Teresa Halbach's Friends Located Her RAV4 Off the Southwest Quadrant of Avery Salvage Yard on the Morning of November 5, 2005

It says “North,” and all of the photo credits are below the arrow. “Wisconsin DOT Aerial Imagery, Flight Date 11.13.2005." So, essentially, all of the map annotations seem to be contained on the lower left corner. “The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) Surveying and Mapping Section has recent and historical black and white vertical aerial imagery of the entire state of Wisconsin to assist in the design of highways and other transportation improvements. This aerial imagery is available for purchase through WisDOT Surveying and Mapping Section.” Higher resolution photo, which came from Kratz's book, at this link (image above). [Source]

PART 1. The Reconstructionist... Pam Sturm: Her Collusion With Law Enforcement And The Murky Circumstances Unfolding On The Morning Of November 5th 2005: The Incredible Moving RAV4 And The Mystery Of The 5 Girlfriends Of Teresa Halbach.

By SBRH33, TickTockManitowoc
April 27, 2018

PART 1:

The Reconstruction

In this post I will be focusing on the discovery of the RAV4 on the Avery Salvage Yard on November 5th, 2005 and the events surrounding that fateful day... I will be using Pam Sturm, Dave Remiker, and Jason Orth's preliminary and trial testimony transcripts to fillet the truth from the fiction.

Some of the questions and themes I will be exploring:

• Whom discovered the vehicle FIRST? Pam Sturm... or Halbach's "5 Girlfriends" from Green Bay?
• How was Law Enforcement's sketchy interaction with the RAV4 connected to Pam Sturm and how it was identified by Dave Remiker... A game of not making any sense.
• How does Pam Sturm and Law Enforcement tie together on 11/5/2005.

There is a lot of information contained in this post that will require some close reading. I have supplied photos and trial testimony to support my observations and to help the reader visualize the irregularities and contradictions. I will be at times offering my theories and speculation on matters I find important. I hope others do as well to stimulate conversation over the matter.

I will start this post off by building a simple foundation. The foundation of this post is built upon two Law Enforcement reports by Lt Hermann (MTSO) and Lt Sippel (CASO). I will then work back through the trial testimony and other available material that ultimately points back toward these two important but often overlooked reports... in an effort to illuminate the truth behind that day in question and point toward answers to the questions I posed in the beginning of this post.

It will... I believe shed some much needed light on the circumstances clouding the morning of November 5th, 2005... exposing the coordinated cover up of who actually found the RAV4 that morning, where that vehicle was actually found on or near the ASY, and the LE personnel responsible for its identification and possible tampering. This post will expose, hopefully, the premeditated knowledge and coordinated effort among the Halbachs, Pam Sturm and Calumet/Manitowoc LE in descending upon the ASY on Saturday November 5th, 2005, to search the premises for the missing RAV4 belonging to Teresa Halbach.... legal, or illegally? The RAV4 listed as seized on November 3rd, its plates being run on the night of November 3rd, and it showing up on the ASY 2 days later on the 5th, pose serious questions on the true whereabouts of the vehicle exclusively used to pin a murder on an innocent man... Steven Avery.

Other questions I will attempt to explore and handle are:

• Was the RAV4 locked up without question as Ken Kratz and LE claimed it to be? Or was it simply all a clever cover story to deep six the truth.... that Teresa's RAV4 was never locked at all and remained easily accessible at any time while on the ASY?
• The critical times being the hours before the RAV4 was placed IN the ASY and the elapsed time between when the RAV4 is reported by Pam Sturm as found and when Mark Rohrer handed the investigation off to Calumet County, citing Manitowoc's compromised integrity in the conflict of interest with Steven Avery's civil suit.
• It is very interesting to note that throughout the initial discovery of the RAV4 by Pam Sturm, a great emphasis is placed on the theme that the RAV4 is locked and could not be entered. It is even emphasized at trial that Pam Sturm coldly watched that vehicle herself, keenly making certain no one entered it... I ask Why? Why did she feel the need to do that? She wasn't even certain it was Teresa's car... We will explore that later. However, Ken Kratz made certain at his first media conference on the afternoon the RAV4 was discovered that he emphasized to the public that the RAV4 was locked... and that no one had entered the vehicle... and that upon its discovery it was immediately crated and shipped off to the WSCL for processing. We know that wasn't close to the truth... A bald-faced lie by Kratz. Because the truth was in fact that the RAV4 sat where it was alleged to have been found for 10 hours before it was finally pulled onto the rented Penthan's trailer and hauled off to the crime lab in the dead of night.

This is a very long post... I apologize in advance. It is a twisted convoluted subject hidden under many layers of lies and half truths.

So sit back with a glass of wine, a cold beer or, a hot mug of coffee... Take some notes and jot down anything that comes to mind or to help keep track.

Without further ado.

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Who Discovered the Rav4 First on the Morning of November 5th?

The 5 Girlfriends Of Teresa Halbach

Looking at the two reports generated by Lt Hermann and Lt Kelly Sippel there emerges contradictory claims between who actually "found" the RAV4 and who actually "discovered" the RAV4.

• Lt Kelly Sippel's report from the morning of November 5th.

Sippel's Report

• Lt Hermann's report from the morning of Nov 5th.

