Had Scott, Barb, Blaine and Bobby, pictured above as the guilty verdict was read at Brendan's trial, told the truth in their statements and testimonies (better yet, had they consulted an attorney and invoked their Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination), Brendan, and perhaps Steven, would not have gone to prison for crimes against Teresa Halbach.
"Mr. Kratz is well-aware that other individuals lied about their contacts with Ms. Halbach on 10/31". - Kathleen Zellner's statement to Dateline, February 2017On November 5, 2005, when police took control of the Avery property, Blaine and Brendan Dassey's bus driver told police that at 3:40 p.m. on October 31st, when she dropped off the brothers, she saw a woman taking pictures of a van parked at the intersection of Avery Road and the shared driveway leading to the homes of Barb Janda and Steven Avery.
Also on November 5th, DCI agent Kim Skorlinski contacted Barb Janda, who agreed to bring Blaine to the Cedar Ridge Restaurant in Maribel so that they could "ask him a few questions that had to be clarified" (CASO page 282). At 5:00 p.m., CASO deputy Wendy Baldwin and DCI agent Skorlinski "made contact with Blaine." Skorlinski wrote a report on their contact with Blaine; however, this report was not entered into evidence at Avery's trial.
The following map of the property must have been drawn by Blaine during his interview on November 5th, although it was included in the DCI report of his second interview on November 7th, and the date of the map was changed.
During cross examination at Avery's trial, Strang asked Blaine about the interrogation at Cedar Ridge Restaurant (page 103), but Strang misrepresented this meeting as having taken place on November 15th:
Q. The Cedar Ridge Restaurant?
A. Yes.
Q. Over in Maribel, near you?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. Was your mom there for that?
A. Yes.
Q. Just you and your mom?
A. Yup.
Q. And then a couple of officers or agents?
A. Yes.
Q. And did you guys sit across the table from the agents, in the restaurant?
A. Yes.
Q. Did there come a time in that discussion between you and your mom and the agents, when the agents sort of got in your face a little bit?
A. Yes.
Q. What were they doing to get in your face?
A. They were arguing.
Q. They were arguing?
A. Yes.
Q. They raised their voices?
A. Yes.
Q. They got angry?
A. Yes.
Q. They accused you guys of not accepting that Steve was guilty, didn't they?
A. Yes.
Q. They accused you of embarrassing yourselves by believing in your uncle, didn't they?
A. Yes.
Q. They tried to convince you that Steven Avery was guilty, didn't they?
A. Yes.
Q. And they got loud about it, at the restaurant?
A. Yes.
Q. And then they stomped off and left you there, when you wouldn't turn on your uncle, didn't they?
A. Yes.
Q. And that was back in November 15 of 2005.
A. Yes.
ATTORNEY STRANG: That's all I have.
Two days later, on November 7, 2005, at 10:11 a.m., Agents Debra Strauss and Lisa Wilson of Wisconsin DOJ, Division of Criminal Investigation, interviewed Blaine Dassey at the home of his boss, Michael Kornely, where he had been staying since November 4th (trial exhibit 355).
On November 7th, Blaine told the DCI agents Strauss and Wilson that he did not see anyone or any vehicle that did not normally belong in the driveway when he and Brendan got off the bus and together walked directly to their house on October 31st. He explained that a red and black Blazer and a Monte Carlo/Grand Prix were parked at the mailboxes, where the school bus driver picks them up and drops them off. He said he did not see Steven Avery when he got off the bus. He said that Bobby was sleeping in his bedroom when they got home, and that them coming home woke Bobby up.
Blaine said he listened to the message that Teresa Halbach left on their answering machine. He recalled her saying that she would be at their residence to take pictures between 1:00 and 2:00 p.m., and he recalled that she left a callback number to reschedule if necessary. Blaine said that Barb had placed ads in AutoTrader in the past, the most recent being for a black Lincoln.
