Making a Murderer Update 6 - Suspicious Damage to Teresa's Car


I received this pic and theory from an expert in the field, who messaged with:

Where is this piece of Teresa's Rav4? A wheel well cover is not small. Is it maybe in the quarry or right outside the salvage yard? You would not be able to see through the missing front left blinker (was found in the trunk) if the wheel well cover was still on Teresa's car. 

My theory is the car was towed onto the back of the Avery lot through the quarry with a tow strap. While being towed it bumped into the back of the vehicle towing it, smashing the front headlight, knocking out the blinker light and loosening the fasteners on the wheel well cover. Whoever is towing stops, picks up the blinker and throws it in the back and goes on their way. While towing Teresa's car through the quarry (directly south of the Avery lot) the bumpy/hilly terrain wiggled the wheel well cover loose and it fell off. 

I believe this wheel well cover could possibly still be on or around the quarry property directly south of Avery salvage.

This video shows how the wheel well is held on:



The plastic screws/clips break very easily in low speed front corner hits. I know from first hand experience how easy the wheel well cover can fall off. They break loose just a fastener or two and the weight of itself pulls it down into the tire, which then rips it off.

Pic below: Note the quarry sand and wheel well cover peeled back, suggesting a tow:


Click here for Update 3  - Response From Innocence Project


Tags: steven avery, brendan dassey, ken kratz, manitowoc, len kachinsky, robert hermann, teresa halbach, jerry pagel, calumet county, jerome buting, makingamurderer, dean strang, michael o'kelly, mark wiegert, rob herrman, sherry culhane, jerome fox, tom fassbender, manitowoc county sheriff's office, teresa halbach, michael griesbach, the innocent killer  

28 comments:

Ed Scarpo said...

Shaun, I recently binge watched this and am glad to see you digging into it. I am thinking of covering it as well (I probably will start a second blog in order to encompass this). The first thing I am going to do is bone up on all your coverage. I am extremely bothered by this case for the simple reason that the department knew it had a conflict of interest and publicly announced it was recusing itself from the investigation. That was a flat-out lie. The simple fact that officers from this county had to stick their nose in this investigation -- repeatedly! and finding the supposed evidence! -- convinces me there was a conspiracy.

How did that officer know to call in the plate numbers to dispatch when he did?

"'99 Toyota," he said (recorded call to dispatch). It was as if he was looking at the car during the call -- which was two days before it was found on Avery's property.

How did that woman manage to locate that vehicle in that immense lot? God showed her the way... yeah, right. Anyway if I can help out with anything, let me know - I see you have excellent stuff......

Anonymous said...

Look who owns a tow truck...and a salvage yard...and probably spare keys to a 1999 Toyota rav4 (but probably NOT TH's DNA).


http://cleveland-auto-sales-salvage.cleveland.wi.amfibi.directory/us/c/18826455-cleveland-auto-sales-salvage

Anonymous said...

(Yes, that is the sheriff of Manitowoc County who is also president of the salvage yard. He was under sheriff at the time of TH's murder and I believe showed up in one of the episodes of the Making A Murderer series.)

FreeDasseyAvery said...

Wow! That's even more interesting now... Manitowac County sheriff is president of salvage yard. No wonder he stands by his departments' investigation. They're all in it together. I'm even more convinced now. This makes me so sad and literally haunts me at night.

Anonymous said...

I guess no towing company in Manitowac owns a flatbed tow truck.

Anonymous said...

Where is the proof that is the actual key to that Rav4? As in, where is the video of them inserting it into the car and starting it to prove it's the actual key? Since there was no DNA from TH, how do they know it's not a key for a different Rav4 that may also be on the property? Too many holes in the case for this to be "case closed". It's similar to the WM3 case, too much information to say they are innocent rather than guilty and in both cases comes back to DNA. NO DNA from the WM3 were found on the boys or their clothes etc.. Stevens DNA was the ONLY DNA on a key that was touched probably multiple times a day almost EVERY day that lady owned the car, yet none of her DNA was found anywhere on it?

Anonymous said...

Just curious, why would they tow it if they could drive it? If it was towed from another location to the salvage yard, wouldn't it be risky, meaning it would have been much more visible on the roads.

Anonymous said...

^
because they found the car without keys.

Anonymous said...

First, it's unbelievable that none of those "crime-scene deputy dawgs" took gravel/soil samples from her car. Second, I don't see the wheel well cover missing, but there certainly are some interesting things to look into, like that car key. Did it fit? I wonder if the defense covered that?

Third, did anyone testify that her car was damaged before she went missing, or did anyone testify about that damage?

