Teresa Halbach; Photo: https://www.wietingfuneralhome.com/obituaries/teresa-m-halbach/

Teresa Halbach is, unfortunately, the one person who often gets overlooked when discussing Steven Avery and the 10-part Netflix documentary Making a Murderer that premiered on December 18, 2015. The show chronicles the trials of Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey. The two men were convicted of killing Halbach in 2005, when she worked as a freelance photographer. While the story brought international attention to Teresa Halbach’s murder, most of it was focused on allegations of a police cover-up and whether the right people were in jail. What was missing was an understanding of who the victim was. This Teresa Halbach wiki looks at her short life, untimely death, and the aftermath of Making a Murderer.

Who Was Teresa Halbach?

Teresa Halbach was born on March 22, 1980 in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, to Karen and Richard Halbach. She had two sisters, Katie and Kelly, and two brothers, Tim and Mike.

Teresa spent her formative years on her parents’ 225-acre, 60-cow dairy farm. As a young girl, she was known to enjoy the outdoors and helping her parents take care of the animals.

When Teresa Halbach was eight, her father died. Her mother went on to marry his brother, Thomas, her former brother-in-law.

Teresa was a member of St. John-Sacred Heart Parish in St. John, and graduated from Hilbert High School in 1998.

Halbach, who was known for her love of karaoke, played the part of Ermengarde, a comically whiny character in Hello Dolly, in her senior year. She also had leading roles in The Music Man and Anything Goes in high school.

Debra Seidl, who directed Teresa Halbach in the school musicals at Hilbert High School, recalled that she was well-known and well-liked. When she walked through the halls with friends, she was always smiling and laughing.

Kelly Pitzen, a friend since preschool, remembered Teresa as being an energetic spontaneous person. “We were always up to something – hiking or swimming at High Cliff State Park on Lake Winnebago.”

Studied Photography at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

After high school, Halbach went to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, where she studied photography. When she started as a photographer on the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s student newspaper, Fourth Estate, in fall 2001, she listed her life goal as becoming a photojournalist for National Geographic.

By the end of the year, though, she changed her outlook a little. On the graduate send-off page she said, “I just want to be financially comfortable, enjoy life and see the world.”

In her senior year of college, Halbach worked as an intern for Pearce Photography in Green Bay.

In 2002, she graduated from college Summa Cum Laude with a degree in photography.

Teresa Halbach Recorded a Video Diary for a Class Project

In a video diary recorded for a class project at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, where she was clearly asked to say what her loves are, Teresa Halbach got very candid. In the undated video, which appears to have been shot in her apartment, a relaxed Halbach looks into the camera and says she loves hugs, and believes everyone needs “nine hugs a day in order to feel loved.”

She goes on to list a number of things that she loves “being happy,” that she has lots of friends, and knows that she has “nothing to complain about.”

Teresa Halbach lists off more of her “loves,” including making people laugh, getting compliments, the Beatles, God, No Doubt, and Gwen Stefani. She then talks about one of her greatest passions, photography. “I love taking pictures. I love holding a camera in my hand.”

Perhaps a nod to her future desires and dreams, Halbach adds “I love kids, I love babies.”

A wandering free spirit, she continues saying that she loves to travel, and talking about her adventures.

Halbach opens up further in the video; she likes who she is and loves “being myself with everyone I know.”

She also discusses her family, “I love knowing that my family’s healthy.” Later in the video she says, “I love my sisters, my mom, my whole family of course.”

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In a later part of the video diary, Teresa Halbach talks openly and honestly about her future. Relaxing on a sofa in her apartment, she confesses, “So let’s say I die before I’m 31. Let’s say I die tomorrow. I don’t think I will. I think I have a lot more to do.”

“I just want to know that whenever I do die, I just want people I love to know that whenever I die, that I was happy,” her voice trailing off. “That I’m happy with what I did with my life.”

“The only thing is if it happened now is that I wish I could have became a mother. Because that’s one thing I’ve always known that I want – to be a mom.”

Thoughtfully, Halbach looks into the camera, playing with her hands, “But there’s a reason for everything.” Adding, “And I will be a good mom one day. I will. As long as I’m happy.”

After these eerily prophetic statements, Teresa Halbach then ends the video.

Teresa Halbach Moved to Be Closer to Her Family

After graduating, Teresa Halbach took a job as a portrait photographer with Pearce Photography. She also started her own photography business, Photography by Teresa, which she operated out of the Pearce studio.

