Jodi Stachowski Claims Steven Avery Abused Her

Just two days after Making a Murderer subject Steven Avery filed for an appeal, his former fiancee Jodi Stachowski came forward alleging that he was violent and abusive throughout their relationship. And who better to take the opportunity to interview Stachowski about such behavior than the team at legal commentary show Nancy Grace? Stachowski's claims that Avery abused her were brought out in full force on Wednesday's show, and her account of her time with Avery is pretty horrifying.

Warning: The text below describes domestic abuse in detail.

HLN Senior Producer Natisha Lance sat down with Stachowski, who is claiming that her former fiancee told her how to act, threatened her, and beat her regularly:

He beat me all the time, punched me, threw me against the wall. I tried to leave. He smashed the windshield out of my car so I couldn’t leave him ...

In Making a Murderer, Stachowski and Avery can be seen showing signs of affection to one another, like holding hands. At one point, she says that she wishes she could talk to Avery over the phone so she could tell him how much she loves him. Lance questioned Stachowski on the apparent contrast between what is shown in the series and her present allegations. She told Lance that those behaviors were all lies.

He choked me one night. Well, actually, he started hitting me, so I called the police. So he choked me and was dragging me out the door so we could leave before the police got there and we were driving down the road. The police that were on the way pulled over and they took me out of the car and asked me what was going on. They arrested him and ordered him to stay away from me for three days.

Stachowski's allegations turned even more horrific at the description of what she reportedly did to herself in order to escape Avery's alleged abuse:

I ate two boxes of rat poison just so I could go to the hospital and get away from him ... we didn’t have a phone, he ripped that out of the wall.

Stachowski likened Avery to a Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde, stating that he is a monster behind closed doors. She also claimed that he had at one point told her, "all bitches owe him, because of the one that sent him to prison the first time." The former fiancee went on, saying that since Avery thought all women owed him something, he could do whatever he wanted, but whether this was Avery's words or Stachowski's own inference was not established.

Stachowski told Lance that her reason for coming forward is her desire for people to know the truth about her former fiancee and "what a monster he is." Among her various allegations was her belief that Avery did indeed kill Teresa Halbach in 2005. She alleged that on at least one occasion Avery threatened to kill Stachowski herself, as well as her family members.

Bustle has reached out to Neflix and Avery's defense lawyer Kathleen Zellner for comment.

Image: HLN