Kathleen Zellner's Best New Evidence In 'Making A Murderer' Part 2

Some Making A Murderer viewers were convinced of Steven Avery's guilt after Part 1 of the true crime documentary premiered on Netflix in 2015. Compared to where his case is now, Part 1 only scratched the surface of Avery's possible innocence.

Coveted wrongful convictions attorney Kathleen Zellner took Avery's case and performed a variety of tests, from DNA and ballistics to mapping out the timing of victim Teresa Halbach's day in Making A Murderer Part 2. It's all presented on the series, with a collection of compelling pieces of evidence. An evidentiary hearing to present Zellner's new findings in Avery's case could happen before the end of 2019, she told Newsweek.

Blood Splatter

Zellner and her team extensively tested the blood splatter found on the cargo door of Halbach's car and were unable to recreate it as the former prosecution presented. It was argued Halbach's body was flung into the trunk of her Toyota Rav 4. Using real blood from a lab, the same model car and a mannequin dressed with Halbach's weight and similar hair, the test produced wildly different results.

The team discovered the blood splatter pattern could have been created if Halbach was lying on the ground in front of the open cargo door while being hit in the head with a blunt object, like a hammer.

Blood Flakes

Blood was found throughout the vehicle, though the car was wiped of fingerprints. Flakes of blood were found on the car's carpet. Zellner and her experts said the flakes were planted, as they did not adhere to anything. Avery had cut his hand earlier in the day and left blood in the sink. They theorize the killer planted Avery's blood in the car from his sink.

The prosecution claimed the cut from Avery's hand made a mark on the car's dashboard while he inserted the key into Halbach's car. The testing also showed there's no way Avery's hand would have hit the dashboard in the fashion the prosecution claimed.

Brain Fingerprinting

Avery participated in Brain Fingerprinting and the test results claimed he had no knowledge of the relation of meaningful words in the Halbach murder. The testing stands with the idea that a murderer would have knowledge of the murder stored in their brain.

Burn Pit

In Making A Murderer Part 2, the burn pit was subject to investigation because experts doubted a body was ever burned there. According to Zellner, the entire Avery garage would have burned down in a fire strong enough to burn a body, she told Newsweek.

The jury on Avery's original case agreed. Though they convicted him of murder, they did not find him guilty of burning Halbach's body in the burn pit, Zellner told Newsweek.

Human bones were found in three burn barrels on an adjacent, quarry property according to the series. They were not presented in Avery's original trial, and the bones have yet to be tested. The bones also feature cut marks, which imply the body was dismembered before being burned. The prosecution argued her body was burned in full.

Bullet

Through ballistics research, Zellner and team learned the bullet found on the Avery garage floor, which was said to have killed Halbach, never passed through a human skull. The type of bullet wouldn't protrude through two layers of bone during a trial, and through further analysis, no bone was found embedded in the bullet. Instead, two types of wood were found, implying the bullet passed through the garage wall.

Phone Call with Barb and Scott Tadych

Much of the prosecution's original evidence against Avery stated Halbach visited the Avery property to take photos of a car, and never left the property. Bobby Dassey, a star witness for the state of Wisconsin, against Avery, said he never saw Halbach leave the Avery property. However, Bobby Dassey told friends he did see Halbach leave.

In a recorded phone call with Avery, Bobby Dassey's mother, Barb, and stepfather, Scott, revealed they knew Halbach did leave the Avery property on the day of her murder. This negates Bobby Dassey's testimony. He is now considered a large suspect in the Zellner presentation for his alleged lie under oath. He also had thousands of violent porn downloads on his personal computer.

Not featured in the series, Bobby Dassey also claimed he hung a deer from the roof of his garage in 2005, around the time of Halbach's murder, resulting in blood on the garage floor, Zellner told Newsweek. The Dassey garage was never searched in the murder investigation.