The Two Rivers Police Department Confession of Brendan Dassey
This was the second recorded interrogation of Brendan Dassey on 27 February, 2006. The first one at Mishicot High School was tape recorded, however, the lead investigators for the Teresa Halbach murder case proved to be inept at preparing equipment. This session took place at the Two Rivers, Wisconsin, Police Department.
When Calumet County Investigator Mark Wiegert, and Wisconsin Special Agent Tom Fassbender interrogated Dassey earlier in the day, the tape recording was noisy and portions were inaudible.
Special Prosecutor, Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz, told them they had to do the session again. Not only was the recording quality poor, but the confession by Dassey did not help the prosecution of Dassey’s uncle, Steven Avery, who was soon to be tried for the murder of Teresa Halbach. Kratz believed he needed a confession containing details that fit his theory of the crime since the evidence was problematical.
The earlier session had produced a statement from Dassey that Avery told Dassey that Avery stabbed Halbach in the stomach and left the murder weapon under the seat of the “jeep.” Dassey also stated that he saw a little bit of blood on a blue shirt. After investigators stated flesh several times, Dassey said he saw toes as well as a forehead with a “little bit flesh” in that bonfire of 31 October, 2005. In the Mishicot High School session, the investigators fed Dassey information. Some of this information was returned to them by Dassey.
They told him that the clothes were girl’s clothes. There were body parts and an intact body in the fire. The pants were blue jeans, and the shirt was button‑down. The investigators had insisted that Dassey saw a body in the bonfire and felt bad as a result. They also claimed that Dassey had lost a lot of weight due to this experience.
In the Mishicot HS confession, Dassey placed Steven Avery’s Suzuki in the Avery garage rather than the Halbach RAV4.
At the end of that earlier interrogation Dassey produced a written confession with much prompting from the interrogators.
The Two Rivers Police Department interrogation was video recorded, and the investigators were careful to ensure Dassey’s responses were audible. The interrogation room was a reasonably good one. Fassbender, Wiegert, and Dassey are all visible and the camera view is relatively neutral. The main concern is that Tom Fassbender is not fully visible so we cannot observe his facial expressions and hand actions. The Two Rivers Police Department did their homework on the proper way to set up a recorded interview. However, for a neutral and honest recording, all the participants must be equally visible.
The Mishicot High School session ended at 14:14. The Two Rivers Police Department session started at 15:21. We see Brendan for the first time. Dassey’s weight appears normal or perhaps a bit on the heavy side, contrary to claims by the lead investigators that Dassey had lost a substantial amount of weight. His demeanor does not demonstrate a particularly guilty person. He does demonstrate nervous thumb‑twiddling and slight hand wringing.
When investigators asked Dassey what city he resided in, Dassey answered Wisconsin. Neither investigator challenged that answer.
Wiegert asked Dassey to recount his October 31, 2005 statements starting when Dassey returned home from school.
Dassey stated, “I got off the bus at 3:45 and I walked, I seen a jeep down by our house and I went into my house and I played Playstation 2 for two hour, three hours. I ate at 8:00 and I got a phone from Steven, a phone call from Steven and he asked my if I wanted ta go to the bonfire next to Dassey’s garage and I said yeah and then he told me to bring the golf cart over so I did and then he drove us, drove me around to find some stuff and I got the van seat and some wood and I seen her toe when I, when we dropped the, the seat off and later on, I seen her forehead and her belly.”
The statement about next to Dassey’s garage is a little odd.
Wiegert and Dassey discussed the gathering of material for the fire. The Wiegert asked Dassey what he saw in the fire.
Dassey replied, “Her foot, her, her toes.”
When Fassbender asked where, Dassey told him on the side of the fire. Fassbender prompted Dassey that the parts were under something and then Dassey said, “Under some tires and some branches.”
Fassbender asked what Avery brought to tend the fire. Dassey replied “Some gas.” Fassbender had to rephrase to ask about tools. Gasoline was not mentioned in the Mishicot High School interrogation.
Wiegert asked what else did Dassey see in the fire. Dassey replied “A hand and forehead and a, her belly.” Then in answer to a Wiegert question, Dassey stated the body was in one piece.
When asked how he knew he saw a stomach and forehead, Dassey explained that the stomach looked like it had “some fat” and the forehead had “ziggly lines.”
Wiegert asked how the body got to the fire. According to Dassey, Avery pulled a sled to transport the body to the fire. Wiegert asked Dassey to repeat the statement. This time Dassey made it a question, “His snowmobile sled?” as if he were waiting for approval. Dassey later described the sled as plastic or rubber and “like a fishing thing.” According to Dassey, Avery did not use any machine to pull the sled.
