If you haven't yet pressed "play" on the new Netflix docu-series"Making a Murderer," then you are likely unaware of the controversy surrounding the 2005 murder of Wisconsin photographer Teresa Halbach. However, if you're one of the many subscribers — including celebrities like Alec Baldwin, Lauren Paul, Mia Farrow, and Ricky Gervais— who binge-watched the entire series and found the results of the subsequent investigation disturbing, then you've come to the right place.
While public opinion on the case widely varies, one constant theme amongst viewers' reactions to the show is this: that the evidence used to convict former DNA-exoneree Steven Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, of Halbach's murder simply doesn't add up. Seemingly planted clues, coerced confessions, and shady practices abound throughout the Halbach case, and the frustrating (and at times blatantly unjust) criminal proceedings left many "Making a Murderer" viewers with a sick feeling in their stomachs. While Avery and Dassey are now serving individual life sentences for their alleged crimes, tens of thousands of citizens feel that the convictions were undeserved and founded upon bias.
But all of this begs the question: if Avery and Dassey are not responsible for the death of Teresa Halbach ... who did it? Fueled by the passion that only a stimulating Netflix binge and overwhelming mistrust of the criminal justice system can spark, viewers have bombarded the Internet with their own theories about Halbach's killer(s). Here are the ones that we think are worth considering — but beware, you'll only be left with more questions.
SEE ALSO: Everything you need to know from 'Making a Murderer' if you don't want to spend 10 hours watching
A local man called "The German."
In a now-deleted Reddit post, a user references a blog post from 2009 written by a man named Brian McCorkle, which describes a woman living right outside the Avery family's property at the time of the murders. Estranged from her erratic, sometimes violent, fire-obsessed husband, whose last name was "German," the woman discovered that he'd visited her home (near the Avery compound) on the day of Teresa Halbach's murder, Oct. 31, 2005. "He [German] visited the Maribel area and had stopped at the rental before the lease began. He spoke of visiting an auto salvage yard. He commented that a woman wanted to take pictures of the rental property ... and he felt that the photographer was 'stupid.'"
After this incident, the woman discovered that "her husband had scratches on his back and a cut finger that bled intermittently." Later, upon seeing a missing persons flyer showing Teresa Halbach, German remarked "she's dead." Following other suspicious incidents, the woman called the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department, who arrested and charged her husband with disorderly conduct and resisting an officer.
In November 2005, the same woman discovered a number of suspicious items in German's home: bloody women's panties, fresh bones, a can of lighter fluid with bloody fingerprints, a mason's hammer covered in dark red flecks, graphic pornographic magazines, and surgical gloves. After reporting these things to the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department during another of her husband's frightening episodes (for which he was arrested), the police rebuffed her by claiming that Teresa's clothing had already been accounted for and that the panties likely belonged to a child. However, the woman continued to believe that her husband was involved with Halbach's disappearance after moving cross-country to get away from him — and Teresa's clothes, supposedly accounted for by the police, were never presented as court evidence.
While the details and source of this story are iffy, many online commenters consider "the German" a viable suspect for Teresa Halbach's murder — especially because this account of the incidents was written so long ago. It's intriguing at the very least!
Different members of the Avery family.
Many theories focus on a number of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey's family members, most notably Bobby Dassey (who was noted to have fresh scratches on his back days after the murder) and his father, Scott Tadych, who corroborated one another's alibis and were vocally anti-Steve throughout the entire case. Read one Redditor's theory below:
Other "Making a Murderer"enthusiasts agreed:
Members of the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department.
Steven Avery's defense lawyers did not claim that the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department was behind the murder, only planting evidence to secure a conviction — however, the Internet disagrees. There are many theorists who would gladly place all of the blame on the law enforcement agency; specifically, on Officer Colburn and Lieutenant Lenk. Check out some of those theories below.
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