Teresa Halbach's Cell Phone and Cell Tower Locations

UPDATE NOVEMBER 16, 2017: Kathleen Zellner filed a "Second Supplement to Previously Filed Motion for Reconsideration" on November 16, 2017.

Attached as "Exhibit A" (page 106) is a "minutes used" report of Teresa Halbach's cell phone activity, obtained by Teresa's friends when they accessed her Cingular account online at 5:49 PM on November 3, 2005 (incoming calls that went to voice mail do not appear on this report).

The "minutes used" report (image below) lists outgoing calls to Denise Coakley, Dan Morrow and George Zipperer, as well as an incoming call from Steven Speckman, which are not listed on the 2017 AT&T report.

That was how my calls would show on my bill when I would forward a business line to my cell...

— Sara Exum (@sara2oz1019) July 7, 2018

The "minutes used" report that was printed from Teresa's Cingular account online (image above) wouldn’t show calls that went directly to voicemail because the messages don’t use minutes unless you call from your cell to listen.

Corporal Leslie Lemieux of the Calumet County Sheriff's Office wrote in her activity report for November 3rd: "Scott and several of their mutual friends had located Teresa's most recent cell phone activity report on her computer. They printed a copy for us, which showed the last cell phone activity at 2:27 p.m. on Monday, 10/31/05. It appeared when looking at the minutes used history that Teresa had made phone calls to each of her appointments prior to her arrival that day."



Attached as "Exhibit D" is a sworn affidavit from Steven Speckman.

The following is his affidavit, signed June 27, 2017 (page 96).

In 2005, I lived in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

I have reviewed a page from Teresa Halbach's phone records, labeled and incorporated in this affidavit as Exhibit A. I recognize my phone number, 920-254-6635, in the fifth row from the top of the list of calls on Exhibit A, which also indicates that the call took place at 12:44 on October 31, 2005. My memory has been refreshed by reviewing Exhibit A; I called Teresa at 12:44 p.m. on October 31, 2005.

I did not personally know Teresa Halbach and never spoke to her prior to October 31, 2005. Several days before October 31, 2005, I contacted AutoTrader and inquired about advertising vehicles I had for sale.

On October 31, 2005, I called Teresa Halbach at 12:44 p.m. to cancel or reschedule my appointment to have photographs of the vehicles I was considering advertising in AutoTrader taken. The conversation I had with Teresa lasted several minutes, during which Teresa was making an effort to reschedule my appointment for that same day but at a time that worked for both of us. At one point in our conversation, Teresa told me that she was looking at her calendar to determine her availability.

During our conversation on October 31, 2005, Teresa told me that she was currently in the Sheboygan area handling other appointments in or around Sheboygan. I recall that Teresa told me that she either had just finished an appointment in Sheboygan or was heading to her last appointment in Sheboygan. 

In an effort to reschedule my appointment into her schedule on October 31, 2005, Teresa told me she would be available to meet within the next thirty minutes or so to handle my appointment. Teresa said that after that time, she would be leaving the Sheboygan area and we would have to reschedule for another day.

I was unable to meet with Teresa within thirty minutes of our conversation, so she could complete my appointment that day. We ended the conversation by agreeing to reconnect on a later date to schedule a time for her to photograph the vehicles I was thinking about advertising in AutoTrader.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 14, 2017: Kathleen Zellner filed a "Motion for Reconsideration" with 20 new exhibits on October 23, 2017.

One of the exhibits is a sworn affidavit from Denise Coakley Heitl, who Teresa called 11:35 a.m. on October 31, 2005. This call is on the faxed Cingular pre-bill but not on the AT&T report generated in 2017.

The following is Denise's affidavit, signed June 23, 2017 (page 150 of the exhibits).

Teresa Halbach took senior portraits of my son in Fall 2005. I didn't personally know Teresa and this was the first time I had hired her to take photos. To the best of my recollection, a co-worker referred me to Teresa.

Before October 31, 2005, Teresa had called me to let me know that the prints were ready to be picked up and to ask that I call her back to set up a time for me to pick them up. I called Teresa back on October 31, 2005, and wound up leaving her a voice message.

She called me back a little later on October 31, 2005, and told me that we could schedule a time for me to pick up the pictures. My recollection is that she called me around 11:30 a.m. on October 31, 2005. I have reviewed a page from Ms. Halbach's telephone records, labeled Exhibit A and attached and incorporated to this affidavit. I recognize my telephone number, 920-360-2455, line 19, at 11:35:13 a.m. My memory is refreshed by reviewing Exhibit A that my conversation with Ms. Halbach occurred at 11:35 a.m. on October 31, 2005. At that point, she told me that she was driving but that she would pull over to check her calendar before scheduling my appointment. She said she worked for a car magazine taking photos of cars and she was on her way to an appointment. She didn't say where she was going or who she was meeting.

During our conversation on October 31, 2005, at 11:35 a.m., Teresa checked her calendar and we scheduled an appointment for the following day at her studio in Green Bay for me to pick up the pictures. I went to the studio in Green Bay on November 1. Teresa did not show up for my appointment with her. While I was waiting for Teresa, an older man who I took to be Teresa's boss at the studio, showed up, and I told him that I had an appointment with Teresa to pick up pictures. I remember that he commented that it was strange that Teresa missed my appointment. He found the pictures and gave them to me.

Later, I was interviewed by the police. I don't remember the date of the interview, but I know it was before Steven Avery's trial. One detective interviewed me at work. I can't remember the name of the office or which agency he was from. I told him all the information contained in this affidavit. That was the only contact I had with law enforcement that I can remember. I was not contacted by law enforcement to appear at Steven Avery's trial as a witness.

UPDATE JUNE 15, 2017: The image at the top of this blog post is a markup of a snapshot taken of a page from Exhibit 72 of the motion for post-conviction relief that Kathleen Zellner filed on June 7, 2017 (click here for the image before the markup). This report of Teresa Halbach's cell phone records was generated by AT&T on February 20, 2017 (Cingular purchased AT&T in 2005 and launched the transition of the Cingular brand to AT&T in 2007).

There are discrepancies when comparing the facsimile of the Cingular pre-bill entered into evidence at Steven Avery's trial (Exhibit 361) and the 2017 report subpoened from AT&T. Most glaringly, two calls used to establish the State's timeline for October 31st are listed only on the faxed 2005 Cingular pre-bill (and not the subpoened 2017 AT&T report):

1. the outgoing call to Zipperer at 2:12 p.m., and
2. the 2:27 p.m. incoming (or outgoing) call (Dawn Pliszka of AutoTrader testified that Teresa called her at 2:27 and told her that she was on her way to Avery's).

The following is a summary of discrepancies with the 2005 facsimile of the Cingular pre-bill.

There are 10 calls on the 2005 Cingular pre-bill (which starts with an incoming call at 6:05 PM on 10/30/05) that are not listed on the 2017 AT&T report.

Five calls on 10/30/05 are not listed on the AT&T report:

1. 10/30/05, Time Stamp 08:00:18 AM, Duration 02:33
2. 10/30/05, Time Stamp 08:05:42 AM, Duration 01:57 
3. 10/30/05, Time Stamp 11:44:05 AM, Duration 00:35, lists as outgoing call to 920-420-1740
4. 10/30/05, Time Stamp 11:44:48 AM, Duration 01:09, lists as outgoing call to 920-420-1740
5. 10/30/05, Time Stamp 05:40:15 PM, Duration 01:17, lists as outing call to 920-662-0127 

Five calls on 10/31/05 are not listed on the AT&T report:

1. 10/31/05, Time Stamp 11:31:55 AM, Duration 03:04, lists as outgoing call to 920-405-1998 (Dan Morrow)
2. 10/31/05, Time Stamp 11:35:13 AM, Duration 01:36, lists as outing call to 920-360-2455 (Denise Coakley)
3. 10/31/05, Time Stamp 12:45:12 PM, Duration 03:00, listed on Wiegert and Dedering's reports as incoming at 12:44 p.m. from 920-254-6635, plus Kratz, in his Offer of Proof, says this call is from Steven Speckman at 12:44 p.m. However, according to the toll-free numbers report in Zellner's motion, Speckman called AutoTrader from the number 920-254-6635 at 12:43 p.m., and the call lasted 1.1 minute. Perhaps this is why Kratz uses the time stamp 12:45 on the doctored Cingular pre-bill rather than the 12:44 time stamp in Wiegert's and Dedering's reports and in Kratz's own Offer of Proof.
4. 10/31/05, Time Stamp 02:12:19 PM, Duration 01:09, lists as outgoing call to Zipperer 
5. 10/31/05, Time Stamp 02:27:16 PM, Duration 04:45, Wiegert and Kratz claim at 2:27 p.m. there was an incoming call from Dawn Pliszka at AutoTrader (Wiegert wrote a four-page report of his activity for November 3rd, but we don't know when he wrote it or what day it was filed because it is an undated report, as are all the investigative reports released to the public by the Calumet County sheriff's office in 2016).

