ADRC of the Lakeshore ; Crime Stoppers ; Foster Care Program Children are also placed on death row at age 17. Examining the Hotchstetler case is important to understanding Ferak's theory about Bushman's conduct during the 2005 investigation into Teresa's disappearance, specifically regarding his time at the Kuss road cul-de-sac where a suspected burial site was discovered by Bushman's search team. People that are passing judgment on just the facts in that film, I think theyre way off base. So Bushman's decision was to conduct no follow-up on damaged car parts found at the scene of a hit and run homicide? Such a deviation from established protocol when collecting evidence of a crime is a strong indication of BAD FAITH, in this case the destruction / fabrication of evidence. He didn't run anyone over, however his negligence was so outstanding its fair to say he could have (Pg. If these. Vandedrinck, who was visiting the city for work, said he had seen four episodes and is skeptical of its portrayal of events. She was there at one point. You are unbelievable. If they had simply done their job properly when collecting those car parts, no one could make such claims. In a word, she said, she's hearingthe series called "ridiculous.". The film is definitely one sided, he said. Kocourek helped smooth things over after both Petersen and Bushman were involved with serious collisions in their squad cars in the 1980's. Unfortunately threats and intimidation are often effective. 151). By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Does Wisconsin know what JUSTICE is? "I had recently fell into a large sum of money and was thinking of moving to your county, but after what I saw concerning your departments cover-up and framing Steven Avery and his nephew, I was seriously taken aback. Next, an officer named Gxxx Schetter was appointed as Hermanns new Undersheriff. The Coroner at the time in 1981 (Mxxxx Cummings) claims Gina died from a head injury sustained in the crash of the motorcycles, and immediately goes on to say: A squad car later collided with the wreckage and the victim offering no further thoughts on the incident. The men were convicted in the 2005 homicide of 25-year-old freelance photographer Teresa Halbach. This petition calls for a federal investigation of the Sheriff's Offices of Manitowoc County and Calumet County, Wisconsin, regarding their handling of the Teresa Halbach investigation and their prosecution of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, as featured in the documentary entitled "Making a Murderer." We the people believe that justice has not been served by the counties' investigations and prose It appears statements were not taken from the two males involved with the initial collision (or were taken but not reported). Although Petersen's casual discussion about killing Steven Avery is notable and troubling, his most corrupt act related to the Halbach case would have to be his threatening of Coroner Kakatsch to stay away from the scene of Teresa's mutilation (obviously done to protect what he must have known was a frame job). He really is very lucky he didnt hit another vehicle or a pedestrian. Obligatory: Any factual inaccuracies are mine, not Ferak's. ", 15. Ricky's dad in particular was said to be frustrated and angry about this possibility. Part Two (How to Make Evidence Disappear) will focus on Bushman, the Hermann brothers, and the Ricky Hotchstetler hit and run vehicular homicide case. And justice was served.. Her criticism echoed thatof other residents, and the prosecutor and law enforcement involved in the case. The Hermann boys was saved, largely thanks to Bushman, although everyone helped, including then Sheriff Kocourek, who downright refused assistance from the Wisconsin State Patrol's Technical Crash Reconstruction Experts (Pg. I'll finish by reviewing how critical the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department was during the discovery, planting, re-discovery and recovery of the bones, and why it's reasonable to believe both the MCSD and Wisconsin DOJ were working together to cover up the truth of Teresa's death via obstruction of justice and the destruction of a crime scene. Manitowoc County is a county in the U.S. state of. What if Ricky's mom took photos? To be sure, I am not saying Mr. Avery was innocent, but, there was clear and convincing evidence, to me, of a massive amount of reasonable doubt which means he is innocent in this country. After the woman was struck by Petersen she was pronounced dead, however a coroner determined the death occurred before she was run over by police. Ricky's mother, however, was not so easily quieted. How sad for your countys image. After darkness fell tower lights were set up to ensure they collected all the remains, which were then transported and planted in Steven's burn pit (by Bushman, Lenk or Colborn). Justice is no longer served to all impartially, but abused and obstructed at will. "A decades long culture of cronyism and corruption in Manitowoc County Sheriffs Department sparked mistrust in the community and lead to three separate DOJ criminal investigations of the department for potential misconduct in office - Part Three: The Thin Blue Line and the Suicide.". WISN/YouTube. This presented a problem for the department because Hermann had already informed the press the striking vehicle was an older Chevy or Van, definitely not a newer vehicle (wink wink). Ferak's theory is not exactly new to us on TTM, but it's nevertheless toubling to think about. The moment a corrupt leader enters the picture the corruption slowly becomes the culture in that department. Barb Tadych and the Manitowoc County Sheriff Dept remain close, even after Tadych's move to sacrifice Brendan caused Tadych to criticize the cops, in regret. After the dog handlers were shooed away, MCSD officers Lenk and Colborn were called to the scene with Bushman. This is PART TWO in a three part series of posts concerning the troubling history of Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department as detailed by Jxxx Ferak in his book "Wrecking Crew." Obligatory: Any factual inaccuracies are mine, not Ferak's. Here is a link to PART ONE: Fuck-ups, Cover-ups and Promotions, largely concerning Sheriff Kocourek and his repeated promotions to inexperienced new hires . 