Hermann's Report

Notice in these two reports not one mention of Pam or Nikole Sturm. However, it is memorialized in Sippel's report that.... "On the morning of 11/5/05 friends of Teresa were searching the salvage yard and located her motor vehicle off the SOUTHWEST Quadrant of property.

Hermann's report dovetails Sippel's in mentioning the 5 female individuals located in the SOUTHWEST quadrant of the property. (This SW area is where the conveyor belt/ road from Radandt's dives into the Avery Salvage Yard Property... an unofficial rear entrance, so to speak, into the salvage yard itself.)

Here is the glaring problem. And something to keep in mind throughout this post.

• The RAV4 was discovered by PAM STURM on the SOUTHEAST quadrant of the Salvage Yard on the morning of 11/5/05.
• How can the RAV4 be discovered in two distinct locations at the ASY on the same morning?

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Below is an aerial photograph of where Pam Sturm found the RAV4... The SOUTHEAST Quadrant of the ASY.

SOUTHEAST / Discovered by Pam Sturm

Below is an aerial photograph covering both the SOUTHWEST quadrant where Sippel reports that Teresa's friends discover her motor vehicle... and the SOUTHEAST quadrant where Pam Sturm claims to have found the RAV4. I have marked up the photograph for identification purposes. The color key can be found below.

The RAV4 reported found on two completely different locations of the ASY.

• The Green Box in the photograph denotes the Southwest Quadrant. (Sippel/Hermann reports)
• The Yellow Box represents the Southeast Quadrant. (Pam Sturm's discovery)
• The Blue line represents the unobstructed road used to get the RAV4 from point Green to point Yellow.

Speculation: This information may shed brand new light behind the mystery photograph taken of the prosecution team sitting in front of... the photograph of the SOUTHWEST quadrant... with yellow arrows pointing at a row of cars... This is the same area by the conveyor belt that the 5 friends of Teresa Halbach reported to have found the RAV4 and where they were memorialized in Hermann's report... same exact area etched in and memorialized on Sippel's report.

Here is the Photograph: Fallon, Kratz and Ghan

It's a shame Ken is blotting out the SOUTHEAST quadrant of the salvage yard in the photo. It would have been nice to see if there were any yellow arrows pointing to where Pam said she found the RAV4.

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Some things nag me about all of this. If the RAV4 was discovered by the 5 girlfriends of Teresa while poking around the salvage yard, most likely trespassing in the process... why did the car have to be moved deeper into the ASY where Pam Sturm claims to have found it? Why not just leave it by the conveyor belt where reportedly found first?

• It was too close to Radandt's property, creating a gray area for the prosecution.
• Because it could have been easily argued to have been tainted by the 5 girlfriends.
• Deemed an illegal search of the ASY, reducing the RAV4 to an unusable piece of muted evidence.
• It should have been easily discovered via the flyover if sitting by the conveyor belt.
• They needed the RAV4 to be found locked. It could be argued again the 5 girlfriends tainted the RAV4 by possibly entering it.
• If the 5 girlfriends are attributed the discovery of the RAV4... then all would have to then testify about finding it at trial, and that could get real messy for the prosecution... especially if Avery's blood is to be argued by the defense as being planted in the RAV4.
• Dare I say it... the possibility of 2 RAV4's...
• Keep it nice and tidy... just have Pam Sturm find it and keep it simple... keep it as simple as possible... and get it on record that the RAV4 was locked at all times and no one entered or touched it!

There are a lot of things one begins to question about all of this. None of it very good. But some larger less speculative questions remain for me.

• How did the defense miss this information? How did they miss these important irregularities and clear contradictions in the reports? How did they miss the 5 girlfriends of Teresa on the ASY on the very morning of the November 5th discovery?...

Perhaps there is more to come in the future regarding the 5 girlfriends of Halbach... much more.

But for now... I am going to move on to Remiker and Wiegart's November 5th recorded phone calls to each other and Pam Sturm and her fables testimony.

Lets explore the nexus between Pam Sturm's arrival at the Halbach house and Dave Remiker and Mark Wiegart's phone calls on the morning of November 5th, 2005.

I want to establish a little more foundation surrounding that day's events.

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Pam Sturm

We all know about Pam Sturm... about her showing up late to the search gathering at Halbach's. This from her opening testimony at the 2007 trial.

Q. About what time did you arrive at the residence, if you recall?

A. I estimated it at around 9:00 a.m.

Q. When you got there Pam, what happened?

A. Well, we got there late; the search team was already gone.

• The use of the term, search team in the singular is revealing. I feel as though she might be referencing the 5 girlfriends there when she said: "The search team was already gone." This phrasing will be repeated in the Remiker/Wiegart conversations that morning.

We know Pam was given Pagel's direct phone number and a camera and map allegedly given to her by Ryan and Scott.

Then off she goes with her daughter Nikole to search a 40-acre salvage yard all by themselves that nobody else VOLUNTEERED to do... At this point all that is known is that the Avery Salvage Yard was one of 3 appointments Teresa had scheduled on the 31st of October 2005...

However, Pam says this to Ryan and Scott...

PAM: "And I indicated that I would like to go to the Avery Salvage Yard where Teresa was last seen. And he said, well, if you want to, it's not part of, you know, the search, but if you wish to do that, go ahead."

