19 Things Making A Murderer Covered Up About The Steven Avery Case
17. The Other Rape Allegation
The show highlighted the accusation of rape against Penny Beerntsen that sent Avery to prison for 18 years wrongfully, but they didn't touch on the other allegations of sexual assault.
According to a story by the Appleton Post Crescent, in 2004 Avery was investigated for the sexual assault of his teenage cousin and another girl, both of whom were threatened to silence:
"The filings also include statements from a woman, now 41, who said she was raped by Avery, who told her 'if she yelled or screamed there was going to be trouble.' There also is an affidavit from a girl who said she was raped by Avery. 'The victim's mother indicated that the victim does not want to speak about the sexual assault between her and Steven Avery because Steven Avery told her if she 'told anyone about their activities together he would kill her family... The affidavit said Avery admitted to his fiancee that he had sexually assaulted the girl."
Neither accusation turned into a concrete charge, but it does paint a slightly different picture of why the police department might have considered him a prime suspect for the Beernstein case.
16. The Other Juror Who Admits She Thinks Avery Is Innocent
The question of jury bias was mentioned in the documentary, but almost glossed over aside from the troubled testimony of dismissed juror, Richard Mahler, but it seems to have gone beyond the level discussed.
Ricciardi and Demos now say that they have more evidence that the jury was compromised, as another juror has subsequently reached out to them to admit they think Avery was framed:
" told us that they believe Steven Avery was not proven guilty. They believe Steven was framed by law enforcement and that he deserves a new trial, and if he receives a new trial, in their opinion it should take place far away from Wisconsin."
The allegation states that there was behind-the-scenes vote-trading, which lead to the compromise that was suggested in the show.
"That was the actual word the juror used and went on to describe the jurors ultimately trading votes in the jury room and explicitly discussing, 'If you vote guilty on this count, I will vote not guilty on this count.""
Demos added that the jurors had feared for their own safety if they had held out for a mistrial, so they compromised, sending Avery to jail. And the film-makers say that the mystery juror is willing to serve as a "source" for a new trial.
15. Avery Was Not Adjusting Well After Prison
Despite the picture painted of Avery as delighted to be free and getting on with his life quietly, adjusting to life outside and throwing himself into work, reports at the time of his case against Manitowoc suggest he was not adjusting well. One Herald Times article expressed it as him simply struggling with his freedom, saying he moved into a small fishing shanty despite having been locked up in a similarly small room for almost two decades.
Reddit has theorised that he missed the confines of prison.
Whatever the theory, the presentation of him as a happy go lucky guy enjoying his freedom and minding his own business was not the case, despite it also appearing in news coverage at the time.
His plight was so uncomfortable - despite claims it was "just as before" - that legislator, Gary Bies of Sister Bay, was compelled to set up a fund to help him. Now, that's no admission of guilt, but it's a strange thing not to show, particularly as it showed the cost of Avery's imprisonment to the man himself.
14. The Bleached Floor
It was inevitable that some viewers would be outraged at the way Brendan Dassey was led into his "confession", as it appeared that the detectives interviewing him had fabricated a story out of nowhere that he unwittingly corroborated. But the actual timeline suggests that Dassey's potential involvement came from a more telling source.
An article that appeared in Milwaukee Magazine stated that "On February 27, Dassey's mother spoke with police investigators. Barbara Janda, 41, mentioned that her son had stained his pants while helping his uncle clean his garage floor around Halloween."
That fits with the Department of Justice investigator's testimony during Dassey's trial that the teenager's pants been stained white by bleach, and that he said they had happened when he helped clean the garage. Not entirely incriminating, of course, but interesting all the same.