Arpaio's karma finally caught up with him today. Read more here.
A New Adventure (Part 20)
Approaching the anniversary of my ten-year release from
prison, I’m pleased to announce the publication of my eighth book over that
period. The Cali Cartel: Beyond Narcos
is now available worldwide on Amazon as a paperback
and an e-book here. The audiobook will be available within
two weeks. If you live in the USA, you have a chance to win a copy of the
paperback for free at this Amazon giveaway. The Cali Cartel took over
Pablo Escobar’s cocaine business, and the book includes the war between the
cartels. Here’s the Narcos trailer introducing Gilberto –
the head of the Cali Cartel – as the new super-villain for Narcos Season 3.
For my long-term blog readers, the only Arizona prisoner I still
get letters consistently from is T-Bone, a former US Marine who uses his
fighting skills to stop prison rape. His harrowing accounts of Arizona prison
life can be read at my blog here.
My YouTube channel subscribers have risen. I should be over
10,000 by the end of the year. I’ve set up a prison questions playlist. If you have any
prison questions you’d like to see me make a video about, please add them to
the YouTube comments or email them to me at attwood.shaun@hotmail.co.uk
Sales are starting to rise for my book American Made on the back of the imminent release of the Tom Cruise
movie American Made. The action-packed trailer about the CIA’s
cocaine smuggling pilot Barry Seal is here, but from watching it, I can tell
that the movie has whitewashed Barry’s story to make it US government friendly
– just like Narcos is told from the
DEA’s perspective. The DEA agents threatened to pull out of Narcos if Pablo Escobar’s son was
allowed to contribute.
I’m just finishing the final book in my War on Drugs series, We Are Being Lied To, which hopefully should be published by the
end of the year.
In August, I have three talks in London. Tickets and further info.
2 FREE Audiobook Giveaways
Audiobook Giveaway 1
If you’d like a free audiobook of American Made about the
CIA drug smuggler Barry Seal, I have some Amazon codes to give away, so just
email me your request and state your country at attwood.shaun@hotmail.co.uk
Audiobook Giveaway 2
If you’d like a free audiobook of Unmaking a Murderer based
on the Netflix series, I have some Amazon codes to give away, so just email me
your request and state your country at attwood.shaun@hotmail.co.uk
Shaun Attwood
A New Adventure (Part 19)
It was a real honour to be asked to judge prisoners’ short
stories for the Koestler Trust, who help prisoners rehabilitate through art.
Ten years ago, I won a Koestler Award for a short story, which I read to an
audience at London’s Royal Festival Hall. It got me a place on the Koestler
mentor scheme, and I was assigned a published author, who helped me achieve my
writing goals and launched me as an author. My sessions with my mentor are all available here.
There has been lots of Making a Murderer news.
Kathleen Zellner filed a 1,272-page notice for post-conviction relief. She
named Ryan Hillegas as the lead murder suspect and accused Ken Kratz of
fraudulent conduct. The motion was so significant that I have replaced the
chapter at the end of Unmaking a Murderer with a new chapter titled “Did Ryan
Hillegas Kill Teresa?” which you can listen to me narrate here.
The Federal Court ruled in favour of Brendan Dassey, and
mandated that some action must be taken within 90 days such as retrying him.
The corrupt State of Wisconsin is throwing vast taxpayers resources at holding
this innocent young man in prison because they don’t want to pay millions in
compensation. It’s despicable that they have not only destroyed a mild-mannered
teenager’s life, but that they continue to incarcerate him with zero evidence
of him ever committing a crime.
I’ve added several new videos to my Making a Murderer
playlist, which are all available here.
If you’d like a free audiobook of Unmaking a Murderer, I
still have some Amazon codes to give away, so just email me your request and
state your country at attwood.shaun@hotmail.co.uk
Shaun Attwood
Brendan Dassey's Court Victory #makingamurderer
Brendan Dassey finally won in court. He must be retried in 90 days or the State of Wisconsin must appeal to the Supreme Court, but they have no evidence because he is 100% innocent, so he will be freed this year barring unforeseen legal trickery. All of the dominoes are falling!
