The Mishicot High School Confession of Brendan Dassey
Investigators extracted a written confession from Brendan Dassey at the end of the Mishicot High School interrogation of 27 February, 2006.
Investigator Mark Wiegert read the text of the confession after Dassey wrote.
Wiegert: (Reading statement from Dassey)
“I got off the bus at 3:45 and seen her jeep down at Steven’s house. Then I went to my house and played Playstation 2 for three hours and then I eat at 8:00 and I watch TV and then got a phone call from Steven, if I wanted to come over to have a fire and I did and he told me to bring the golf cart and I did. So then we went driving around the yard and got to pick up the stuff around the house. Then we dropped the seats by the fire and went to get the wood and cabinet and then went back to throw the seat on the fire and then we waited for it to go down and throw on the wood and the cabinet. Then I seen the toes before we throw the wood and cabinet on the fire. When we did that he seen me that I seen the toes and he told me not to say anything and he told me that he stabbed her in the stomach in the pit and he took the knife and put it under the seat in her jeep.”
Wiegert and Fassbender suggested additions such as
Fassbender “… Could you indicate the body appeared whole …”
Fassbender: “Another thing you had talked to us about is where he put the vehicle in the pit and what he did to the vehicle…” (emphasis added)
There were many prompts for additions
Wiegert reads
“He was angry and that’s why he did it. He told me he used rope to tie her up in the jeep and that’s when he stabbed her. When he told me not to say anything, he threatened me a little bit. He said she was pretty to him. I seen the fingers and the belly and the forehead in the fire. The body looked like it was together and it was under some tires and branches. He hid the vehicle in the pit back in the tree area.” (emphasis added)
Then there were more suggestions, including
Wiegert: “…add in there how he hid the vehicle. Did he put something on top of it? And if he did what did he put on top of it?” (emphasis added)
Wiegert: (reading the additional statement written by Dassey)
“He hid the vehicle in the pit back of the in the tree area. He put some tree branches on the top of it and put the car hood on top of it too. He put some clothes in the fire that was blue shirt and some pants.” (emphasis added)
Note in these statements Dassey uncharacteristically uses the word vehicle since investigators used the word vehicle in their requests. He is mirroring their words. He also places the automobile hood found on the scene on top of the SUV because that is what Wiegert suggested. The hood was actually leaning against the SUV. The hood and branches were well publicized during early days of the investigation.
They next talked a bit about clothing and blood and directed Dassey to add that information. Fassbender introduced the SUV ignition key idea here for the first time as well as the cell phone and camera.
Wiegert Reads.
“Some clothes in the fire pit that was a blue shirt and some pants. On the shirt there was blood on it and there was a hole in it in the stomach area and he said it was Teresa’s shirt.”
Fassbender directed Dassey to add a statement that Steven Avery made in November, 2005 at Crivitz, WI., but without any reference to the false juxtaposition.
(Steven Avery talked about hiding out or fleeing. Avery’s father counseled against those actions.)
Wiegert Reads:
“He said he was going to go and leave the house and try to get as far as far as he could.”
Wiegert: “… Is there anything you want to add to that statement on how you felt during this, how you feel…”
Wiegert Reads.
“I felt sad that I had to be there and to be sorry for her family.”
Finally, Wiegert and Fassbender tell him to add a statement that he was not forced to make the written confession.
Wiegert Reads.
“I make this statement and I did not get threatened to write it out and I could leave when I wanted to and I didn’t have to answer any questions.”
The result of the interrogation was that Fassbender and Wiegert told Dassey details. The clothes were girls clothes. The shirt was button‑down. The pants were blue jeans, the body was in the fire; there was flesh in the fire, there was a head, skull, or face in the fire. There was a whole body in the fire.There was a gun. There was more.
They ignored all statements that Dassey offered and pressed for their own. Later in the interview Dassey mirrored their statements and used their words rather than his.
Dassey supplied such details as: Avery hid the knife under the jeep seat; there was no oder from the burning tires and body; He helped Avery push Avery’s Suzuki into the Avery garage; he saw a forehead with “a little of it flesh”; there was blood on a blue shirt (although how Dassey could identify blood versus another red substance is a mystery).
The result, if truthful, was sufficient to arrest Dassey. But, they let him return to class.
On 20 April, 2007, Investigator Wiegert testified that Special Prosecutor Ken Kratz wanted a better recording of Dassey confessing. Their ability to properly record an interview was deficient. The result was a second session at the Two Rivers, Wisconsin Police Department. Special Prosecutor Kratz was involved with the attempt to implicate Brendan Dassey and these early sessions were at his direction.
The transport to the police department and another note about placing Brendan, his mother, and his brother in the Fox Hills Resort that evening was added to the confession transcript.
In Fassbender’s sworn complaint against Brendan Dassey this session was barely mentioned. The three sessions that took place on 27 February, 2006 were combined in a statement that Dassey saw the Halbach vehicle when Dassey got home from school. This was a huge sin of omission.
This interrogation and confession was suppressed by trial Judge Jerome Fox. He claimed that the prosecution was allowed to pick and choose what confessions they wanted. In essence, Fox said that the prosecution could pick or withhold evidence at will. Wisconsin Special Prosecutor Tom Fallon claimed that this confession was not related to the 1 March, 2006 confession portions presented at trial. Yet testimony from the lead investigators was that this was a direct link to the March first session.
The suppression of this this session and others was a denial of a reasonable defense. Judge Fox showed himself to extremely biased toward the prosecution. The jury and public were deprived of important material.
by Brian McCorkle
in category Brendan Dassey