Concerning the 12:45 p.m. incoming call on the faxed 2005 Cingular pre-bill, there is a "Steve in Sheboygan" in Teresa's day planner for October 31st (PC-exhibit 45) who had two vehicles he wanted photographed, including a large moving truck:

"Steve Sheboygan, Monday, 4 ft long moving truck, 2 vehicles"

An AutoTrader employee named Rachel was interviewed by DCI agent Neil McGrath on December 1, 2005. Rachel claimed that Steven Avery called AutoTrader on November 3 and that she spoke to him at this time.

The following is an excerpt from a report about McGrath's interview with Rachel:

"RACHAEL recalled speaking with an individual who identified himself as STEVE AVERY on approximately Thursday 11/03/2005... AVERY told RACHAEL that he had an appointment for a van and a truck to be photographed on 10/31/2005, however he had contacted HALBACH on that day to see if she was still coming and she told him that she was heading in a different direction. AVERY told RACHAEL that HALBACH instructed him to contact the office to reschedule the appointment."

Rachel told a different story a month earlier. Rachel called CASO on November 4, 2006 (CASO page 38) to report a rumor that "Dawn overheard" Steven Avery called AutoTrader on November 3.

The following is an excerpt from Dedering's report on his contact with Rachel:

"Someone named DAWN who works at AUTO TRADER stated she had overheard that STEVEN AVERY had called on yesterday's date (11/03/05) between 4:30 and 5:00 p.m. approximately, because STEVEN needed to reschedule the appointment with the photographer."

According to Zellner in her "Proof of Guilt" challenge, Scott Bloedorn called Steven Speckman at 4:10 PM on 11/3, the "Steve" from Teresa's day planner.

Speckman may have called AutoTrader on 11/3 and told whoever answered the phone that he didn't appreciate being accused of doing something, and this person could have mistaken him for Steven Avery. The "Steve" who called AutoTrader on 11/3/05 was not Steve Avery, per his phone records.

Concerning the 2:27 p.m. incoming call on the faxed 2005 Cingular pre-bill: Wiegert and Kratz claim that Dawn Pliszka called Teresa and spoke to her for almost five minutes. However, Dawn told Wiegert on November 3, 2005 that she thought she left a message for Teresa on the afternoon of October 31st. When Dawn testified at Avery's trial in February 2007, she said Teresa called her at 2:27 on October 31st (rather than her calling Teresa).

A search for 414-425-8712, the 2:27 p.m. incoming call, on truepeoplesearch.com indicates that this number is/was a landline belonging to a household, not AutoTrader. There are actually two different households it could have belonged to at some point.

Wiegert's reports about 414-425-8712:

"The last phone call listed on TERESA's account would have been on 10/31/05 at 2:27 p.m. It indicates it is an incoming phone call from xxx-xxx-8712. In doing a reverse directory on that phone number, it came back to AUTO TRADER magazine."

"I informed ANGELA we were reviewing TERESA's phone records and there was an incoming call at 2:27 p.m. on 10/31/05 from the phone number of xxx-xxx-8712, the AUTO TRADER magazine. "

Dedering's report about 414-425-8712:

"I was unable to get any information from the lnternet on the last incoming call xxx-xxx-8712."

The November 5th phone call between Wiegert and Remiker about the 2:27 PM call:

Remiker: Avery says he believes 2 or 2:30.

Wiegert: From there we believe she goes to Zipperer's. Zipperer is apparently not real good on time.

Remiker: Yeah...[laughs]...yeah.

Wiegert: And that's the last time anyone has seen her; she has a cell phone call at 2:24 which it appears she had answered; there's one at 2:27 which is incoming [recording appears to be edited here] got or not went to voicemail, talking to the person down at auto magazine... she says... "I think that was me, I left her a message" but didn't know what time it was.

Remiker: What time did Dedering get off the caller ID at Zipperer’s place that she called; do you remember what time that was?

Wiegert: Hold on, I've got this right here; okay, I'm back; there's a call placed to Zipperer's at 2:12 p.m. on Monday.

Remiker: Okay.

Wiegert: So I'm assuming that's the one she probably left a voicemail there.

Remiker: Probably...right…. before she got there?

Wiegert: Yeah the last call, 2:27, that's an incoming one, which we believe just went to voicemail (inaudible), which is five minutes long. Um, and that's it; after that, we got nothin'; so between 2:12 and 2:27...that's it....she disappears.

Remiker: Did Dedering get those phone records for tower locations and stuff.

Wiegert: Yeah, but I don't have them, he grabbed them and then went back up to the house to check on the fax machine.

Remiker: Okay, so you don't know what that last phone call... what tower went off or anything?

Wiegert: I don't know that.

Remiker: Alright.



Attached to the post-conviction petition that Kathleen Zellner filed on June 7, 2017, is a DCI report by agent Neil McGrath, who met with Teresa's AutoTrader supervisor, Angela Schuster, on November 6, 2006. Angela said the following (per the DCI report):

Schuster stated that Teresa Halbach had scheduled appointments on Monday, 10/31/2005 with George Zipper [sic], 4433 CTH B, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, telephone number 920-682-5719 for a Pontiac Firebird, Craig Sippel, N253 Highway A, New Holstein, Wisconsin, telephone number 920-753-5676 for a 1955 Ford Thunderbird (however, the appointment had been rescheduled); and B. Janda, 12930A Avery Road, Two Rivers, Wisconsin, 54241, telephone number 920-755-8715 for a 1989 Dodge mini-van. The appointment for B. Janda was made on Monday, 10/31/2005, after an individual called into the office attempting to arrange the appointment. Schuster believed that the receptionist at the office, Dawn Pliszka, contacted Halbach in the field and arranged for Halbach to shoot the appointment on Avery Road. Schuster stated there is also a possibility that Halbach had other appointments that she would have arranged on her own and Schuster would not be aware of these appointments until Halbach faxed in her appointment report the following day.

Schuster believes that Pliszka attempted to call Halbach on her cell phone and left her a message about the appointment. Halbach later called back and Pliszka was out to lunch. In the afternoon Halbach did make contact with Pliszka and they spoke on the phone around 2:27 p.m. Schuster stated that she believes the call took place at 2:27 p.m. because she had spoken to a Manitowoc County Detective named Mark [Wiegert], who advised Schuster of the time that the call had taken place.

There are two numbers on the 2005 faxed Cingular pre-bill that do not appear at all on the 2017 AT&T: report:

1. 920-360-2455 (Coakley)
2. 920-682-5719 (Zipperer)

A call to 920-420-1740 lists as ONE INCOMING call at 6:05:13 p.m. (duration 00:04) on October 29th on the 2017 AT&T report but lists as TWO OUTGOING calls near midnight on the 2005 Cingular pre-bill:

1. 10/29/2005, time stamp 11:44:05, duration 00:35
2. 10/29/2005, time stamp 11:44:48, duration 01:09

Other problems with the 2005 Cingular pre-bill:

1. 10/30/05, time stamp 04:41:27, duration 00:55, shows as outgoing when AT&T says it was incoming
2. 10/30/05, time stamp 05:40:15, duration 01:17, lists as OUTGOING call to 920-663-0127 on 2005 Cingular pre-bill but lists as an INCOMING call about an earlier, at 04:41:27, on the 2017 AT&T report

Time stamp discrepancies for outgoing calls on the 2005 Cingular pre-bill:

1. 920-585-3839, Unknown ID, 00:37 on 2005 report versus 00:02 on 2017 report 
2. 920-740-1900, Unknown ID, 00:54 on 2005 report versus 00:42 on 2017 report
3. 920-755-8715, B. Janda, 01:05 on 2005 report versus 00:42 on 2017 report
4. 920-894-3912, S. Schmitz, 00:46 on 2005 report versus 00:34 on 2017 report

Note that every call on the 2017 AT&T report is accounted for on the 2005 Cingular pre-bill (but there are some discrepancies such as duration of call, whether it was incoming or outgoing, etc.). 

-- END JUNE 15, 2017 UPDATE --

November 6, 2005 RAW Interview with Steven Avery | NBC26


Per Teresa Halbach's Cingular pre-bill, tower 2110 processed two incoming calls to her cell phone on the afternoon of October 31, 2005. The first call was at 1:52 p.m. (the caller left a voicemail message), and the second call was 49 minutes later, at 2:41 p.m. (the caller also left a voicemail message). The 2:41 p.m. call was the last call to be received by Teresa's phone while it was still powered on and registered.

