The First Degree

Episode 284: Teresa Halbach

01.31.2024 - By Alexis Linkletter, Jac Vanek, Billy JensenPlay

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On Halloween, 2005, a 25-year-old woman disappears in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Almost a week later, search parties find her Toyota RAV4 concealed in a salvage yard business where the young woman was last headed for a work assignment. Utimately, the property owner and his young nephew are convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. 10 years later, the documentary series ‘Making A Murderer’ raised serious questions about the men’s guilt, including allegations of police corruption in framing at least one of the killers, who had previously been previously wrongfully convicted. The much-lauded series went on to win awards for what many were led to believe was a balanced presentation of all the facts. But the filmmakers had in fact omitted key evidence contradicting their narrative. In episode 284, Jac and Alexis detail the tragic murder of Teresa Halbach at the hands of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, and how the fallout of exposing unethical media practices proves that consumers of true crime content should always be thinking critically.

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