If you haven’t done a deep dive into Netflix’s “Making a Murderer” and the countless Reddit threads that abound about the Steven Avery case, then please close this tab as we’re all about to spoil it! Why aren’t you watching this 10-part bomb of fascinating true crime, anyway?
For those of us who have spent ten hours devouring the story, we’ve got mixed emotions. Is Steven Avery guilty? Was he framed? Why is Brendan behind bars? Who killed Teresa, really? The entire show in itself was shocking, from the methodologies of the Manitowoc police to the sometimes-shady relationships within the Avery family.
I asked avid “Making a Murderer” viewers what the most shocking moment of the series was for them, and here’s what they said.
“[For me] it’s a tie: how shitty Dassey’s pre-trial lawyer was OR that the EDTA test was taken seriously. Hello!! Ever heard of false negative pregnancy tests? Same concept. Lab results, especially ONE lab test, aren’t 100% conclusive.”
– Leah
“I think my jaw dropped to the floor when [Officer] Colburn called in the plates and make and model [of Teresa’s RAV) like he was looking right at it.”
– Colleen
“The weirdest part was that bizarre video about, ‘If I die … I love everyone’ [that Teresa made] and how they never talk about it. That was incredibly strange to me. Was she on drugs? Who makes a video like that, with that demeanor? When that lady was talking about how the Holy Spirit guided her [to Teresa’s car], I thought I was going to have an aneurysm.”
– Katherine
“Everything with Brendan was shocking and frustrating. Hearing the investigators flat-out feed [him] information; the suggestion part of that should be illegal, especially in cases of minors and people with a less than average IQ. When they suggested clothing, Brendan said it was Teresa’s blue shirt. In the missing person flyers, it said she’d been wearing a white shirt. So many inconsistencies … they had to know they were going down the wrong road but they just kept going.”
– Jenni
“[I was shocked by] how little attention was paid to that her ex had injuries on his hands, how he had sent the person to the location of her car and how he admitted he had guessed her passwords.”
– Katrina
“I’ve never seen footage of a defense attorney openly working with prosecutors. Seeing that, seeing video footage of small-town fascism in action is crushing.”
-Scott
“The people that found the car after only searching for fifteen minutes seemed to know exactly where to go. [Plus] the 18 searches of the Avery property and the key is found on the seventh.”
– Martha
“As someone who deals with police investigations on a daily basis, the myopia towards Avery as the murderer after Halbach went missing was disturbing. Should he have been a suspect/person of interest? Absolutely. But the failure to investigate ANYONE else, including Bobby, the brother in law, the ex-boyfriend, or others bothered me. The Detective’s call to dispatch asking if they had Avery in custody before the body had been found was telling.”
– Paul
“That fucking part where they were having Brendan draw a diagram of the bed and his room – his own attorneys, man. I was in tears of frustration for that kid.”
– Rikki
“I was just shocked how an institution we are supposed to trust, that is supposed to keep us safe and fairly handle trials and investigation, can just be so bastardized and mailable. Who can we trust then? I was also amazed that they just viewed Steven as not only a scapegoat, but then a threat when he sued, and did whatever it took to save their own hides. Is Steven guilty of some crimes? Definitely. Just the way it was handled and how the justice system means nothing was really scary to me.”
– Emily
“[I thought] this documentary was totally biased. I’m not saying he was guilty, however, he could be. Overall, this documentary made me more confused than anything. The lack of DNA evidence in the garage and trailer makes me wonder how they could come to a decision. I just don’t know.”
– Mike
“Brendan’s IQ level makes him a prime candidate for manipulation. The investigators even say, ‘We pretty much know everything’ before the interrogation so they could begin shaping everything they wanted him to confess to….it’s garbage.”
– Emily M
“I think the thing that blew my mind the most was the officer who said, ‘If we wanted to get rid of Steven Avery, there are easier ways.’ He basically said on camera that if they wanted to kill him, they could.”
– Chris
“When they put Sgt. Andrew Colborn on the stand and he refused to acknowledge that he was the first one to find Teresa Halbach’s vehicle. I mean, he called it in! There’s a recording of him calling it in!”
– Marina
“Brendan’s interrogation was frightening. My jaw dropped when he asked what time it was and if he’d be back in time for sixth period. Poor kid had no idea what they’d just done to him.”
-Kristie
“I did a double take when [Teresa’s brother] Michael Halbach spoke about the grieving process seemingly before proof of Teresa’s death.”
– Teresa
“I was very sad to see all the efforts that Steven was putting in to clear himself of these crimes and couldn’t help but think that if he had $$, then he would be treated much differently and have so many more options.”
– Rachel
“[For me it was] the tapes we saw with Len’s hired investigator telling Brendan what to say and write/draw — followed by him talking to the investigators with no lawyer present and then the investigators telling him to call his mom. It was just some ugly weird manipulation of taking advantage of a stupid child. The police acted INCREDIBLY corrupt and dishonest to ensure a conviction.
All this said though, I actually think the two did the crime. (I’ve given this a lot of thought.) I say this based on a another shock for me: Avery abused a cat and he wasn’t just playing around. The police records note, which Avery admitted to, that Avery poured lighter fluid on the cat while alive, and then threw the live cat in the fire. I think abuse like this is sociopathic and animal abuse is a sign of more bad stuff to come. This and those weird, psycho notes to his first wife was a shocker to me. Shocking because I realized that I was watching a biased show that outlined how terribly horrific and corrupt that police department was (which I completely agree they are) but yet these aspects of Avery noted to me that this guy is a sociopath so I was confused to what and why I was watching this series and why I couldn’t look away. I loved watching it!”
– Jolene
“[My shocking moment was] the part where Brendan’s OWN attorney’s investigator forces yet another confession from him, then sets him up with that recorded phone call to his mom. Just unmitigated soulless evil.”
– Katie
“I was shocked that no one on the Avery property reported hearing any screams. I’m under the impression that Mama Avery doesn’t leave the house much, so why didn’t anyone hear anything? Also, the lack of blood anywhere is very fishy. When you cut someone’s throat or shoot them, they bleed and that blood splatters. Steven isn’t bright enough to get rid of all that blood. Most investigators couldn’t do that!”
– Kara
“[My shocking moment was] when the defense attorneys uncovered the evidence box from Steven’s first trial and revealed it had obviously been tampered with.”
– Lindsay
“I was most shocked during when they found the evidence box with Steven’s blood inside tampered with a needle hole through the top. Why? It’s never addressed on why that would happen outside of the defendant’s case. I was also left speechless when Kratz says, ‘Reasonable doubt is for the innocent.’ WTF? That said, what depressed me overall was Brendan — so sad. I can’t even wrap my head around how he could give statements and be questions as a juvenile without a guardian present.”
– Heather
“I was less shocked and just more and more sad as the show went on. I feel like I’m completely out of “shock” for how we treat poor people in this country. And with the way things are going, and how divided everyone is, it’s just getting worse. This was just one more example of the ways we as a country are completely destroying the lives of people who don’t have the means to help themselves.”
– Maggie
“’Poor people lose. Poor people lose all the time.’ That quote should always be shocking – as in it should jolt you, shock you to your human core – until it’s no longer true.”
– Michael