Read Part One Here.

Read Part Two Here.

Read Part Three Here.

Read Part Four Here.

Hello dear friends. I know you’ve been waiting ever so patiently, so here’s a veritable gold-mine of a read from Amy on everyone’s favorite shit-eating grinner, the one who said they should “grieve” Teresa Halbach when she’d only just gone missing, her very own brother:

Mike Halbach

This guy, out of everyone else in the series, really hocked me off for some reason. Nothing about his body language, his choice of words, his attitude… NOTHING lined up with the picture of a caring brother who had lost his sister and was just trying to cope. No. Every interview, he was already dead-set on Brendan and Steven Avery being guilty.

“WHY?!” I cried at my television every time he appeared, startling my sleeping dog beside me. “WHY ARE YOU CONVINCED THEY DID IT?! YOU’RE AT THEIR TRIAL! THIS IS WHERE YOU ARE LEARNING WHETHER THEY DID IT OR NOT!” There was no “I’d just like to find out what happened to my sister.” No “Yes I heard about the confession, it will be interesting to see how this plays out in court.” This joker actually said, and I quote:

“To me, if this case goes to trial, I think if you put the tape of his, the confession, in the VCR, or DVD player, and play it, and there’s our case right there.”

A reporter asks if he himself has seen the confession tape, and his reply?

“No, I have not.”

Okay. Okay. I get blindly wanting justice for your sister. But Mike Halbach is not a grief-stricken, unintelligent man acting on impulse. He is very calculated. I know that if someone killed a person I loved, of course I would want justice. BUT I WOULD WANT JUSTICE FROM THE PERSON WHO I WAS SURE HAD KILLED HER, OR AT LEAST HAVE MORE INFORMATION ON THE PERSON WHO WAS SUSPECTED OF KILLING HER. I WOULD WANT TO KNOW MY LOVED ONE WAS TRULY AVENGED.

I’m sorry. I’m still hocked off.

Previously, Amy and I had discussed Mike in passing text messages. She picked up right away he was a relative — perhaps a cousin, but then no, decided on brother. I confirmed this was true and she went farther in-depth. So anyway, here’s what Amy had to say about good ol’ Mike:

Wow. Well, there is definitely some very cold-hearted energy here. First thing I pick up is absolute deception in what he is speaking. No doubt in my mind at all that he is being dishonest here.

This, exactly. “Absolute deception.” This is from a photo of Mike on the stand.

Also, there is indifference. A true ‘not caring.’

Now that’s interesting. I was sure he was lying but the idea that he was indifferent to Teresa’s disappearance never occurred to me. However, that makes total sense. How else could you lie about your murdered sister and blindly go along with anything you’re told, not thinking for yourself, unless you really just didn’t give a shit?

I have seen all stages and many, many reactions to grief. They are all different and many times…there is a shock that comes over a person that can be mistaken for non-feeling type of reactions. Here though, this is cold-hearted. There is almost a smirk I can see underneath it all. I see him smirking. He thinks he is smarter than everyone. He is very confident nothing can touch him. He knows he is covered.

Again, one must go into this believing Amy has not watched the documentary — I truly believe she has not, she is very honest and has asked me to share with her the general reactions to our pieces but REFUSES to read them. I take her at her word, it is up to you if you do the same. That being said, she NAILS Mike Halbach’s demeanor. THAT’S what hocked me off so badly. The smugness. The smirking.

So then I sent along a photo of Mike and Ryan (Teresa’s ex) from the search party:

Wow, do they have a lot going on. There is so much deception. A pact. A plan. A keeping the stories straight. I also get some kind of bond with them that is not exactly of the norm… and when I say norm, I mean goes beyond average friendship between males. Almost like they are really into each other but are homophobic and would never admit it to each other.

WOAH. Obviously the first part makes sense, they definitely had to “keep their stories straight.” BUT. The part about being into each other? Very interesting. They were definitely closely associating with each other during the search party. Again, remember this is all speculation, but they were also the ones who “guessed” Teresa’s phone password. Together. Weird, right? And then the voicemails went missing.

Back to Mike:

I feel this man truly does not care in the slightest that his sister is dead. No emotion. Nothing off his back. I also feel an underlined disdain for women in general. They are beneath him and all “whores.” He is very misogynistic.

Interesting angle. I don’t see anything from Mike in the documentary that might suggest this, so these are the kinds of things I look forward to seeing if Amy has right — things that might only be revealed in the future. (Much more of this coming very soon.)

And so we end on a final thought from Amy, regarding:

Ryan Hillegas

I feel too that skinhead guy [Ryan]…he really played her. The sister. He was key to some very false, yet pertinent information concerning her. He lied. He made up things. I can actually see him talking with men and getting excited…over what he could do …like, “And then I could do this…! And what if I went and did this…?!” type of stuff. Again, like a game. Excited to play the part. Excited to be a part.

This is chilling to read. He was definitely animated on the stand, and emphatic in the idea that no one had entered the Avery property until they were told to. He was also the HEAD of the search party. What? Why? I feel he had way more power than he should have in this scenario. And why is that?

I think he had orders.

So here’s the deal. I’ve got a lot on deck. Up next, more in-depth reads of Scott Tadych, the Janda/Dassey clan, Len Kachinsky, and a shot of the Avery garage. Let’s dig deeper. We’re starting to get somewhere.

Read Part 6 Here.

If you love true crime and mysteries, check out Amy’s series titled “A High School Friend Is Being Charged With Attempted Murder And, As A Medium, I’m Going To Use My Gifts To Help Her” here.