150, 154) is that one of the Hermann brothers struck and killed Ricky and then kept on driving to the familys Salvage Yard in southern Manitowoc County where they crushed and then buried the vehicle responsible for causing Rickys death. 78). ", 14. Although he is not a very widely discussed figure, the Hermann father certainly left his mark on the department, and was directly responsible for creating the holy trinity of corruption, made up of Kocourek, Petersen and Bushman, very prominent figures in the Penny B, Ricky H and Teresa H cases, and extremely consequential figures to Steven Avery. 79-80). If the Avery case was in the state of Nebraska, the state of Iowa and the state of Illinois, I would have to say there would be a 98 percent chance Zellner would be successful in winning a new trial or getting Steven Avery's conviction overturned, primarily based on the Brady violation allegations she has raised. All rights reserved. Manitowoc County comprises the Manitowoc, WI Micropolitan Statistical Area. Bushmans accident was brought before the County's Accident Review Board, which quickly concluded no action would be taken, and that Sgt. Everything your pathetic county stands for is forever tarnished with the mockery of justice that was promulgated in that courtroom. Representatives of the Manitowoc County Historical Society, along with the Chamber of Manitowoc County, Manitowoc Area Visitor and Convention Bureau and other local leaders met Wednesday to discuss ways to bring a positive focus back to the community. If Petersen was willing to go that far God only knows what else happened that hasn't yet come to light. The retired Bushman, who had no prior involvement in the Halbach investigation, but was clairvoyant enough to show up bright and early on what turned out to be a critically important day. Many locals were unwilling to weigh inpubliclyon the series, but those who did are far less likely than outsiders to turn against officials anddont seem to give the series much weight. ", 9. Soon after the initial collision Officer Petersen sped by in his squad car and, due to the thick fog, literally ran over Gina while racing to a nearby bar to investigate claims of underage drinking. Now the boys had to come up with a way to reasonably dismiss these newly found car parts as being totally unrelated to Ricky's death, and as we can see below, it's painfully clear they were not up to the task (Pg. He . Ferak argues the more than three hours between the discovery of the site and the arrival of the crime lab deepens suspicion about whether incriminating evidence of a crime scene was being hauled away (Pg. However, as you can see from the link directly above, aerial photographs reveal tower lights were utilized after dark at the burial site, something that was never reported. Maybe the nightly news has been right all along: we live in a corrupt and violent world where not even small-town justice is free from corruption and agendas The city of Manitowoc and the state of Wisconsin should be ashamed of who was/is representing them and who was/is supposedly protecting its citizens. They dont look at the great things were doing.. Bushman should be issued a written reprimand relating to this accident. One of the reviewers on the ARB was officer Petersen, who (as we saw from above) was no stranger to minimizing blowback due to careless driving of squad cars. ", Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. After the rape victim was manipulated into identifying Steven as her attacker, Kocourek ordered PETERSEN and BUSHMAN to arrest Steven Avery for the attempted murder and false imprisonment he had reason to know was committed by Gregory Allen (Petersen and Bushman followed Kocourek's orders without question). Its flowing in pretty good yet," he said. It is sad to see for the world that the state of Wisconsin still lives in isolation and narrow-minded thinking. He pointed to the portrayal of Manitowoc County Sheriff's Sgt. MANITOWOC - The Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department, which has been accused of framing Steven Avery for a 1985 rape and planting numerous clues to convict Avery for the 2005 murder of. You all may have won a trial against one uneducated man, but you all have lost so much more. We were obviously nave in thinking that way.. It would be much too risky for MCSD to swap out these vehicle parts, as they didn't know how thoroughly the family had examined the wreckage. It turns out Bushman's family owned a hardware store in southern Manitowoc County (Pg. All evidence points towards the incompetence of your department I hope and pray your department and local police and that judge are found out, and YOU rot in jail. In PART ONE -. "John Ferak is an investigative journalist who is trying to figure out who committed the murder. '", 13. No accident reconstruction occurred, and no one asked Petersen exactly how fast he had been driving through the thick fog. As a result we are free to draw an adverse inference from their decision to not investigate the matter, which might indicate consciousness of potential culpability by Petersen. ", 12. Sheriff Petersen was still doing whatever he could to help cover up the truth from behind the scenes such as when he threatened Coroner Kakatsch with arrest if she tried to access the scene of Teresa's mutilation, as was required of her by statute. The "desired response" was received? So theres some transitive property here. Why? I could see him getting a dog or two and maybe becoming a rancher. I will also draw many connections between the Manitowoc County, Calumet County, and the DOJ in the interest of highlighting just how tangled