Affidavit of Joshua Radandt

The **affidavit of Joshua Radandt** is an affidavit signed by Joshua (Josh) Radandt, owner of a gravel pit to the west and south of Avery’s Auto Salvage. The affidavit is mainly about Radandt's interview with investigators about seeing a fire next to Steven Avery’s trailer.

## Affidavit of Joshua R. Radandt

### Date signed

10 February 2017

**I, Joshua R. Radandt, having first been duly sworn under oath, hereby states as follows:**

1. My date of birth is 11/10/1974.
2. I am of legal majority and can truthfully and competently testify to the matters contained herein based upon my personal knowledge. The factual statements herein are true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief. I am of sound mind and I am not taking any medication nor have I ingested any alcohol that would impair my memory of the facts stated in this affidavit.
3. In 2005, I was an owner of Fred Radandt Sons, Inc., which I managed, which operated a sand and gravel pit located adjacent to the west and south property lines of Avery’s Auto Salvage in Two Rivers, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. I managed that pit.
4. Manitowoc County owned and operated a sand and gravel pit on the other side of the Radandt gravel pit, adjacent to our south property line.
5. In 2005, I owned three trailers that I kept near the northern edge of the Radandt sand and gravel pit property to the west of Avery's Auto Salvage. One access to the trailers, which I and others used as a hunting camp, I and others used a dirt road that ran south from the cul-de-sac at the east end of Kuss Road into the Radandt sand and gravel pit. Another access was through the Radandt pit.
6. On November 5, 2005, I was with several friends at the hunting camp. Law enforcement officers arrived at the hunting camp and asked us if we had seen or heard anything unusual about the Avery property recently. To the best of my knowledge, these officers were from either the Calumet County Sheriff’s Department or the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
7. By this time, there was already news media coverage of Teresa Halbach's disappearance that included coverage of the Avery property.
8. I told the officers that I saw a fire, orange in color, when I was driving from the Radandt sand and gravel pit to the hunting camp on October 31, 2005, at approximately 5:00 p.m. I told the officers that I saw the fire from the direction of the Avery property. Because it was dark or getting dark when I saw the fire, I was not sure where exactly the fire was located. I did not observe any smoke coming from the fire.
9. The fire did not appear to be spread out and its flames appeared to be 2.5 - 3 feet in height. These characteristics were consistent with my personal knowledge of burn barrel fires. Because I observed these characteristics, I assumed the fire was contained in a burn barrel. I did not see whether the fire was actually contained in a burn barrel.
10. After I told them this information, the officers asked me to follow them by automobile over public highways to the business area of Avery's Auto Salvage, where law enforcement had a command post. There, I made a written statement at approximately 5:30 p.m.
11. Less than one week after I provided that written statement, two officers, who I believe were from the Wisconsin Department of Justice, met me at the hunting camp to discuss the fire I saw. I remember them asking me if I was sure that I saw what I said I saw. It seemed to me that they weren't satisfied with my statement about the fire. Specifically, it seemed to me that they wanted me to change my story to include a larger fire. Because they were reluctant to accept my story as true, I eventually asked them what they wanted me to say. They told me that all they wanted was the truth. I advised them that I had been telling the truth.
12. At that time, I was told by the Department of Justice agents that they believed Teresa Halbach's vehicle was driven to the Kuss Road cul-de-sac by driving west through an empty field, then south down the gravel road past the hunting camp until reaching an intersection with a gravel road that ran northeast into the Avery property. They told that me that they believed Teresa Halbach's vehicle turned northeast onto that gravel road and entered the Avery property at its southwest corner. It is my understanding that this theory was based on the work of scent tracking dogs.
13. I also read and/or heard from others that law enforcement stated they believed Teresa Halbach's vehicle was stored somewhere on the Radandt sand and gravel pit property before it was moved to the southeast comer of the Avery property.
14. Later that week, I received a call from law enforcement on my cell phone while at work. I may have been working at one of two gravel pits or a quarry owned and operated by Fred Radandt Sons, Inc. Law enforcement asked me to unlock my three hunting trailers so they could be searched. I left work and drove to the hunting camp. When I arrived, there was nobody present. I unlocked my trailers and left.
15. It is my understanding that my trailers were then searched by scent tracking dogs as well as law enforcement personnel.
16. Later that day, law enforcement called my cell phone again. They informed me that they completed the search of my trailers and that I could use them normally.
17. During the course of this phone conversation, law enforcement informed me that they were going to collect the contents of the bum barrel at the hunting camp at a later time. When I returned to the hunting camp, I observed that they had cordoned off the area surrounding that bum barrel with yellow tape. To the best of my knowledge, Wisconsin State Patrol assigned officers to watch the bum barrel day and night on a rotating basis until its contents were collected. I was not present when the contents of that bum barrel were collected.
18. A few days after November 5, 2005, I remember seeing tower lights in the Manitowoc County sand and gravel pit to the south of Radandt's property. I remember the lights appeared to illuminate the entire Manitowoc County pit.
19. I understand that there were suspected human pelvic bones recovered from a gravel pit property south of Avery's Auto Salvage. Upon reviewing a map showing the coordinates at which these bones were found, I believe they were found in the Manitowoc County sand and gravel pit.
20. Prior to November 5, 2005, the only permanent security measures in place to prevent access to the Radandt sand and gravel pit by trespassers were "Private Property" signs posted at all entrances. There were locking gates or cables at each access road, but they were rarely used.
21. Approximately one or two months before the start of Mr. Avery's criminal trial in 2007, I was summoned to the courthouse. At the courthouse, I was questioned again about my recollection of seeing a fire in the direction of the Avery property on October 31, 2005.
22. I was not called as a witness to testify at Mr. Avery's criminal trial in 2007.
23. Nothing has been promised or given to me in exchange for this affidavit.