Update on Missing Wisconsin Woman, Teresa Halbach, 25
Teresa Halbach is still a missing person but her disappearance has now resulted in Steven Avery's arrest on unrelated firearms charges and what the Avery family calls a "round-up" of family to submit DNA and other evidence.
Calumet County Sheriff Jerry Pagel said "significant" evidence was gathered in the past 24 hours at Avery Salvage Yard in northern Manitowoc County. He said the State Crime Lab believes evidence it's analyzing is human in origin, but he would not be more specific. "Those investigative leads have been quite serious and quite substantial," special prosecutor Ken Kratz said. Authorities would not say if they believe the 25-year-old Calumet County woman is still alive.
Avery was arrested at his brother Earl's house on County Highway Y in Manitowoc County. Steven Avery was on the phone with a reporter from our ABC affiliate in Milwaukee when he told the reporter he was being arrested, then police took his phone away.
Kratz said Avery is charged with being a felon on possession of a firearm. A criminal complaint says a .22-caliber semi-automatic rifle and .50-caliber black powder muzzle loader were found in the bedroom of a trailer at 12932 Avery Road, along with magazines addressed to Steven Avery, leading investigators to believe he was staying in that trailer. They also found eleven spent shell casings in a garage.
Kratz would not comment on whether the weapons may be significant evidence in what happened to Halbach. Investigators arrived at Earl Avery's home and quickly took out a case of guns.
They arrested Steven and later took his brother into custody. Chuck Avery, another brother, told Action 2 News he was picked up at his daughter's home and was being taken for fingerprinting, but he said he was not under arrest. Steven's sister Barbara, his two adult nephews, and his parents, Alan and Delores, were also taken into custody Wednesday.
Steven's niece says the fact that he had a firearm doesn't make him a murder suspect. "He was in possession of them no matter what, where they were -- in arm's reach or hidden in a closet -- so I think this is just a bunch of baloney," Carla Avery said.
Wednesday's arrest is not related to a 1985 rape and attempted murder that Avery was wrongfully convicted of and imprisoned for. Avery was convicted of crimes in the 1980s including burglary, and was accused of running a deputy sheriff's wife off the road at gunpoint and telling her to get in his car.
Kratz said he was "not comfortable" having a convicted felon on the street knowing another felony might have been committed. "Investigators brought this information on what was found to my attention. Mr. Avery is a convicted felon. Because he's a convicted felon, he's not allowed to possess firearms," Kratz said.
Kratz said he obtained search warrants ordering members of the Avery family to submit DNA and other evidence to compare to evidence found during the search for Halbach. "That DNA material includes blood and saliva. It also includes a search for fingerprints and palm prints. We hope that the search for matches in that kind of evidence will continue to further this investigation," Kratz said.
Steven Avery was one of the last people to see Teresa Halbach before she disappeared October 31st. Her SUV was found last weekend on the property of Avery Auto Salvage, their family business. Avery has said Halbach, a professional photographer, took photos of a van he was selling in Auto Trader magazine, as she had many times before, then left.
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