From the Seventh Circuit Court decision:
"To be sure Dassey's confession was not a smooth and consistent story. There were holes in the narrative. Dassey waffled and backtracked. The sequence of events was not always clear. The majority, reviewing the interview with its defense-friendly 'key' in hands, takes these inconsistencies as proof that Dassey was not recounting real memories but only telling the investigators what he believed the wanted to hear."
"To be sure Dassey's confession was not a smooth and consistent story. There were holes in the narrative. Dassey waffled and backtracked. The sequence of events was not always clear. The majority, reviewing the interview with its defense-friendly 'key' in hands, takes these inconsistencies as proof that Dassey was not recounting real memories but only telling the investigators what he believed the wanted to hear."
Did Ryan Hillegas Kill Teresa? #makingamurderer
Unmaking a Murderer Chapter 11 (Revised June 2017)
Writing for the Daily
Mail, Chris White referenced a Facebook poll of more than 1,200 people: 62%
thought that Teresa’s ex-boyfriend, Ryan Hillegas, was guilty of her murder and
17% blamed Manitowoc law enforcement for the crime. In June 2017, Kathleen
Zellner filed a 1,272-page notice for post-conviction relief. She named Ryan as
the lead murder suspect and accused Ken Kratz of fraudulent conduct. In
response, Kratz called Zellner deplorable for blaming Ryan.
Kathleen Zellner’s
post-conviction relief motion opines that Teresa was not murdered at Steven’s
property. After her appointment at Steven’s, Teresa had attended the Zipperer’s
residence and returned home. Zellner believes that Teresa met her demise at the
rear of her RAV4 where Ryan bludgeoned her to death. After burning her body, he
planted evidence on the Avery’s property, while manipulating law enforcement
into pursuing Steven as the perpetrator. Having found appointment details in
the paperwork in the RAV4, Ryan learned that Teresa had visited Steven earlier
that afternoon. From the local news, he knew that Steven was a famous exoneree who
was suing Manitowoc County. To shield himself from becoming a murder suspect,
Ryan devised a plan to move the body and the vehicle to Steven’s property.
Here are some of the main
points in Zellner’s motion as to why she suspects Ryan:
1.
Ryan was abusive towards Teresa and jealous
Having met as freshmen in high school, Teresa and Ryan
had dated on and off for approximately five years in a farming community called
Hilbert. During that time, Teresa had purportedly been subjected to both verbal
and physical abuse. After she ended their relationship, Ryan continued to
exercise control over her by living nearby and frequenting her home. In emails
to friends, Teresa complained that Ryan was still checking her out years after
they had broken up.
Ryan became aware of
Teresa’s sexual relationships with a married man and her housemate, Scott
Bloedorn, who was also one of Ryan’s closest friends. Just months before her
disappearance, Teresa had become sexually involved with Scott. Jealousy was the
motive for the murder.
After refusing to sit for
an interview about false statements he had made to the police in 2005, Scott Bloedorn
was informed that the post-conviction counsel planned to name a suspect in
Teresa’s murder. Scott immediately blurted out, “You mean Ryan Hillegas.”
The married man Teresa
had become involved with was a client of her nude photography business. Taking
nude photos of Bradley Czech and his wife was the catalyst for the sexual
relationship that ensued between Teresa and Czech. Teresa kept nude photos of
the Czech couple in the bedroom of her home, which Ryan frequented. The
discovery of the photos and the relationship with Czech may have been another
point of jealousy for Ryan. Prior to her disappearance, Teresa had broken off
her relationship with Czech. On November 3, 2005, Ryan called Czech for the
first time. The reason for the call is unknown.
2.
Ryan deleted Teresa’s phone records after she had disappeared
Deleting messages required someone to access Teresa’s
voicemail from another phone by using her password. Her phone records show that
her own phone was not used to access her voicemail after 2:12 pm on October 31,
2005. This means that the person who accessed her voicemail prior to the
authorities realising that she was missing on November 3 had to be the killer
who knew the password required to delete her voicemails. To know her password,
the killer had to be extremely close to Teresa. Clearly, this was not Steven.
Ryan wanted to buy time before
people noticed that Teresa was missing. After her death, Teresa received
multiple phone calls, which filled the 20-minute capacity of her voice mailbox.
