Imagine 18 years of your life: memories, accomplishments, adventures, heartbreaks, family, friends, it goes on. Now imagine that 18 years of your life were taken away from you. That's what happened to Steven Avery. In 1985, Steven Avery of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, was convicted of first-degree sexual assault, attempted first-degree murder, and false imprisonment of Penny Beerntsen. In 2002, thanks to the Wisconsin Innocence Project and improvements in DNA testing, Steven Avery was exonerated of this crime and released from prison. Avery filed a $36 million federal lawsuit against Manitowoc County, its former sheriff, and former district attorney.
Avery's story doesn't end there. Avery is finally out of prison and getting his life back together. But, on Oct. 31, 2005, Teresa Halbach met with Steven Avery at his home, on the same property of Avery's Auto Salvage, to photograph his sister's minivan for Auto Trader Magazine. That same day Halbach went missing. On Nov. 11, Avery was charged with the murder of Halbach after her car was found on his property along with charred bone fragments.Although all these findings potentially point Avery to have committed the crime, there's still a lot of things that do not add up. The Manitowoc County police were not supposed to be involved in any of the investigation because of the lawsuit, but every time the Manitowoc police were on the property, they seemed to keep finding evidence.
Not to spoil it any further, "Making a Murderer" is on Netflix, and it is definitely binge-worthy. Watching this show it was difficult to believe that it is a documentary and that this was real life. Although it wasn't action packed and fast paced, every time I started a new episode I tried to predict what was going to happen next, but every time there was a new twist and I was totally wrong.
I'm still left with many unanswered questions: Did Avery do it? Was Avery framed? Did the police plant evidence? Who murdered Halbach? Why didn't the police pursue any other suspects? I am unsure if Avery is innocent or guilty, but I know there is something bigger going on.
Watching the show was heart breaking. Avery's family, especially his parents, had to go through so much. As well as the Halbach family with unanswered questions about their daughter. As time goes on I am waiting to see how this progresses in the present day.
I do know one thing though: I am team Strang and Buting and I hate Ken Kratz.