• If Pam Sturm was at Halbach's at 9am and this conversation was taking place between her, Ryan and Scott...
• And at that same exact moment in time, 9:03 am 11/5/05, Detective Remiker is on the phone with Detective Wiegert discussing Teresa's timeline, and in that moment the timeline was that Halbach visited Zipperer's last...
• Then how does Pam Sturm know that Avery's was the LAST place Teresa was seen?

Right away I smell fish heads.

PART 2. Fables Of The Reconstructionist... Pam Sturm: Her Collusion With Law Enforcement And The Murky Circumstances Unfolding On The Morning Of November 5th 2005. The Incredible Moving RAV4 And The Mystery Of The 5 Girlfriends Of Teresa Halbach.

By SBRH33, TickTockManitowoc
August 5, 2018

Welcome to part two.

Part 2

Fables Of The Recontruction

I will now move out of Pam Sturms preliminary testimony and move into her 2007 Jury trial Testimony. My how her story differs from the preliminary and she adds to it a great embellishment!

Pam Sturm 2007 Trial/ Ken Kratz Direct Examination

In the beginning of her testimony Pam regurgitates for the most part her interaction with Earl Avery in getting permission to search the salvage yard. She omits the fact that Nikole had snuck what she claimed was a camera under her shirt before entering the yard.

Ken Kratz gets right down to it and has Pam testify that they had Earls permission and consent to search the yard

We get DIRECTLY into where at in the salvage yard Pam had discovered the RAV4. Pam not only contradicts herself from her preliminary testimony that she had found the RAV4 in the SOUTHWEST location of the yard, but she in one fell swoop contradicts Sippel's official report of the RAV4 being located in the SOUTHWEST quadrant... by friends of Teresa Halbach.

Q. (By Attorney Kratz)~ I'm sorry, Ms Sturm, do you know -- do you know -- Orienting yourself to Exhibit No. 25; do you know which way is north or south or east or west?

A. Well, actually, I didn't before, but I looked on a map and it appears that the car was in the Southeast corner.

• Now Pam is onboard with the Southeast corner of the yard. Forget about Sippel and Hermann's reports stating otherwise.
• Kratz doing his PRE/OP surgery on the preliminary statements. A time when events are freshest in the minds of the witnesses. Kratz distorts or erases information from witnesses when he needs it and when he doesn't want it known.

Moving forward.

A. Yes, that's correct.

Q. Now, you spoke to the jury just before about seeing the back of this vehicle and seeing the word RAV4 on it. Is Exhibit No. 385 -- excuse me -- Exhibit 29, does that look the same or similar as it looked on the morning of October -- excuse me -- November 5th?

• This is an interesting slip of the tongue by Kratz. It could mean nothing, but I thought I would add it for color. When I first read it I thought he might be implying that perhaps Pam had saw the car on the morning of October 31st.... or even before then. It is an odd slip by Kratz. This case is filled with slips of the tongue by Kratz, but especially by Halbach family members. If you pay close enough attention to them they are easy to spot... This type of behavior is telling us a story. A very very dishonest story. "...Crazy fucks" ...as Wiegart himself would put it.

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Now we will enter testimony of the strange and unusual. The embellishment and mystery of the LeMieux sticker on the back of the RAV4.

The LeMieux sticker story had never been told at the preliminary hearing... and I will display why the story is a total fabrication made up by Pam Sturm.

Continuing with Kratz's direct of Pam Sturm:

Q. We're going to go through those in just a minute, but since you mentioned the back of the vehicle, I want to show this picture. What else did you see?

A. I looked for license plates on the front and on the back and I couldn't find any. I noticed LeMieux Toyota was on the back, but I didn't know if that was on Teresa's car.

Q. Let me just stop you. In fact, on Exhibit 29, you can see the LeMieux Toyota sticker on the back of this exhibit; is that right?

A. Right.

• When Pam discovered the RAV4, she apparently didn't know if it was actually Teresa's car or not... she was confused by its color. So how does she know that the LeMieux sticker is a placeholder of importance? That LeMieux sticker... that stands out for Pam Sturm?. This sticker was never mentioned in the missing persons posters. It was never mentioned by Law Enforcement, it was never mentioned by the family until Pam Sturm mentions it in the phone call to Pagel on the morning of 11/5/2005... Then it makes its way into the 2007 Jury trial... and Kratz wants to emphasize it for the Jury... WTH?

Moving into it further Pam draws her daughter into the story.

• Nikole testified at the trial. We will briefly look at her testimony in Part 3.

A. My daughter was still searching to the right of me. I couldn't see her. I became very, very worried for our safety,because 90 percent this was probably Teresa's car and we're in danger. So I called Nikole's name. I think I maybe even screamed. I shouldn't have, but I did, and I went running to the area where she was. I said, Nikole, Nikole, you have to come and see this car. It must be her car. So she came up by me and she looked at it and she said, mom, it does look like her car. It's got that LeMieux Toyota, and it's RAV 4. And she thought perhaps it was too.

