Steven Avery’s burn pit

+ Item BZ
	+ Item EJ
	+ Item EK

• Rivet jeans pieces
• Partially burned tools

Steven Avery’s **burn pit** is a shallow pit dug out of a gravel mount located closely to the south of Avery’s garage. On 31 October 2005 Avery, along with his nephew Brendan Dassey, had a large bonfire here. According to Avery and Dassey's statements to burn tires, a polyurethane van seat, a wooden cabinet and brush.

On 8 November investigators located what they believed was human bone in and around the burn pit. The bones appeared to have been burned. Initial forensic analysis confirmed the bones belonged to a human female. Subsequent analysis determined the bones were most likely Teresa Halbach's.

## Description

A shallow rectangular pit with a length of approximately six feet (1.8 meters) that had been dug out of a gravel mount down to the native soil, probably using a front-end loader. The gravel mound is one to two feet (30 to 60 cm) in height and roughly circular in shape with a diameter of approximately 30 feet (9 meter). The gravel mound is not natural to the landscape, but has been placed on top of the grass.

Ashes were observed in and around the burn pit. The bottom of the burn pit was covered with a dark crust, believed to be the result of burning tires. In and around the burn pit steel belted wires from at least 6 tires were found. A burned van seat and one unburned tire were located next to the burn pit. Various tools such as a shovel, a rake, a hacksaw blade, and a hammer were found in and around the burn pit. Some of the tools had burn marks on them.

## Background

It is unclear when the burn pit came into existance. Roland Johnson, the owner of the trailer and garage testified he never burned anything behind the garage. He would occasionally burn garbage, but used his burn barrel for it or an area nearby the trees in front of the trailer.

DCI Special Agent Tom Sturdivant, who was at the burn pit on 8 November 2005, noted that the burn pit "looked fairly new" and that it looked like "it wasn't used that often".

Blaine Dassey, Steven's next-door nephew, said his uncle had used the burn pit only once, on 31 October 2005. On the other hand, Steven's other nephew Bobby testified Steven had a bonfire there more than once.

## Investigation and forensic examination

Officers involved:

 Joanne Mignon
 Thomas Sturdivant

The burn pit was discovered on 7 November 2005, two days after the victim's vehicle was found. Before this two police dogs, K9 Brutus and K9 Loof, had been used to search the area but when they came near the garage they were approached by Steven's aggressive looking German Shepherd and the K9's were pulled away from the area.

On Monday 7 November Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department officer Jason Jost was requested to feed all the dogs on the property, including Steven's dog. As Steven's dog was living between the burn pit and the garage, the burn pit was noticed by Jost as he fed Steven's dog.

    On Tuesday 8 November at 12:47 hours Jost was asked to relieve Brillion Police Department officer Joanne Mignon by the white septic tank on Steven's property, which was near the burn pit. While there, Jost again noticed the burn pit. He noticed several items lying in and around it, such as various burned tools, a burned van seat, and remnants of burned tires.

Jost felt the area should be inspected. When he expressed his thoughts to Mignon after she returned, Mignon agreed there was something unusual about the area. When Jost returned to the command post at about 13:40 hours he explained the situation to Calumet County Sheriff’s Department Lieutenant Kelly Sippel, who responded to the area with him. The two officers observed, without disturbing it, what they believed was possibly a vertebrae bone. Sippel also noticed there was a crust over the top of the burn area, the burned ash and materials. They felt someone from the DCI or the Wisconsin State Crime Lab needed to further investigate the area.

    About this time DCI Special Agent and arson expert Thomas Sturdivant arrived on the scene with colleague Deb Straus. Sturdivant had been requested to check areas that were marked with red flags, and the burn pit was one of them. Sturdivant looked at the piece of suspected bone that Jost was standing next to and Sturdivant too thought it looked like bone. Sturdivant inspected the burn pit and observed what he thought were more bone fragments. He picked up a set of steel belts from tires and observed what he believed were pieces of skull intertwined into the steel belts.

Members of the State Crime Lab and arson investigators with the DCI were informed, but due to other duties of theirs it wasn't until around 15:00 hours that three members of the State Crime Lab, John Ertl, Guang Zhang and Chuck Cates, arrived at the burn pit. The State Crime Lab provided the necessary equipment to begin processing the burn pit.

### Processing the burn pit

#### November 8

 Thomas Sturdivant
 Guang Zhang

The members of the Wisconsin State Crime Lab set up sifting equipment and a piece of tarp underneath the sifting equipment. The dark gray stain of ashes was used as their perimeter. Items that were used for the processing of the pit include a small square nosed flat shovel (for moving under material, then lift the shovel to pick up the material and place it on the sifter), mason's trowels (to gently loosen and excavate material) and whisk brooms. Because of the hard surface items were rather easy to pick up.