On her archived web site, Halbach said her goal was to “capture emotion in portraits, showing natural smiles and not that ‘posed’ look.”

In late 2004, Teresa Halbach decided she wanted to be closer to her family, so she rented a house owned by her parents next door to the farm. She commuted half an hour each way to work in Green Bay. In her spare time, she coached her sister Kelly’s grade seven volleyball team at St. John-Sacred Heart School in Sherwood.

Aside from photography, Halbach loved spending time with her family and friends. When she would sing karaoke, she loved to belt out “Picture” by Sheryl Crow and Kid Rock.

That doesn’t mean Halbach was a homebody; she was passionate about travelling. She visited Mexico with a friend, went to Spain for a month on her own, and traveled to New Zealand and Australia, where she learned to scuba dive.

But her true passion was photography. “Photography was her life,” said Ray Hillegas, Halbach’s ex-boyfriend. “She could do anything with a camera.”

Teresa Halbach Had Just Put in Her Notice at “Auto Trader”

To help supplement her income, Teresa Halbach got a job as a photographer with Auto Trader magazine. She drove her Toyota RAV4 to different locations to take shots of the vehicles that were being put up for sale.

Two weeks before Halbach disappeared, she put her notice in at Auto Trader. Photography by Halbach was getting more and more clients, and she was too busy to take on the extra work from the magazine. It has been alleged that Halbach told her clients, including the Averys, a property she visited at least 15 times before her rape and murder, that she was leaving Auto Trader.

At the time, Halbach told Auto Trader that she no longer wanted to go to the Avery property and take pictures. On a previous visit, Avery came to the door wearing just a towel. The young woman felt uncomfortable.

On the morning of October 31, 2005, the day Teresa Halbach disappeared, Steven Avery called the magazine and asked them “to send the girl who was out here before.” She didn’t want to go, but the magazine asked her to, as one last favor.

On October 31, 2005, 25-year-old Teresa Halbach disappeared.

Questions Remain about Her Last Known Whereabouts

There are some doubts about Halbach’s last known whereabouts.

At around 2:30 p.m., Halbach called Auto Trader before arriving at the Avery property to photograph Avery’s sister’s Plymouth Voyager.

She parked her RAV4 between Steven Avery’s trailer and the garage and knocked on his front door. According to Avery, she took pictures of the vehicle and then left.

That is open for debate.

She had another appointment that day, to take a picture of a vehicle at the Zipperer residence. JoAnn Zipperer testified at trial that Teresa Halbach had been to her property; she is not certain of the time, but thinks it was in the mid-afternoon. The young woman was there for about 15 minutes, and did not say where she was going next.

Depending on who you ask, Halbach was either at the Zipperer residence before, or after she was at the Avery property. If she was there before she went to Avery Salvage Yard, her last known whereabouts was Avery’s Auto Salvage. If she was at the Zipperer’s after she was at the salvage yard, then there is no way Steven Avery could have murdered her.

That said, phone records show that Halbach made a one-minute outgoing call from her cellphone at 2:12 p.m. to the Zipperer residence. Which suggests she took photos at the Zipperer residence before heading over the Avery property.

Family, Friends, and Strangers Held Searches and Vigils

For days after Teresa Halbach went missing, family, friends, and strangers handed out missing person’s flyers and conducted searches. Volunteers checked empty buildings, drainage ditches, and parking lots. But they came up empty.

Concerned members from the community also held candlelight vigils.

At one vigil, hundreds gathered around a fire praying for her safe return, singing songs. Volleyball players from St. John-Sacred Heart Parish released balloons of hope into the sky, a message to their missing coach.

“We’re looking for you, we hope you’re o.k., and we’re just coming,” said one student.

Teresa Halbach’s mother Karen ended the interview, “Please bring her home, that’s all we want. Just bring her home. Please. Somebody find her. That’s all we want.”

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Avery First Met Halbach When She Took Pictures for “Auto Trader”

On November 4, 2005, one day before Teresa Halbach’s body and Toyota RAV4 were found on his family’s property, Steven Avery gave a nighttime interview to Diana Alvear, a reporter with NBC26 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

The conversation starts with a relaxed Avery laughing with the reporter. She asks him how he knew Teresa Halbach.