• If Pam Sturm had never seen Teresa's RAV4 before, Then how did she know it might have had a LeMiuex sticker on it? Not even Mark Wiegart knew it it had a LeMieux sticker on it..... now Nikole comes over to the RAV4 and exclaims.... "mom, it does look like her car. It's got that LeMieux Toyota".....
• Now how does Nikole know about a LeMiuex sticker on Teresa's RAV4? Its just incredibly bad testimony all around.
• Why lie about a LeMiuex sticker being on the RAV4? What is the significance? It reads like a poorly written Nancy Drew mystery..... "golly mom, look its got that LeMieux sticker.... its got to be Teresa's vehicle."
• This is all without noticing that Pam went running to where Nikole was... Then suddenly Nikole went up to where Pam was? It doesn't even make sense where each was standing and when. Its all over the place... This testimony takes place two years after the incident. You would figure Pam would have the story straightened out by then. You would figure it was pretty cut and dry. We found a RAV4 in a salvage yard, didn't know if it was Teresa's, we called police. But Pam just embellishes the shit out of the whole story and IMO exposes the story as a fraud. She gives herself up and this too is why the defense also knew she was completely full of shit. Its ridiculous.
• Revisiting Pam Sturms phone call to Pagel on Saturday morning. She brings up the LeMiuex sticker.... and demands to know if its her car or not... Because she is worried about putting something somewhere on the wrong car. Do the math I guess...

Pam Sturms Phone Call

CALLER: some of it

WIEGERT: Can you get to the front of the car?

CALLER: Yeah, I will. It's Lemieux Toyota sticker on it. Does that have it?

WIEGERT: I don't Know if they had a Lemieux Toyota sticker on it. I don't Know about that.

CALLER: Is it okay if I go in the car?

• As you can see Wiegart didn't know anything about that LeMieux sticker.
• Pam asks if she can enter the vehicle. And Her question gets to the crux of one of my main questions.... Was the RAV4 actually unlocked and never locked at all as Kratz wanted everyone to believe? The prosecution went to great lengths to hammer home that the RAV4 was locked up at all times until it reached the Wisconsin State Crime Lab.
• But, ironically it was found unlocked on Sunday morning at the lab by Ron Groffy ...contradicting everything that Ken Kratz had laid out publicly about the RAV4 being locked up and enclosed when found. Nobody at the crime lab ever admitted to unlocking the RAV4.... This now leads me to firmly believe that the RAV4 was never locked, or completely locked up at all. It was all simply a cover story.
• IMO, one wouldn't ask a question like Pam Sturm did in her phone call to Pagel if she didn't already know that entry could be made into the vehicle. From that very question on... a big deal is made over the vehicle being locked. And I personally just don't believe it ever was.

One last piece of critical information from kratz's direct examination before moving on. This regards what Law Enforcement agency had shown up on the salvage yard first.... And just as monumentally important is just who that person was that first arrived on scene at the ASY.

Q. In 20 or 25 minutes, did somebody arrive?

A. Yes. A Sheriff Remiker arrived first.

Q. Was he a plain clothes officer or an officer in uniform; do you remember?

A. No, I don't recall if it was.

Q. Do you know what department responded first?

A. I believe it was Manitowoc County.

• This testimony contradicts Dave Remikers account of the morning. It also directly contradicts Sgt Orths testimony that he was the first to arrive on the scene. We will see later on in this post just how catastrophic this blunder really was and why it flew right over the defense teams head.
• Pam Sturm can't recall if "Sheriff Remiker" was in plain cloths, or in uniform. Give me a break Pam.... More on this a little later.
• Did Dave Remiker announce himself as Sheriff to Pam Sturm when he arrived at the ASY? If so why would he do that?
• Was Dave Remiker already present on the ASY before Pam "discovered" the vehicle? Was he responsible for moving the RAV4 from the SOUTHWEST to the SOUTHEAST? How many times was the RAv4 accessed by Remiker? Was Dave Remiker in plain cloths?

Big big questions and a one hell of an accusation... but is it an accusation? Does Dave Remiker's testimony hold up to the fillet knife?

We will soon cross that bridge and examine exactly what Dave Remiker had said in the trial testimony and how none of it matches any story that Pam Sturm, or Jason Orth told...

In fact Remiker's version doesn't even match his own story. This gets scary good folks!

But first we need to finish with Pam Sturm.

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Q. Okay. After the law enforcement officers got there, did they, then, basically, take over that area?

A. Yes, he had another patrolman go BACK to the car and just, like, you know, stay by the car so no one else would go by the car.

Q. Tell us what you saw; did you see anybody going by the car?

A. He stayed by the car and then other officers arrived sheriff, Sheriff -- Deputy Wiegert.

Q. Now, these are Calumet deputies; is that right?

A. Yes. Yes, Deputy Wiegert.

Q. Slow down --

A. I'm sorry.

• Now It is my opinion that an entire chunk of time is omitted here by Pam Sturm. She completely leaves out the part where Dave Remiker approached the RAV4, came back to his squad car to retrieve a "registration", went back to the RAV4 with Orth and confirmed the VIN number. This omission is important because it does not align with what Dave Remiker testified to nor what Sgt Orth testified to. It is a giant discrepancy and in her story and giant contradiction between Remiker's and Sgt Orth's testimony. We will explore this fully in Part 3.

Q. Ms Sturm, slow down just a second. Before any other police officers arrived on the scene, after you and Nikki had called in to dispatch, did you notice any other individuals going up or near that vehicle?

