While the Search for Teresa Halbach was underway in November 2005, another series of events was beginning in Bonduel, Wisconsin.

A woman was moving from Bonduel, Wisconsin to Maribel. She had rented a house with the lease to start on 1 November, 2005. The house was on a property that included several outbuildings.

In Bonduel, her husband had exhibited bizarre behavior such as sleeping in their attic and sleeping in a fetal position.

She discovered that the labels had been cut from her clothing, and then her underwear was missing. Her husband denied any knowledge. During the week, he said he burned something at their new address and said it was a doll crib. There was a doll crib at the Maribel address, however, it was not burnt, however.

During the marriage, the citizen found that her husband had attempted to burn himself in the past. He also had previously burnt her clothing. He was diagnosed with personality disorder, narcissistic disorder, depressive disorder, and psychosis, but he refused to take medication.

She found that on 31 October, 2005, he visited the Maribel area and had stopped at the rental before the lease began. He spoke of visiting an auto salvage yard. He commented that a woman wanted to take pictures of the rental property on 31 October while he was there, and he felt that the photographer was “stupid.”

During the week, she observed that her husband had scratches on his back and a cut finger that bled intermittently. She was beginning the move while working in Green Bay.

She found her underwear stuffed in an attic closet at the Bonduel home. She also noted a boombox along with cans of Cherry Pepsi Cola near the steps of the Maribel home. Her underwear disappeared again.

On the 5 of November, when they stopped for lunch in the Maribel area, the husband saw a missing person poster for Halbach and stated dogmatically, “She’s dead.”

The following evening, her husband’s behavior turned worse. He refused to allow her into the Maribel rental. The citizen contacted the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s department, and he was arrested on 6 November, 2005. He was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting an officer.

When she returned to the Bonduel home to continue the move, she checked the attic cupboard again for her missing underwear. Instead, she found a pair of yellow lace panties than were not hers. They were about her size and had stains consistent with menstruation. She placed the panties in a plastic bag to ask her husband about them.

About 10 November, 2005 she looked through the outbuildings in Maribel for her missing clothing. She found some of her clothing cut into pieces. She also discovered a can of lighter fluid with a bloody fingerprint.

Unbeknownst to the citizen, her husband had been placed in two separate psychiatric care facilities during his custody. He was released to an outside address in January, 2006. Court records show that address as Glen’s Bar and Grill in Manitowoc. The County did not notify the woman that her husband was free and in the community.

Between November and the end of the year, a few odd things happened. Two explicit adult magazines were placed on the property. Also, her dogs found relatively fresh bones somewhere on the property. She discarded the bones.

While attempting to distract the dogs from the bones, the citizen dropped her husband’s tool chest in one of the outbuildings. A masons’ hammer and a pair of surgical gloves fell from the chest. The hammer had visible dark red flecks.

In January, she noticed a person staring at her home from the gas station/truck stop across the road. She then discovered that her husband had been released as well as his address. When she parked in the parking lot of the bar and grill, he approached her car and insisted that she take him to the Maribel residence and began searching the house. During the search, he struck her. She called the Sheriff’s Department, and her husband was rearrested.

The new charges were burglary, intimidation of a witness, criminal trespass, resisting an officer, and bail jumping.

One night she noted a second floor balcony door was open. She entered the home and secured the door. After that she discovered an opened closet at the base of the stairs with a pair of women’s jeans, a top, and a pillowcase stained with red stains.

She contacted the sheriff’s department. When a deputy arrived, the citizen explained her findings and wondered if the clothing were connected with the Halbach case. She then discussed the other incidents with the deputy. The deputy stated that she believed the Halbach clothing had been recovered! She collected one magazine and the yellow panties.

If the Halbach clothing had been recovered, it was not information that was released at or after the trial of Steven Avery. If not, then the deputy was fabricating.

The citizen was contacted by Manitowoc County Detective Dennis Jacobs. Jacobs is the child sex investigator for Manitowoc County. He insisted that the panties were from a child despite the staining and size. He wanted the citizen to accuse her husband of pedophilia. He also volunteered that authorities had their suspect in the Halbach case.

She told Detective Jacobs of the cut clothing and a previous incident when her husband had burnt her clothing. His response was that was not a crime.

The woman left Wisconsin for a job in Oregon. On 2 March, 2006 the Manitowoc County prosecutor dismissed the charges of burglary and intimidation against the husband. Charges of disorderly conduct, criminal trespass, and bail jumping were also dismissed. He pleaded no contest to the two resisting officer charges and was sentenced to time served.

She believes that the victim services office in Manitowoc County provided her husband with her new address. He was at her door soon after his release.

She considered the events of the week of 31 October, 2005, and her husband’s behaviors and injuries. The citizen believes that there may be a connection with the Halbach disappearance. When she asked her husband about any possible connection, he simply laughed and said no one would believe her if she reported her suspicions.

But, she had developed a distrust of Manitowoc County law enforcement. Her husband was probably correct that the Wisconsin authorities could not accept the concept that someone else did the crime.

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by Brian McCorkle