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“Teresa used to come out here all the time and take pictures of my vehicles and she put them in the book.” The book being Auto Trader magazine, the company Halbach was working for when she was murdered.

Avery admits to having known Halbach for a little more than a year. He confirmed that when she came out to Avery Auto Salvage to take pictures, she’d be there for about five minutes, then leave.

When questioned about how he heard that Halbach first disappeared, Avery says it was the police. They asked him if she was on the property, which he confirms; she had been there at around 2:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on October 31, to take a picture of his sister’s burgundy 1989 Plymouth Voyager. After taking the pictures, Avery says she left, “same as usual.”

Steven Avery told the reporter that the police had actually been out to his place earlier that night to see if they could check his house over, “I said I got no problem with that, come on in. So they checked the house out all over, everything was fine and then they left.”

When questioned whether or not he’d take a polygraph test if police asked, Avery simply shrugged, “I don’t know. I got nothing to hide. If they want me to, I don’t care.”

Tellingly, when Alvear asked Avery what his feelings were for Halbach’s parents, he says, “They must be going through hell. ‘Cause they lost somebody…or whatever.”

At that point, Halbach was a missing person’s case. It’s possible she left town for some alone time. Saying her family “lost somebody” might appear a little premature. No one knew she died.

Avery continued saying, “She’s got to be out there somewhere. So somebody should be looking.”

When asked if he thought Teresa Halbach’s disappearance was odd, Avery answered, “Yeah. But, there’s stuff happening in the world all over. You know. But this is too close to home for me. You know. And I’m involved? I don’t feel good. Then they got to hit on me again. I did enough time. I learned my lesson. I didn’t do nothing wrong. I mostly stay home, mind my own business. Now all of this is happening, then I find out that she’s out here, now she’s missing. I’m wondering the same thing…where is she?”

Halbach’s Car Found November 5 on Avery Property

The search for Teresa Halbach ended on the morning of November 5, 2005, when Pam Sturm, Halbach’s second cousin, found her missing Toyota RAV4, crudely hidden on the Avery property. The license plate was removed. Sturm called the Calumet County Sheriff’s Department and gave police the VIN. They confirmed it belonged to the missing woman.

Within minutes, law enforcement agents were all over the Avery property.

Evidence Collected on Property Pointed to Steven Avery

When police first searched Avery’s home, they found two guns, a .22-caliber semi-automatic rifle, and a .50-caliber deer-hunting rifle. During their numerous searches, investigators found a mountain of evidence, including blood inside the car and charred bone fragments in a fire pit outside Steven Avery’s trailer. Police also found the burned remnants of a cell phone, and camera in a barrel used to incinerate trash.

Detectives seized hair and fiber samples, an Auto Trader magazine, hand tools, duct tape, a necklace, vacuum cleaner, claw hammer, blanket, plastic pail, and golf cart.

Police eventually found Teresa Halbach’s license plates in a scrapped car on the Avery property, spent rifle casings in his garage, and a pair of handcuffs and leg irons in his house.

During a much later search, Calumet County deputy Daniel Kucharski and two investigators magically found the missing ignition key to the RAV4 on the floor of Steven Avery’s bedroom. The room had been searched before.

Meanwhile, forensic experts found blood in Halbach’s car, on the back seat panel, steering column, and center console. An analysis determined that the blood matched Steven Avery; sweat on the car key also matched Avery.

According to Teresa Halbach’s death certificate, the coroner notes that the cause of death was homicide, the actual or estimated time of death is unknown, and that the cause of death is undetermined. Although the word “undetermined” is later crossed out, suggesting the cause is not known.

Steven Avery denied any involvement, and suggested he was being set up. At the time, Avery was pursuing a $36.0-million civil lawsuit against Manitowoc County for being wrongfully convicted of rape and attempted murder. The same county investigating the disappearance and possible murder of Halbach.

Steven Avery Arrested and Convicted in Teresa Halbach Murder

On November 11, 2005, Steven Avery was charged with Teresa Halbach’s murder, kidnapping, and sexual assault and with mutilating a corpse.

On March 18, 2007, Avery was found guilty of first-degree murder and illegal possession of a firearm. Avery was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Brendan Dassey, his nephew, initially confessed to helping his uncle rape and kill Teresa Halbach, but later recanted his confession, saying it was coerced. He was found guilty of first-degree murder, rape, and mutilating a corpse. He was sentenced to life, eligible for parole in 2048.