A. No one went near that vehicle. We watched to make sure no one went over there.

Q. You were watching just for that; isn't that right?

A. Yes.

• Kratz is getting heard here. He is massaging the Jury with Pam's testimony. That Pam was a watch dog. She made certain no one went in or near that vehicle. But why would she have such an inclination to do that? It doesn't make sense.
• Why would Pam Sturm be so concerned about anyone going near the vehicle, if (A.) She wasn't even certain it was Teresa Halbach's RAV4. (B.) If no one from LE had yet confirmed the vehicle as Halbach's.... All Pam Sturm should have been certain of is that she had found a RAV4 in a salvage yard. Yet she is watching that vehicle like a hawk... from 150 yards away at that.
• My conclusion is that Pam Sturm knew it was Teresa's car and she knew what was inside of that car.
• Her testimony that was engineered by Kratz was simply to dispel the notion that anyone had entered the RAV4... didn't have the opportunity to enter the RAV4... and couldn't have entered the RAV4 because it was all locked up.
• The reality is that there was ample time for anyone to enter the RAV4. Pam's call generated to Pagel took place at around 10:30 in the morning. There simply isn't any proof when exactly Pam located that RAV4. There is no telling what happened in or around that RAV4 before Pam called it in to Pagel.
• Pam said she arrived at the Halbach farm house after 9 am on Saturday morning. She gathered what we all know from Ryan and Scott then headed to the ASY. How long was she really at the Halbach house? Was it way before the 9 am time she testified to because.... it is a 41 minute drive at the minimum to get from Halbach's to the Salvage yard. MAP: Halbach's to the salvage yard. This means she could have only spent minutes at the Farmhouse to get to the ASY at the time she said she did.
• I believe Pam Sturm was at the Farmhouse all morning long with the other search people until she was finally dispatched to the ASY a 9am. This aligns with her testimony arrival time at ASY. More importantly she was most certainly present when Dedering and Pagel dropped by to do the "test fax" from Teresa's machine.
• She arrived to search the yard at 9:50am. Waited for Earl to finish his conversation with a man, then proceeded to talk with Earl and ask for permission to enter the yard. She begins her search at 10am and twenty minutes later finds a RAV4.
• But during her direct from Kratz she offers up this amazing contradiction to her own timeline.

Q. I want you to look at Exhibit No. 25 again, how long from when you entered that property did it take you to find Teresa's vehicle?

A. I believe we entered at 10 to 10 and by 10:20 to 10:25 we had found the vehicle.

Q. So within the first 40 minutes?

A. Correct.

Q. Do you think, looking at this exhibit now, that you and your daughter Nikki could have searched that entire salvage yard?

A. We would have tried. We would have came back the next day if we had to.

• No Pam you would not have come back the next day... because the salvage yard is closed on Sunday's... Pam knew that, LE knew that... and Ryan, Mike and Scott knew that as well. It is precisely why you were sent in on Saturday to do your critical part and get that warrant ball rolling. Otherwise the operation would have had to been scuttled for Monday... or worse.
• Kratz rolls the time Pam arrived, waited for Earl to have a conversation and then finally speaking with Earl to garner permission into the ASY into the total time it took to find the RAV4. He turned roughly 20 minutes into 40 minutes. Not only is that not true, but the Jury heard that testimony. It didn't take Pam Sturm 40 minutes to locate the RAV4 amongst thousands of junked vehicles on a 40 acre plot...... it took less then 20 minutes. Which is unbelievable on its face... but Kratz was going to take a win any way he could score it.

I can see why the defense team had their hair standing on end with Pam Sturm's testimony. They believed, as do I that she was clearly full of shit up to her eyeballs.

Ken Kratz enabled her lies to flourish with his prepping and coaching of his witnesses.

How do these people sleep at night?

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Moving onto Pam Sturm's Cross Examination by Jerome Buting

Pam Sturm/ 2007 Jury Trial: Cross Examination/ Jerome Buting

In the beginning of his cross, Buting laces Pam with a lot of questions regarding the found cell phone by the river that she apparently found after she had discovered the RAV4 a day or two prior. She is quite evasive and suffers bouts of memory loss over the episode.

Buting moves on and touches on the fact that she had mentioned people being in the yard on November 5th when she found the vehicle.

Remember back in the preliminary hearing conducted by Erik Loy he tried to extract from Pam descriptions of the people she saw in the salvage yard and mentioned in the phone call to Pagel..... but Ken Kratz shot it all down from being put on the record.

Unfortunately all Buting does is glance right over it all..... I have to wonder.... Did he even read Sippel and Hermann's reports about the 5 Girlfriends found on the ASY that fateful morning?

It is quite obvious Pam Sturm could have seen these people... it is also quite possible she had contact with these people too. But it is never explored or investigated. Heres Buting's light touch on the theme.

Q. On the tape, I heard you say something, I think about there were people NEARBY while you were at the scene and calling in to report this?

A. When we first walked down the quarry --

Q. That's a simple yes or no; were their people -- you said something about their being people NEARBY, right?

A. Yes.

• I love Pit Bull Buting... but unfortunately it doesn't last long.

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Q. And these appeared to be what, other customers or something, milling about?

A. I can't say for sure, but I thought perhaps they were getting parts off of vehicles.

• I just dont like the way Buting slow walked Pam Sturm out of this theme. He gets aggressive and attacks then backs down and lets Pam talk her way through it by implying that the people she saw were simply customers..... and not the 5 young ladies that are tagged in Hermann's report.
• Hermann's report clearly memorializes 5 female subjects found in the SOUTHWEST QUADRANT of the salvage yard on the MORNING of the 5th. Sippel's report memorializes the RAV4 being discovered in the SOUTHWEST QUADRANT by friends of Teresa Halbach.
• Pam Sturm said in her preliminary she found the RAV4 in the SOUTHWEST corner of the salvage yard.
• She said during the phone call to Pagel that there were people nearby.... but they were alright...

