IT WAS the true crime series that gripped Netflix viewers far and wide when it debuted in December 2015 but has the case at the centre of Making A Murderer finally been solved?
In 2005, Steven Avery was arrested and charged with the murder of Teresa Halbach.
His nephew, Brendan Dassey, was later arrested and charged in 2006 as an accessory to the murder, based largely on a controversial confession obtained while in police custody.
Avery has always maintained his innocence while much of Making A Murderer has centred on some of the more dubious aspects of the case against him.
Massey, for example, claims his confession was coerced.
While both men remain behind bars and face lengthy sentences, fresh hope has emerged following a report from Newsweek indicating another inmate has confessed to the Halbach murder.
According to the report, an unidentified Wisconsin prisoner confessed to the crime in an interview recorded by the filmmakers behind an upcoming Netflix spin-off series titled Convicting A Murderer.
The show’s director Shawn Rech has been keen to stress to Newsweek that they cannot confirm the “legitimacy of the confession” until police have conducted a thorough investigation.
Rech said: “Seeing as it was given by a notable convicted murderer from Wisconsin, we feel responsible to deliver any and all possible evidence to law enforcement and legal teams.”
The production team behind the documentary have been working on the case for 20 months and claim to have uncovered an “unfathomable amount of information and evidence” they believe will lead them to the truth.
"Our investigation does not end here,” Rech added.
Halbach disappeared in 2005, after visiting the Avery family salvage yard over in in Twin Rivers.
Dassey was originally interviewed as a witness but became a suspect after his cousin Kayla claimed he had talked about the murder.
He was eventually charged and convicted with being party to first-degree murder, sexual assault, and mutilation of a corpse, despite a lack of physical evidence linking him to crime.
Dassey was sentenced to life in prison with eligibility for parole in 2048.
Both he and Avery continue to protest their innocence.
Dassey's plea for a new trial has already been rejected by the supreme court while Avery’s appeal is still in process.