According to a motion filed by Avery's attorney, Kathleen Zellner on August 26, 2016, Teresa's "last call forwarded message at 2:41 p.m," and this call pinged off a tower in Whitelaw, WI, "which was approximately 13.1 miles from Avery's."

Zellner wrote:

"Ms. Halbach had an appointment to take photos of vehicles at the Avery salvage yard for the magazine on October 31, 2005. Ms. Halbach disappeared after she completed her assignment and left the Avery salvage yard. Her last call forwarded message at 2:41 p.m., occurred when her cellphone was still powered on and registered. That call pinged off the Whitelaw Tower, which was approximately 13.1 miles from the Avery Salvage Yard."

The image below shows the location of a cell tower at 7500 Village Drive, one of three cell towers with structure addresses in Whitelaw, WI.  Per Google maps, the tower at 7500 Village Drive is 11.3, 12.1 or 15.9 road miles from 12930 Avery Road, not 13.1 miles. This would lead us to believe that the tower at 7500 Village Drive in Whitelaw is not tower 2110, the tower that processed Teresa's 2:41 p.m. incoming call, per Zellner.





The three towers with Whitelaw addresses are circled in red in the image above (they may or may not be Cingular towers). The tower at the intersection of County Road J and Route 10 is 17 to 19 road miles from 12930 Avery Road; however, it looks to be about 13 air miles from 12930 Avery Road based on the "radius around point map" below.

The following image shows the 13.1 radius from Avery's home at 12930 Avery Road in Two Rivers, WI.

"It’s absolutely shocking to see cellphone records that were part of the discovery that were turned over to the defense...document her route leaving the property. She goes back the same way she came; she’s 12 miles from the property on the last ping. They screwed it up.” - Kathleen Zellner, Newsweek, March 29, 2016

Zellner says she’ll argue Avery’s conviction should be overturned because of ineffective assistance of counsel, arguing that lawyers Dean Strang and Jerry Buting bungled Avery’s defense by not arguing that Halbach’s cellphone records show she left Avery’s property alive. “It’s really hard to figure out how in the world did the defense not seize on this. It would have created reasonable doubt.” - Kathleen Zellner, Newsweek, April 8, 2016

The image below shows the cell towers near Zipperer's home (just south of the intersection at Route 310 and County Road B) and the dates they were constructed. It also shows the unregistered towers in the area, one being directly north of Zipperer's (below Shoto on County Road B). This is the structure that lines up with a map grabbed from the photo of Zellner's office floor in a Newsweek article published on March 29, 2016.

Cellphone tower records of SA & TH provide airtight alibi for him. She left property he didn't. #MakingAMurderer #UnmakingAMurderer

— Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) March 6, 2016

The following is the photo from the Newsweek article about Zellner dated March 29, 2016.



In the image above there is a map of tower locations and compass directions among the documents on Zellner's office floor. The following is a rotated and enlarged image of the map grabbed from the photo.



In the image below, the enlarged and rotated map is overlaid onto a Google map of the area (credit goes to schmuck_next_door, mrchaddavis, Ductit and lonecrow66 at Reddit).



Based on tower information from General Data Resources, the two towers depicted on Zellner's office floor (Newsweek, March 29, 2016) are:

• 7500 Village Drive, Whitelaw, WI
• 5073 County Road B, Manitowoc, WI

The map below shows the cell site locations and the compass directions of sector antennas for the two towers depicted on Zellner's office floor. Circle and pie shapes don't represent the full range that the towers cover (cell sectors do not conform to a pie shape, nor is the coverage area a circle). The absolute maximum range for a standard Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network is 35 km or 21.748 miles (AT&T, which merged with Cingular starting in 2004, is a GSM wireless company).



The first four digits of a cell site is the tower number and the fifth digit (as in 1, 2 or 3) represents the compass direction of the sector antenna. If you don't have good line of sight in the typical directions (N to NE, SE to S, and W), they will turn them to the best positions possible to cover as much area as possible; therefore, in reality, it can vary, so the directional sectors listed below are approximated.

Sector number — typical antenna pointing direction:

1 — approximately N to NE;

2 — 120° clockwise from 1 --- approximately SE to S;

3 — 120° clockwise from 2 --- approximately W.

Generally speaking, each sector covers 120 degrees, and sector one is North to Northeast, sector 2 is South to Southeast, and sector 3 is West. This is not absolute as your phone could be in sector 2 and yet ping sector 1 or 3 due to cellular traffic conditions and various environmental and engineering factors, such as weather, trees, foliage, hills, buildings, signs, etc., and whether you're inside or outside at the time, where structural materials may block the tower signal. 

The map below, which is from the book Cellular Location Evidence for Legal Professionals by Larry E. Daniel, illustrates the wide variation in radio coverage at ground level for cell tower sectors in an area. For example, the cell sector represented by the yellow area is an irregular shape, and a large portion of the sector’s coverage is disconnected from the tower, creating hot spots where a phone can make a call without being anywhere near the tower. 



The maps above and below from this link (pages 13-16) illustrate that radio coverage of cell towers and sectors is not limited to a precise circle or pie shapes (circle and pie shapes have little to no relationship on the way that radio waves actually work). Radio coverage varies a great deal from tower to tower and from sector to sector (and from day to day).



According to an article in The New Yorker:

The paradigm is the assumption that, when you make a call on your cell phone, it automatically routes to the nearest cell tower, and that by capturing those records police can determine where you made a call—and thus where you were—at a particular time. However, that is not how the system works. When you hit “send” on your cell phone, a complicated series of events takes place that is governed by algorithms and proprietary software, not just by the location of the cell tower."

Cell phones attempt to connect with the tower emitting the strongest and highest quality signal at a given moment, not the closest. The actual determination of which cell tower is used is complex and hinges on a multitude of factors that are not memorialized in the call detail records [you would need access to cell tower historical data].

Many factors come into play in the selection of a tower to handle a cellular phone call, and these factors are specific to the moment in time when the call is connected.

Such factors include:

a. the loading of the towers in the area, which means, which tower has the available capacity at that moment in time to handle the call

b.the health of the towers in the area at the moment in time, which means, are all towers fully functioning at the time of the call

c. line of sight to the tower from the cellular phone itself

d. radio signal interference from other cell towers in the area

e. the make and model and condition of the particular cell phone being used

f. multi-pathing which is a function of the terrain as well as both natural and man-made clutter in the area such as trees, hills, buildings and signs that cause radios waves to be either reflected or absorbed, also referred to as Rayleigh fading.

g. the strength and quality of signal from the towers around the cell phone

h. whether the phone is inside a building or outside at the time the call was recorded, where structural materials may block the signal from one tower, forcing the cell phone to select a different tower than one it would be able to connect with if it were outdoors."

Teresa's incoming calls on October 31st are listed below (trial exhibit 361). From the list you can see that her home tower was 2111 and, while at home, one of her incoming calls was processed by a different sector of tower 2111. This is an illustration of variation in radio coverage at ground level for cell tower sectors.

Date|Time|Type|Duration|Tower

10/31/05 08:17:01 Incoming 1.06 21112
10/31/05 09:46:02 Incoming 0.33 21112
10/31/05 10:44:37 Incoming 0.37 21112 
10/31/05 10:52:01 Incoming 0.05 21112
10/31/05 11:10:11 Incoming 0.05 21111
10/31/05 11:25:41 Incoming 0.43 21112
10/31/05 12:29:08 Incoming 0.40 21112
10/31/05 12:45:12 Incoming 3.00 21112

A handover to the better signal will occur if a sector is near its threshold. In 2005, there were a lot of factors involved in the GSM handover. Generally, a stronger signal that is increasing in strength and a current signal that is decreasing will signal a handover event. It depends on other factors, such as which tower, which method, etc. [Source]

"The network (the tower network) knows the quality of the link between the mobile and the BTS as well as the strength of local BTSs as reported back by the mobile. It also knows the availability of channels in the nearby cells. As a result it has all the information it needs to be able to make a decision about whether it needs to hand the mobile over from one BTS to another."

"If the network decides that it is necessary for the mobile to hand over, it assigns a new channel and time slot to the mobile. It informs the BTS and the mobile of the change. The mobile then retunes during the period it is not transmitting or receiving, i.e., in an idle period." [Source]

The two incoming calls to Teresa's cell phone that were processed by tower 2110 (1:52 PM and 2:41 PM) on October 31st were calls that went to voicemail, so they would be unpredictable in providing information on the phone's physical location, according to discussions on the Adnan Syed case. For incoming calls that don't go to voicemail, the system will ask the network where was the phone last located. If that tower still has a reasonable signal, it may connect the call. If the user has moved, there may be a stronger signal with another tower even though the phone still has a reasonable connection with the first tower. For outgoing calls, the phone will look for the tower with the best signal.