I just don't get it. This type of questioning goes on throughout the trial by the Defense. They get hot and then completely go cold. They seem to go off in complete different lines of questioning with out fully exploring the path they were already on.... I don't want to harp on them too hard. But it is baffling none the less.

Was this Ken Kratz's game plan? To toss as much bullshit against the wall in hopes that the defense couldn't possibly pick it all off?

Or did he simply exploit their focus on the theme of planted evidence so that he managed to slip in so many undetected body blows that he barely had to issue an upper cut for the kill?

Or was the EDTA that uppercut withheld until the defense was roped?

Kratz held the cards and he dealt them as he saw fit. That was obvious.

Would you agree?

Tomorrow I will continue with the final chapter and conclusion of todays two part post.

Thanks for sticking around and reading.

PART 3. Tall Tales: Distilling Nicole Sturm's Unbelievable Testimony: The Murky Circumstances Unfolding On The Morning Of November 5th 2005. The Incredible Moving RAV4 And The Mystery Of The 5 Girlfriends Of Teresa Halbach.

By SBRH33, TickTockManitowoc
June 1, 2018

Welcome to Part 3.

You have made it! Thank you for your patience!.

Apologies for taking so long to post this latest segment surrounding the discovery of the RAV4 and the conspirators that fleeced Justice!

History Is written By The Victors .......Winston Churchill.

I find that Churchill quote fitting for this case. Truth always prevails. Slow but surely it seeps to the surface.

Yes, Kratz and company had won the initial war with Avery... But truth is finally prevailing. Both Fassbender and Kratz I imagine have a lot to think about regarding the past weeks events. Yes, Fassbender, its now been found, it has been added to the record. Tic friggin' TOC!

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This post was going to be the final chapter of my Trilogy examining the discovery of the RAV4 on the ASY... and the players involved in its orchestration. But I realized I forgot about one of the most important players of them all... Nikole Sturm!

Sheesh, her testimony and involvement with the events surrounding Nov 5th 2005 are often overlooked. Pam, her mother receives more attention over the matter. But its Nikole where the fissures dramatically form. There is a reason Jerome Buting attacked her so forcefully.... he knew she was lying about a clutch piece of identification regarding the RAV4. Which was of all things... the VIN plate itself.

Lets dive on in!

Nikole gives up some interesting ghosts in her testimony that leads me to believe that the Sturm's may not have had explicit permission to search the Salvage yard by Earl Avery. Furthermore her testimony lead me to imagine very seriously that perhaps she was never present on the ASY with her mom at all on Novemebr 5th 2005.

It is also my belief that Earl Avery was pressured into giving a statement to LE, reflecting untruthfully that he had given the Sturm's permission to search the salvage yard.

• Add to this that Dave Remiker also did not have permission to be on the salvage yard either, warrantless as he was, he approached the RAV4 to determine the vehicles ownership status.

A technical violation that was argued by the defense that should have extinguished the RAV4 as to bearing any meaningful evidence against Steven Avery.

But that is an entire different post in itself!

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Pam Sturm stated in her trial testimony that she and Nikole had asked Earl Avery for permission to search the salvage yard.

It is painted as such in Pam Sturm's trial testimony that Pam and Nikole were standing side by side while asking Earl Avery permission to search the salvage yard. Below is Pam's trial remarks.

Direct Examination/ Ken Kratz

Q. After exiting, did you, in fact, find one of the owners of the business and did you, in fact, talk to him?

A. Yes, we did. The two gentlemen that were conversing by the vehicle, they stopped conversing and I walked up to them and I said, is anyone of you an Avery, an owner of this property? And he said, yes, and he walked over to us and he said his name was Earl.

A. Well, I told them that we were from -- we were volunteers from the search party. And I said it would relieve Karen and Tom's mind if we could go through the property and make sure that the vehicle, Teresa's vehicle, wasn't there. And Earl said, yeah, I know how it is because I just lost a nephew and I know how they are feeling. They must feel awful that she's missing. We just had a conversation and then I asked him if we could go and search the property, the whole property, for a sign of Teresa, or her vehicle. And he gave us permission.

Q. After obtaining permission or consent from Earl Avery to search the property, what did you do?

A. Earl said that the roads were very muddy in the salvage yard and it would be better if you would walk.

Its an interesting slip when Pam says, "I told THEM that we were from...." She stops herself and launches into the search party spiel. Who is THEM, if Earl Avery was alone? And where was Pam going to say they were from?

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Now lets take a look at Nikole's incredulous testimony.

Nikole Sturm/ Cross Examination/ Jerome Buting

Right out of the gate Nikole offers up an astonishing admission.

Q. Now that you talked about when you first arrived that you began looking through some vehicles before your mom discovered this SUV; is that correct?

A. That's correct.

Q. And, in fact, before you did that, where you there when she asked permission, or did you ask for permission yourself of anybody who appeared on the property?

A. I wasn't there when my mom asked Earl Avery for permission to search the property.

In the name of Jesus! Where were you Nikole, if you were not standing next to your mom when asking for permission to search the salvage yard?!!! .......WTF?