Wiegert asked if Dassey had seen the sled. Dassey’s reply was negative. Asked where the sled was, Dassey replied, “I don’t know,” and when pressed he suggested probably the garage.
Wiegert returned to the appearance. Dassey stated, “Black” when Wiegert interrupted “what’s it made out of?” That is when Dassey described it was like a fishing thing.
The investigators did not tell Dassey not to guess and that they wanted only statements about things he could recall. They did not tell Dassey that they “don’t wanna put words in your mouth,” like the investigators did at the 31 May, 2006 interrogation.
Fassbender returned to the clothes. Brendan repeated from the first interrogation that the shirt was blue and he didn’t know about the pants. After prodding by Fassbender, Dassey said they were girl’s clothes and they were Halbach’s clothes. Later in the session Wiegert asked if the shirt were button‑up and Dassey replied, “Like a button‑up shirt.” Dassey also said he saw a hole in the stomach area of the blue shirt.
The investigator’s probed sexual assault and got nowhere. There were questions about shoes. But, Brendan did not see any. He said he saw toes and feet. He also said the color of the toes and feet was “Like peach and a little bit of white.”
Fassbender and Wiegert again used Brendan as a proxy investigator as if Avery had given a complete account of the crime to Dassey, and he could recount that account word for word.
So again, Brendan recounted that Dassey had stabbed Halbach in the stomach while in the “jeep”. They attempted to get statements about large cut on Avery’s finger observed in November, 2005. Dassey said there was a mark on Avery’s arm. Fassbender asked if Avery had been injured when he killed Halbach. Dassey responded that Avery had a scratch on his finger. Wiegert asked how that occurred. Dassey said from a fingernail or “sumpthin.”
Wiegert followed up, “So tell me exactly what he told you.”
Dassey responded, “That he got it from someone scratched, someone scratchin’ um.”
Then Wiegert asked about a struggle and detail. Dassey said that when Avery was trying to tie Halbach up that she tried to get away and she scratched him. Then Avery tied her up and stabbed her. Dassey said she was not yelling or screaming.
The investigators again tried to implicate Chuck Avery.
Wiegert asked whether Dassey thought that Chuckie might have seen anything. Dassey said probably. When asked why, Dassey said he saw Chuck Avery talking to Steven by Steven Avery’s garage on the first of November, 2005.
Further questioning revealed that Steven Avery’s Monte was in the garage that day. That led investigators back to the Suzuki that Dassey helped Avery push into the garage the day before. They asked where the Suzuki was. “Probably outside,” was Dassey’s response. It is difficult to have two vehicles in a one car garage.
After a short break, Fassbender asked whether Dassey recalled when Jodi Stachowski went to jail. Dassey could not. Fassbender then asked if Stachowski knew about the crime. Dassey said no. Stachowski was Steven Avery’s fiance. Their questioning about Stachowski and Dassey’s knowledge of dates of her jail terms is interesting.
Wiegert wanted to know if Dassey and Avery put anything in the garage or took anything out. Brendan responded, “Yeah, ah, we took the silver cool, ah, gray jeep and put it in the garage.”
Wiegert asked, “It’s a jeep or?”
Dassey answered, “It’s a Suzuki.”
The investigators had a mandate to place Halbach’s RAV4 in the Avery garage. So far, they were unsuccessful.
The investigators then established that if Avery were to be released from jail that Dassey would fear for his life. This was the basis for the unrecorded interrogation that followed.
At the end, Fassbender told Dassey was a brave boy. In the first session at Mishicot High School, the investigators repeatedly praised Dassey for statements they wanted to hear and cut off statements that they didn’t want. This session was close enough in time to the first that Dassey could regurgitate some of the things that investigators wanted.
But, this still did not help the prosecution of the case because Dassey did not witness any murder and the prosecution still did not match what they wanted as a scenario. And the team still did not have enough to get a warrant to reenter the Avery properties. The Madison, Wisconsin, Crime Lab needed a second chance to obtain incriminating evidence against Steven Avery.
But, Fassbender and Wiegert were not finished. They arranged for a surreptitious interrogation to take place at the Fox Hills Resort in Mishicot, Wisconsin that evening.
Manitowoc County Judge Jerome Fox suppressed this interrogation and any reference to it for the trial of Brendan Dassey. The prosecution claimed the Two Rivers session had no connection to the 1 March, 2006 interrogation that was partially shown to the jury for Dassey’s murder trial. Judge Fox claimed this interview would confuse the jury.
Who knows? The jury might even question the validity of the police work if they had all the facts.
by Brian McCorkle
in category Brendan Dassey