"In our records, incoming calls are not shown. No incoming calls show on the records, just the outgoing calls." - Laura Schadrie, Cingular Wireless Store Manager, Day 12, Page 210

[–]seekingtruthforgood

Teresa Halbach’s voice mails have been a topic of discussion here and in other Reddit subs. During trial, the voice mails were an issue because the defense was concerned about possible deleted messages.

This post is not intended to discuss whether messages were deleted, rather, it’s intended to focus on the sequential order of the unique database identifiers assigned to the voice mails.

The state’s record of the messages was submitted as Exhibit 372 for Steven Avery's trial (link below.) From the exhibit, I noticed that each record is assigned to a “Message ID.” That ID is found on the first upper left side of the entry. Page one of Exhibit 372 starts with Message ID 1336891647.

In looking at the Message Id’s, at least initially, it appears they are assigned in order sequentially by date… the numbers seem to increase or decrease, depending upon the date the message was received. So, the aforementioned Message ID of 1336891647 is assigned to a voice mail left on 11/16/2005. An earlier voice mail from 11/1/2005 is assigned to Message ID 435757567. Each number seems to increase, indicating, at least from a data perspective, that Cingular’s database may have organized the records by Message Id, in numerical order, for each message, based on the event date.

But, interesting, is that when one enters all records and organizes the data, numerically, by Message ID, 15 (79%) of the messages follow the event/date pattern of this sequencing, yet 4 messages (21%) are out of order:

https://imgur.com/zIJc8ba

I wonder what might explain this?

Exhibit 372:

http://www.stevenaverycase.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Trial-Exhibit-372-Halbach-Voicemail-Records.pdf

Voicemail - just for interpretation 

TickTockManitowoc

January 12, 2018

The VM record is separated into three sections: 

1. NEW (the 11/16 call); 

2. Unopened messages, of which there are eight, and they all came in after Teresa last checked her VM at 2:13 pm on 10/31; and

2. Incoming OLD Messages, of which there are 10, and all but one of them came in after Teresa last checked her VM from her phone. 

This last set is important for understanding who did what later.

Incoming OLD messages have been listened to. They are NOT unopened, because those are reported their own category.

The last time Teresa checked her VM and presumably opened messages, was at 2:13 pm, for only 37 SECONDS. That is NOT enough time to listen to all the messages that had come in since the last time she checked at 12:39 pm. 

There is a message left at 1:54pm (line 13 on her call record, the 1:52 pm incoming call) for 1 minute 15 seconds, twice as long as the time she was on her VM at 2:13 pm. 

Therefore, the message from the 1:52 pm caller could NOT have been heard all the way through, if at all.

AND YET -- here's the kicker -- all messages received up to 8 am on 11/2 had been opened. 

Unopened messages start at 9:23 am on 11/2. 

So presumably, Ryan Hillegas and Mike Halbach listened to 10 messages. Teresa did NOT.

[–]siebenkommaacht

On 11/2 she wasn’t a missing person.... officially. So why is he listening to her VM at all?

[–]Turk182

10/31 - Nobody notices and assumes she is at a Halloween Party

11/1 – Their thinking that maybe she stayed over at a friend’s or hooked up

11/2 – Scott’s birthday and she is a no=show (this is odd, let’s check her voicemail)

There was likely discussion between family and friends on 11/2. Not wanting to file a missing person report since not all had been contacted. Likely assumed she was with a new guy.

On 11/3 when they hear back from Autotrader that she hasn’t been at work -- they aren’t going to admit that they assumed she had hooked up. It would look bad for them if something happened to Teresa -- so family and friends are like “yeah, we just noticed also.”

This is more about protecting her character to employer and police.

I believe Mike said he stopped listening and didn't listen to them all. But is that true? We don't know how to tell when he accessed them other than his word.

Exhibit 372 is a report of Teresa's voicemail activity from October 31, 2005 to the time it was run on or after November 16, 2005, the last record of activity. Exhibit 62 is a report by Fassbender, who listened to the messages in Teresa's voicemail box.

Mike Halbach, Teresa's brother, testified that he had known Teresa's password and deleted some of her voicemail messages (day 18, page 176).

Anthony Zimmerman from Cingular testified about how voicemail messages are managed in queue (day 18, page 156). For some reason, page 162 of Zimmerman's testimony has been redacted. Also, Buting, on cross examination, asked questions that Zimmerman couldn't answer using exhibit 372, but Buting didn't ask him about other reports that could be made available to the defense to provide those answers (page 167).

Kratz and Buting argued about the voicemail messages dated October 31st, November 1st and up through 8:05 a.m. on November 2nd. Buting believed some of those messages were opened or deleted on the morning of November 2nd.

Kathleen Zellner, in her August 26, 2016 motion, contends that voicemail messages were deleted on October 31st and prior to 7:12 a.m. on November 2nd. On page 4 of her motion she writes:

"Five voicemail deletions occurred on October 31, 2005 and eleven additional deletions were made prior to 7:12 a.m. on November 2, 2005."

Zellner must have discovery materials that support this claim because trial testimony and evidence does not, even though the defense argued the same thing.

Teresa Halbach's Voicemail Report

There are a total of 19 records for voicemail activity on the printout entered into evidence (exhibit 372). Eighteen messages were recorded prior to November 4th, the date the Cingular pre-bill was generated and faxed (the fax was sent at 22:34 on November 4th). One message was recorded on November 16th, 11 days after Teresa's RAV4 was found at Avery Salvage Yard.

Comparing Teresa's call records (exhibit 361) with her voicemail activity (exhibit 372), you can see that every phone call that went to voicemail is 18-20 seconds longer than the length of the message. This indicates the length of time for her answering message to pick up and play through. 

Voicemails Left on November 1st:

9:49:42 call duration = 86 - 19 = 67 seconds
12:31:39 call duration = 49 - 19 = 30 seconds
2:01:22 call durcation = 48 - 20 = 30 seconds
2:45:26 call duration = 40 - 18 = 22 seconds
4:59:06 call duration = 51 - 18 = 33 seconds

The duration calcuations for voicemails left on November 1st match what is listed in the voicemail report.

Voicemails Left on October 31st:

Two voicemails were left on October 31st, one by the caller at 1:52 PM (retrieved by Teresa, voicemail duration 28 seconds, total call duration 76 seconds) and one by the caller at 2:41 PM (never retrieved by Teresa, voicemail duration 60 seconds, total call duration 80 seconds). Mike Halbach, Teresa's brother, had her cell phone password and would have been the one to listen to or skip during playback this message left by the caller at 2:41 PM because Teresa never retrieved this message on October 31st.

To get the voicemail duration, subtract 18-20 seconds (the time for Teresa's greeting to play in full) to the total call duration (from Teresa's Cingular pre-bill, exhibit 361). This should match the duration listed on Teresa's voicemail report (exhibit 372).

1:52:43 call duration 76 - 19 = 57 seconds, but record shows 28 second
2:41:59 call duration 80 - 20 = 60 seconds, same as what the report shows

The 1:54 record on the report is the voicemail left by the 1:52:43 caller. The duration calculation for this voicemail does not match the voicemail report, which means the record for this voicemail on the faxed report has been altered.

Also, this record is only seven lines long versus eight lines for the other records because the "From" and "Call Answer" fields have been altered (the phone number 920-227-8985, rather than the email address "non_mail_user@glr.smbs.sbc.com", is in these fields, and this is the only record that has a phone number in the these fields).  

Someone left a voicemail for Teresa starting at 1:52 p.m., which she retrived when she last checked her voicemail at 2:13 p.m., but the prosecution doesn't want us to know who made the call.


The voicemail left by the caller at 1:52 PM on October 31st was altered on the voicemail report. The call duration lists as 1:15 on the AT&T and Cingular reports. However, it lists as only 28 seconds on the voicemail report. The formatting for this voicemail terminating at 1:54 PM is 7 lines versus 8 for the other records, and line 6 of this record expands beyond the margins. The numbering sequence on the voicemail report for the "Msg-IDs" is out of order. 

There is no date or header for the voicemail report, but it was run on or after 11/16 because a new incoming message was received on that date and is listed on the report.

Teresa Halbach's Last Day (If She Was Murdered on 10/31/2005)

OCTOBER 31, 2005

7:32 AM Autotrader faxes Teresa her appointment sheet with Zipperer as the only lead (she may have used email or an online faxing service rather than a land line and the fax machine that Autotrader had provided to her in 2004).

Strang: You described it [her cell phone] as her lifeline just a few minutes ago.
Tom Pearce: Right.
Strang: Was that the only number you had for her?
Tom Pearce: Yes.
Strang: You don't know whether she had a land line phone in her home?
Tom Pearce: I don't think so.

8:17 AM Autotrader notifies Teresa by phone and fax of a same-day photo shoot request on Avery Road (Teresa may have been using email or an internet faxing service to send and receive faxes, meaning she did not have to be home to receive her faxes — she could receive them on the road or while at other places).

