Posted on 11/09/2005 2:32:54 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
A man who served 18 years in prison for a rape he did not commit said Tuesday night he is afraid he is being framed for the disappearance of a Calumet County woman whose car was found at a junkyard run by his family.
"It's a headache. Everybody's worried about it. They can't sleep, they're so worried," Steve Avery said of himself and his large family, who live in Manitowoc County, mostly in the Two Rivers area.
Calumet County authorities are searching for 25-year-old Teresa Marie Halbach of Hilbert. Halbach, a freelance photographer for Auto Trader Magazine, was last seen Oct. 31, when she had three scheduled appointments for the publication. One of the appointments was at the salvage yard run by Avery's brother.
Investigators on Tuesday discovered evidence that makes them fear for the safety of Halbach, the Calumet County sheriff said.
Investigators still were searching Avery's property Tuesday, Sheriff Jerry Pagel said. He refused to provide any details except to say the search included excavations on or near the Avery property.
Avery's parents, Delores and Allen Avery, live on the property, and Steve Avery said Tuesday he's been living rent-free in "a house trailer close to the junkyard."
Avery was convicted of a 1985 sexual assault and exonerated by DNA evidence 18 years later. He was released from prison Sept. 11, 2003. Since then, the high school dropout has "been helping out at the yard, eight hours a day," he said. His work is unpaid, but "they help me out with food and gas. I work for my older brother. It gives me something to do until the lawsuit is settled," he said.
Avery sued Manitowoc County and its former sheriff and district attorney for $36 million over his wrongful conviction, and he has said he fears someone is trying to set him up as a suspect in Halbach's disappearance. Avery said he has nothing to hide.
"Everybody's taking it pretty rough," Avery said. "My mother breaks down. My brother broke down."
Rumors are flying, Avery said.
"I'm afraid. I heard tonight that a cop put her car in the (Avery salvage) yard."
The junkyard, his parents' adjacent home and his trailer remain under control of the authorities, and his parents have not been able to get inside their home for his mother to retrieve her medications, Avery said.
"I can't go home. Nobody can go home. They got it all blocked off," he said.
"I had to borrow a car. They took my car. Where I'm going to stay tonight, I don't know. I might stay in the back of the car."
Avery's attorney, Walter Kelly, has said he's confident Avery had nothing to do with Halbach's disappearance.
Is Avery afraid they'll arrest him in connection with the missing woman?
"That's always in my mind," he said.
Manitowoc County Sheriff Ken Petersen couldn't be reached for comment on Avery's suspicions Tuesday night. A call to him was referred to Calumet County Sheriff Gerald Pagel, who also was unreachable.
"Calumet County is handling the investigation," a Manitowoc County sheriff's dispatcher said.
Manitowoc County District Attorney Mark Rohrer has appointed the Calumet County district attorney, Ken Kratz, special prosecutor in the Halbach case because he wants to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
Kratz said investigators executed search warrants on the Avery property as well as in other counties, including in Marinette County, where the Avery family has a cabin.
Halbach's vehicle was found at the Avery salvage yard Saturday, when Avery was at his father's vacation property near Crivitz. Officers searched the cabin Saturday and impounded Avery's car and a flatbed truck.
"Wisconsin seems to be splattered all over FR lately!"
'Splattered?' You must've been reading the "Deer versus Car" threads, LOL! ;)
(Actually, a small but vocal minority of Wisconsinites has started to gather here...Shhhh! Don't blow our cover!)
Well, kids. It appears they took Steven Avery into custody this afternoon. Not that it proves anything, but it thickens the plot in this little novella:
Steven Avery taken into custody (2:13 p.m.)
By Carrie Antlfinger - The Associated Press
MISHICOT, WI — Law enforcement officers investigating the disappearance of a woman took into custody a man who served 18 years in prison for a rape he did not commit, the man’s attorney told The Associated Press.
Officers took Steven Avery into custody because of a weapon, attorney Walt Kelly said. He did not think the weapon was related to the disappearance of Teresa Halbach, whose sport utility vehicle was found at a salvage yard owned by Avery’s family near Mishicot.
Kelly said he feared officers were taking Avery into custody so they could interview him about the missing woman case.
