Testimony Notes 13 February, 2007

Pamela Sturm, second cousin to Halbach, testified about her efforts to join the search for Teresa Halbach. She stated that she joined up with the volunteer search party, she borrowed a camera, and then departed from the search plan. Her intent was to search the Avery Salvage Yard, which she did after obtaining permission.

A Toyota RAV caught her eye because of the partial concealment, and, as the defense had her testify, because it was double parked in along a row of single parked cars.

She also had Calumet Sheriff Jerry Pagel’s telephone number but got voice mail so she called dispatch instead. The Avery property is located in Manitowoc County.

She claimed she kept her eye on the vehicle until it was taken to the crime lab. She did not elaborate why she was so vigilant. She stationed herself and her daughter Nikole by the auto crusher, about 370 feet from the Toyota. She stated with certainty that she observed the vicinity of the Toyota and was certain no officers tampered with the Toyota. She did not explain why she was so concerned with tampering.

The defense asked Sturm about a cell phone she and another person found by a river during an earlier search. The telephone was taken into custody by a deputy. But, she interjected that this was not Halbach’s cell phone because according to Sturm she told family members about the telephone and they said it wasn’t Halbach’s. Buting asked her about paper found near the cell phone. She stated she didn’t know about that. She forgot who assisted her in the search when she found the telephone.

Sturm kept attempting to shape her testimony to implicate Avery rather that give forthright answers. She stated she did not see blood in the vehicle and then attempted to expand the answer to the possibility of unseen blood. Sturm appeared to be antagonistic toward the defense.

Kratz gratuitously asked her if she felt lucky about the find. He knew what her answer would be. She claimed God showed her the way. She must be special that God allows a person to be murdered so she can locate a vehicle.

After the defense has determined that photographers for the Auto Trader Magazine did hustle shots for a greater commission that assigned photos, Kratz asked the witness, Angela Schuster, if it were possible for Halbach to get the hustle shot after she was murdered by Steven Avery. He wanted the jury to hear Steven Avery Murdered ….

Special Prosecutor Kratz took a swipe at the defense theory that Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department acted to make Avery guilty of this crime by planting evidence. Kratz got a pilot, Curt Drumm, to say that while he was piloting Calumet County Officers they spent substantial time looking at other locations than the Avery property. There is the small detail that this was a Calumet County operation, and the claim is against Manitowoc County.

One prosecution witness seemed to suffer from memory lapses. Kratz had to read from her statement in 2005 so she could recall the time Teresa Halbach stopped at her place.

Discussed outside the jury presence was the fact that the husband of this witness became loud, belligerent, and threatening when questioned by deputies over the telephone. And according the Dean Strang the man lied as well. But, no further investigation included this man despite behavior that many would consider suspicious.