Blaine said he was picked up by a friend's mother at 5:20 p.m. to go trick-or-treating and that he returned at approximately 9:30 p.m. He said when he got home, Barbara, Bobby and Brendan were inside and awake. He said he went to bed shortly after he got home, sometime between 9:30 and 10:00 p.m. He said he didn't recall anything unusual happening that evening after he went to bed.
Blaine said he didn't recall anyone using the burn barrels that day. He said that the last time he recalled anyone using the burn barrels was Thursday, November 3rd.
When asked if there were any bonfires the week of October 31st, Blaine said there weren't any.
The DCI agents asked Blaine "if he had seen any media coverage of the missing woman, including her name and picture of her vehicle." He said that he had "but these photos did not help Blaine recall having seen Halbach or her vehicle before."
Blaine was questioned about the Suzuki and snowmobile in the garage. He was asked to describe in detail the trailer that had been used to transport the Skidoo snowmobile from Crivitz to the Avery property.
Blaine was asked if he recalled Steven coming to the house and asking for assistance in moving a Suzuki or a snowmobile into the garage. Blaine said he did not. Blaine said if Steve would have made such a request, Blaine would have remembered
Blaine asked if he could describe where the gray Suzuki was normally kept. Blaine responded that for the last week or two, this Suzuki was parked on the side of Steve's garage closest to Blaine's house. Blaine said he thought Steve's plan was to fix the Suzuki so Blaine's grandpa, Allen Avery, could take it to the cabin in Crivitz. [This could be interpreted as the Susuki being parked on the east of the garage, inside or outside.]
Blaine was asked where the Suzuki currently was located. Blaine said he thought it was still parked next to Steve's garage. [This could be Fassbender twisting Blaine's words by using the word "next" when Blaine could have said it was still parked on the side of the garage closest to his house.]
Blaine was asked what he knew about Steve's snowmobile. Blaine responded Steve brought this snowmobile back from his grandpa's cabin about one week ago. Blaine was with Steve when Steve did this. According to Blaine, the snowmobile was put on a trailer and brought back home. Blaine did not help Steve unload this trailer because the snowmobile had been left on the trailer. As of the week of 10/31/2005, Blaine thought the snowmobile was still on the trailer. [Steve brought the Suzuki home on 10/30 from someone named Tim, and he also brought the snowmobile home from Crivitz on 10/30.]
Blaine was asked to describe the trailer. Blaine described this trailer as approximately 14' long, black metal with a drop ramp, and approximately 2' sides. Blaine said this trailer is capable of hauling two snowmobiles. This trailer is actually Barb's trailer and usually sits [sic] on the left side of Barb's garage.
The two DCI agents returned on November 11th to re-interview Blaine about any bonfires the week of October 31st. Blaine said he was "supposed to have a girl over to his house for a bonfire" but the "bonfire never took place" because the girl said "she did not want to come out for a bonfire."
To summarize, Blaine was questioned on November 5th, 7th and 11th.
During cross examination of Blaine at Avery's trial, Strang was mistaken about an interview occurring on November 15th (page 83). There was an interview on November 5th at Cedar Ridge Restaurant (unless Baldwin misrepresented the date in her report on CASO page 282, and this interview actually occurred on November 15th and not November 5th).
Q. Good morning.
A. Good morning.
Q. I'm going to call you Mr. Dassey, even though you-- I guess you are 18 now, you turned 18?
A. Yes.
Q. Since this is a little bit of a formal place; do you mind if I address you as Mr. Dassey?
A. Yes.
Q. Yes, you do mind?
A. Or no.
Q. All right. Mr. Dassey, you have been approached by the police a number of times, I think, since October 31, 2005, haven't you?
