The credits tell an awful lot.
With Making A Murderer: Part Two now available to watch on Netflix, documentary fans are getting reacquainted with the case surrounding the murder of Teresa Halbach and the subsequent convictions of Brendan Dassey and Steven Avery.
Of course, while the majority of the public will consume the series as “entertainment,” Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, the directors of the documentary, have stressed the severity of the case and reminded people that this is very real.
While the theories and allegations continue to dominate the discussion, there’s one irrefutable fact: a 25-year-old woman was murdered.
In fact, when JOE had the chance to interview them, that’s a point they were keen to stress.
If you’re not up to date with the real life events of the case and the new suspects that have been implicated in the Steven Avery case – or if you’re watching the documentary and have yet to hear Kathleen Zellner’s allegations about the potential killer – consider this to be your spoiler alert.
At the end of every episode in Part Two, you may have noticed that there’s a title card which shows the names of people who refused to take part in the documentary.
Ricciardi and Demos chose to include the list in part as a response to the biggest criticism of Season One.
Essentially, some people claimed that the documentary had not included enough counter arguments or contributors that spoke against Avery and Dassey.
There are 79 names on this list.
For example, some of these names include the family and friends of Teresa Halbach, former district attorney Ken Kratz – more about his involvement in Part Two here – and two men that Zellner has alleged were involved in Halbach’s death, Brendan Dassey’s brother, Bobby Dassey, and Steven Avery’s brother in law, Scott Tadych.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the allegations that were made against Bobby Dassey and Scott Tadych, here are the most salient points.
Older brother of Brendan Dassey and nephew of Steven Avery, Bobby Dassey was one of the first court interviews shown during Part One of Making A Murderer.
Earlier this year, Kathleen Zellner submitted a 599-page filing to the Wisconsin Circuit Court which included a request for them to consider fresh evidence in her client’s latest appeal.
Zellner claims that a CD-rom with data from the Dassey family computer does support the argument that Bobby Dassey lied in court.
On the morning of Halbach’s murder, Bobby Dassey said that he slept until the afternoon. Zellner claims that Dassey accessed the internet several times on that particular day and that he saw Halbach on the morning that she died.
Essentially, she alleges that Bobby Dassey’s testimony was false.
With regards to the contents of the CD, it’s alleged to have contained “images of violent pornography depicting women being tortured and violated that Zellner says were largely accessed at times when only Bobby Dassey was home,” as reported by Rolling Stone.
“Many of the images bear a striking resemblance to Ms. [Teresa] Halbach and to the nature of the crime committed against her,” Zellner adds.
At the time of the trial, Bobby Dassey was never mentioned as a third-party suspect due to lack of evidence and an absence of motive.
“The State had no real interest in outing Bobby’s perversions and obsession with dead female bodies – after all, they didn’t want the jury to see their star witness was a developing sexual psychopath,” Zellner said in a statement.
With regards to Scott Tadych, Brendan Dassey’s stepfather, Zellner claimed in 2017 that he allegedly gave a false testimony at trial.
The Rolling Stone report also states that another witness has signed an affidavit claiming that he saw Halbach’s RAV-4 parked near property owned by Tadych.
With regards to the full list of people that refused to be interviewed in Making A Murderer: Part Two, here they are:
Laura Barber Fritschka, Andy Behrendt, Luke N Berg, Scott Bloedorn, Joseph P Buckley, Andrew Colborn, Robert Covington, Julie Cramer, Sherry Sulhane, Bradley Czech, Bobby Dassey, Julie A Dorn, Kristen Durst, Cynthia Edge, Tom Fallon, Tom Fassbender, Dan Fischer, Marian J Flint, Becky Foss Crookham, Diane D Free, Jeff Froehlich, Norm Gahn, Nancy Grace, Henry L Gray, Karen Halbach, Katie Halbach, Kelly Halbach, Mike Halbach, Tom Halbach, Tim Halbach, Thomas Heinzel, Robert Hermann, Phil Hillegas, Philip Hoff, Jeffrey J Kassel, Michael Klaeser, Nathan J Klein, Ken Kratz, Peg Lautenschlager, James Lenk, Daniel P Lennington, Kevin M LeRoy, Adam Lewitzke, Kate Lewitske Morgan, Jane McGuire, Jesse Miller, Tina Mills, William A Mohr, Paul T Nelesen, Thomas Oakes, Judy Orth, Jerry Pagel, Ken Petersen, Jeanine Pirro, Kelly Pitzen Luedeke, Dawn Pliszka, Josh Radandt, Dave Remiker, Steven Rollins, Janeen Running, Brad Schimel, Renee Schmitt, Leah Shea, Ashley Shippy., Daniel J Slaby, Jodi Stachowski, Nancy D Steinmetz, Rachel Tedder, Terri A Temme, Sharon A Thorne, Micha Tseytlin, Katie Tuuech, David Vigliano, Ryan J Walsh, Carl L Wardman, Mark Wiegart, Janet Willer, Jacob J Wittwer, Lynn Zigmunt.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