9:00 AM Teresa has blocked off 9 AM - 2 PM on her day planner for Autotrader appointments.

11:00 AM Steven Speckman doesn't show up for his appointment with Teresa in Sheboygan (45:08-mark in 11/11/05 CASO dispatch calls).

11:13 AM Teresa sends a five-page fax to Autotrader, including paperwork from October 29th (she didn't complete any assignments on October 29th, so she didn't bother faxing back the Saturday lead sheet until now). Teresa's fax timestamp is inaccurate: it is not 00:13 on October 31st when she faxes Autotrader — it was 11:13 AM, with the fax transmission ending at 11:16 AM.

11:31 AM Teresa calls Dan Morrow and sets up an Autotrader photo shoot in Green Bay for Thursday, November 3rd.

11:35 AM Teresa calls Denise Coakley Heitl and sets up a meeting at Teresa's studio in Green Bay for Tuesday, November 1st.

11:43 AM Teresa calls Barb Janda and leaves a message saying she can make the appointment between 1 PM and 2 PM (per Blaine).

12:44 PM Teresa receives a call from Steven Speckman in Sheboygan. Teresa asks him if he can meet her in 30 minutes. Speckman can't make it, so Teresa tells him she will call him back to arrange a photo shoot for the following Monday.

12:51 PM Teresa calls Steven Schmitz to see if she can stop by to get the shot of his vehicle.

1:00 PM Teresa drives to Schmitz's in Kiel. If not, she drives toward Manitowoc County, starting between 1:00 and 1:30 PM.

2:12 PM Teresa is in the general area of Zipperer's home but turned left, heading north rather than south, on County Road B (CTH B), so she continued northward onto Avery's (with plans to stop at Zipperer's on her way home, after Avery).

2:30 PM Teresa is at Avery's photographing Barb's minivan and is on the property for less than 4 minutes.

2:42 PM Teresa receives an incoming call from Dan of H&H Color Lab, her nuisance caller, which she forwards to voicemail, perhaps inadvertently holding down the "end" key too long, thus powering off her cell phone.

2:55 PM Teresa is at Zipperer's photographing Jason's Firebird and is gone within 5 to 10 minutes.

3:45 PM Teresa stops at her parents' home to get Sarah's stuff from her mom. Is Sarah Teresa's cousin, Sara, and David J. Beach's sister? Is that why Teresa's mom had Sarah's stuff at her house?

3:50 PM Ryan calls his sister Tara or her husband Brad, and they talk for 21 minutes (until 4:11 PM).

4:00 PM Teresa is home by 4 PM.

4:11 PM Ryan is stewing in her anger at Teresa for slighting him, cutting him out of her life, sleeping with his best friend, sleeping with Brad, establishing a new group of friends separate from him and her old friends, going to a Halloween party (dressed as a cowgirl) on Saturday that he wasn't invited to, meeting some new guy over the weekend (per Scott), not inviting him to her grandfather's party on Sunday, planning to meet friends in Appleton for Halloween on Monday and not inviting him, and not giving him her private cell phone number [if she had a second cell phone].

4:30 PM Teresa is at home, doing business paperwork.

UPDATE 4/15/2018: The 911 call placed by Karen Halbach at 2:52 PM on November 3, 2005, was requested in March 2018 by FOIA. Click here for the audio and transcript (excerpt below).



Tom Pearce said in his affidavit dated April 21, 2017 that Teresa told him on Saturday, October 29th, that she planned to go to a party on Halloween, October 31st (Tom said in his testimony at Avery's trial in 2007 that he last saw Teresa at their studio in Green Bay on October 29th):

"Ms. Halbach told me on October 29 that she intended to go out to a party on Halloween. I know that most of the time when Ms. Halbach went out to a party, she went to Green Bay or Appleton."

Before meeting up with friends at a bar in Appleton for Halloween, Teresa plans to overnight a package of materials to Autotrader from the Fed Ex store in Appleton, which is open until 9 PM (the package contained the disk of the vehicle photos, cash/checks collected for payment, and the descriptions of the vehicles written by the clients).

DCI agent Neil McGrath interviewed Angela Schuster on November 6, 2005:

After completing their assisgnments photographers will typically send a disk containing the photos along with the appropriate forms to the main office in Hales Corners utilizing Fed Ex, UPS or Airborne Express. Photographers will also fax their appointment sheets into the Hales Corners office for review by Schuster to determine how much the photographer is to get paid. Auto Trader Magazine has supplied each of the photographers with a fax number, a digital camera and disks, and postage to ship the documents to Auto Trader Magazine. At the end of a typical day of photographing vehicles, photographers remove the disks from the digital camera and send them using a parcel service to the Hales Corners office. Included with the disk would be 25-word description of the vehicle written by the client, and a photo log including bar-coded stickers. These bar-coded stickers were to be attached to the appropriate forms by the photographer along with the payment. The deadline for Auto Trader Magazine was Tuesday in order for the vehicles to be listed in the next issue.

6:01 PM Ryan's friend Jason calls him (mobile-to-mobile, call duration 1-2 minutes). If Ryan answered, he hung up to answer an incoming call from his sister Tara. If Ryan did not answer, Jason left Ryan a voicemail message.

6:02 PM Ryan answers an incoming call from his sister Tara's cell phone, and they talk for 23 minutes. She still is unable to calm him down.

6:25 PM Ryan returns Jason's call from 6:01 PM (call duration 2-3 minutes).

6:30 PM Ryan starts the 8-10 minute drive to Teresa's house to confront her.

6:40 PM Ryan arrives at Teresa's home, parks behind her home, in the driveway, where Teresa's RAV4 is parked.

7:00 PM Teresa is loading items into the cargo area of her RAV4. Maybe she is dressed as a cowgirl for Halloween. As she is preparing to leave for Appleton, first to Fed Ex the Autotrader package and then to meet friends at a bar to party for Halloween, she and Ryan argue. Ryan loses his temper and strikes her. She goes down at the rear of her RAV4, with the cargo door open. Ryan bludgeons her to death while she is lying on her back in the driveway. (Was Teresa's cowgirl costume among her belongings or was she killed while wearing it?)

Ryan puts Teresa's body on a mat in the cargo area of her RAV4 and starts to clean up the blood in her driveway.

7:19 PM Ryan receives an incoming mobile-to-mobile call from his friend Joshua (call duration 2-3 minutes).

7:36 PM Ryan calls Jason again, who first called Ryan at 6:01 PM (call duration 1 minute).

7:37 PM Ryan calls Scott, who must not be home, and maybe is partying for Halloween and a pre-celebration of his birthday, which is on Wednesday, November 2nd (Ryan leaves a message, call duration 1-2 minutes). Scott, Jason and Joshua may have been expecting Ryan to meet them to party for Halloween and Scott's birthday, so Ryan needed to talk to them and let them know he couldn't make it or couldn't make it on time.

7:47 PM Scott returns Ryan's call (they talk for 4-5 minutes).

7:52 PM Ryan's call with Scott ends. Ryan next confirmed phone activity isn't until 1:31 PM the next day.

Ryan needs to get rid of the body and hide the RAV4. If he cancelled plans to party for Halloween with Scott, Jason and Joshua, he has all night to do this. 

Ryan has all of Teresa's Autotrader paperwork, plus her cell phone(s), camera(s) and Autotrader photo disks (along with her handbag, wallet, key chain, etc.), so he knows exactly where she was on October 31st. He plans to move her body and RAV4 to the vicinity of Avery Auto Salvage, and he needs to find a way back home (he put his bike in the RAV4, which could explain why the back seats were folded down — incorrectly by someone in a hurry and who didn't know the headrests needed to be removed first — or he asked Scott to help).

Ryan searches the area around Avery Auto Salvage using computer maps and finds two potential places to hide the RAV4 and Teresa's body: Kuss Road near Radandt's deer camp and the turnaround on HWY 147, two miles from Avery's. (He testified that he printed maps of the area from his computer so that he could lead search party efforts: it was the perfect cover if he were to become a suspect and if his computer were to be collected into evidence.)

Ryan drives to Kuss Road, pulls into the woods near the driveway to the deer camp (image above), digs a shallow grave, and buries Teresa's body (he may have dug a hole and built a fire to burn the body using a "Dakota Fire Pit"). [Note that Teresa allegedly went missing in the early afternoon of October 31st, yet the defroster in her RAV4 was on.]

If Teresa's body is wrapped in a tarp or cargo mat, Ryan buries it along with her body (GPS coordinates for this area are N44° 15.263 W87° 42.031, per CASO page 137).

Ryan hides the RAV4 in the woods in the same area. He burns or trashes her Autotrader paperwork and any documents he finds in her RAV4.

