What Avery's Family Thinks Of The Netflix Show

If you are not spending hours marathon-watching Netflix's new true crime docuseries, Making A Murderer then I think you need to step back and take a look at what you are doing with your life. It's that good. The series follows Steven Avery's wrongful rape conviction, his release from prison based on DNA evidence, and then his eventual conviction for murder. It's an intense series that will make you question everything you ever thought that you knew about justice. Avery's family members (primarily his mother and father) are featured prominently in the series, often rallying their limited resources to attempt to free Avery from prison. So, what does Steven Avery's family think about Making A Murderer ? Bustle reached out to Avery's sister Barb Tadych for comment, but she has yet to respond. [UPDATE: The series filmmakers shared an update on Avery's parents on Twitter. "They continue to suffer every day Steven and Brendan are in prison. But they're feeling uplifted by the recent letters of support they've received, and encouraged that Steven has a new lawyer," Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi said during a Twitter Q&A.]

As for the rest of his relatives, they have not come right out with an official statement regarding their feelings about the docuseries, but it's easy to get an idea of how they felt about the whole thing being documented by looking at how closely they cooperated with the series. Making A Murderer's filmmakers, Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi, explained to Vulture that the Avery family was very receptive to what they were doing.

We developed an amazing relationship with the Avery family. We started to get to know Steven by telephone and we eventually started meeting him at the county jail, developing a relationship with him and gaining his trust. He called and arranged for Moira and me to go out and meet his mother. We were really impressed with how open the Averys were to meeting us. They heard us out about who were were and what we were were doing and why we were interested in their story. It's very much Steven's story, but it's also a family's story.

The film was shot over a 10-year period which is a testament to the commitment of the filmmakers. They became aware of the largely unknown case when they caught a 2005 article about Avery's murder arrest in The New York Times and felt that they couldn't ignore it. Ricciardi told Vulture, "What drew us to this story was Steven's status as an accused. In this country, people being accused of heinous crimes is unfortunately not that rare an event, but the fact that Steven had been wronged by the system, and was in the process of trying to reform the system and hold people accountable just raised so many questions." The filmmakers became interested in telling Avery's story from an unbiased point of view and providing a real look at all sides of the case, so they headed to Manitowoc to begin filming in December 2005, just a month after Avery's arrest.

As viewers see in the documentary, Avery's family was and still is desperately trying to get media attention for the case, but doing it with very limited resources and exposure. With the national spotlight back on him thanks to this Netflix series, it seems plausible to think that they are at least pleased that the film is causing people far away from Manitowoc, Wisconsin to discuss his case and maybe even attempt to get him freed, if he is actually innocent as he claims.

Images: Netflix (2)