Here’s what to read next if you’re still obsessed with ‘Making a Murderer’
AP Photo/Dwight Nale, Pool
Popularity is swelling over Netflix’s latest true-crime documentary “Making a Murderer,” which took 10 years to film and follows the murder investigation and trial of Teresa Halbach in rural Wisconsin.
If you’ve watched the series, the convictions of Steven Avery and his then-16-year-old nephew Brendan Dassey in Manitowoc County may still be haunting you due to allegations and insinuations of corruption, conspiracy, and even jury tampering. Certainly writers and directors Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos have created a documentary that pushes viewers to question where, when, and how our justice system falls short.
Obsession with the documentary is now spilling over online as people try to piece together who’s who, what happened, and read every scrap of information they can.
Below are some of the best resources to read if you’re going to go down that rabbit hole.
First off, where do the cases stand today? The Chicago Tribune has a summation of where both Avery and Dassey’s cases are now. Most of the information viewers will already know from the end of the documentary — Avery has requested his entire case file and is petitioning for attorney relief while Dassey’s new legal team has a lawsuit in front of a federal judge — but there is some new info, including the fact that a Wisconsin Innocence Project member is now looking into the case.
AP Photo/Dwight Nale, Pool
If you’re still confused about the who’s who of the case, take a look at Post Crescent’s breakdown of all the key players as well as their involvement. If you got confused during the documentary and want to make sure you have your names straight, you’ll want to read this before moving forward.
Next before you dive any deeper, you may be wondering how the series came about in the first place. Both The New York Times and BuzzFeed News wrote in-depth stories on the making of “Making a Murderer” that include interviews with Ricciardi and Demos about how they discovered the Avery case as well as their response to criticism that the documentary sides too heavily with the Avery family.
And here’s the original 2005 New York Times story, which inspired the filmmakers to head to Manitowoc County and film “Making a Murderer.” While the story doesn’t contain any new information for viewers, it does give a good grasp of how the case and its participants were originally depicted.
On that same note, this Milwaukee Mag 2006 feature “Blood Simple” is a fascinating look at public sentiment around this time as well. It’s very anti-Avery and has some new details about both Teresa Halbach and Avery that didn’t make it into the documentary, such as details about Halbach, Dassey, and the Averys' backgrounds.
AP Photo/Dwight Nale, Pool
If you want to see transcripts of each “Making a Murder” episode, you can find them here. Just be warned, the transcripts aren’t perfect and don’t always have the proper annotation for who’s speaking, but they will help refresh your memory without watching the full episode.
Reddit is also on the case with their new subreddit /r/MakingaMurder where users are sharing theories and digging deeper into the case. You’ll find everything from suspected timelines to dissections of key pieces of evidence. Some Reddit users even say they have communicated with the original prosecutor Ken Kratz and have new information about the juror that was excused.
Reddit is also your source for documents relating to the case, including trial transcripts, interviews, motions and legal documents, briefs, and court rulings. For anyone who wants to really get into the nitty gritty of the case, this is where to look.
AP Photo/Dwight Nale, Pool
If you’re not sure who killed Teresa Halbach, but don’t necessarily believe it was Avery or Dassey, read OnMilwaukee’s summation of the four alternative suspects the Avery defense team filed motions about. Though they’re left anonymous in the article, at least two of them will be easily identified by documentary watchers.
Finally, after 10 years and over 700 hours of footage later, the documentary was bound to leave out some information. Vulture is creating a round up of what was missing from each episode. So far, they’ve covered episode one as well as episodes two through four. OnWilwaukee also has a breakdown of key pieces of evidence that were left out.