I know this may sound stupid but I have been going through pictures from trial and pictures in the case not used at trial. There are four pictures of lab going through the dirt collected at supposedly the burn pit at Avery's yard. In comparing the pictures of the burn pit and the dirt soil they are sifting through, it looks as if the soil it very dark and rich and not burned particles making it that color. My question is, did they save the soil from both places (Avery’s pit and the excavation site off Kuss Road) and if they did can it be tested to see which area it came from? - tonya1973, TickTockManitowoc, January 10, 2018

NOVEMBER 1, 2005

4:59 PM Ryan spoofs his caller ID, and he calls Teresa cell phone to delete some of her voicemail messages (call duration 51 seconds).

1:31 PM Ryan's first confirmed phone activity since killing Teresa at approximately 7 PM on Monday, October 31st is at 1:31 PM on Tuesday, November 1st.

6:42 PM Ryan calls Teresa's Cingular cell phone to see if her voicemail box is full. His is the first non-business related call to her cell phone since she was killed (because Teresa might have another, private cell number that she didn't give to Ryan and maybe just gave to close friends and family).

NOVEMBER 2, 2005

6:43 PM Ryan realizes he has more time to get rid of the body, so he removes it from the shallow grave, puts it in the RAV4, and brings it to the county gravel mound for burning (if it hadn't been burned already in a Dakota fire hole), where charred pelvic bones eventually would be found (dogs eventually will alert on these areas but not in Steven Avery's residence).

On November 7, 2005, Loof, the scent tracking dog, went from Barb's minivan, to the side of Steven's garage, past the front of the garage, back toward Steven's burn pit, then to the left entry door of Steven's trailer, then between the evergreens and the burn barrel, over into the corn field, then across the quarry field to the Kuss Road cul de sac (with the burned asphalt and closed off area). Law enforcement (upon the instruction of Sheriff Pagel) would not allow Loof to follow the scent trail farther.

(On Saturday, November 5, DEDERING) At 1620 hrs., I did observe representatives of the WI STATE CRIME LABORATORY field unit approach the RAV4 parked on the south property line of the AVERY property. At 1633 hrs., HUNSADER, JACOBS and I along with JULIE CRAMER and BRUTUS, did leave the AVERY property and proceed onto the property immediately south of the AVERY'S AUTO SALVAGE yard. It should be noted that Sgt. BRIAN NACK of the MANITOWOC COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT. had obtained permission from the owner of the property, Mr. RADANDT, to search any and all areas that were deemed pertinent. While BRUTUS did show interest in several areas in the quarry or gravel pit area immediately south of the AVERY'S AUTO SALVAGE yard properly, BRUTUS did not factually alert on anything in the area.

(On Saturday, November 5, DEDERING) At 1713 hrs., JULIE CRAMER and BRUTUS did revisit the crusher area and once again BRUTUS did not alert. BRUTUS was secured in the van, which ROBERT and JULIE CRAMER had arrived in at 1714 hrs. At 1726 hrs., JULIE CRAMER and her canine, BRUTUS, Lt. SIPPEL of the CALUMET CO. SHERIFF'S DEPT., Det. REMIKER from the MANITOWOC SHERIFF'S DEPT., Special Agent HUNSADER from DCI, and I did proceed to a burn barrel area near the STEVEN AVERY residence. It was decided that JULIE and BRUTUS would go through the STEVEN AVERY residence in an attempt to determine whether BRUTUS would alert to any'thing within the dwelling. At 1735 hrs., Det. REMIKER, JULIE CRAMER, BRUTUS and I did enter the STEVEN AVERY residence. We did exit the residence at 1740 hrs. I personally did not observe any alerts from the canine.

NOVEMBER 3, 2005

1:30 PM Tom Pearce calls Karen Halbach about Teresa not showing up at the studio all week. Karen Halbach calls her sons Tim and Mike, who call friends and family and ask them if they have seen Teresa. Karen may have called Ryan's parents' home number (she did not call Ryan's cell phone), because Ryan calls Scott at 2:19 PM.

2:19 PM Ryan calls Scott and tells him that the Halbachs are looking for Teresa.

2:52 PM Karen Halbach calls Calumet County Sheriff's Office and reports Teresa as missing since Monday, 10/31: "Daughter has not been seen since Monday at home." Did Karen see Teresa between 3:30 and 4 PM on 10/31, when she "got Sarah's stuff from mom?" Was Teresa going to meet Sarah at the bar in Appleton on the night of October 31st? Did Sarah text Teresa that night or the next day (or did she call her on another cell phone that Teresa might have had)? Is Sarah Kluth the "Sarah" on Teresa's day planner? Why would Karen Halbach have Sarah's stuff? Was Sarah at the Halbach party on October 30, 2005? Why wasn't Sarah interviewed by CASO?

4:06 PM After returning home from work, Scott calls Ryan at 4:06 PM. Ryan has Teresa's printout from her day planner, and he uses Scott's cell phone number to call Speckman or Scott himself calls Speckman at 4:10 PM (later, at 5:28 PM, Ryan will trick a Cingular customer service rep into giving him Teresa's password so that he can login to her account online, and friends will use a printout of her cell phone activity to call Teresa's other Autotrader customers from October 31st).

4:30 PM Ryan joins Scott at the home Scott shares with Teresa. Ryan has Teresa's day planner that she printed on Sunday, October 30th, and which she brought inside her home after returning from her appointments on Monday, October 31st (Ryan didn't realize it was with her on the road on October 31st and that she had brought it inside when she got home — had he known, he would have trashed it, along with her other paperwork, including her RAV4 registration). 

5:20 PM Kelly and Lisa arrive at Teresa's home, right after Lisa called Ryan at 5:16. Ryan is with Scott at the home he shares with Teresa. Ryan shares the printed page of Teresa's day planner with them, not realizing that Teresa had it with her when she was on the road on October 31st.

5:28 PM On his third attempt at calling Cingular, Ryan convinces the customer servive rep to give him Teresa's password to her Cingular account online.

Anonymous

January 8, 2016 6:23 am

It's difficult to believe that the fellow who organized and led the detailed search team mere days following his last sighting of his ex "at the computer" couldn't recall/didn't know what time of day it was, but knew she was 'dead' while she was missing, and could 'guess' her password… the micro expressions of duping delight, contempt and anger are evident throughout his testimony, and his breathing patterns, clearly discernible, clearly evidence a high degree of anxiety. It's difficult, without a baseline understanding of his personality to determine if that high anxiety is within a normal range for his personality type. However, the contrast to the figure he cuts in the TV footage of the search party, where he appears firmly in control and composed even under such horrid circumstances, is marked. Were I an investigator, I'd be asking him a lot more questions, and looking at any affiliations he may have with the police.

5:49 PM Ryan logs into Teresa's Cingular account online and prints out Teresa's cell phone activity. He gives a copy to Scott, Kelly and Lisa so they can use it to call her contacts.

6:00 PM Ryan leaves Teresa's home before law enforcement arrives (he doesn't want to be questioned).

6:21 PM When Wiegert and Lemieux arrive at Teresa's home, Lisa, Kelly and Scott give them the printout from Teresa's online Cingular account.

7:18 PM Kelly calls Ryan's cell phone to ask him for Teresa's Cingular password (Wiegert and Lemieux may have asked them to log back into her account).

7:18 PM Kelly logs in to Teresa's Cingular account online.

7:30 PM Ryan realizes that the prime suspect is Steven Avery, so he formulates a plan to frame Avery and divert attention from himself as the real killer.

The RAV4 is too well hidden, so after Teresa is reported missing, Ryan drives to Kuss Road, gets in Teresa's RAV4, and drives it to a spot on the cul-de-sac where he can watch the activity at Avery Auto Salvage, hoping Steven will leave so he can move the RAV4 near Steven's trailer (he may have done the same thing on the evening of November 2nd, but Steven never left the property).

Around 7:30 PM, Ryan watches Steven leave his driveway in a flatbed truck. Ryan drives the RAV4, with the headlights off, across the field road from Kuss Road to Steven's trailer but, as he is about to turn off the field road and drive behind Steven's trailer, he runs into a metal post that is sticking out of the ground. When he backs up, Steven, who is with his brother Chuck in the flatbed, about to turn off Avery Road onto Highway 147, sees the RAV4's brake lights by his trailer. Steven and Chuck turnaround, but by the time they get back to Steven's trailer the vehicle has disappeared into the darkness.




After running into the metal post near Avery's trailer and then backing up and returning to Kuss Road via the field road, Ryan decides to drive the RAV4 to the turnaround on Highway 147 (image below), which is about two miles from Avery Auto Salvage. He parks the RAV4 in the turnaround, backing it up all the way to the river.