The shovel work was done mostly by Forensic Scientist John Ertl, who had previously excavated grave sites and had been involved in processing other burned remains, and Guang Zhang, who also was the photographer.

The items that were shoveled up by Ertl and Zhang were put on the sifter. The sifter was moved so that the finer particles would fall through the sifter and land on the tarp. Larger particles remained on top of the sifter. The sifted material was then picked through by Cates and officers Sturdivant and Jost. Any questionable material was placed in a box.

The team worked until 17:00 hours and had collected biological material such as bone and teeth, as well as non-biological material such as a zipper and rivets. All the evidence was turned over the Calumet County Sheriff’s Department. The State Crime Lab had taken no photos themselves because by the time they arrived at the scene it had already been altered by the investigators. The material that was left on the tarp was placed inside a locked van at the crime scene. Other items that were found there, including a shovel, a hammer, a screw driver, a tire and a hacksaw blade were left at the scene. The scene was covered with blue tarp.

Sturdivant thought it important to determine who these bones belonged to. It was decided to get these bones to the State Crime Lab immediately to determine if they belonged to Teresa Halbach and thereby confirm her status.

#### November 9

*see also: Burned remains*

 Rodney Pevytoe
 Craig Wendling
 James Lenk

    No processing took place today, but DCI agent Pevytoe was at various parts of the salvage yard, including the pit, for evaluative purposes. The bones discovered on the 8th were delivered to the Wisconsin State Crime Lab this day with the request to determine whether they were human or non-human. Forensic anthropologist Kenneth Bennet examined the bones that same day and determined they were from a human and from a female not older than 25.

Also on this day Calumet County Deputy Craig Wendling, together with Manitowoc County resources Andrew Colborn and James Lenk were requested to collect the hammers near the burn pit. The team arrived at 12:20 hours and collected rubber mallet with a wood handle and claw hammer with a yellow handle appearing to be fiberglass. Both items were photographed by Colborn.

#### November 10

 Rodney Pevytoe
 Ron Ebben
 Rindt (Arson Bureau)
 Jim Holmes

With the bones being determined as human and female processing of the burn pit continued the next day. DCI Special Agents such as Tom Sturdivant, Rodney Pevytoe, Ron Ebben and Jim Siehler were present. Ebben and Siehler did the sorting. Pieces of (potential) evidence were turned over to Calumet County Deputy Rick Riemer. At the end of the day all of the collected material was handed over to DCI Special Agent Jim Holmes. The process lasted until about 22:00 hours.

DCI Special Agent Pevytoe examined an entwined mass of steel belt wires and noticed pieces of bone were entwined into the wire. He had to pull the wire apart to actually get to the bone, as the bone wasn't on the surface, but entwined into the wire itself. Pevytoe also examined the van seat that had earlier been observed next to the burn pit. The van seat looked heavily oxidized, appeared to have some charred material on it and it appeared to Pevytoe that it had been burned and destroyed in the fire.

Also on the 10th, State Troopers had begun searching away from Avery’s Auto Salvage territory looking for evidence related to Avery's burn pit. They found burned bone material in a quarry adjacent to Avery’s Auto Salvage.

#### November 11

* Rick Riemer
* and others

Further processing of the burn pit and surrounding area was performed on Thursday 11 November. Two skid-steers were used on this day to help with the excavation. Calumet County Deputy Rick Riemer located several suspected burnt bone fragments.

## Timeline of the burn pit

* **Monday 31 October 2005**
	+ 18:00~18:30 In an early police interview Brendan tells the cops this is when he went to his uncle's place and saw an already burning bonfire.
	+ 19:00 Steven Avery invites Brendan Dassey for a bonfire in his burn pit. The fire is already burning when Steven invites Brendan.
	+ 19:30~19:45 Scott Tadych sees a fire next to Steven Avery's garage.
	+ 23:00~23:30 Blaine Dassey sees his uncle Steven tend to the bonfire.
* **Wednesday 2 November 2005**
	+ Earl states Brendan moved five or six tire rims out Steven's burn pit on this day at Steven's request.
* **Saturday 5 November 2005**
	+ 13:00 (approx.) Cadaver dog K9 Brutus left the trailer and followed the scent of the victim to the direction of the garage and burn pit area. Brutus became extremely agitated, but couldn't continue due to an aggressive German Shepherd dog at the burn pit.
* **Monday 7 November 2005**
	+ 13:30 Bloodhound K9 Loof tracked the scent of Teresa Halbach from the garage to the direction of the burn pit, but was unable to continue walking into that direction due to a large aggressive appearing German Shepherd.
* **Tuesday 8 November 2005**
	+ 13:41 CASO officer Kelly Sippel and MTSO officer Jason Jost decided to investigate the burn pit, because it was reported a large fire had been seen near Steven's trailer and items near the burn pit appeared burned. When suspected bone material was found someone from The DCI was requested.
	+ 14:00 (approx.) DCI agent Thomas Sturdivant arrived at the burn pit with a female agent. The pit was searched further until Sturdivant discovered a part of a human skull. The Crime Lab was then requested.

