Most people who binge-watched Netflix’s new crime documentary Making A Murderer have a pretty long list of parts that stuck out to them as extremely fishy. The whole case was pretty wonky from the start (especially that against 16-year-old Brendan Dassey), but there were some moments that just beggared all belief. The RAV4 key that miraculously turned up on the seventh search of Steven Avery’s trailer. Brendan Dassey getting walked through a false confession step by step by his own defense attorney’s investigator.
And then there’s the part where Manitowoc County Sheriff Andrew Colborn inexplicably called in the license plate number of murder victim Teresa Halbach’s vehicle days before it turned up on Avery’s property.
The way it played out on Making A Murderer certainly made it look like Colborn found the missing vehicle and was standing in front of it reading the license plate off when he called it in. That’s a pretty damning accusation that – if true – pretty much proves the Manitowoc Sheriffs Department effectively framed Steven Avery. The whole thing was suspicious as hell, especially since no convincing explanation was ever provided for it. Well, CNN Money just spoke to Manitowoc County Sheriff Robert Hermann, and he offered up this one:
“He did not have the vehicle in front of him. He had a plate number that was given to him by the Calumet County Sheriff’s office,” he told CNNMoney.
Why did the officer also have the car type?
“That’s common practice, to run the plate and have that information on a teletype. A lot of times, it’s attached to a report if there’s a report on it,” Hermann said. “The other thing is that Calumet county … also knew that one of her last stops was in Manitowoc county.”
This is where it’s hard for people without law enforcement experience to make definitive calls on stuff like this. Does it make sense that a cop from another county would give Colborn Teresa Halbach’s vehicle information? Yeah. Does it make sense that Colborn would then radio in to verify that information? I dunno.
Manitowoc County Sheriff Robert Hermann goes on to say he felt “justice was served and [Avery] was convicted and is guilty.” Mistakes were made, he admits, but “overall, it was handled very well.”
As someone who watched in frustration as the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department repeatedly injected themselves into an investigation they weren’t supposed to be participating in, I would have to disagree. There would be very little left in terms of compelling documentary arguments if they had just butted out like they were supposed to – like it was announced at the start of the case that they would.
