Steven Avery: THE MISSING SECRET FILES

You won’t see this on the Netflix hit: In Touch has unearthed bombshell documents about Making a Murderer’s convicted killer

Steven was framed Avery has for long the 2005 proclaimed rape and he murder of 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach. “When you know you’re innocent, you keep on going,” he said in Part 1 of Netflix’s hit 2015 truecrime documentary Making a Murderer, which chronicled his arrest, conviction and sentencing to life in prison for the crime. The Wisconsin salvage yard worker insisted police pinned the crime on him and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, in retaliation for a $36 million lawsuit he filed against Manitowoc County stemming from his wrongful 1985 conviction and 18-year prison sentence for raping another woman. The series was such a sensation, it spawned a sequel, which Netflix released last month, about the continued attempts by the self-proclaimed “decent guy” to clear his name and win his release. But viewers haven’t gotten the full story. According to legal documents exclusively obtained by In Touch, the 56-year-old father of four wrote menacing letters to his ex-wife and was accused of assault by more than one woman. “Making a Murderer portrays Steven as being this lovable, very docile person,” says former Manitowoc County special prosecutor Ken Kratz — who verified to In Touch the

documents guy er introduced is sadistic.” are as But legitimate. evidence the allegations in “In Avery’s reality, were trial nev- this because a judge ruled them inadmissible. “Being accused of a sexual assault is meaningless in terms of providing evidence against Steven Avery in his murder conviction,” Avery’s lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, tells In Touch in a statement. “Mr. Kratz unsuccessfully attempted to interject these two accusations into [the] trial. The trial court issued an opinion... that they, along with other allegations, had ‘zero probative value.’”

HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

According friend alleges to a that 2006 Avery police forced report, himself a family on her in the early 1980s, when she was living with him and his then-wife, Lori Mathiesen. “Steven put his hand over [redacted’s] mouth and told her that if you yell or scream there is going to be trouble,” according to the papers. Following his 1985 rape conviction, Avery also threatened to kill his wife from behind bars, according to letters she gave to cops. (“I mitted, equally vincible” Upon wrote hateful his but and some release accused “bragged” things.) bad in letters,” 2003, Mathiesen about Avery Avery the of acted money has writing “in- ad- he would ing to get a 2006 from interview his lawsuit conducted — that’s accord- by the Calumet County Sheriff’s Department with a teenage relative, who claimed he forced her to have sex. “I told him to stop because… he was just in prison for that,” the young woman told an investigator. “He just laughed.” Prosecutors believed these actions indicated “an escalating pattern of abuse,” according to a 2006 motion. But the court didn’t find enough cause for his previous behavior to be relevant in the Halbach trial. He was found guilty anyway. Zellner says, “We’re in the process of appealing [ his conviction] to the appellate court. We file our brief on Dec. 20.” But Kratz doesn’t believe Avery’s conviction will ever be overturned, telling In Touch, “When every one of the women he’s been in a relationship with feels lucky to be alive, that should tell you something about this man’s character.”