Making A Murderer Season Two: Burning questions we want answered from the new Netflix episodes

Natasha Sporn19 October 2018

True-crime drama fans can rejoice as Making A Murderer Part Two is now available on Netflix, exploring a new phase of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey’s stories.

The 10-episode run will provide an in-depth look at the post-conviction stage, introducing new people to the audience working tirelessly to get to the bottom of Avery’s case and what happened to Teresa Halbach.

Meanwhile, Dassey’s story will also be cast into the spotlight as his team, who worked tirelessly to prove his confession was involuntary, feature prominently in the documentary.

Dassey’s conviction was overturned in 2016 but his release from prison was blocked earlier this year when the Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

Part two: Steven Avery's story continues
Netflix

The bulk of the first series followed what the directors Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos believe to be the wrongful imprisonment of Avery for the murder of photojournalist Halbach. Avery had previously served 18 years in jail for sexual assault but was exonerated with DNA evidence in 2001.

And it wasn’t just the writers and directors who cast aspersions over the new charges, with Internet conspiracy theorists going into overdrive when the first series landed on Netflix several years ago.

And now Part Two is finally here, there are some questions we’d like answers to and what to expect from the second part…

Why did Halbach’s housemate never report her missing?

Halbach had been living with a man named Scott Bloedorn at the time of her death. Some reports say that he was her boyfriend while others claim it was a sexual arrangement.

Regardless, the first series neglected to go into much, if any, detail about her roommate and why he never reported her missing at first. Of course, it is possible that Bloedorn didn’t think not seeing her for a few days was anything out the ordinary but there are question marks over why he never featured more prominently in the episodes.

Brendan Dassey led out of a courthouse in 2006.
AP

How important is the sweat DNA?

Sweat found on the latch of the boot of Halbach’s car, which was later found to have blood on it, has been a persistent sticking point around the case – does this put Avery at the scene of her car and, if so, why was he there?

Or is it possible the sweat was planted in some way, along with blood? This is certainly the line Avery’s defence team, Jerry Buting and Dean Strang, took throughout the first series after discovering a blood sample from his first criminal case had had a seal broken

What happened to Halbach’s voicemails?

During the trial shown in the first series, Halbach’s brother Mike testified that her voicemail mailbox had been full. But it was later pointed out that if people were finding it full, and then people were calling and not finding it full then some messages must have been disappeared somehow.

Mike, who said that he might know the password to her inbox, denied deleting them and Avery has maintained all along that he didn’t even know the password and did not alter her inbox. Halbach’s ex-boyfriend Ryan Hillegas also said that he knew how to access her account.

So, are there missing messages? And, if so, how did they go missing?

Pictured: Kathleen Zellner
Netflix

Did Avery and Dassey do it?

We mean, we know this is *that* question that spawned it all really but it’s still one worth asking. There is a lot of evidence on both sides of the arguments, and it’s important to remember that Halbach did lose her life and does have a family and friendship network devastated by what happened.

Avery and Dassey have protested their innocence from day one and still continue to do so – did they do it? Or are there other suspects, with another culprit?

Evidence: Will here be new DNA evidence?
Netflix

What to expect from Making A Murderer Part Two

While the first part of the documentary from Ricciardi and Demos explored the two linked cases, the second run of episodes will focus on post-conviction and introduce new teams.

Avery’s post-conviction lawyer Kathleen Zellner – who has righted more wrongful convictions that any private attorney in America - is at the centre of a lot of the series, working tirelessly to get to the bottom of the case and exonerate her client.

The show also follows Dassey’s lawyers Laura Nirider and Steven Drizin with Northwestern University’s Centre on Wrongful Convictions of Youth as they work on his case, a fight leading all the way to the Supreme Court.

Making A Murderer Part II is available on Netflix on Friday October 19.

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