If you have been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you may have missed the explosion of interest in a murder case out of Wisconsin. This fifteen year old case involves a man named Steven Avery, who was convicted of murdering Teresa Halbach and then covering it up. The reason this case has gripped the nation’s attention is based on a Netflix documentary called Making a Murderer.
A quick recap of the events starts when Avery was convicted of a different crime in 1985 and spent 18 years in prison. However, DNA evidence proved he had been innocent the entire time. Further, it appeared that there had been an somewhat of a malevolent interest on the part of the police and district attorney in his town in having him serve time .
That emotional and politically charged history between the city officials and Avery lent itself to suspicions surrounding his later arrest for the murder of Halbach. Making a Murderer follows the legal and personal travails of Avery through both of those events.
One key figure in this documentary is Avery’s girlfriend, Jodi Stachowski. She can be seen providing loving support for Avery at the time of his arrest for the Halbach murder. She also discusses two phone calls she had with Avery the night of the supposed murder, and implying a belief that Avery was innocent.
That is why Stachowski’s revelation to the team at Nancy Grace is particularly shocking. In an excerpt that you can watch here, Stachowski claims to have eaten rat poison once in an effort to be taken to the hospital, and away from Avery. She also states that she never loved Avery.
The most shocking comment though is when she is asked why she is just now coming forward to talk about this. Stachowski says she wants to let people know “the truth” and that Avery is a “monster . . . and he’s not innocent.”
Her full interview with the Nancy Grace team will air tonight, January 13th, at 8pm EST on the HLN network.
Image via a screen grab from the video of the interview.