this web is. Okay then. He pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay $225 in court costs. Readers are invited to contribute.Phone calls to the Manitowoc County District Attorney's office this morning were not successful. Apparently a social connection to the Hermann family did you wonders in Manitowoc County. Part one will focus on Sheriff Kocourek and Sheriff Petersen. First, they were aware the Coroner wanted to access the scene. IMO driving through an intersection and off the road at highway speed with your vehicle only coming to rest due an embankment is something youd expect from an intoxicated driver, not something youd expect from a sober officer driving his squad car. But still, "as far as the show goes, I wouldn't trust that guy. And of course, the crime lab reported nothing was found at the burial site. Not to myself but to members of our law enforcement community," Brey wrote. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, PART ONE: Fuck-ups, Cover-ups and Promotions. It's a grossly obstructive act that SCREAMS BAD FAITH. "Some of the emails, in my opinion, have been borderline threatening. I'll try to keep this as brief as possible and mainly focus on Bushman and Hermann's mishandling of crime scene evidence, which IMO was done not out of incompetence, but as an attempt by two corrupt officers to cover-up the truth of Ricky's death. Disgraceful. TL;DR: Manitowoc County's Culture of Corruption Both Petersen and Bushman were hired by MCSD with no prior experience in law enforcement, and both ended up being involved in serious collisions with their squad cars, collisions that were quickly swept under the rug by Sheriff Kocourek. At the time of Teresa's death, two Hermann brothers were steadily climbing the ranks. WOW! It is an honor to serve the citizens of Manitowoc County and to work with a dedicated staff of professionals. Manitowoc was likely panicked on November 10. Undersheriff in 2005; Sheriff by the time Avery stood trial in 2007 as well as upon release of MAM in 2015. This wasn't great for the boys, because as Ferak says, "the discovery of a genuine crime scene off Kuss road was not conductive to the: Steven Avery is a bloodthirsty-psychopathic-killing-machine' narrative that Ken Petersen wanted to gin up in the community, (Pg. As a result, rather than taking the lead role in 2005, Petersen distanced himself from the investigation into Teresa's disappearance by offering to pay for the investigation if another department took over - that department was Calumet County assisted by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation. huge amount of activity was directed at the Kuss road burial site on Nov 7, 2005. literally demolished what was apparently a critical crime scene. Like Bushman, Petersen was quickly hired despite his total lack of experience in LE. Making a Murderer fans will remember Ken Kratz as the special prosecutor brought in by Manitowoc County officials who convicted Steven Avery of Teresa Halbach's 2005 . And if it's true that Bushman and crew found and removed evidence of Teresa's death at the burial site, we must include Bushman, Lenk and Colborn in our list of suspects for who planted the bones in Steven's burn pit. There is no question defense attorneys did a good job to try and paint a negative picture and paint us in a negative light, but what theyre suggesting didnt happen.. I used to think of cranes when I heard the name Manitowoc, not anymore. Permanent Dropbox Locations: Manitowoc Police Department, 910 Jay St., from 7:30 AM to 4:30 PM Monday thru Friday It's hard not to be intrigued when you first learn MCSD discovered a burial site a half mile away from Steven's trailer the day before MCSD found bones in Steven's burn pit (nothing suspicious about that). Ferak is not a fan of either, but specifically notes that Kocourek's legacy with the Sheriffs Department was one synonymous with crookedness and corruption (Pg. Dog handlers were turned away after being lead to the site by their canines. Please know that your judicial system looks like you all are unethical, immoral and corrupt. Rot in hell," "You guys are corrupt," and "Im never setting foot in Wisconsin are just a few comments the sheriff's department received since the release. "Shocked seeing the Netflix series 'Making a Murderer.' Why would they collect critical evidence without properly tagging or taking photos? Here is a summary of Feraks examination of the incident, the resulting death, and the total lack of investigation into Petersen's potential culpability (Pg. I truly feel sorry for the residents of your county who will be judged according to the actions of a few. Let's shovel those bones into some boxes and garbage bags and carry on lads.". Was Bobby conducting those disturbing searches on the computer recovered from his room, or was it someone else? This solidified his family's position of power and influence in the community. "May God forgive the morally corrupt officers who participated in this case. At or around 10:30 a.m. Bushman's Group A discovered the burial site just off the Kuss Road cul-de-sac, not even a half mile from the Avery Salvage yard property boundary. Your entire county is FILLED with white trash idiots and you have the audacity to bully and pick on him all this after falsely imprisoning him for 18 of his prime years of his life. "[Making a Murderer] touched on some of my investigation and expert experiments but not in as much detail as the book. It's enough to convince me the case needs to be reviewed. Barbier said comments havent slowed down despite the departments efforts to redirect them. 2023 www.postcrescent.com. This is just kind of a blip in the history of the world. That the culture of corruption involving the key leaders at the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department is way more extensive than many people would realize from having just watched Making a Murderer. 163): "I (Sgt. 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