Netflix’s hit true crime documentary Making A Murderer portrays its subject, Wisconsin native Steven Avery, as a seemingly harmless man who was wrongfully convicted in the 2005 rape and murder of local photographer Teresa Halbach, just twenty years after he was wrongfully convicted for a similar crime. The series dives into the case and includes interviews with the Avery family to try to prove that Steven is innocent. But according to legal documents exclusively obtained by In Touch magazine, the truth about Steven’s threatening nature and violence towards women is finally exposed.

Making a Murderer portrays Steven as being this lovable, very docile person,” says former Manitowoc County special prosecutor Ken Kratz — who verified to In Touch magazine the documents are legitimate. “In reality, this guy is sadistic.”

The documents included evidence that Steven, a 56-year-old father of four, wrote menacing letters to his ex-wife and he has been accused of assault by more than one woman. But the allegations and the letters were deemed inadmissible by a judge, so they were never submitted as evidence in his trial for the murder of Teresa Halbach.

steven avery young
Netflix

In 2006, Steven was accused of forcing himself onto a female family friend while she was living with Steven and his then-wife, Lori Mathiesen.
Steven put his hand over [redacted’s] mouth and told her that if you yell or scream there is going to be trouble,” according to the documents. While he was serving time for his wrongful conviction in the 1985 rape of another local woman, Steven threatened to “kill” Lori, according to letters she shared with police.

“Being accused of a sexual assault is meaningless in terms of providing evidence against Steven Avery in his murder conviction,” Avery’s lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, tells In Touch magazine in a statement. “Mr. Kratz unsuccessfully attempted to interject these two accusations into [the] trial. The trial court issued an opinion…that they, along with other allegations, had ‘zero probative value.'” Even without the admission of these claims, Steven was still found guilty.

For more on this story, pick up the latest issue of In Touch Weekly, on newsstands now.

Have a tip? Send it to us! Email In Touch at contact@intouchweekly.com.