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November 15, 2005

Teresa Halbach: Steven Avery Timeline

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Majority of Halbach's body will likely not be found

Oct. 31 - Photographer Teresa Halbach, 25, goes to an appointment to take pictures for Auto Trader Magazine at Avery's Auto Salvage near Mishicot, a rural area 90 miles north of Milwaukee.

The salvage yard is run by the family of Steven Avery, 43, who served 18 years in prison for a 1985 rape before being freed in 2003 because new DNA evidence showed he was innocent. Avery says later that Halbach, who had visited the business several times in the past year on photo shoots, took pictures of a minivan he had for sale and left.

Nov. 3 - After not hearing from Halbach for several days, her family reports her missing and authorities launch an investigation, soon joined by more than 100 friends and family members searching for her.

Nov. 5 - Volunteer searchers find Halbach's vehicle under brush and auto parts in the Avery salvage yard.

Nov. 8 - Steven Avery tells reporters he fears Manitowoc County officials are trying to frame him so they don't have to deal with the $36 million lawsuit he filed against the county over his wrongful conviction.

Last Wednesday - Steven Avery is arrested and charged with possessing firearms despite his status as a felon because of past convictions for burglary and other crimes. Authorities say they found two guns in his trailer home. Authorities have Avery and his family submit DNA samples.

Thursday - Authorities announce that burned human remains - teeth and pieces of bone - have been found at the Avery property, as well as various blood evidence. They advise the volunteers not to continue searching for Halbach.

Her brother, Mike Halbach, comments that: "We know we will see Teresa again. It looks like it won't be here on earth, but it will be in heaven."

Friday - Special prosecutor Ken Kratz announces he will charge Steven Avery with murder in Halbach's death, though the remains have not yet been identified. Evidence includes teeth and charred pieces of bones found in a burn pit behind Avery's garage, Avery's blood inside Halbach's vehicle, Avery's DNA on the vehicle's ignition key that was hidden in his bedroom, and spent rifle shell casings in his garage.

Monday - Two search warrants are released, showing investigators found steel belts of about six tires used as fire accelerants; found a number of five-gallon buckets that appeared to have been used to distribute burned remains; and seized Steven Avery's computer, looking for images of pornography, bondage, torture and death that might relate to the case.

Janesville Gazette

MILWAUKEE - Investigators don't expect to find anything more than bone fragments and teeth of a Calumet County woman, last seen on Halloween, because a fire likely destroyed the rest of her remains, the sheriff said Monday.

Calumet County Sheriff Gerald Pagel said he believes the remains are of Teresa Halbach, though he is waiting for the state crime lab to positively identify them.

"There wasn't a lot left, I'll be honest with you, just bone fragments," Pagel said in a telephone interview Monday. "That's an indication of a very intense fire."

Pagel also said investigators were waiting for the crime lab to finish analyzing DNA that was not Halbach's or those of Steven Avery, the man due to be charged Tuesday in her death. Pagel said they were trying to determine if anyone else in the Avery family was involved in the murder.

Halbach, a 25-year-old photographer, had an appointment the day she disappeared with Avery, who spent 18 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit, authorities said.

Auto Trader Magazine had hired Halbach to take pictures of a minivan at Avery's Auto Salvage on Oct. 31. Special Prosecutor Ken Kratz has said she never left the lot.

Prosecutors plan to charge Avery with Halbach's murder Tuesday morning. Avery, who has denied any knowledge of Halbach's disappearance, was taken into custody last week and charged with a weapons violation.

Investigators searching for Halbach found the human teeth and bones in the burn pit behind Avery's garage. Her key, with Avery's DNA on it, was found hidden in Avery's bedroom, investigators say.

Avery, 43, has lived near and worked at his family's salvage yard near Mishicot, a rural area 90 miles north of Milwaukee, since he was released from prison in 2003.

Pagel said last week investigators found Avery's DNA and Halbach's blood inside her sport utility vehicle, which her family and friends found in the 40-acre junk yard five days after she last was seen.

Investigators searched 3,800 vehicles several times, six ponds and a 700 acre area three times, Pagel said. They were also investigating information they received from their tip line, he said.

Search warrant information released Monday said investigators seized Avery's computer and were looking for images of sexually explicit material, including pornographic images, bondage, torture and death, that could point to a possible motive.

Investigators also said in search-warrant documents that they found steel belts of about six tires that were used as fire accelerants. They also found a number of five-gallon buckets that appeared to have been used to distribute burned remains.

Pagel said the burned bones resembled twigs, and without the state fire marshal investigators might not have determined they were bones.

Pagel said they don't know of a motive and he is unsure if they will ever find one.

The state has assigned public defender Erik Loy to represent Avery in the case.

Loy has spent 18 years as a criminal defense attorney, according to a statement from his office, which also said he had met with Avery and didn't plan to make any further comment until Tuesday.

Avery's brother, Chuck, who is part owner of the lot, said in a phone interview Monday that the family was allowed back on the property Saturday after being closed off from it for a week. He said he found his front door broken and two patches on a couch cushion ripped off.

He said the lot opened Monday for business and people were calling and stopping by and pledging their support for the family.

Steven Avery had been freed from prison based on DNA evidence after the University of Wisconsin Law School-based Innocence Project took on his cause.

Keith Findley, co-director of the project, said that since Avery's arrest last week, the group has received an overwhelming number of e-mails and calls in support, but four or five have said Avery should not have been let out of prison.

"I think most people recognize that the system is flawed and it remains vitally important that we convict the guilty and not the innocent," he said.

Findley said, to the best of his group's knowledge, out of 163 people nationwide who have been wrongly convicted of crimes and then cleared with DNA, only one was later charged with a serious crime.

Halbach worked out of the studios of Tom Pearce, of Pearce Photography, in Green Bay.

Pearce said Monday he was putting together a special window display that will include flowers and her photographs. He said many people have stopped by to look at Halbach's work.

"People said if you knew Teresa within minutes you liked Teresa," he said.

Halbach's family scheduled a funeral service for Teresa at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. John-Sacred Heart Church in St. John. Visitation was scheduled at the St. John-Sacred Heart School gymnasium in Sherwood from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, with a parish prayer vigil at 7 p.m.

http://www.gazetteextra.com/avery_body111505.asp

Posted by Nealus at November 15, 2005 10:36 AM

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