A. Yes.
Q. Started probably a week later, on November 7?
A. Yes.
Q. And on November 11?
A. Yes.
Q. November 15?
A. Yes.
Q. And times after that, right?
A. Yes.
Q. Right up through today, when you talked to Mr. Fassbender during the break?
A. Yes.
Q. And the police have asked you the same questions over, and over, and over, about October 31, haven't they?
A. Yes.
Q. You give them an answer?
A. Yes.
Q. And if they don't like the answer, they ask you again?
A. Yes.
Other than the excerpts of testimony above, Blaine outright lied at Avery's trial (page 52). Blaine caved into pressure from Scott and Barb to change his original statements to match the State's narrative. Kratz wrote the script, which he rehearsed with Blaine prior to Avery's trial. Blaine followed Krtatz's script when he testified, but his performance wasn't flawless.
The following are Blaine's lies about October 31st during direct examination by Kratz.
1. The bus dropped him off at 3:40 (he originally said the bus drops him off between 3:30 and 4:00 p.m.).
2. He got home from trick-or-treating at 11 p.m. (he originally said he got home at 9:30 p.m.).
3. As he was walking from the bus stop to his home, at 3:46 or 3:47 p.m., he saw Steven bringing a plastic bag to his burning barrel (he originally said he didn't see Steven that day).
4. When Steven threw the plastic bag into barrel, there was smoke and flames coming out of the barrel (he originally said he didn't see Steven that day, he didn't see anyone using burn barrels that day, and burn barrels were used on November 3rd).
5. When he got home at 11 p.m. he saw one person, who he believed to be Steven, sitting and watching a bonfire with four to five foot flames behind his garage. (He orginally said that he got home at 9:30 p.m., and that when he got home he didn't see anyone outside; he also originally said he hadn't seen Steven that day and that there weren't any bonfires that day or that week.)
6. When he got home at 11 p.m. he went to bed in the bedroom he shared with Brendan, but Brendan wasn't in the bedroom (he originally said that when he got home at 9:30 p.m., Barb, Brendan and Bobby were inside, and then he went to bed by 10 p.m.).
7. At 3:45 p.m. he saw the Suzuki parked on the "right side, outside of the garage" (he originally said that for the last week or two, this Suzuki was parked on the side of Steven's garage closest to Blaine's house, meaning the inside of the garage).
8. Kratz, knowing that Blaine screwed up, used a diagram to have Blaine point out where the Suzuki was parked, and Kratz clarified for the jury that Blaine is "pointing to the outside of what would be Steven Avery's garage, just to the left side." (Fassbender twisted Blaine's words in his report of Strauss and Wilson's November 7th interview with Blaine, writing that "when asked where the Suzuki currently was located, Blaine said he thought it was still parked next to Steve's garage." However, Blaine hadn't said it was "parked next to Steve's garage;" he said it was "parked on the side of Steven's garage closest to Blaine's house.")
9. He also noticed a snowmobile outside, parked in "back of, behind the Suzuki." (He originally said Steven had towed the snowmobile from his grandpa's cabin about one week ago, on October 30th, and that the snowmobile had been left on the trailer. He also said that as of the week of October 31st, he thought the snowmobile was still on the trailer.) Kratz stopped at this point to add the following:
Q. Now, I'm just asking you about your observations, Blaine, I don't know -- I don't care who you talked to, or what somebody might have said, but just what you saw with your own eyes, okay?10. Because Blaine, when asked twice before about the burn barrel, didn't say, as he had rehearsed with Kratz, that he saw white smoke, which would be the color of smoke if plastic were burning, Kratz asked him a third time about the burn barrel:
A. Okay.
Q. Do you remember seeing, with your own eyes, or remembering your own observations, whether or not that Suzuki and that snowmobile were moved somewhere else, at some point after the 31st of October?
A. I'm not sure, no.
Q. Okay. You just remember the 31st, that they were next to the garage; is that right?
A. Yes.
Q. Now, can you describe for the jury the smoke or anything else that you saw coming out of that burn barrel when you got home that day?
ATTORNEY STRANG: Asked and answered, twice.
ATTORNEY KRATZ: I want him to describe, if he can, I want to know if he can describe the color, or if there were flames, or more descriptive of what he saw, Judge. That has not been answered.
ATTORNEY STRANG: It's been asked and answered, twice.
THE COURT: I know the question has been answered if there was something coming out of it. I don't remember if there was a request for a description, so I will allow the question.
