Making a Murderer subject Steven Avery is now engaged to a woman he’s only met once in real life.
The 54-year-old found love with Las Vegas legal secretary Lynn Hartman, 53, after the two exchanged letters, then daily phone calls, over the last eight months.
Avery is currently serving a life sentence (without the possibility of parole) at Waupun Correctional Institution for the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach and illegally possessing a firearm. Netflix’s Making a Murderer is a 10-part documentary series that follows the case of the Wisconsin native, who had previously been jailed for 18 years for a sexual assault in 1985, and was exonerated in that case by DNA evidence in 2003.
READ MORE: Steven Avery appeal delayed 3 months, his lawyer asks for more time
Two years later, Avery brought a US$36-million lawsuit against Manitowoc County, Wis., for the wrongful conviction. Making a Murderer calls into question the investigation and trial that put Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, behind bars, and alleges the investigators and police in the case planted evidence and otherwise manipulated the outcome of the trial.
“I’m happy,” Avery told the DailyMail.com. “She treats me decent, she loves me – she’s kind of spoiling me right now. I just want to be happy and enjoy my life. I think I did enough time.”
Hartman’s Twitter account, which is protected and inaccessible to the public, describes her as a “Legal Asst/Bankruptcy Paralegal and Supporter of the Wrongfully Convicted Steven Avery.”
The pair finally met in person when Hartman came to the prison in September. They plan on marrying when Avery is released from prison — something that may not ever happen. His current lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, is working on an appeal to overturn his sentence.
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One good sign for Avery: his nephew, who was also charged in the murder of Halbach, recently had his conviction overturned. Dassey was convicted in 2007 of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilation of a corpse and second-degree sexual assault, and was sentenced to life with no parole for 41 years. He was only 17 years old at the time.
READ MORE: Steven Avery’s lawyer: We have a new suspect in Teresa Halbach murder
U.S. Magistrate Judge William E. Duffin wrote in his decision:
“The investigators repeatedly claimed to already know what happened on Oct. 31 and assured Dassey that he had nothing to worry about. These repeated false promises, when considered in conjunction with all relevant factors, most especially Dassey’s age, intellectual deficits, and the absence of a supportive adult, rendered Dassey’s confession involuntary under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.”
Dassey is set to be released within the next few months if the state does not refile against him.
Curtis Basse, who runs the Steven Avery Project page on Facebook, wrote a message to fans on Sept. 23 to clarify Hartman’s intentions after some people speculated she was after fame instead of true “love.”
READ MORE: Brendan Dassey of Making a Murderer to be released from jail
Avery has been engaged twice before and married once. His ex-wife Lori (who was interviewed in Making a Murderer) is the mother of his four children. The pair divorced in 1998.
“Steven deserves every bit of happiness that comes his way,” Zellner toldo People magazine. “He is very much in love and happy with Lynn so we are happy for them.”
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