Seriously think about that. How could Nikole not be present when her mom asked Earl for permission to search the entire salvage yard?

Dovetail that admission with the fact Nikole had snuck Scott Bloedorn's camera into the salvage yard under her shirt?.... ( From Pam Sturm's preliminary testimony.) What in the hell is that about?

Indeed, there is something very fishy-fishy happening right here!

Q. And he gave permission; right? Freely?

A. Yes, he gave permission.

Nikole, if you weren't there. Then how can you say factually that he, Earl Avery gave permission to search the salvage yard? ...REALLY?!

Such a gaping inconsistency... ((((sigh)))) ... and the defense doesn't seize on it.

• I want to speculate here for a moment. Suppose Nikole was a part of the 5 girlfriends team of searches found down in the SOUTHWEST quadrant of the ASY on the morning of the 5th? Is that possible? I think it might be.... but again its speculation. But Nikole does admit to Buting that she was not present when her mom asked for permission to the salvage yard. That in itself raises a host of WTF questions... We dont know if Nikole was really there because Earl Avery didn't testify at the trial. He only supplied a statement reflecting his questionable authority surrounding the permission to the Sturms to search the property.

During Nikole's cross, Buting is keenly aware that something is off and he knows the prosecution is up to no good. And he spots it. For example, Remember when Kratz was famously caught on tape signaling to Scott Tadych to stop his testimony at the trial and clam up under cross examination? I think he was also caught signaling to Nikole Sturm here by Buting, which he confronts head on.

• Q. Is there some reason you look at them every time you answer, other than looking at me?
• A. No.
• Q. Have you been told to do that by someone from the District Attorneys Office?
• A. No.
• Q. Did you prepare for your testimony today?
• A. No.

Buting was on to Kratz's unethical shenanigans.

Kratz, who under pressure openly admitted at an after court session press conference, that he prepares and coaches his witnesses as he sees fit. See MAM episode 5. When Bobby Dassey perjures himself under the direction of Kratz.

Nikole Sturms testimony is yet another example of Kratz playing in the mud while Willis's sleepy eyes watch on.

Buting really laces into Nikole Sturm and is successful in having Nikole testify that she/they only tried the passenger doors to the RAV4 and found them locked. Curiously though Nikole testified that the rear cargo door was not tried; therefore, Pam nor Nikole can't factually say whether or not the RAV4 was truly sealed and locked up at all. Yet this is exactly what Ken Kratz was desperately trying to convey to the Jury.... the RAV4 was impenetrable! No one tampered with it!

Ken Kratz went to extraordinary lengths to hammer that message home... so much so that the victim, Teresa Halbach had been relegated to mere background noise against Kratz's persistent overtures regarding the RAV4 being locked up tighter then Fort Knoxx.

If the easily accessible cargo door wasn't checked then how is anyone to say for certain the RAV4 was completely locked up?

It is interesting that in the cargo bay a tiny flash drive with Teresa's name is said to have been seen and read by Sgt Orth.... through all of that tinted glass?... Orth is able to make out the name Teresa on it... OK Sure, s/ .....But Nikole Sturm couldn't read a simple VIN plate through the clear glass of the windshield? LMAO!

Lets explore Nikole Sturm's VIN Plate Fairy Tale:

• For the uninitiated the VIN plate on a 1999 RAV4 is found under the drivers side portion of the windshield. It is not obstructed by the wiper blade and it certainly is not black in color. They are made with a light grey steel and have a unique raised alpha numeric VIN code pressed into it for easy identification of the vehicle.... The plate is not all black with a black alpha numeric code stamped onto it as Nikole Sturm testified was the case, which is the reasoning behind why her nor her mother could read it.... its a farcical excuse.... It plays deeply into Dave Remiker's testimony that the VIN plate appeared to be tampered with. An admission that is never explored or investigated. No pictures of the actual Halbach RAV4 VIN plate are anywhere to be found. Something very wrong has happened surrounding the authenticity of the RAV4 found on the ASY. I am positive of it.

Photo Dark Green 1999 RAV4

Photo Of 1999 Dark Green RAV4 VIN Plate

Photo/ Close Up 1999 Dark Green RAV4 VIN Plate Alpha Numeric Blurred Out On Purpose

• I would again like to speculate her a moment. Is it possible the reason Nikole Sturm viewed an all black on black VIN plate was because perhaps that VIN plate was exposed to say a fire? Was the original VIN plate pulled from a burned out wreck and placed onto the dash of a similar RAV4? Its funny how the dual RAV4 theory can creep up on you like a bad cold... but I mean Remiker testified it looked tampered with and Nikole had emphatically testified that it was all black and difficult to read.... it really makes one wonder don't it?

Nikole Sturm/ Direct/ Ken Kratz

Q. Did you check for a vehicle identification number?

A. Yes I did look. I didn't know exactly where they were located. So it did take a little while to locate the VIN number. But we did find the VIN number on the drivers side, near the windshield. It was a black interior, with a black dashboard, but also the metal the VIN number was on was black metal, as well. It was a little difficult to read the VIN number, as well as the fact that I am a little bit short, so I had to try to reach over top of the vehicle to read the VIN number without touching the vehicle or actually touching or rubbing up against the vehicle.

Such a Bull shit story right there Nikole.

