Teresa Halbach's Death Certificate Suggests Rush to Charge Steven Avery

Add yet another piece of evidence \that supports the theory that Making A Murderer‘sSteven Avery was framed for the murder of Teresa Halbach.

Amongst the many files on the website StevenAveryCase.org, which raised money to purchase and upload all of the case documents, is Halbach’s death certificate, and a close reading by Uproxx noticed some pretty strange inconsistencies.

The death certificate was filled out and dated November 10, 2005, just one day after the Manitowoc County coroner received the bone fragments found on Avery’s property on November 9. Though the cause of death initially says undetermined, it’s crossed out, and the manner of death selected is “homicide.” “No” is selected for “body found,” yet “yes”is selected next to “autopsy performed.” However, the coroner didn’t actually sign the certificate determining those remains were Halbach’s until December 5 – but that’s still a full six weeks before they were actually positively identified on January 19, 2006.

So what’s going on here? Well, Avery was charged with murder on November 9, but the police couldn’t have charged him without proof of Halbach’s death. Though the coroner had just received the remains and would not actually determine them to be Halbach’s for over two months, the dates on the death certificate indicate the coroner’s findings were decided in advance in order to charge Avery as quickly as possible.

At the very least, this further supports the prevailing notion that police zeroed in on Avery from the second Halbach was reported missing, cutting corners along the way. But if you’re among those who believe Avery was framed, this death certificate could easily look falsified. After all, the coroner positively IDs human remains and determines the cause of death well before any such conclusion could or was actually reached, calling into question the validity of those results entirely.

I keep thinking the Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey case couldn’t possibly get any sketchier, but nearly every week, something new pops up online to prove me wrong. What other weirdnesses might be hiding amongst the case files? Time to do a little digging myself…

Read more: StevenAveryCase.org, Uproxx