“Making a Murderer”

The 2015 Making a Murderer documentary on Netflix thrust Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey’s conviction into the spotlight.

Many outraged viewers and legal experts pointed to a police cover up, collusion, conflict of interest, a coerced confession, and an inept defense attorney.

Since the documentary aired, many angry viewers have claimed that two innocent men were doing time for a crime they didn’t commit.

If not Avery and Dassey, then who?

There is no shortage of potential murderers being investigated by armchair detectives around the world. But there are a few names that keep cropping up.

But who would want to kill a sweet girl who thought hugs were the fuel for life?

Halbach’s Ex, Ryan Hillegas, Suspected in the Murder

According to Kathleen Zellner, Steven Avery’s new defense attorney, only one person had motive and opportunity for and a connection to the murder of Teresa Halbach. And that is Ryan Hillegas, her ex-boyfriend.

Abusive History

Teresa Halbach and Ryan Hillegas knew each other in high school, dating on and off for five years. While the two were a couple during their high school and college years, they were not together or romantically involved in 2005 when Halbach was murdered.

Despite not being together, and despite the young woman having moved on, Hillegas is alleged to have continued checking up on her.

According to Thomas Pearce, a friend and colleague of Teresa Halbach, she told him that she had been in a verbally and physically abusive relationship in college. She told him this while working as an intern at his photo studio; it was at this time she was involved with Hillegas.

Jealousy the Potential Motive

Ryan Hillegas continued to show interest in Teresa Halbach, even though she told him in an e-mail that she was no longer interested in him. Halbach had moved on; in fact, she was in a sexual relationship with her housemate, Scott Bloedom, in the months leading up to her death.

Interestingly, Hillegas and Bloedom were best friends.

At trial, Hillegas committed perjury when he said Halbach’s relationship with Bloedom was platonic and never sexual. He knew it was anything but.

It is also alleged that Hillegas was jealous because Halbach also took nude photos of 106 men and women. She also became sexually involved with one of her clients, a married man named Mr. Czech. While the relationship ended well before October 31, 2005, he continued to call her, sending her a text on October 31.

For reasons unknown, Hillegas called Czech on November 3, 2005, for the first time ever.

Hillegas Misled Investigators

Hillegas provided false information about when the damage to a parking light on Halbach’s RAV4 occurred. For Avery’s new defense team, this suggests Hillegas tried to frame Steven Avery for her murder. According to Zellner, Hillegas had no motive to frame Steven Avery unless he himself murdered Teresa Halbach.

Ryan Hillegas told investigators that his ex-girlfriend had damaged the driver’s side bumper and parking light of her RAV4 months before she disappeared, and that she’d filed an insurance claim for the damage.

Her insurance company said Halbach never filed a claim. Avery’s defense team contends the damage occurred after she left the Avery property on October 31, 2005.

It is alleged that Hillegas lied to investigators because he wanted to divert attention from the broken parking light that was tossed in the rear cargo area of her SUV by the killer. The theory is that when he was trying to plant Halbach’s vehicle on the Avery property, he hit a post by mistake.

Hillegas would not want investigators looking for the other pieces of the parking light because, if they found it, it would undermine the prosecution’s theory that, after Avery murdered Halbach, the RAV4 never left his property.

If this story line was refuted, investigators would turn their attention on more likely suspects, like Ryan Hillegas.

Loads of Opportunity

Ryan Hillegas has no alibi for October 31, 2005, the date Teresa Halbach was murdered, or the subsequent days when, Avery’s defense team alleges her body was burned and bones planted in a firepit on Avery’s property.

Hillegas’ cell phone records show major gaps during the time Halbach went missing. On October 31 2005, there was a six-hour gap, from 9:41 a.m. and 3:48 p.m., when there was no incoming or outgoing calls.

It is alleged that during this time frame, Teresa Halbach left the Avery property, went to and then departed from the Zipperer property (her last appointment that day), and was killed after she got home at around 3:40-3:50 p.m.

There was also a huge two-hour gap in Hillegas’ phone records from 3:50 p.m. to 6:01 p.m.

Hillegas’ phone records have an over 17-hour gap from 7:47 p.m. on October 31, 2005, to 1:31 p.m. on November 1, 2005. It is during this time frame that Hillegas is purported to have transported Teresa’s body and burned it.