Nikole Sturm/Cross/ Jerome Buting

Buting riffs off of Ken Kratz's direct of Nikole by referring to the VIN plate as being black metal and that the numbers are also Black. It is my estimation that Buting knew that the VIN plate was not black on black, but drove Nikole into her own lie about the Vin Plate appearance.

Q. You were told by the officers that your mom was talking to on the phone, that is where you should direct your attention?

A. After searching elsewhere on the vehicle, yes.

Q. Okay. By the way that VIN is stamped? ...Its in the dash... ...In black... ...Right there in black metal?...

A. Correct.

Q. The VIN itself is a BLACK number, just kind of raised?

A. Correct.

Boom. Buting had Nikole completely caught in a lie... a whopper too.

Here is the problem and Buting knew it. There weren't any evidentiary photos of the RAV4's VIN plate to discredit Nikole Sturm. Buting knew she was clearly lying about the VIN plates physical appearance... But he didn't have the exhibit to prove to the Jury that she was in fact telling a tall tale.

Why didn't the defense photograph the RAV4 themselves before the trial? Why did they rely on the meager and insufficient stock of LE photographs? This has bothered me for some time. At a simple request, the defense could have easily sent Conrad Betz and photographer over to Calumet to make their own photographic documentation of the RAV4 in question. Why didn't they? It boggles the mind!

They say hindsight is 20/20. Okay.... Fair enough!

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The calamities suffered by the Sturm's in trying to find and read a standard VIN plate:

• Pam forgot her glasses and couldn't read the VIN numbers.
• Pam forgot her camera and couldn't take pictures.
• Having Scott Bloedorn's camera on hand Nikole didn't take a picture of the VIN plate.
• Pam is a licensed Private Investigator but couldn't find the simple VIN plate on a standard vehicle.
• It was too cloudy... or, it was too dark outside at 10:30 in the morning to read the VIN number.
• The area where the RAV4 was "found" had a lot of "shrubbery" around it. Even though the surrounding shrubs and trees were leafless that late in the Wisconsin season.
• There was too much glare on the windshield to read the VIN number. Those clouds!
• Nikole was too short to see the VIN plate and read the VIN number correctly. The midget defense!
• The interior was black, the dashboard was black... the VIN plate and numbers were all black, so Nikole couldn't read the VIN number... because everything was BLACK!
• Nikole never mentions the VIN plate appearing to be moved and tampered with. But Dave Remiker does... and he let it slip out in his testimony on direct examination by Ken Kratz.

So much trouble in simply reading off some very easily accessible numbers from a standard issue VIN Plate!

The bullshit is overwhelming!

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• IMHO.... Buting walked Nikole Sturm straight into a flaming trap by having her testify that the VIN plate was all black and the raised alpha numeric code was all black. He knew the VIN plate wasn't black... yet he walked Nikole straight into the flames. It is obvious Nikole never looked at that VIN plate. She lied, on the stand about doing so... Her credibility was wounded. It is obvious in her testimony. It is obvious she doesn't know what she is talking about. The proof is in the pictures above.
• Incidentally right after Nikole Sturm's VIN plate testimony she suddenly suffers a massive case of amnesia, for she suddenly cant remember anything... Probably due to another one of Kratz's "finger across his lips "signals".
• The State is fighting Zellner tooth and nail to examine the RAV4 in question... that fateful day will certainly come soon enough!

I highly recommend reading Nikole Sturm's trial testimony. ((((( It's juicy )))))

Jerome Buting does an excellent job quite, frankly, of making Nikole Sturm's testimony not only sound silly, but unreliable and incredibly untrustworthy. For instance, She can't recall which way she approached the the driver's side door to read the VIN plate, from the rear of the car or the front?

There was only one pathway to the driver's side and that was from the rear of the car... How could one not remember such a memorable situation? Unless you weren't there at all. See what I am saying?

Rereading Nikole's entire testimony the takeaways for me were that:

• Nikole possibly wasn't present at all on the ASY that morning with her mom.
• If present, Nikole couldn't have been simultaneously giving statements to LE and watching the RAV4 at all times to ensure it wasn't being tampered with... and I mean why would that be a concern for her anyway if police were on the scene? Why would she suspect the police of tampering with the RAV4?
• Nikole Sturm never mentions that the VIN plate appeared to be moved or tampered with... But Remiker does.
• And, finally, why the hell did Pam Sturm offer up at the preliminary that Nikole had snuck the Bloedorn camera, under her shirt, into the salvage yard?.... So fucked up.

The concern over the RAV4 not being touched is over the top... Buting crushed that point home with his cross examination of Nikole.

Buting IMHO, skillfully filleted Nikole's unbelievable stories and had them memorialized on the record for posterity.... Well done, sir. Well done!

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[–]seekingtruthforgood

Recording of Pam Sturm's Full Dispatch Call

Here is the recording of Pam Sturm's full dispatch call to Calumet. I removed the Sturm phone number from the recording.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NDJeePOpQyKZJRoCxQhSR6Wws9JfjVnT

About this call, I actually produced a recording of the recording (so that I could remove the number.) If you hear anything odd, it's a result of me, not anything within the original call, which is a compilation of two tracks from Calumet's dispatch calls.

ETA: in the calls, there is another call from a female officer that is super interesting, just after Pam's call. It sounds like Baldwin. She's wondering why Mark is heading there with sirens. Dispatch says because they found the vehicle at Avery's. The female says, "yeah, I already knew that..."