‘Making a Murderer’ Star Reporter on the Questions That Nag Him

Do you remember first hearing about Teresa’s disappearance?
I remember being there [in the NBC26 newsroom] with the fax came in. I remember holding it in my hand, looking at it and discussing it. And we had the resources to cover the story, so we were the first ones on the air with it.

What happened after the news of her disappearance broke?
The next major element in the story was actually broken by a competitor and, to this day, I’m not quite sure where the information came from. The next element of [the story] was that Steven Avery was the last person to have seen her, and that story was broken by WBAY-TV in Green Bay. And I remember we immediately called and confirmed it and had it on the air within a couple of minutes of when they had it on the air, but I want to know how they got that.

Why is the source important?
Because it raises the question of whether Steven Avery called them and told them he was the last one to see her, or did law enforcement call them and tell them that he was the one who had seen her? And the answer to that question — I don’t know if it’s worth anything. To some conspiracy theorist it might be.

How so?
It paints a picture, potentially, of the media environment in Green Bay at the time. Channel 2 in Green Bay was the legacy station that had primarily been number one through most of its existence, and to this day, they are pretty tight with the law-enforcement community. We [employees of the NBC affiliate] were mostly outsiders. They were insiders. We were more apt to ask really tough questions because we weren’t friends with people from elementary school who worked other jobs in that area. So there were some elements of stories that the NBC station was not able to break because we didn’t have entrenched friendships.

See 10 questions we still have about Making a Murderer below. Find out some of the answers and read more here.