There are additional mysterious gaps. On November 2, there was a six hour gap from 10:06 a.m. to 4:12 p.m. and a gap on November 3, 2005, from 7:31 p.m. to 8:10 p.m, the time when Steven Avery reported seeing headlights on his property.

On November 4, from 4: 15-7:25 p.m., Ryan Hillegas received 21 calls from an unidentified, hidden phone number. Avery’s lawyers conclude that the caller was intentionally hiding its phone number, and that the call may have come from law enforcement. It is during this time that Sgt. Andrew Colburn called police dispatch to confirm the license plate on Teresa Halbach’s still missing vehicle.

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Ryan Hillegas knew Teresa Halbach’s username and password for her cell phone account and accessed her account to get phone records after she went missing. A large number of voice messages were deleted. It is thought Hillegas deleted the messages over a two-day period to buy him some time to dispose of her body. Halbach regularly checked her voice mails; if a friend or family member called her phone and discovered the mailbox was full, they would immediately become suspicious.

In footage taken prior to the discovery of Halbach’s RAV4, Hillegas can be seen with scratches on the back of his left hand. Forensics proved that Halbach had long enough nails to inflict those scratches. But, because Halbach’s body was incinerated, no DNA could be retrieved.

Scent-tracking dogs indicated that Teresa Halbach’s vehicle was moved onto the Avery property. The dogs’ alerts established that Halbach’s body was in her vehicle when it was driven onto the property. Other dogs detected a suspected burial site in a nearby wooded area where plastic, similar to a tarp, was discovered. Still other scent dogs led their handlers to an area where a new witness said they saw a vehicle matching the description of Teresa’s RAV4 prior to its official discovery on November 5, 2005.

Hillegas knew the sheriff’s department was conducting aerial surveillance of the Avery property on November 4, 2005 to find Halbach’s car. Police admitted that the RAV4 was not visible from images taken that day. After the flyover ended, the murderer drove the RAV4 onto the southeast corner of the Avery property using a rear access road. Another new witness came forward to say they saw a vehicle similar to Halbach’s RAV4 and a white jeep take the access road. Only the white jeep returned.

The RAV4 was parked facing west, all of the other surrounding vehicles faced east. To explain why the vehicle was not seen in aerial footage, the killer then used tree branches, cardboard boxes, and a rusty car hood to conceal it.

Ryan Hillegas’ Activities after Teresa Halbach’s Death

Ryan Hillegas’ behavior after Teresa Halbach’s death, and before her car and charred remains were discovered, are suspect. He spearheaded the non-police search for Halbach and lied about who he was. Instead of being Ryan Hillegas, ex-boyfriend of the deceased, he was Ryan Kilgus, a close friend.

Not long after Halbach’s death, and despite his abusive history with her, Hillegas moved into the house she’d shared with his best friend, Scott Bloedem. There, he had unfettered access and control over her belongings.

In addition to having control over Halbach’s home and possessions, Hillegas searched property surrounding the Avery Salvage Yard and entered the salvage yard on numerous occasions, providing him with more than enough time to plant evidence. On one occasion, Hillegas also accessed a surrounding property using a fake name.

On November 5, 2005, Hillegas directed Pam Sturm, a second cousin of Teresa’s father, to search Avery’s Auto Salvage. He provided maps and missing persons posters to other citizen searchers, but when it came to Sturm and her daughter Nikole, the only two with access to the Avery property, he gave them a digital camera and the direct number to Calumet County Sheriff Jerry Pagel.

Sturm managed to locate Teresa Halbach’s RAV4, which was hidden on 40 acres of uneven geography among 4,000 other vehicles, in less than 30 minutes. This suggests Hillegas may have told her where to look.

What about Teresa Halbach’s Brother, Mike Halbach?

Mike Halbach, Teresa’s brother, acted as the family spokesperson throughout the ordeal. Unfortunately, Mike Halbach did not work with the filmmakers of Making a Murderer, so all there is to go by is TV footage of his interviews.

In one TV interview, after his sister was missing for just one day, it appears as though Mike Halbach has already started the grieving process.

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And in yet another interview, conducted on November 5, 2005, the day searchers discovered Teresa’s car, the indifferent, clean-shaven, camera-ready Mike says, “I don’t know what to hope, I don’t’ know if you want to find her vehicle, you know, she’s there. I don’t know if you want to find nothing and hope that she’s somewhere still…alive. I don’t know what to hope.”

