Brendan Ray Dassey (born October 19, 1989) is an American prisoner from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, who was convicted of being a party to first-degree murder, mutilation of a corpse, and second-degree sexual assault. He was sentenced to life in prison with the earliest possibility of parole in 2048. A videotaped interrogation and confession when he was 16, which he recanted, was central to his trial. Parts were shown in the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer (2015). The series examined the 2005–2007 investigation, pretrial publicity, and trials of Dassey and his uncle, Steven Avery, who was convicted of murdering the photographer Teresa Halbach on October 31, 2005. No forensic trace of Dassey was found at any alleged crime scene.
After his conviction, Dassey's case was taken by the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth. In August 2016, a federal magistrate judge ruled that Dassey's confession had been coerced and overturned his conviction and ordered him released, which was delayed during appeal. In June 2017, a small panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed the magistrate judge's order overturning Dassey's conviction. In December 2017, the full en banc Seventh Circuit upheld Dassey's conviction by a vote of 4–3, with the majority finding that the police had properly obtained Dassey's confession.
Early life Brendan Ray Dassey was born in 1989 to Barbara and Peter Dassey in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. He lived with his three older brothers (Blaine, Bryan and Bobby), and an older half-brother (Brad) on his father's side. After his parents divorced when he was two, his father married Lori Mathieson, and they lived nearby. His mother married Tom Janda, who moved in until they separated in 2005 pending divorce. His mother started dating Scott Tadych.
Dassey lived in a trailer by Avery Auto Salvage in the town of Gibson, within the mailing area of Two Rivers. His grandparents, Allan and Dolores Avery, also lived in a trailer there, as well as uncles. The family often spent weekends at their cabins near Crivitz, Marinette County.
Dassey attended Mishicot High School, traveling on the school bus with his brother Blaine. Dassey was quiet and respectful to teachers. Dassey was enrolled in special education classes as well as some regular classes due to federal regulations. He was failing three courses. On school tests, his overall IQ classification would be either 'borderline deficiency' or 'low average'. On subtests, he was sometimes average in math and thinking, but his verbal IQ was in the very lowest category.
Dassey could read and speak intelligibly in sentences, a developmental milestone achieved between the ages of four and six. However, when Dassey was nearly sixteen, he was tested for range of language fundamentals, which included receptive and expressive language, verbal memory and social context - the results indicated that he performed at level of an average six to twelve year old. The school psychologist observed that he willingly engaged in speech and language therapy, and generally had minimal eye contact, gestures and vocal range. His school records show that he had a profound language-based learning disability.
His uncle Steven Avery, who had been in prison since before Brendan was born, was exonerated of a violent rape and released in September 2003, eventually moving into a trailer next door. There was a lot of media coverage and public support, but no parole officer, though several years of his sentence had also been for a violent crime he committed. After receiving minimal financial compensation, Avery was engaged in a multimillion dollar civil lawsuit against the Sheriffs and District Attorney, as well as a political process for an "Avery Bill" to regulate police handling of eyewitnesses and custodial interrogations.
Murder of Teresa Halbach
Photographer Teresa Halbach, 25, from St John in neighboring Calumet County, was reported missing by her parents on November 3, 2005. Halbach was known to have visited the Avery property in Manitowoc County on Monday, October 31, the day she worked for Auto Trader. Steven Avery had called Auto Trader in the morning requesting the same lady again, and Halbach had arrived around 2:35pm to photograph a red minivan parked outside. Avery kept a copy of the magazine that she would hand out at appointments. Bobby Dassey, who was also home alone, said he saw her from his window before he left. The last time Halbach's cell phone showed as active with Cingular was around 2:42pm, when an incoming call went to voicemail.Making a Murderer. Directed by Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos. Season One, Episode 2 (Mike Halbach) and 5 (Tony Zimmerman from Cingular), 2015. Netflix. http://www.netflix.com/title/80000770
On November 5, 2005, Halbach's Toyota RAV4 vehicle was discovered partially concealed on the Avery Salvage Yard. Calumet County Sheriffs obtained search warrants and, on November 7 and 8, Manitowoc County Sheriffs and others retrieved her charred electronics (cell phone, camera and personal digital assistant), license plates, car key and some burned bone fragments and clothing rivets. Some of the fragments were visually determined to be human on November 9 and 10, then one retrieved from storage gave a partial DNA profile matching Halbach. Blood found in the Rav4 on November 6 had since been matched to Halbach (cargo) and Avery (front). Avery had a cut on his right hand, which he said happened at Crivitz the day before Halbach's visit while handling sheet metal.