Knowing Teresa’s password, Ryan deleted messages to prevent Teresa’s loved ones
from noticing that her voice mailbox was uncharacteristically full, which would
have alerted them to her disappearance. Although Ryan had delayed the
inevitable, on November 3, Teresa’s loved ones discovered that her voicemail
was full and contacted the police. At Steven’s trial, his lawyers asked Ryan how
he had accessed Teresa’s phone records. He testified that he had guessed her
username and password.
“There is evidence that
voice messages were deleted from Ms Halbach’s voice mailbox after her death and
before law enforcement initiated their missing person investigation,” stated McCrary
– a retired FBI agent hired by Kathleen Zellner. “Mr Hillegas is one individual
who knew Ms Halbach’s username and password and assisted law enforcement in
accessing her Cingular Wireless account to obtain a list of her phone calls
during the relevant time period.”
By deleting Teresa’s
messages, Ryan had extra time to dispose of her body and personal items, and to
frame Steven.
Familiar with the area, Ryan planned to put Steven’s
DNA in the RAV4. As Ryan drove the RAV4 onto the Avery’s property, Steven – who
was driving at the time – spotted the RAV4’s taillights, turned around and
drove back to investigate. Ryan was forced to retreat to Kuss Road. Unable to
ascertain the source of the taillights, Steven left the property.
Evidence from the scent
and cadaver dogs indicates that Ryan drove the RAV4 onto the property from Kuss
Road and across a field to the vicinity of Steven’s trailer. Finding a door to
Steven’s trailer unlocked, Ryan entered with the intention of obtaining
Steven’s DNA to plant in the RAV4. Inside the trailer, he noticed fresh blood
on the bathroom sink. Due to his knowledge of science and
medical training as a nurse, he knew that if the blood were found in the RAV4
then Steven would become the only suspect. After collecting the blood from the
sink, he deposited it in several spots throughout the RAV4, mindful of having
to plant it quickly before it coagulated.
In the late afternoon of November 4, Ryan drove the
RAV4 into the Radandt pit, aided by an accomplice in a second vehicle, which
was used to transport Ryan off the Avery’s property. Ryan planted the vehicle
on the south-east corner close to the car crusher. A new witness saw the RAV4
enter the property followed by a white Jeep. Only the jeep left.
On the evening of
November 4, Ryan told the police that he was willing to search the Avery’s
property. As the police did not yet have a warrant based on probable cause,
they could not perform a search. Accompanied by law enforcement, Ryan went to
the property and led the police to the vehicle in the south-east corner of the
salvage yard. After looking into the RAV4, he yelled, “It’s hers.” He claimed
to have recognised the vehicle and Teresa’s personal items inside it. The
discovery of the vehicle focused the investigation exclusively on Steven.
Having being duped by Ryan, the police felt justified in planting additional
evidence to frame Steven.
5.
Ryan volunteered to lead the citizen search
To further steer the investigation towards Steven,
Ryan volunteered to run the citizen search. To make his role credible, he did
not initially tell law enforcement that he had been in a relationship with
Teresa. He gave the impression that he was only a concerned friend. “Mr.
Hillegas injected himself into the police investigation by taking an active
role in the volunteer search,” McCrary wrote.
On Saturday morning,
November 5, Ryan coordinated a volunteer effort and sent dozens of people into
the surrounding area to search for Teresa and her vehicle. After most of the
searchers had left the property, a former private investigator and second
cousin to Teresa, Pam Sturm, arrived. Pam spoke to Ryan and Scott Bloedorn. “He
[Ryan] gave a female volunteer searcher (Pam Sturm) a camera and a direct phone
number to the sheriff (Jerry Pagel),” McCrary wrote. Clearly, he knew that Pam
would discover the RAV4.
Pam drove to the Avery’s
property and – in less than 30 minutes – located the RAV4 sparsely covered with
branches and debris. Finding it was a true statistical improbability
considering it was amid 4,000 other vehicles on 40 acres of uneven topography. “It
appears that he [Ryan] directed her to the area where the victim’s vehicle was
located,” McCrary stated.
Heading the search team
gave Ryan unlimited access to the Avery’s property, which was closed to the
public. This enabled Ryan to plant Teresa’s burned bones and electronic
equipment in Steven’s burn pit and burn barrel.
