Wisconsin inmate confesses to slaying at center of ‘Making a Murderer,’ filmmaker says

MANITOWOC, Wis. – A Wisconsin inmate has confessed to the murder of Teresa Halbach, according to the director of an upcoming documentary about the case made famous in the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer.

Shawn Rech, who’s currently working on a documentary called Convicting a Murderer, said the inmate confessed to killing Halbach, reports Newsweek. The inmate’s identity is unknown to the public because Wisconsin law enforcement hasn’t yet had access to the confession.

Rech told Newsweek that the inmate was not Steven Avery or Brendan Dassey, who’ve both been sentenced for Halbach’s murder while proclaiming their innocence. They’ve spent years trying to clear their names.

Dassey’s case made it to the Supreme Court, which denied him a new trial. Avery continues to go through the appeals process.

Rech told Newsweek the confession “came from a notable convicted murderer from Wisconsin.” If the confession is found to be authentic, it could lead to exoneration for Avery and Dassey.

Making a Murderer premiered on Netflix in 2015 and became a national sensation. It looked at evidence in the case as the two tried to prove their innocence. The second season debuted in 2018 and chronicled further efforts of both Avery and Dassey to fight their convictions.

Rech’s Convicting a Murderer is currently in production, according to IMDB. The series is a sequel of sorts to the original and is set to be released next year, although the streaming platform hasn’t yet been determined.