“I fear ... that they will try to use his words against him,” Kelly said.
Continues:
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051109/GPG0101/51109016
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051109/APC0101/51109017
Human remains found at salvage yard
By John Lee
Post-Crescent staff writer
Human remains have been found at a salvage yard where investigators have been searching for a missing Calumet County woman.
Authorities are not certain if the remains are those of Teresa Halbach, 25, Calumet County Sheriff Jerry Pagel said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, Steven Avery, whose family owns the salvage yard, was arrested on a weapons charge.
Avery’s attorney, Walt Kelly, told The Associated Press he did not think the weapon was related to the disappearance of Teresa Halbach, 25, whose sport utility vehicle was found Saturday at the salvage yard near Mishicot.
A criminal complaint filed in Manitowoc County accuses him of possession of a firearm by a felon.
Avery, 43, Mishicot, spent 18 years in prison on a sexual assault charge. He was released in 2003 after DNA evidence exonerated him.
The complaint, filed by a state Division of Criminal Investigation agent, stems from a search of Avery’s home Sunday at 12932 Avery Road, Two Rivers, according to Jeffrey Froehlich, an assistant district attorney for Calumet County.
The complaint said officers searching Avery’s home found a .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle and a .50-caliber blackpowder muzzleloader.
Mike Halbach, Teresa’s brother, told The Post-Crescent on Wednesday that Pagel informed his family Wednesday afternoon that Avery would be arrested. Halbach said the family did not have specifics, however.
Avery’s brother, Chuck Avery, said officers were taking his brother to the Calumet County Jail. Chuck Avery was being taken to a hospital by detectives for a DNA sample, he said.
Kelly said he feared that investigators are arresting Avery in order to pressure him into making statements about Halbach.
“This is looking more and more like a persecution not an even-handed investigation.”
Halbach, a photographer, was last seen Oct. 31 when she had three appointments for Auto Trader Magazine, taking pictures of cars for sale. One stop was at the Avery salvage yard where her vehicle was discovered by her family.
How stupid would he have to be to kill the woman, leave her body (maybe her body) and her car, definitely her car, in the place where he worked and lived?
Just because the DNA doesn't match doesn't mean you didn't commit the crime (for instance, the Central Park jogger case). I'm unsure on the specifics his case though.
BTW, I read somewhere there is a large compactor in that salvage yard. I sure hope they didn't find her in there.
It would be very strange indeed if he was released from prison on DNA evidence, and then sent to prison on DNA evidence.
If he is found guilty of the crime, does that shoot down the $36 million law suit?
Well, if you've seen him interviewed you would see he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Wasn't that similar to what some of our more infamous (Wisconsin) serial killers had done in their past?
But of course, he's innocent until proven guilty...
It probably already has been.
Thanks for the update Diana. By the way, addressing a message to "All" doesn't actually work.
Thanks for the update.
It's not looking to good for him.......
I know that "All" doesn't ping everyone. I figure if people are interested, they'll check back.
Accused? Yes. Convicted? Never!
Just kidding. Why, have you?
***************
Interesting story. There is one case that I know of that involved DNA fraud by a department chemist.
If they do find the body on the property, I don't know how anyone could not believe he is guilty.
Throwing off the hounds is possible, but it's beyond unlikely that it would have been the same person. It's not beyond the realm of possibility, however, that the evidence may have been dumped there by a killer looking to throw the scent. It's likely that this guys fate and the lawsuit were well known and publicized in the area, so many people would have been familiar with his history. If someone was planning a murder and wanted a place to dump a body, dumping it there would be a great way to throw the police off the real scent.
The monkey wrench, however, is that the woman actually had an appointment at the junkyard. I can see the possibility that some random murderer could dump some random victim on his property, but the odds of some random murderer hitting a woman who was coming to visit his specific place of work is practically nil.
You can bet that everyone in the area knows the story of the this guy doing time for something he didn't do. If any one of them wanted to leave a false trail they would all know just how to do it.
He got off because of DNA evidence and now they need more DNA to compare???? Sounds a bit strange, they already have his DNA on file.
Makes you think that maybe someone else at the junkyard committed the first rape. His brother?
or what ever it was, that has to hve been the funniest thread ever!
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