Q. (By Attorney Kratz)~ If you remember, Blaine, do you remember anything coming out of that burn barrel?
A. Yeah, white smoke.(Blaine originally said there weren't any fires in burn barrels that day.)
The screenshots above and below are from CASO's November 4th flyover of the Avery property. Many portions of the recording seemed to be intentionally blurred, especially the areas in front of Avery's truck and Barb Janda's shed, where Avery parked the trailer after returning it to Barb. Are the trailer and Skidoo snowmobile parked between Avery's truck and the garage overhead door in the screenshots above and below?
The flyover video from November 4th is blurred but there appears to be something between Avery's truck and his garage overhead door (image above). That something could be the Skidoo snowmobile on the trailer Avery borrowed from Barb to haul the snowmobile from Crivitz to his home on October 30th. That snowmobile on the trailer would have been blocking the garage overhead door, preventing anyone from pushing the Suzuki outside the garage, as the State claims was done to make room for Teresa's RAV4 on October 31st.
Avery's truck was parked to the side of his garage overhead door when law enforcement commandeered the property on November 5th (Steven and other family members were at the family cabin in Crivitz). The trailer used to tow the Skidoo snowmobile from Crivitz to the Avery property on October 30th had been parked, with the Skidoo still on it, in front of Avery's garage overhead door. Prior to November 4th, Avery had moved the Skidoo inside his garage and moved the trailer, which belonged to Barb, beside her home.
On October 30th, Avery used Barb Janda's trailer and his Ford truck to tow a Skidoo snowmobile from Crivitz to the Avery property. According to Blaine, he was with Steven when he towed it on October 30th; and during the week of October 31st, it was still on the trailer as far as he could remember (Blaine stayed at the home of his boss November 4-12th). Avery had moved the Skidoo off the trailer and into his garage prior to the evening of November 4th, and then returned the trailer to Barb, moving it to the side of her home.
The image above is from a flyover video taken by a drone on October 31, 2016. The large yellow box at the bottom of the image is the turnaround on Avery Road, near the mailboxes, where the school bus driver dropped off the Dassey brothers. The tiny pink box at the top of the image is where the minivan that Teresa photographed was parked on October 31, 2005. The distance is about 1000 feet or 333 yards (the length of about three football fields). The school bus driver said she saw Teresa taking pictures of a van by the mailboxes (the yellow box); however, the van that Teresa photographed was parked in the long, shared driveway between Steven Avery and Barb Janda's homes (the pink box).
Screenshot of a 2016 drone flyover of the Avery property.
In the image above, the spot where the bus driver picked up and dropped off the Dassey brothers is marked with the yellow box. It is at the end of Avery Road, where it intersects with the long shared driveway to Barb and Steven's homes. The spot where Barb's van was parked on October 31st, and the days that followed, is marked with the pink box.
On November 5th, the day police took over the Avery property, the bus driver for the Dassey brothers approached law enforcement at barriers on HWY 147 and County Road Q (she walked there from her home on County Road Q). She told them that on October 31st around 3:40 p.m. she saw a women, who she thought was Teresa, talking pictures at the spot where she dropped off the Dassey brothers. She gave a statement to Wiegert two days later, on November 7th, and clearly stated that it was at the intersection of Avery Road and the long, shared driveway where she saw Teresa taking pictures of a van. But the van was not parked at the spot. It was parked down the shared driveway, near Steven's trailer.
The bus driver was mistaken. She did not see Teresa on October 31st. She may have seen a women taking pictures of a vehicle parked at the mailboxes since there was a red and black Blazer, along with a Monte Carlo/Grand Prix, for sale on that day; or she saw Teresa taking pictures three weeks earlier, on October 10th, when she came to the Avery property to photograph the Grand Prix that Steven wanted to sell. Steven said Teresa usually came between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m., so it is likely the bus driver never saw Teresa at any time or on any day because she dropped off the boys between 3:30 and 3:45 p.m.