NOVEMBER 4, 2005

3:11 PM Ryan has 21 masked calls with law enforcement (from 3:11 PM through 7:30 PM) because he is helping LE (Pagel, Lenk and Colborn) plant the RAV4 and other evidence at Avery Auto Salvage.

Ryan is anointed as an "untrained law enforcement officer" for solving a $36 million problem without even knowing it. He is not asked for an alibi, and he is not treated as a suspect. He is given virtually unrestricted access to the "crime scene" at Avery Auto Salvage.

IF RYAN HILLEGAS IS THE KILLER, HE KILLED TERESA BETWEEN 6:30 AND 7:15 PM ON OCTOBER 31, 2005

From the motion for post-conviction relief filed on June 7, 2017:

Current post-conviction counsel's investigator Mr. Steven Kirby attempted to interview Mr. [Scott] Bloedorn about false statements he had made to the police in 2005. Mr. Bloedorn refused to sit for an interview with Mr. Steven Kirby, but when he was told that current post-conviction counsel planned to name a suspect in Ms. Halbach's murder, Mr. Bloedorn immediately blurted out, "You mean Ryan Hillegas." (Affidavit of Steven Kirby, attached and incorporated herein as P-C Exhibit 83).

If Ryan Hillegas is the killer, then he killed Teresa between 6:30 and 7:15 PM on October 31, 2005.

From the June 7, 2017 motion for post-conviction relief:

Ms. Halbach departed the Avery property, departed the Zipperer property, and was killed after she arrived home at approximately 3:40-3:50 p.m. Ms. Halbach's day planner indicated that she wanted to "get Sarah's stuff from mom" at about 3 p.m. and "do biz paperwork" at approximately 4:30 p.m. Knowing that he was likely to be a prime suspect due to his prior romantic relationship with Ms. Halbach, the killer, who was highly organized, devised a plan to burn the body and plant evidence which would focus law enforcement on someone else. Because the killer found appointment details in the paperwork in the RAV4, he knew Ms. Halbach had an appointment with Mr. Avery earlier that afternoon. The killer formulated a plan to move the body and the vehicle near the Avery property, with the intent of planting the RAV4 on the Avery property and Ms. Halbach's bones and electronic components as soon as the body and electronic components were burned in the adjacent gravel pit.

From 4:11 PM until 6:01 PM on October 31st, Ryan has no phone activity. At 6:02 PM his sister calls and they talk for 23 minutes. At 6:25 PM he hangs up and has a 3-minute mobile to mobile call. At 7:19 PM he has another 3-minute mobile to mobile call (incoming) but to a different number. At 7:36 PM he has 2-minute mobile to mobile call with the same person that he called at 6:25 PM. At 7:37 he calls Scott, call duration 1-2 minutes, and then Scott calls him back at 7:47 PM and they talk for 5 minutes. Then there is no more phone activity until 1:31 PM the next day.

The theory: Ryan is upset and calls his sister. She tries to talk him off the ledge. He is still upset two hours later when she calls him. She tries again to calm him down. It doesn't work. He goes to Teresa's house. They argue in the driveway, where both of their vehicles are parked. She opens the door to the cargo area of her RAV4 and is loading or unloading things. They argue. He strikes her and she falls down, possibly unconscious behind her RAV4, with the cargo still open. She is lying on her back. He grabs an object and strikes her in the head repeatedly.

3:50 - 4:11 Ryan calls his sister Tara on her land line 497-8097 and they talk for 21 minutes
4:11 - 6:01 NO PHONE ACTIVITY FOR 110 MINUTES (is Ryan stewing in his anger at Teresa?)
6:01 - 6:02 Incoming call from Jason at 740-2632
6:02 - 6:25 Ryan's sister Tara calls from her cell phone and they talk for 23 minutes
6:25 - 6:28 Ryan returns Jason's call at 740-2632

6:28 - 7:19 NO PHONE ACTIVITY FOR 49 MINUTES

6:30 - 7:15 Sometime during this 49-minute time period Ryan kills Teresa in the heat of passion

7:19 - 7:21 Incoming call from Joshua at 740-2047

7:21 - 7:36 NO PHONE ACTIVITY FOR 14 MINUTES
7:36 - 7:37 Ryan calls Jason at 740-2632
7:37 - 7:39 Ryan calls Scott Bloedorn (does he tell him that he did something to Teresa?)
7:39 - 7:47 NO PHONE ACTIVITY FOR 8 MINUTES
7:47 - 7:52 Scott calls Ryan




TERESA'S CELL PHONE ACTIVITY, OCTOBER 29 UNTIL 8:17 AM ON OCTOBER 31, 2005

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29TH

According to the AT&T report, Teresa’s cell phone activity on the evening of Saturday, October 29th through the early morning hours of October 31st was as follows (to determine voicemail duration, subtract 18-20 seconds — the time for Teresa's greeting to play in full).

On Saturday afternoon, around 4 PM, Teresa had been at a private home in Green Bay shooting a family portrait. Teresa may have gone to her studio in Green Bay after shooting the family portrait. [Tom Pearce testified that the last time he saw Teresa was "Saturday, before the 31st" and that "she was there (at the studio) Saturday, working," implying he last saw her at the studio on Saturday, October 29th]. On Saturday evening, Teresa helped her brother Mike with a wedding (he was the videographer and she was the photographer). Later that night she went to a Halloween party in/near Green Bay (per Scott Bloedorn's statement and Mike Halbach's testimony). Sometime on Saturday Teresa used her credit card to purchase $38.06 worth of gas from an Exxon station in De Pere, just south of Green Bay.

Tip after SA arrested calling into CASO, woman says TH taking portrait of her family. They then discuss possible parks for shoots and her son's prints all over Teresa's equipment.

Now we know where Teresa was as late as 4-5PM on 10/29#MakingAMurdererhttps://t.co/pPOfJH89bF

— (!(AC)) (@Rookie1082) August 9, 2018

10/29 6:06 PM - Teresa’s parents or sisters (989-1098) called her and left a voicemail, call duration 1 minute.

10/29 6:45 PM - Scott (205-1470) called and hung up when Teresa didn’t answer (Scott and Ryan were not invited to the Halloween gathering that Teresa attended).

10/29 7:08 PM - Teresa checked her cell phone voicemail, call duration 1:02.

10/29 8:55 PM - Nicole in Appleton (740-1900) called and left a voicemail, call duration 41 seconds.

10/29 8:56 PM - Teresa checked her cell phone voicemail, call duration 34 seconds.

10/29 9:35 PM - Teresa called a number in Appleton (585-3839), call duration 2 seconds.

10/29 9:35 PM - Teresa returned the call from Nicole (740-1900), call duration 54 seconds.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30TH

Teresa went to church on the morning/afternoon of Sunday, October 30th.

After church, Teresa went to a birthday party for her grandfather at his home.

LE reported that the last time Scott saw Teresa was around 2 PM on Sunday, October 30th (CASO page 6).

UPDATE 4/28/2018: According to the 911 call placed by Karen Halbach at 2:52 PM on November 3, 2005 (which was requested in March 2018 by FOIA — click here for the audio and transcript), Scott told the Halbachs that the last time he saw Teresa was at home on Monday, October 31 (excerpt below).

 

Investigators wrote that Scott last saw Teresa around 2 PM on Sunday (the implication is that Scott was not home and it is around this time that Ryan dropped of something for Scott while Teresa was on her computer, but Teresa probably was at her grandfather's birthday party at this time).

Ryan testified he stopped by Teresa's home on on Sunday, October 30th, to drop off something for Scott and that he spoke to Teresa while she was sitting at her computer, but he doesn't remember what time it was or if it was day-time or night-time. Ryan doesn't remember any details about this encounter with Teresa on October 30th because this actually occurred on Monday, October 31st between 4:00 and 7:00 PM. 

10/30 4:41 PM - Someone from Green Bay (662-0127) called and left a message, call duration 55 seconds.

10/30 5:05 PM - Brian or Dana (884-0530) in Green Bay called and left a message, call duration 44 seconds.

10/30 5:27 PM - Teresa checked her cell phone voicemail, call duration 1:25.

10/30 10:29 PM - Teresa printed her day planner for the week of October 31st.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 31ST

On Monday, October 31st, Teresa had appointments for Avery and Zipperer in Manitowoc County, and an appointment for Schmitz in Calumet County that she had tried contacting on Saturday but had not received a call back.

10/31 8:17 AM - AutoTrader called Teresa and left a message, call duration 1:06 — they called to ask if she could make the same-day photo request for Avery Road, and they faxed her this request (earlier, around 7 AM, they had faxed her the telemarketing lead for Zipperer).