## Photos

Trial exhibit 47 - burn pit area with burned van seatTrial exhibit 48 - burn pit areaTrial exhibit 49 - burn pit areaTrial exhibit 50 - burn pit area and BearTrial exhibit 363 - burn pit area and BearTrial exhibit 364 - burn pit areaTrial exhibit 365 - burn pit areaTrial exhibit 366 - burn pit areaTrial exhibit 367 - hammer found near burn pitTrial exhibit 368 - screwdriver found in burn pitTrial exhibit 369 - masonry tool found in burn pitTrial exhibit 370 - shovel found near burn pitEvidence photo of rake found in burn pitTrial exhibit 371 - burned van seat found near burn pitTrial exhibit 383 - white box with bones collected on November 8Evidence photo of investigator pointing to a piece of boneEvidence photo of investigator pointing to a piece of bone
## References

1. ↑ *Avery Trial Transcripts*, day 10 - testimony of Sherry Culhane, page 162
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 *MTSO Summary Report on Homicide Investigation*, page 15
3. ↑ Affidavit of John DeHaan, page 4
4. ↑ *Dassey Trial Transcripts*, day 3 - testimony of Tom Sturdivant, page 185
5. ↑ *Avery Trial Transcripts*, day 19 - testimony of Roland Johnson, page 171
6. ↑ *Avery Pre-Trial Transcripts*, day 2 - testimony of Thomas Sturdivant, page 104
7. ↑ *Avery Trial Transcripts*, day 12 - testimony of Blaine Dassey, page 97
8. ↑ *CASO Investigative Report*, page 157
9. ↑ *CASO Investigative Report*, page 158
10. ↑ *Avery Trial Transcripts*, day 13 - testimony of Tom Sturdivant, page 10
11. ↑ *Avery Trial Transcripts*, day 13 - testimony of Tom Sturdivant, page 19
12. ↑ *MTSO Summary Report on Homicide Investigation*, page 16
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 *Avery Trial Transcripts*, day 13 - testimony of Tom Sturdivant, page 20
14. ↑ *Avery Trial Transcripts*, day 6 - testimony of Tom Sturdivant, page 52
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 *Avery Trial Transcripts*, day 13 - testimony of Tom Sturdivant, page 21
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 *Avery Trial Transcripts*, day 6 - testimony of Ertl, page 52
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 *Avery Trial Transcripts*, day 13 - testimony of Tom Sturdivant, page 25
18. ↑ *Avery Trial Transcripts*, day 6 - testimony of Ertl, page 54
19. ↑ *Dassey Trial Transcripts*, day 2 - testimony of John Ertl, page 157
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 *Avery Trial Transcripts*, day 6 - testimony of Ertl, page 53
21. ↑ *Avery Trial Transcripts*, day 6 - testimony of Ertl, page 56
22. ↑ *Dassey Trial Transcripts*, day 2 - testimony of John Ertl, page 158
23. ↑ *Avery Trial Transcripts*, day 6 - testimony of Ertl, page 117
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 *Avery Trial Transcripts*, day 13 - testimony of Tom Sturdivant, page 27
25. ↑ *Dassey Trial Transcripts*, day 4 - testimony of Rodney Pevytoe, page 29
26. ↑ Summary of DCI case no. 05-1776
27. ↑ *CASO Investigative Report*, page 148
28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 *CASO Investigative Report*, page 211
29. ↑ *Dassey Trial Transcripts*, day 4 - testimony of Rodney Pevytoe, page 22
30. ↑ *Dassey Trial Transcripts*, day 4 - testimony of Rodney Pevytoe, page 25
31. ↑ *Dassey Trial Transcripts*, day 4 - testimony of Rodney Pevytoe, page 26
32. ↑ *CASO Investigative Report*, page 203
33. ↑ *CASO Investigate Report*, page 227