Throughout the interview, he seems fairly indifferent, and repeatedly shrugs his shoulders.

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In one particularly cringe-worthy interview, Mike Halbach and Ryan Hillegas talk to reporters about Teresa’s car being found on the Avery property. Initially, Hillegas stumbles over himself tying to answer basic questions with the two looking at each other for what seems like some kind of support. As the interview progressed, the two seem more secure of themselves, and start to speak in unison, completing each other’s sentences.

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In Making a Murderer, it is said that Mike listened to his sister’s voicemails and that, according to Hillegas’ testimony, accessing her phone was a group effort. The same phone where voicemail messages went missing.

This is not to suggest that Mike Halbach was directly responsible for Teresa’s death, but it does suggest he knows a lot more than he ever let on. Especially in light of new evidence brought forward about Hillegas by Steven Avery’s new, well-heeled defense team.

Halbach’s Roommate Scott Bloedorn Was also a Suspect

It has also been suggested that Teresa Halbach’s housemate/boyfriend should be a suspect in her murder. His appearance in Making a Murderer could be described at best, as quick; limited to saying that searchers from the civil search party should be sent to Manitowoc and Two Rivers.

What we do know, though, is that Scott Bloedorn didn’t report his roommate missing for almost four days. He wasn’t able to “guess” her cellphone password like her brother Mike and Ryan Hillegas were, but he did have access to her belongings and could, if need be, get rid of evidence.

What could his motive possibly be? It’s not impossible to think that Teresa Halbach wanted to end her relationship with him, too.

As for opportunity, Steven Avery said she left his property, and another witness said he saw the RAV4 leave, too. If Teresa Halbach did leave the salvage yard and did go to her last appointment, then it is most likely that she returned home. This would give him opportunity to commit the crime.

On November 4, 2005, news crews filmed the interior of her home, the one she shared with Scott Bloedorn. While interviewing Bloedorn in the kitchen, a camera crew captured what appeared to be the key to an RAV4 and a blue lanyard next to the kitchen sink.

Could this be the ignition key to Halbach’s RAV4? Avery’s house was searched several times early on in the investigation, but the ignition key to Halbach’s SUV only turned up eight days after she disappeared during a much later search of Avery’s home.

The key was found by Lt. James Lenk, a member of the Manitowoc County Police. A police department that, because of perceived conflict of interest issues, wasn’t supposed to take part in any searches of the Avery property.

Another interesting fact: Steven Kirby, an investigator who helped conduct interviews after Steve Avery was found guilty of murdering Teresa Halbach, tried to meet up with Scott Bloedom and talk to him about false statement he made to police in 2005.

But Bloedom refused to sit for an interview. However, when he was told that post-conviction counsel planned to name a suspect in Teresa Halbach’s murder, Bloedorn blurted out, “You mean Ryan Hillegas.”

Many questions remain. Why did Bloedorn lie to police in 2005? Why did he take four days to report her missing? And why did he refuse to sit down with investigators to address his misleading statements? What did he have to hide? Moreover, was Bloedorn trying to throw his best friend under the bus to take the attention off himself?

With Scott Bloedorn, Ryan Helligas, and Mike Halbach seemingly looking out for themselves, the only person getting ignored in this whole story is the victim, Teresa Halbach.

Teresa Halbach’s Friends Think of Her Every Day

Despite the passing of time, Teresa Halbach’s friends say they continue to think about her every day.

Her friend Beth, who attended the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, said Halbach “made me feel like I fit in. Honestly, it was her smile. She made you feel like you belonged just by her nature. She had a very adventurous spirit, and she made you want to come along with her.”

Tina Mills, another former classmate, recalled, “She went out of her way to make you feel special. People were inspired by her and people wanted to be like her.” Adding, “Caring, loving, any good quality you could come up with, that was Teresa.”

Katie Uttech, who met Teresa Halbach in college, asked Halbach to be a bridesmaid at her wedding in 2004. She fondly remembers spending nights out with Halbach, singing karaoke, cooking together, driving in the car listening to the Beatles, and watching Friends together on TV.

“She was always very positive,” Uttech said. “I don’t ever remember her being mad about anything. She just had this positivity about herself. She didn’t have a bad bone in her body. She just enjoyed life, she enjoyed new experiences.”

“I just miss her not being around and not being able to make more memories together,” she continued.

On her obituary page, it says Halbach will be remembered as “the life of the party who could make anyone smile.”