Kayla Avery

Kayla Avery testified for the prosecution on Day 3 of Brendan Dassey's 2007 trial. She described her cousin as appearing to lose weight and become more upset after Halloween. At a birthday party, she found him crying, asked what was wrong, and received only a shrug. On direct examination, she disavowed earlier reports that Brendan told her he had seen Teresa Halbach pinned in Steven Avery's trailer or body parts in a fire. She said she had made up that account and had been confused, not trying to get him in trouble.

On cross-examination, Avery acknowledged lying to investigators. She said news coverage was the source of the burn-pit and body-parts details, and she could not recall where she heard the pinned-in-a-chair claim. She agreed that officers had specifically asked her about the fire and body parts. On redirect, she could not recall whether officers approached her because of what she had told school counselors. The court received only the portion of her written statement, Exhibit 163, used to refresh her recollection and impeach her.

Other testimony addressed her earlier statements. School intern Susan Brandt said Avery had come to the counseling office frightened in January and reported that Steven Avery had asked an unidentified cousin to help move a body; Brandt said Avery did not name the cousin. Investigator Mark Wiegert said Avery's February account of Brendan's changed behavior helped prompt another interview with him, and he recounted her later account and identified her March 7 statement. When defense counsel contrasted Avery's chair detail with Brendan's March 1 interview, Wiegert agreed that the interview did not describe a chair, while maintaining that both accounts described Teresa as pinned.