Steven Avery’s Family ‘At War’ After Thousands Of Dollars In Donated Funds Suddenly Vanishes (EXCLUSIVE)

Season 2 of Making A Murderer premieres tonight, so if you have plans, you’re gonna want to cancel them. The Nexflix docuseries became a worldwide phenomenon following its release in December 2015, and audiences are still divided over whether Steven Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, are innocent or cold-blooded killers. Now, a source tells In Touch exclusively that the family’s sudden rise to fame is causing a “war” over money.

Several supporter funds were set up by relatives, including Steven’s mother Dolores, Brendan’s mother Barbara Tadych, and Steven’s niece Carla Chase. At least four funds were created to assist the family while their loved ones sat behind bars, but now no one knows where all the money has gone. The GoFundMe site to be used upon Brendan’s release raised nearly $20,000, and it’s thought the initial PayPal account set up by Barbara and Dolores raised well over $70,000.

“The original fund was meant to be split between Steven and Brenda, equally down the line, but there was nothing that was stopping people on the outside from dipping into it, as long as they had the PayPal account details,” says our source, before adding that the money issue has been tearing the family apart. “It was [an] absolute war for a while, especially when Barbara was buying all sorts of new clothes and was getting tires for her truck. This is someone who couldn’t even afford to feed Brendan when he wasn’t in jail and was also begging people to buy him clothes while he was in prison.”

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Things got so bad, in fact, that Kathleen Zellner, Steven’s lawyer, had to step in. Now, all of the donations go directly to her website since no one could be trusted.

“They’ll always deny it, claiming they’re all best of friends, but really money is what drives them apart. Barbara was even taken off her own brother Steven’s visitor’s list for a while,” the insider added.

The only money that’s left is what Kathleen holds and what is in a safe at their parents’ houses. “As far as anyone is aware, that money has been there for the last two years in a safe in their kitchen and it hasn’t been released, it’s more than $50,000,” the family insider revealed. “The parents won’t give it to anyone, they don’t know what to do with it, they just want to keep the peace until Steven and Brendan are released.”