6.
Ryan used a fake name to access the salvage yard
“On at least one occasion,” McCrary stated, “Mr
Hillegas had misidentified himself as Mr Kilgus to gain access to the Avery
property. Regardless, the authorities allowed Mr Hillegas multiple entries to
the Avery property while it was under police control.”
During the weekend of November
5-6, law enforcement officials recovered no major physical evidence to suggest
that Steven was the killer, despite a massive police presence meticulously
canvassing the 40-acre property soon after the RAV4’s recovery.
“On November 7, 2005, the
day before the victim’s burned bones and electronic devices were found in Mr
Avery’s burn pit and burn barrel, Mr Hillegas entered the property without
signing in at the command post,” McCrary stated. “There is no way to know
exactly when he entered the property, or how long he had remained, but it might
explain how, despite previous searches of that property, that the victim’s
bones were not discovered until November 8, 2005. At the very least, this type
of unauthorized entry to a restricted crime scene violates proper police
practices and risks contaminating the scene.”
7.
Ryan gave the police and the court false information
On November 3, during his police interview, Ryan
learned that law enforcement was entirely focused on Steven. He was not asked
about his relationship with Teresa, why he had scratches on his hand or why he
knew Teresa’s voicemail password. He wasn’t even asked for an alibi.
The discovery of a broken
blinker light on the driver’s side of the RAV4 became an overlooked clue due to
false information provided by Ryan. McCrary wrote that Ryan “also appears to
have misled police when he told them that Ms Halbach had damaged the front
driver’s side of her vehicle months before her disappearance, had filed an
insurance claim for that damage and had taken the cash pay-out without
repairing the vehicle.”
Zellner ascertained from
Teresa’s insurance company that she had never filed an insurance claim for the
front-end damage. It seems that Ryan had fabricated the story to hide that he
had caused the damage while attempting to plant the vehicle on the Avery’s
property by hitting a 2½-foot metal post protruding from the ground between the
Avery’s property and a cul-de-sac at Kuss Road.
At the trial, Ryan
committed perjury by claiming that Teresa’s relationship with Scott Bloedorn
was platonic and never sexual or romantic.
Dr Blum, a pathologist from Rockford, Illinois,
reviewed television footage showing Ryan with several scratches on his hands as
he was organising the citizen search. “It is my opinion, to a reasonable degree
of scientific certainty in the field of forensic pathology that Mr Hillegas’
right hand… appears discoloured… the abrasions I observed on the back of Mr Hillegas’
left hand are consistent with scratches inflicted by fingernails.” Dr Blum used
photos of Teresa to confirm that her fingernails were long enough to have
caused such scratches.
9.
Ryan has no alibi
Trained as a nurse, Ryan was unemployed in October and
November 2005. He testified that he last saw Teresa on October 30, when he
dropped something off for her at her house. Suspiciously, he could not recall
what he had delivered nor could he remember what time of the day it was when he
had supposedly last seen Teresa alive.
“I have seen no evidence
that he offered an alibi or any sort of statement regarding his activities from
October 31, 2005 to November 3, 2005. Nor have I seen any evidence that the
authorities ever asked him to do so,” McCrary stated.
Ryan’s cell-phone records
show suspiciously large gaps during time periods in question. From 9:41 am to
3:48 pm on Halloween, there were no incoming or outgoing calls. It is most
likely that Teresa was killed during this time. After she had departed the
Avery’s and the Zipperer’s, she would have arrived home at approximately 3:45 pm.
Teresa’s day planner indicated that she wanted to “get Sarah’s stuff from mom,”
at about 3 pm, and, “do biz paperwork,” at approximately 4:30 pm. From 3:50 pm
to 6:01 pm, there was another gap in Ryan’s phone activity. A gap of over 17
hours, from 7:47 pm on Halloween until 1:31 pm on November 1 corresponds to
when Teresa’s body was transported and burned.
To get Steven released, Zellner does not have to prove
that Ryan committed the murder. Her motion shows that Ryan had a motive,
opportunity and a connection to the crime. Such evidence would cause a jury to
doubt that Steven had committed the crime.
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