Blood in the RAV4

**Blood** was found at various spots in the victim's vehicle, which was found on Avery’s Auto Salvage property. Numerous stains were found in the back of the vehicle and turned out to be Halbach's. In the front of the vehicle multiple small stains of blood were found which belonged to Steven Avery.

## Description

Several stains, usually described as "dark red" or "reddish-brown", were found in the front area and cargo area of the vehicle. In the front area most blood stains were small, whereas in the back the stains were much spread over a larger area.

## Discovery

On Sunday 6 November the Wisconsin State Crime Lab had gained access to the Toyota RAV4 after enlisting the services of a locksmith. A stain was observed near the ignition and a "very visual amount" was observed in the cargo area of the RAV4. A presumptive test called phenolphthalein indicated the presence of blood.

## Forensic examination

*see also: List of State Crime Lab designations*
On Sunday 6 November Steve Harrington of the Wisconsin State Crime Lab had confirmed to DCI co-lead investigator Tom Fassbender that a stain had been observed in the front of the vehicle near the ignition. The stain was swabbed and tested positive for blood. A visual amount of blood had also been observed in the back.

On 7 November forensic scientist and DNA analyst Sherry Culhane of the Wisconsin State Crime Lab inspected the RAV4 and noticed numerous stains. She labelled each of them, starting with Item A1, followed by Item A2, Item A3, etc and took photos of each of them. A presumptive test indicated the presence of blood. DNA was extracted and DNA profiles were obtained from all stains.

Also on 7 November bloodstain pattern analyst Nick Stahlke of the Wisconsin State Crime Lab inspected the RAV4. Stahlke observed no stains on the exterior of the vehicle, but did observe several inside the vehicle.

## At trial and appeals

### 2016 - 2022 Kathleen Zellner appeals

Ever since Kathleen Zellner took Steven Avery's appeal in January 2016, following the case's portrayal in the Netflix documentary *Making a Murderer*, Zellner has dedicated many of her Twitter messages to the case. Numerous have been about the blood in the RAV4;

* “*#Makingamurderer is a simple recipe; a tablespoon of your blood planted by cops in victim's car blended with false confession of slow teen.*”
* “*#MakingAMurderer; If Kratz had real evidence of Avery's guilt he wouldn't have had to rely on planted blood & coerced confession to convict.*”
* “*RAV4: no mix SA & TH DNA, no SA prints but skin cells on latch/blood in car. So SA gloves had holes or planters did not. ‪#MakingAMurderer*”
* “*TH throat cut (- blood) Head shot (- spatter) But RAV4 has her blood -so she was put in car & driven 20 ft to burn pit? ‪#MakingAMurderer*”
* “*Killer would not reduce body to bone fragments to destroy evidence but leave car intact w/his blood. ‪#MakingAMurderer*”

Early 2016 Zellner's tweets indicated she believed the cops were responsible for the blood inside Halbach's vehicle. Later that year she requested over 40 items of evidence from the case, wanting to subject them to new or improved science, unavailable to Steven's previous defense counsel. Among those pieces of evidence were six swabs of Avery's blood recovered from the RAV4. Zellner also requested the 1996 blood vial that was previously alleged to have been used by the cops to plant the blood in the RAV4.

Three months later Zellner agreed with the State to lend her just nine pieces of evidence, dropping numerous pieces of evidence. However, among those nine items were all six Avery blood swabs as well as the blood vial.

Zellner intended to subject the blood to either Radiocarbon (14C) Testing or DNA Methylation Testing. Both these tests can determine the age of the blood at the time it was dropped, so these tests could potentially prove that the blood in the car came from the 1996 blood vial.

In December 2016 and January 2017 Zellner spent another two tweets on the blood in the RAV4. The December tweet indicates Zellner seemingly changed her mind about the blood and the blood vial;

* “*Experts experiments confirm SA's trial attorneys correct about blood being planted but incorrect about how it was done. #MakingAMurderer*”
* “*Not 1 but 8 plants:bullets, bones, blood, camera, cellphone PDA, key, car + false confession. World's best experts on it. #MakingAMurderer*”

In a footnote in her June 2017 motion Zellner wrote that she indeed intended to test the samples from the RAV4 for age, but ended up not being able to because the samples were too small:

“*Current post-conviction counsel filed a Motion for Scientific Testing on August 26, 2016 and requested, among other tests, to do radiocarbon and DNA methylation testing on Mr. Avery's blood swabs taken from the RAV-4. The purpose of these tests was to determine if Mr. Avery's blood had come from the 1996 blood vial. After receiving the samples, current post-conviction counsel's experts determined that there was an insufficient quantity of blood for these tests. Furthermore, current post-conviction counsel abandoned this effort after determining that the blood planted on the RAV-4 was taken from Mr. Avery's sink in 2005.*”
In that same motion Zellner claimed that Avery's blood did not come from the blood vial, but came from a sink in the laundry room of Steven Avery’s trailer. Steven claimed, in one of his affidavits that in the week of Halbach's disappearance he re-opened an old cut on his finger and bled in his sink. He did not clean up blood, but claims the blood was gone the next time he saw the sink. Zellner argues that "the killer" stole the blood from Avery's sink and planted it in the RAV4. Though Zellner does not literally say it, the motion strongly indicates Ryan Hillegas is the killer and thus the one who planted the blood.

Zellner had also met with bloodspatter expert Stuart James who was of the opinion that the blood could not have come from an actively bleeding person operating the RAV4. Following an experiment, with James present, with a mannequin to reproduce Halbach's blood spatter on the rear cargo door, it was concluded that the spatter was not the result of someone moving Halbach's body inside the cargo door, but that it was the result of bludgeoning someone to death behind the cargo, with the cargo door open.

Contradicting her 2017 footnote, Zellner, in a 2021 interview on YouTube, stated she in fact did had the blood samples tested for age and the result was they belonged to a 43 year old man and that "the blood corresponded 100% with Steven Avery's age."

In a June 2021 tweet Zellner said new DNA methylation report that will soon be released rules out the blood vial as the source:

“*Cannot stop science. Hopefully, Wisconsin allows the New testing in Avery. DNA methylation report released soon by Cornell scientist showing blood vial ruled out as source. @MakingAMurderer⁩ #TruthWins.*”
## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 *Wisconsin DOJ DCI ACISS Investigative 05-1776/167*
2. ↑ *Avery Trial Transcripts*, day 10 - testimony of Ronald Groffy, page 52
3. ↑ *Avery Trial Transcripts*, day 10 - testimony of Ronald Groffy, page 54
4. ↑ *Avery Trial Transcripts*, day 11 - testimony of Nick Stahlke, page 205
5. ↑ *Avery Trial Transcripts*, day 11 - testimony of Nick Stahlke, page 206
6. ↑ Zellner, K., *Motion for Post-conviction Scientific Testing*, page 25
7. ↑ Zellner, K., *Motion for Post-conviction Scientific Testing*, page 32
8. ↑ "Criminal Justice Natters - Kathleen Zellner" at 22:40 minutes and 26:03 minutes.