Fans of 'Making a Murderer' Want to Know If Steven Avery Is Still in Prison
Avery was the subject of the Netflix documentary 'Making a Murderer.'
Updated Dec. 9 2025, 2:40 p.m. ET
Fans of the Netflix docuseries Making a Murderer want to know if Steven Avery is still in prison. Murder charges were filed against him just two years after his release from prison following his wrongful conviction. The Wisconsin man had served several years in prison for a crime he didn't commit.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Manitowoc County resident had served 18 years in prison after being convicted of sexual assault he didn't commit.
He was sentenced to 32 years in prison, but he was exonerated in 2003 and released after DNA evidence proved another man had committed the crime. A $36 million wrongful conviction lawsuit was filed against Manitowoc County and other county officials by Avery, and it was pending when he was arrested and later convicted for the 2005 murder of 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach. His lawyer claims that the sheriff's office framed him because of the lawsuit.
Is Steven Avery still In prison?
Yes, Steven Avery is still in prison. The 63-year-old is being housed at the Fox Lake Correctional Institution in Fox Lake, Wis. Teresa was working as a freelance photographer on an assignment for Auto Trader magazine when she went to Avery's salvage yard, Avery Auto Salvage, on Halloween back in 2005. She was there to take pictures of the 40-acre salvage yard in Two Rivers. She never returned from the assignment, and he car was later found hidden in Avery's salvage yard.
The authorities also found Teresa's cell phone and camera in a burn barrel on the property, as well as drops of Avery's blood in Teresa's vehicle. The key to her car was also allegedly found in Avery's bedroom, and the car's license plates were allegedly found on the property. A bullet fragment with Teresa's DNA was also allegedly found in Avery's garage, but his lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, says that the sheriff's department framed Avery.
She also claims that the police forced a false confession from Avery's nephew, Brendan Dassey, who was 16 at the time and has a low IQ and intellectual disability. The teenager told the authorities that he sexually assaulted Teresa at his uncle's instruction and helped him kill her and burn the body. However, Brendan contradicted himself multiple times during interrogation and later recanted his entire confession, but both he and his uncle were given life sentences for the murder.
Here is the latest case update.
Kathleen Zellner appealed Avery's conviction to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, but the decision to review the case was denied in May. She later said that the decision was expected.
"Two things are certain at this point," she told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "(1) Steven Avery will never give up on proving his actual innocence. (2) Steven Avery's legal team is more dedicated to winning his freedom than ever before."
The attorney added that the average amount of time it takes to reverse a wrongful conviction is 15 years, but that "many cases have spanned decades with dozens of motions being filed before an individual is freed."
Three judges from the Wisconsin Court of Appeals District II ruled that Avery's motion was "insufficiently pled" and didn't have enough evidence to warrant an evidentiary hearing.