Steven Avery / Teresa Halbach

Steven Avery, of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, spent 18 years in prison for a sexual assault he did not commit before being exonerated by DNA evidence in 2003. Two years later, on October 31, 2005, Teresa Halbach, 25, a freelance photographer for Auto Trader magazine, disappeared after visiting Avery's salvage yard to photograph a vehicle. She was last documented alive on the Avery property that afternoon.

Human remains, vehicle parts, and personal effects belonging to Halbach were discovered during a search of the Avery property beginning November 5, 2005. A key to Halbach's RAV4 was found in Avery's trailer on a later search, after earlier searches had not located it. Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey, then 16, were both arrested and charged with first-degree intentional homicide. [Dassey, who has a borderline intellectual disability, gave multiple recorded confessions that he later recanted, claiming coercion.](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brendan-dassey-habeas-appeal-seventh-circuit/)

[Avery's defense argued that Manitowoc County law enforcement — the agency that had wrongfully convicted him years before and against whom he had filed a $36 million civil lawsuit — planted evidence to frame him.](https://apnews.com/article/steven-avery-making-a-murderer-appeal-conviction) The prosecution maintained the physical evidence of remains, blood, and DNA was overwhelming and not subject to fabrication. Both were convicted in separate 2007 trials.

The 2015 Netflix documentary "Making a Murderer" brought the case to global attention, renewed public scrutiny of both convictions, and prompted substantial legal debate about the integrity of the investigation. The documentary was criticized for omitting prosecution evidence but credited with raising genuine questions about Dassey's interrogation.

Convictions (2007)

[Steven Avery was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide and mutilating a corpse by a Calumet County jury on March 18, 2007, and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.](https://apnews.com/article/steven-avery-making-a-murderer-appeal-conviction) Brendan Dassey was convicted in a separate April 2007 trial of the same charges and sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after 41 years.

Dassey Post-Conviction — Federal Courts

[A federal district court in 2016 overturned Dassey's conviction, finding his confession involuntary.](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brendan-dassey-habeas-appeal-seventh-circuit/) The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that ruling en banc in 2017 and reinstated the conviction. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in 2018.

Avery Post-Conviction

Attorney Kathleen Zellner filed extensive motions arguing new forensic evidence implicates an alternate perpetrator. Wisconsin courts have denied successive post-conviction motions; appeals continue. As of March 2026, both men remain incarcerated and no new trial has been granted.

Current Status

Both convictions remain intact. [Avery and Dassey each continue to pursue post-conviction remedies through the courts.](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/oct/19/making-a-murderer-part-2-steven-avery-brendan-dassey-what-happened)