6.Mark Wiegert — Direct (Part 1)

MARK WIEGERT: Um, I happened to be working on, um -- in November. I believe it was November 3, to be exact. Um, one of our patrol deputies had taking a phone call -- or, actually, a complaint, um, about a missing person complaint. Um, it was actually, uh, Karen Halbach had called our Department to report that her daughter, uh, was missing and they haven't heard from her in several days.

After, um, patrol deputy had taken the initial information, excuse me, she had contacted me and requested my assistance, um, in attempting to locate Teresa.

MARK WIEGERT: Sure. Um, on November 5, when the vehicle was discovered, um, on the Avery Salvage Yard property uh, we were requested by Manitowoc County to lead the investigation.

At: that point when we realized how big and how massive the salvage yard was, not only the salvage yard but all the residences, uh, the outbuildings, all the property that surrounded it, um, we realized that it was a little more than our Department could handle on its own. Um, at that point we contacted the, uh, Wisconsin Department of Justice and requested their assistance.

MARK WIEGERT: I.did. Um, myself, along with a female detective at our Department by the name of, uh, Wendy Baldwin, had went to, um, the Avery property, which would be the Earl and Candy Avery property, um, to interview Kayla.

Our purpose for going there was because we had some information from another person, which we had interviewed, that Kayla had information about Steve Avery. Our purpose for going there was to interview Kayla in reference to Steve Avery.

MARK WIEGERT: Yes. Um, the interview started out about Steve Avery, and Kayla was talking about her relationship with Steve Avery. And just about at the end of that interview, Kayla, uh, out of the blue, basically, came out and told us that, uh, she had a cousin by the name of Brendan, and that Brendan was, quote, acting up lately.

So we asked Kayla what she meant by Brendan acting up lately. At that point Kayla told us that Brendan would just stare into space and start crying, basically, uncontrollably. She also told us that Brendan had -- had lost approximately, what she estimated to be, about 40 pounds.

MARK WIEGERT: Well, I take you back a little bit, uh, shortly after, uh, Brendan was arrested, and I believe would have been on, like, February 28, we had received a call from the Mishicot School District.

Um, two of the counselors at the Mishicot School District, after hearing that Brendan had been arrested, had called and reported that they may have some information in reference to the Teresa Hal -- Teresa Halbach, uh, homicide.

MARK WIEGERT: Well, Kayla came out and told us quite a few things at that point. Um, basically, she first broke down crying, and indicated to us, that, um, she had learned from her cousin, Brendan, that, um -- she stated that she had learned this in about December around the time there was a birthday party that they were both at at Kayla's house, and that Kayla -- correction -- Brendan had told Kayla that he had went and got the mail, and went over to Steven Avery's residence, and went into the residence, and observed Teresa Halbach pinned up in Steve Avery's bedroom.

She went on to tell us a couple other things. Um, she told us that Brendan had told her that after he had saw Teresa Halbach pinned up in the bedroom, that he exited the residence, and while leaving Steve Avery's residence, he heard screaming coming from Steve Avery's residence.

Kayla went on to tell us how, um -- She had mentioned Brendan being out at the fire on Halloween night, and she also told us that her and her mother had seen the fire on Halloween night.

Kayla went on to tell us how Brendan described seeing body parts later that day, or that evening, in the fire behind Steve Avery's residence.

MARK WIEGERT: Let me just back up a little bit. We were constantly, as investigators, have meetings about this case and where we should go with it, what we should be doing.

Um, because of the enormity of the case, we would get leads in all the time. There would be people calling in, look at this, look at that. Um, what we decided that we needed to do in order to do a thorough investigation, we needed to go back and interview everybody who had access or who lived on that property.

Um, I felt, and I -- I think I can speak for Mr. Fassbender, that I don't believe we --

MARK WIEGERT: Yes. Um, after receiving information from Kayla on the 20th of February, obviously, the loss of weight, the uncontrollable crying, are signs that we look for. I mean, it's a change in behavior. It's -- it's not normal for a 16-year-old boy to be just crying uncontrollably and just lose that type of weight. So, obviously, that's something we look for.

And, for lack of a better word, it kind of moved into the front of the line, and we needed to -- we needed to interview him and talk to him.

MARK WIEGERT: Well, absolutely. I mean, at that point, um, we felt he knew more than he was telling us. And -- and we -- we do a lot of other things before we go interview people. We review prior interviews, such as the gentleman's interview that was sitting here prior to me. Marinette County's interview. I mean, review that. And we take a look at what he told them. There are things in there that didn't quite fit either.

So you take some of the things that he told the Marinette officers that just didn't seem to fit. And then his, uh, the losing weight, and the uncontrollable crying. Obviously, that, uh, points you in a direction you want to go. He's somebody you need to talk to.