On November 15, Avery was charged with the murder of Halbach and mutilating the corpse. He was already under arrest since November 9, on a charge of felon in possession of a gun kept in his trailer. Shell casings had been found on his garage floor on November 6, but guns were fired regularly on the Avery property. In addition, novelty restraints had been found in Avery's trailer, and the media reported that the police suspected he planned to commit violent or sexual torture, though there was no forensic evidence.
Out of respect for the Halbach family, the Avery Bill, which had passed both houses of the legislature on November 1 but would not be signed into law until the end of the year, was now referred to as the Criminal Justice Reforms Bill.
Interrogations
November 2005
Brendan Dassey was in school in Mishicot when Halbach arrived at the Avery property. He arrived home around 3:40pm as usual, with his brother Blaine, and according to them he played on their PlayStation. Family members came and went throughout the evening.
Dassey was interviewed on Sunday, November 6, by Marinette County Sheriffs Deputies O'Neill and (Todd) Baldwin, in their squad car. Dassey mentioned in passing that the family had talked about having a bonfire for schoolkids on Thursday, November 3, but it was cancelled. After 20 minutes the officers became confrontational and suggested, based on information they believed at the time, that he should have seen Halbach when he arrived on the school bus on Monday, October 31. Dassey then talked about seeing her. Apart from that, when asked about the evening, he said Avery came by to get help to push a broken vehicle (Suzuki Samurai) into his detached garage. Avery, in a recorded jail call from his fiance around 9pm that day while outside, said he had brought Brendan over to help.Wisconsin Department of Justice, record of October 31, 2005 8:57pm jail call. 9:02pm: "And she wanted Brendan to do the dishes. And I took Brendan over here to help me. And then when we walked in there she looked at him, and I said, well I see Brendan's dishes are done."
Dassey was interrogated again on November 10, about a bonfire alleged by Bobby Dassey to have occurred at Avery's on November 2 or 1, which Dassey then talked about attending on November 1 or 2. These were crucial contributors to Dassey's later interrogations. Avery did not state any memory of Dassey being over that evening in any of his early interviews, but later when he started agreeing he had a fire on October 31, he said Dassey was with him.
February–March 2006 On February 27, DoJ DCI special agent Fassbender and Calumet Sheriff Deputy Wiegert went to Dassey's school and told him he was at a bonfire on October 31 (reportedly based on an unnamed witness), and they believed Halbach was burned there, so he would have seen body parts. After going through several stages of the adult Reid method of interrogation, including legalistic threats and promises, Dassey talked about seeing body parts in a fire on October 31. Bloody clothes were also suggested and talked about, explained as the result of an unwitnessed stabbing by Avery.
Dassey was taken with his mother to the police station, where he repeated such answers on video. They were then taken to a motel and, that night, interrogated about old bleach stains on Dassey's jeans, which was not recorded. The next day Dassey returned to school and home.
The following morning, March 1, he was taken from his school to the police station. A central issue was interrogators asking what Avery did to Halbach's head, because they knew a report had concluded that a skull fragment showed bullet marks. But after Dassey gave different answers, such as cut her hair, they told Dassey she was shot by asking who shot her in the head. Dassey replied that Avery shot her outside, then changed the location to the garage after prompting. There had been discussion about Halbach being dressed or not, and something else they said they knew was done to her, to which Dassey had replied that Avery said he raped her. Dassey said he didn't know where, but after being prompted about knowing she was alive, he recounted hearing screaming and going into Avery's trailer as he raped her, having a soda, and participating in rape. After being told he was there when she was killed, he said they stabbed her and Avery strangled her to death. The interrogators also introduced the idea that Avery raised the hood of her vehicle and for a reason to do with the engine.
Investigators could now obtain further search warrants, and reported finding two bullet fragments in Avery's garage, in addition to casings which were also found back in 2005. Although they jackhammered the concrete floor looking for blood, no trace of Halbach or Dassey was ever found there or in Avery's trailer. But the crime lab would find Halbach's DNA on one of the bullet fragments, in an uncommon test which could not be repeated despite a contaminated control sample.
Arrest and Press Overall, Dassey was interrogated on four occasions over a 48-hour period, including three times in a 24-hour time frame. He had no counsel or parent present, although Dassey and his mother consented to the interrogations, in which investigators made false promises to Dassey using approved interrogation techniques. He was interrogated via the Reid technique, which was developed to permit and encourage law enforcement officers to use tactics that pressure suspects to confess, whether true or false. Dassey had several of the traits which can make false confessions more likely. In the two interrogations at the police station, the officers asked 1,525 questions, 98% of them a type which contained and suggested content relating to the case.