Fourth, it's very rural out there, and if the car was towed, it may have been because the person did not want their DNA/blood to be found in that car. Who knew the deputy dawgs were not going to test most relevant people's DNA, and, screw up the DNA they did plant, er, test?

Anonymous said...

Yeah, right, a killer who is towing a car of the murder victim is going to stop to pick up the light and throw it in the back....sure he is...LOL...you people are hilarious. If the man just killed a person, is he worried about a damn light falling off? Seriously?

Anonymous said...

How did that officer know to call in the plate numbers to dispatch when he did?

"'99 Toyota," he said (recorded call to dispatch). It was as if he was looking at the car during the call -- which was two days before it was found on Avery's property.


This is no great mystery. The search had started. The family members told the cop her vehicle and plate number, and he called into dispatch (or wherever) to verify the info. The dispatch confirms the owner, and he confirms what he knows, saying the type of vehicle.

Anonymous said...

If you watch the video of making a murderer you can clearly see that there is a replacement light for the broken one in the back of Teresa's SUV. It's highly likely that this was from a previous accident, she bought a replacement part, and just had not put the part in yet.

Screenshot: http://imgur.com/OxtGALc

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Unknown said...

Don't panic if you have a small bill when it's time to turn in your car. Many times, you can roll that amount into the payments on the next car lease if you buy another car and other vehicle from the same dealer. Yes, you'll pay interest on your damages, but you'll never have to deal with writing a large, lump-sum check to cover your costs.

Anonymous said...

Just a couple of points to consider:

1. To the person who thinks that's a replacement turn signal in the trunk. I'm pretty sure that's the broken turn signal in the trunk. If you compare it to the one that's still in place, you'll see that the one in the trunk is shorter, and the piece that's missing from the one in the trunk matches the piece that's still in the front of the RAV4.

2. Based on the other pictures, Teresa seems to have kept her RAV4 clean and in good condition. I doubt she would have driven around with a broken turn signal for very long. It's likely that the turn signal was broken out after the murder, and the murderer put it in the trunk so that no evidence of the RAV4 would be found elsewhere. Presumably they would have dusted it for prints and found none, but you never know...

3. Regarding the Harmann salvage yard/tow truck...I think it's most likely that a tow truck WAS NOT used, and the RAV4 was towed by an ordinary car with a tow strap. This would explain how the turn signal was broken out. It was a one-man tow job, where the RAV4 was towed behind somebody else's car using a tow strap. If Car A is towed behind Car B with a tow strap or a rope, and Car B stops suddenly, Car A will bump into it. The way you'd normally prevent this is to have somebody IN Car A to step on the breaks if Car B stops.

So, I think a single person towed Teresa's RAV4 onto the Avery lot behind their car. At some point they stopped quickly during a left-hand turn, so that the RAV4's left-hand bumper hit the rear bumper of the car that was towing it.

Just check to see who, among the suspects, has/had a car with a towing hitch, and a dent in their rear bumper, and you'll have your prime suspect.

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Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

to me it doesn't make much sense.

you people are saying.. the needed to do this because they did not have the keys (okay, possible.. since the key found in the averys house was a subkey).. but how can they plant the blood when they have no keys?
what about the corpse? ive ead one bone (knee) had teresas DNA.. so where was the body?? apparently the car must have been closed.. and next to it the burned bones?

it actually brings up more questions that giving answers.

Anonymous said...

My thoughts are, who ever delivered the rav to the salvage yard,,,was driving it there on the 4th and hit a deer. It was said there were headlights seen on the nite of the 4th going into the yard and someone had hit a deer. And someone made a police report to go get the deer. Which they did and hung it up in garage to clean.
just thoughts

TabathaJB said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
TabathaJB said...

Great blog. Glad that I came upon it.

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Unknown said...

Don't panic if you have a small bill when it's time to turn in your car. Many times, you can roll that amount into the payments on the next lease cars
if you buy another car and other vehicle from the same dealer. Yes, you'll pay interest on your damages, but you'll never have to deal with writing a large, lump-sum check to cover your costs.

Kayki said...

I know this is old, but im a faithful follower of this case. The tow theory is all well and good, except it's easily explained away by law enforcement who towed the Rav to the forensic lab....... They will literally have an explanation (take ownership) for every flaw and oddity we find. It's disgusting

Unknown said...

You're not thinking it all the way out. Without the ignition key you cant tow it with a tow strap cause you cant turn the steering wheel.

Blazer0981 said...

There's likely a steering wheel unlock for that in the RAV4. Same as most any newer fwd vehicle.

Blazer0981 said...

That's the light that fell out initially. Not a replacement. Did you just refuse to read what was posted already? They threw it back in the vehicle when it fell out.