Day 5 - February 16, 2007
Julie Cramer testified about Brutus’s alerts and the limits of what they could identify. Thomas Fassbender described the property searches and faced questions about search assignments, the Toyota key, and DNA findings; two other witnesses testified about folded license plates found in a station wagon.
Full day summary
1. Julie Cramer — Direct/Cross/Redirect/Recross
Julie Cramer described Brutus’s alerts at a vehicle and in a trailer bathroom, while acknowledging that the alerts could not identify a person or the source of the material.
Highlights
Julie Cramer — Directtestimony highlightAt a vehicle beneath brush near a blue tarp, Brutus gave repeated bark indications. Cramer said the indication suggested he smelled blood or some type of human remains there; investigators declined her offer to check inside and asked her to secure him.Julie Cramer — Direct“That told me that Brutus felt that he smelled blood or some type of human remain at that vehicle.”— Julie CramerCramer stated what she inferred from Brutus's vehicle alert, without claiming the source was identified.Julie Cramer — Crosstestimony highlightCramer explained that Brutus was not given Teresa Halbach's scent and that an alert on the Toyota could not identify whose material he smelled, its type, or whether the person was alive or dead.Julie Cramer — Recrosstestimony highlightCramer confirmed that Brutus alerted on two of the four burn barrels and that the alerts involved extreme animation and excitement.
2. Thomas Fassbender — Direct/Cross/Redirect/Recross/Redirect
Fassbender described the searches of Avery’s property, then faced questions about Manitowoc officers’ involvement and the late discovery of the Toyota key.
Highlights
Thomas Fassbender — Directtestimony highlightFassbender explains that the initial building sweeps sought Teresa alive and checked safety before more detailed searches began.Thomas Fassbender — Direct“Check for life, find life, and treat it, even at the cost of maybe losing evidence.”— Thomas FassbenderStates the priority Fassbender gave the initial sweep while Teresa was still being sought alive.Thomas Fassbender — Directevidence eventDuring a more thorough search of Steven Avery's trailer, evidence technicians show Fassbender a Toyota key with a blue fob; he directs that it be preserved and taken to the Crime Lab.Thomas Fassbender — Directevidence eventFassbender describes pieces of bone found in a burn area behind the garage next to Steven Avery's residence and says the Crime Lab was asked to help process the area.Thomas Fassbender — CrossconfrontationFassbender said he did not know on November 5 that Lenk and Colborn had been deposed in Avery's civil case. Asked whether that knowledge would have changed their search assignment, he said he still would have used them, while emphasizing his need for trained evidence technicians.Thomas Fassbender — Crosstestimony highlightFassbender agreed that the Toyota key was found during the seventh entry into Avery's trailer, after six earlier entries, and confirmed he was not present when it was discovered.Thomas Fassbender — CrossadmissionFassbender said investigators had found no blood matching Teresa Halbach in the trailer or garage, and agreed that by the March 1–2 warrants they had found none of her DNA in either place. He qualified some answers about particular areas by what investigators had found or what he knew.