In 2006 Ryan was interviewed by Milwaukee Magazine and said that Teresa was going to a bar in Appleton on Sunday to join her family for a Halloween party, but more than likely it was on Monday, October 31, that Teresa was planning to join friends in Appleton for Halloween, dressed as a cowgirl, and this may have included her brother Mike. And it was Monday, October 31st, after Teresa got home from her Autotrader appointments and was sitting at her computer doing her business paperwork, before she left for Appleton, when Ryan first arrived at her home, in a fit of rage:

“Photography was her life,” says Hillegas, now a nurse at Froedtert Hospital. “She could do anything with a camera.” Her expertise became portraits of children. Her favorite song, when she mustered the guts to sing karaoke, was “Picture” by Sheryl Crow and Kid Rock. On the Sunday before she disappeared, Hillegas ran into Teresa at a friend’s house. Halbach told him she planned to join her family at a bar in Appleton for a Halloween party. She was dressed as a cowgirl. On Tuesday, Hillegas called to ask Halbach about the party. Her voicemail box was full. “Which was weird for someone with a business,” he says. “She’s not the kind of person who would just take off and not call.”

Ryan could have been high on drugs when he struck Teresa — he was unemployed at the time, even though he graduated five months earlier with a nursing degree.

"According to Tom Pearce, Ryan is Teresa's ex-boyfriend and Ryan is from the Hilbert area. Pearce thought Ryan may be a partier type and may engage in drinking and possibly drug use." (P-C Exhibit 52, DCI Interview.)

Maybe during a fight with his ex-girlfriend, Teresa, Ryan killed her in the heat of passion. It's a terrible and well-established fact that women, statistically, are murdered by the men closest to them. On the mathematical probability alone, it's ridiculous that Ryan hasn't been under far more scrutiny.

Zellner's expert says Teresa was killed with an object similar to a hammer or mallet after she already was down, lying on her back, next to her RAV4's rear dumper, with the cargo door open.

"The experiments overseen by Mr. James demonstrate that Ms. Halbach was struck on the head after she opened the rear cargo door. She fell to the ground, next to the rear bumper on the driver's side, where she was struck repeatedly by an object similar to a mallet or hammer." (P-C Exhibit 16, Affidavit of Stuart James.)

Zellner wrote in her August 26, 2016 motion (page 20) for post conviction scientific testing that the lug wrench in Teresa's RAV4 appeared to have been moved from its original place in the cargo area, and the storage compartment covers for the rear cargo area, where the wrench would have been stored, were missing.

The lug wrench found in Teresa's RAV4 was taken into evidence, but not the crank for the jack. Apparently the toolkit bag, which should have had two pieces (the lug wrench and crank), was not entered into evidence.

There was supposed to be a Toyota factory-provided car jack under the front passenger seat, where the AirUp inflator and tire sealer can was found, and there was supposed to be a factory toolkit in a storage location in the cargo compartment on the driver's side. This kit should have contained the Toyota factory-provided lug wrench and the crank handle for the factory-provided jack.

Did Ryan use the tire iron or the missing crank to bludgeon Teresa?

Link to storage location for the factory tools in a RAV4 (the toolkit with the lug wrench and crank):

https://i.imgur.com/rsJjbNO.png

Why are the covers missing from the storage compartments above the wheel wells in the rear cargo area of Teresa's RAV4?

Comparison photo showing left and right sides with missing covers in Teresa's RAV4:

http://i.imgur.com/qGP4hRB.jpg

Missing cover closeup of right side:

http://i.imgur.com/E8A4I2y.jpg

Example photo of 1999 RAV4 with covers in place:

http://i.imgur.com/ujVdR5l.jpg

Did Teresa's RAV4 come with a cargo mat?

Examples of cargo mats:

https://i.imgur.com/RXDE70k.png

 
Photos from Kratz's book

Did Teresa's RAV4 come with cargo cover?

If so, did she use it? Did she keep it in the vehicle when she wasn't using it? Was it inventoried in the contents of the vehicle? Was it discarded with the bloody floor mat?

Example photo of a roll-out cargo cover:

http://i.imgur.com/iRtejnt.jpg

Example photo of a hard cargo cover:

http://i.imgur.com/8swRyc1.jpg

Questioning voids in cellular activity 

By Search4MoreAnswers, TickTockManitowoc

January 8, 2018

Has anybody ever questioned why Ryan Hillegas never once received or made any phone calls for 17 hours and 40 minutes between Sunday, October 30th & Monday, October 31st?

He receives two phone calls in the morning of October 31st, one at 9:10 AM - 8 minutes long, then another at 9:40 AM - 1 minute. He checks his voicemail at 3:48 PM, presumably to listen to the 9:40 message? That is 6 hours after the last call. And this is approximately 1 hour after TH visited SA? And nobody questions him?

October 30th is even stranger. RH only makes use of his phone three times, 1:26 PM, 1:35 PM (calls that were made to and from SB) and a call that he made to Family Video Kaukauna at 3:30 PM. Family Video Kaukauna is located in Appleton. Now from what I read from the CASO report, SB initially said the last time he saw TH was on Sunday, October 30, in the afternoon. Did his story change? If it doesn't, how doesn't the fact that SB is the only one that communicates with RH on the afternoon before TH disappears raise alarm bells?

Does the idea that RH goes "missing," in terms of cellular activity, the night and day before TH disappears and is murdered not seem a tad bit odd/convenient?

I would also like to point out that the call RH received at 9:40 AM was around the exact same time that TH received a call from Auto Trader, if I remember correctly. TH received her call at 9:46 AM.

I reviewed RH's pattern of checking his voicemail after long absentee periods and it only occurs once on October 25 (the day of his last conversation with TH) and October 22 (after a friend repeatedly calls him). All other days where there are huge lapses in phone activities he does not check his voicemail. Doesn't raise alarm bells either? Maybe just erratic normal behaviour that can be easily excused?

How about his call to his sister or husband that lasted 21 minutes after TH may have been killed? Only to talk for 23 minutes with a friend 1.5 hours later. He doesn't call or receive any more phone calls for another 17.5 hours after talking to SB for 5 minutes. Again, no investigators ever take pause and ask why this young unemployed man has so many large empty voids in his time?

On Tuesday, November 1, RH decides he needs to start working (I assume) and starts faxing DSPS? I have no idea if back in the day you could fax using your cell phone? If you can't, what is RH doing calling the fax number on four separate occasions? Is he confused? Or am I? Again, how does this not raise questions? Finally he calls DSPS on two occasions, followed by a later call to his parents, SB then TH.

Fine, he finally calls TH. In an interview with Milwaukee Magazine, May 1st 2006 issue, RH is quoted as saying:

“On Tuesday, Hillegas called to ask Halbach about the party. Her voicemail box was full. “Which was weird for someone with a business,” he says. “She’s not the kind of person who would just take off and not call.”

OK — Ding, ding, ding!!!!

After calling TH on Tuesday, November 1, 2005, RH makes zero... absolutely zero phone calls from his cell phone from 6:42 PM to 10:06 AM the following day, Wednesday, November 2, 2005.

NO PHONE CALLS for 15.25 hours. What is RH doing?

I cannot speak for him, but I have exes, friends, even co-workers that if I felt something was bizarre, I would be getting on the phone with others to find out if anything is wrong. Yet, he does absolutely nothing... maybe sleeps? Anybody have any ideas?

It doesn't stop... the first call that RH receives is from a friend that lasts 13 minutes at 10:06 AM. Six more hours pass with no phone calls to and from RH's phone. Another huge daytime lapse. At 5:25 PM it appears that he calls Soul Brilliance - Reiki - possible massage place (so concerned for TH's well-being he books an appointment for a massage? Maybe an injury from a struggle?).

After speaking with two of his friends, at around 6 PM, RH goes silent again for 3 hours, checks his voicemail at 8:23 PM, and guess what? No phone calls to and from RH's phone for another 16.5 hours.

Then November 3rd happens....

How does all these empty voids in one person's life goes unquestioned? Especially when this person is TH's ex?

I would also like to add something here: TH's mother stated to police that the family has been calling TH's friends. As far as I know, RH's records do not show a phone call from TH's mom. If KH was calling TH's friends, clearly KH did not consider RH as TH's friend. Again, why would this not raise alarm bells. (Speculation here I guess.)

Someone asked, "How could RH stay up for so many days straight, reportedly looking for TH and organizing search parties?" If the man was not up to something suspicious during the previous days, regarding voids in time, he sure as heck was sleeping a lot.

So why hasn't RH's unexplained missing times have never been investigated? Any feedback?

RH has close to 78 hours unaccounted for in terms of cellular activity between October 30 and November 3.

“By Thursday, he knew something was wrong. With the help of a friend, he went to Teresa’s house, fired up her computer and printed out a list of names and phone numbers of everyone she knew. The search was on.”

Why did he wait so long if he first became concerned on Tuesday and why did he waste so much time?



Did Ryan Hillegas Kill Teresa? Chapter 11 UnMaking a Murderer