This has been brought to my attention by several readers. The original source is Brian McCorkle. There is a discussion here.
While the Search for Teresa Halbach was underway in November 2005, another series of events was beginning in Bonduel, Wisconsin.
A
woman was moving from Bonduel, Wisconsin to Maribel. She had rented a
house with the lease to start on 1 November, 2005. The house was on a
property that included several outbuildings.
In Bonduel, her husband had exhibited bizarre behavior such as sleeping in their attic and sleeping in a fetal position.
She
discovered that the labels had been cut from her clothing, and then her
underwear was missing. Her husband denied any knowledge. During the
week, he said he burned something at their new address and said it was a
doll crib. There was a doll crib at the Maribel address, however, it
was not burnt, however.
During the marriage, the citizen found
that her husband had attempted to burn himself in the past. He also had
previously burnt her clothing. He was diagnosed with personality
disorder, narcissistic disorder, depressive disorder, and psychosis, but
he refused to take medication.
She found that on 31 October,
2005, he visited the Maribel area and had stopped at the rental before
the lease began. He spoke of visiting an auto salvage yard. He commented
that a woman wanted to take pictures of the rental property on 31
October while he was there, and he felt that the photographer was
“stupid.”
During the week, she observed that her husband had
scratches on his back and a cut finger that bled intermittently. She was
beginning the move while working in Green Bay.
She found her
underwear stuffed in an attic closet at the Bonduel home. She also noted
a boombox along with cans of Cherry Pepsi Cola near the steps of the
Maribel home. Her underwear disappeared again.
On the 5 of
November, when they stopped for lunch in the Maribel area, the husband
saw a missing person poster for Halbach and stated dogmatically, “She’s
dead.”
The following evening, her husband’s behavior turned
worse. He refused to allow her into the Maribel rental. The citizen
contacted the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s department, and he was arrested
on 6 November, 2005. He was charged with disorderly conduct and
resisting an officer.
When she returned to the Bonduel home to
continue the move, she checked the attic cupboard again for her missing
underwear. Instead, she found a pair of yellow lace panties than were
not hers. They were about her size and had stains consistent with
menstruation. She placed the panties in a plastic bag to ask her husband
about them.
About 10 November, 2005 she looked through the
outbuildings in Maribel for her missing clothing. She found some of her
clothing cut into pieces. She also discovered a can of lighter fluid
with a bloody fingerprint.
Unbeknownst to the citizen, her
husband had been placed in two separate psychiatric care facilities
during his custody. He was released to an outside address in January,
2006. Court records show that address as Glen’s Bar and Grill in
Manitowoc. The County did not notify the woman that her husband was free
and in the community.
Between November and the end of the year, a
few odd things happened. Two explicit adult magazines were placed on
the property. Also, her dogs found relatively fresh bones somewhere on
the property. She discarded the bones.
While attempting to
distract the dogs from the bones, the citizen dropped her husband’s tool
chest in one of the outbuildings. A masons’ hammer and a pair of
surgical gloves fell from the chest. The hammer had visible dark red
flecks.
In January, she noticed a person staring at her home from
the gas station/truck stop across the road. She then discovered that
her husband had been released as well as his address. When she parked in
the parking lot of the bar and grill, he approached her car and
insisted that she take him to the Maribel residence and began searching
the house. During the search, he struck her. She called the Sheriff’s
Department, and her husband was rearrested.
The new charges were burglary, intimidation of a witness, criminal trespass, resisting an officer, and bail jumping.
One
night she noted a second floor balcony door was open. She entered the
home and secured the door. After that she discovered an opened closet at
the base of the stairs with a pair of women’s jeans, a top, and a
pillowcase stained with red stains.
She contacted the sheriff’s
department. When a deputy arrived, the citizen explained her findings
and wondered if the clothing were connected with the Halbach case. She
then discussed the other incidents with the deputy. The deputy stated
that she believed the Halbach clothing had been recovered! She collected
one magazine and the yellow panties.
If the Halbach clothing had
been recovered, it was not information that was released at or after
the trial of Steven Avery. If not, then the deputy was fabricating.
The
citizen was contacted by Manitowoc County Detective Dennis Jacobs.
Jacobs is the child sex investigator for Manitowoc County. He insisted
that the panties were from a child despite the staining and size. He
wanted the citizen to accuse her husband of pedophilia. He also
volunteered that authorities had their suspect in the Halbach case.
She
told Detective Jacobs of the cut clothing and a previous incident when
her husband had burnt her clothing. His response was that was not a
crime.
The woman left Wisconsin for a job in Oregon. On 2 March,
2006 the Manitowoc County prosecutor dismissed the charges of burglary
and intimidation against the husband. Charges of disorderly conduct,
criminal trespass, and bail jumping were also dismissed. He pleaded no
contest to the two resisting officer charges and was sentenced to time
served.
She believes that the victim services office in Manitowoc
County provided her husband with her new address. He was at her door
soon after his release.
She considered the events of the week of
31 October, 2005, and her husband’s behaviors and injuries. The citizen
believes that there may be a connection with the Halbach disappearance.
When she asked her husband about any possible connection, he simply
laughed and said no one would believe her if she reported her
suspicions.
But, she had developed a distrust of Manitowoc County
law enforcement. Her husband was probably correct that the Wisconsin
authorities could not accept the concept that someone else did the
crime.
Update:
The German Suspect's Wife's Response
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