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New Book Reveals Harrowing Steven Avery Allegations

Amelia Jones

Published 
| Last updated 

New Book Reveals Harrowing Steven Avery Allegations

Featured Image Credit: Netflix

This article contains details of animal torture which some readers may find distressing.

Steven Avery, the subject of Netflix docuseries Making A Murderer, allegedly burned his pet cat to death by dousing it with petrol before throwing it on a bonfire twice, police files reveal.

The sadistic act was downplayed in the hit Netflix documentary but the book claims it "signposted" him as a future killer.

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The grim details, which were not allowed at his trial, have now been published by Michael Griesbach in his book: Indefensible: The Missing Truth About Steven Avery, Teresa Halbach And Making a Murderer.

Michael, a former prosecutor who actually helped to overturn Steven's prior wrongful sex attack conviction, is convinced he is guilty of murdering Teresa Halbach after he was released in 2003.

He accuses the Netflix documentary makers of 'deliberately leaving out vital evidence' to make Steven appear to be the victim of a second miscarriage of justice.

The former prosecutor explained he was shocked at how they glossed over Steven's past violent crimes, including ramming a mum and baby with his car and holding the mother at gunpoint.

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Steven dismissed his known act of animal torture, saying: "Another mistake I did... I had a bunch of friends over, and we were fooling around with the cat.

Making a Murderer
Making a Murderer

"And I don't know, they were kind of negging it on and... I tossed him over the fire... and he lit up.

"I was young a stupid and hanging around with the wrong people."

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He also complained about being in custody for the act, because it caused him to miss the birth of his daughter.

Michael said police reports portray a different man to the characterisation of Steven in the Netflix documentary.

He writes: "The police report stated that Avery took a cat, poured gas and oil on it, threw it in a bonfire, and then watched it burn until it died.

Steven Avery
Steven Avery
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"A friend who was present told police that the cat jumped out of the fire, and Avery caught it and poured more gasoline on it before the animal died.

"Thousands of Netflix viewers would never know that Avery intentionally threw a cat in a fire and watched it burn and suffer a miserable death."

He continued that a then 20-year-old Steven: "[managed] to score two of the most common psychological signposts for potential homicidal behaviour - animal cruelty and a fascination with fire - into a single act."

Almost 25 years later, prosecutors were unable to admit details of the cat burning in Steven's trial for the murder of Teresa - who was also burnt on a fire.

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'Making A Murderer' Lawyer Kathleen Zellner Shares New Information About Steve Avery Case
'Making A Murderer' Lawyer Kathleen Zellner Shares New Information About Steve Avery Case

Prosecutors addressed the court: "The jury must be allowed to consider the vicious and cold-hearted torture and death of Avery's cat" because of its "striking similarity [to the] object of Avery's torture on a bonfire.

"[His] sadistic personality... is highly relevant to whether he killed Teresa and mutilated her body after she died."

The judge would not allow those details, nor the fact that he beat, strangled and threatened to kill his girlfriend after his release from jail, to be admitted to the trail for Teresa's murder.

Steven's predilection for extreme bondage porn and his expressed desire to murder women in a torture chamber were also kept out of the courtroom, the book claims.

The judge also blocked allegations that Steven groomed and raped his 17-year-old niece after threatening to burn down her family home.

Steven spent 18 years in jail after his wrongly conviction for a brutal sex attack on a jogger in Wisconsin, US.

He was awarded £28million in compensation but was arrested for the murder of Teresa Halbach just days later.

Making A Murderer suggests police wrongly pursued him over the 2005 murder of photographer, Teresa.

Her charred bone fragments were found in a pit near Steven's salvage yard.

Steven Avery
Steven Avery

He was jailed for life in 2007 along with his then 16-year-old nephew Brendan Dassey, who said he helped his uncle rape, stab, shoot and dismember the victim, but later retracted his 'confession'.

Lengthy appeals followed both their convictions.

Prosecutor in the trial, Ken Kratz, wrote a bombshell book on the case called 'Avery', in which he hit out at the Netflix show's producers.

He accused them of "shamefully" omitting key evidence and presenting a one-sided view of the case.

Topics: TV News, TV Entertainment

Amelia Jones
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