Man confesses to the killing at the centre of Netflix show 'Making A Murderer'

Ben Arnold
·Contributor
FILE - In this March 13, 2007 file photo, Steven Avery listens to testimony in the courtroom at the Calumet County Courthouse in Chilton, Wis.Avery convicted of first-degree intentional homicide in a case featured on the Netflix series "Making A Murderer" has once again been denied a new trial. Avery's request was rejected Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017 by Sheboygan County Circuit Judge Angela Sutkiewicz. Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey were sentenced to life in prison for the 2005 slaying of Teresa Halbach. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, Pool, File)
Steven Avery (Credit: AP Photo/Morry Gash)

A man serving a prison term in Wisconsin has confessed to the crime at the centre of the controversial Netflix documentary series Making A Murderer.

Shawn Rech, the director of the forthcoming follow up series Convicting A Murderer, says that inmate Joseph W. Evans Jr came forward to speak to the filmmakers, wanting to further incriminate Steven Avery, the man convicted of killing Teresa Halbach in 2005, reports USA Today.

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However, Evans then confessed to the crime instead.

Avery wrongfully served 18 years in prison for the attempted murder and sexual assault of a woman in 1985, despite having an alibi.

He was then brought into the investigation of the murder of Halbach, which happened close to his salvage yard in Wisconsin, and was jailed in 2007, along with his nephew Brendan Dassey, despite claims from his legal team that evidence had been tampered with.

FILE - In this April 16, 2007, file photo, Brendan Dassey appears in court at the Manitowoc County Courthouse in Manitowoc, Wis. A sequel to the popular "Making a Murderer" documentary series recounting the story of Dassey, and his uncle, Steve Avery, who were convicted in the 2005 slaying of Wisconsin photographer Teresa Halbach, is set to premiere Oct. 19, 2018, on Netflix. The sequel, "Making a Murderer 2," will follow their appeals. (Dan Powers/The Post-Crescent, Pool, File)
Brendan Dassey (Credit: Dan Powers/The Post-Crescent)

The documentary was later criticised for leaving out vital evidence that incriminated Avery, in order to bolster the argument of his supposed innocence.

But in this latest twist, now there's another name in the frame for Halbach's murder.

Rech told USA Today: “We set up a prison call to challenge (Dassey) and try and debunk his statements, and rather than support his statements, he abandoned them and confessed.”

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However, Rech has offered caveats to the confession from Evans, which has not yet been legally verified.

"On the 'no' side, [Evans is] a proven liar; he himself has proven he’s a liar,” Rech went on.

“He’s a convicted felon. On the 'possibly' side, he’s a convicted murderer in the state of Wisconsin, he was free at the time of (Halbach's) murder, so I don’t know.”

Rech says he began work on the follow up series 20 months ago, and has been in contact with Brendan Dassey for 18 months.

Many believed Dassey to be innocent, but is still serving a life sentence.

Convicting A Murderer is set to air next year.

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