Last month, the 10-hour Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer became a surprise hit for the streaming service, generating a powerful response from viewers and spawning dozens of conspiracy theories online.
While it initially seemed that the story wrapped up eight years ago, when Steven Avery was (perhaps wrongly) convicted of the murder of Teresa Halbach, several new developments have emerged in recent weeks that may have left the filmmakers with enough material for a sequel – and Avery with enough new evidence for a new trial.
First we learned that Avery shared his theory on who killed Halbach back in 2009, but the information was ignored by investigators.
Shortly thereafter, it was revealed that a juror in the case had ties to the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department – one of many conflicts of interest – and possible instances of corruption – in Avery’s trial.
Now, Avery has filed an appeal and landed himself a new, high-profile lawyer in Chicago-based attorney Kathleen Zellner, a specialist in such cases.
While it remains to be seen if Avery will get a new trial, he and Zellner are already hard at work convincing the public of his innocence.
First, Zellner tweeted a letter from special prosecutor Ken Kratz in which the DA asks Avery to confess so that he cash in by writing a book.
Now, a reporter in Milwaukee is sharing some of the information contained in a letter that she received from Avery, which constitutes the 53-year-old’s first communication with the public since Making a Murderer made him famous.
“The real killer is still out there,” Avery wrote to WISN reporter Colleen Henry.
“Who is he stalking now? I am really innocent of this case and that is the truth!!! The truth will set me free!!!!!!!”
The full contents of the letter have not been released to the public, but Avery reportedly spends much of the three-page missive responding to recent allegations of abuse from ex-fiancee Jodi Stachowski.
Stachowski supported Avery throughout his trial, but recently did an about-face and gave several interviews in which she stated that she believes he is guilty.
It is not known at this time if Henry will eventually publish Avery’s letter in its entirety.
