. If these keys belonged to Teresa, she would’ve carried them for prolonged amounts of time which means her DNA would be found on the keys along with Steven’s. The only way that it would be possible for only Steven’s DNA to be found on the keys would be that either the keys belonged to Steven or that the keys were scrubbed clean of all DNA and his was planted onto the keys. Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department was not allowed to investigate in this case, but James Lenk was the one who found the keys.
It was possible that he planted the keys in Steven’s room while the other officers weren’t looking. The Rav-4 keys aren’t reliable evidence because they were either planted on Steven or they were simply Steven’s keys. More compelling evidence would be the bullet fragment found inside Steven’s garage. The bullet fragment that was found inside Steven’s garage was of course found by Dave Remiker. Remiker found the fragment after professionals had been conducting a search. The only evidence that was found inside the garage was the fragment.
There was no other evidence found that linked Teresa to the garage or even the house. No blood was found inside or around the garage. Investigators even went to the extreme of pulling up the floor to find traces of blood that had went through cracks, but still nothing was found. The bullet fragment was tested for DNA and Teresa’s DNA was found on it but the sample was contaminated so the DNA could’ve been changed resulting in the finding of Teresa’s DNA. There was only enough of the fragment to be tested once, so the only sample taken from it was contaminated.
The sample was not marked contaminated so this evidence is invalid to the case and cannot be used as reliable evidence. The last important piece of evidence in this case would be Teresa’s remains that were found in several locations. The first location her remains were found was behind Steven’s house in the fire pit. This is where the majority of her remains were found. Remains were also found in a burn barrel behind Brendan Dassey’s house, and also the quarry. The findings of her remains in 3 different locations shows that they were moved from the primary burn site.
According to the bone specialist, when remains are moved, where the majority of the remains are found it’s usually the secondary location not the primary burn location. This evidence shows that the bones were transported from one location to another so that disproves the story proposed by prosecution. After analyzing all the major evidence in the case, it shows how the prosecution’s story does not line up with the evidence. Lenk and Colborn both played a major role in this case. Every time they present on site, a major piece of evidence was found regarding Steven Avery.
Either this was sheer luck or they were planting evidence on Steven in order to insure his prosecution. Unfortunately, Steven and Brendan, Steven’s nephew that supplied the story to police, were both charged with the murder of Teresa. Steven faces a life sentence without the option of parole and Brendan faces a life sentence and the possibility of parole after 28 years in prison. The Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department did not only wrongfully convict Steven once, but twice, and now the rest of his life will be spent behind bars.
