Jodi Stachowski, the former fiancée of Steven Avery who appeared in Making a Murderer as one of Avery’s biggest supporters, is speaking out against Avery for the first time. In a damning new interview on Nancy Grace, which aired Wednesday night, Stachowski claims Avery is guilty of murdering Teresa Halbach: “[I want people to know] the truth,†she says. “What a monster he is. He’s not innocent.†She claims Avery physically abused her for the majority of their two-year relationship and once threatened to kill her and her family. Stachowski says she has always believed Avery killed Halbach and lied on Making a Murderer out of fear Avery would “make me pay.â€
At the time Avery allegedly committed the murder, Stachowski was in prison for a DUI, and their conversations on the day of the murder were explored as a potential alibi for him. Now she says that, despite how their relationship looked on the show, she never loved him. “I ate two boxes of rat poison just so I could go the hospital … and get away from him, and ask them to get the police to help me,†she says, noting his history of his domestic abuse against her, which Nancy Grace producer Natisha Lance says is proven in police records. Stachowski says that phone records should show that Avery threatened her from jail and told her to “make him look good,†and that she’s unsure if the show’s directors were aware of this. She tells Nancy Grace that, when the directors contacted her for a follow-up interview last year, she declined and asked to be removed from the series entirely, telling them her previous statements were “all lies.†She says she did not tell authorities of her belief that Avery was guilty until she moved out of Manitowoc county, and that prosecutors had planned to use her to testify against Avery.
On Tuesday, Avery filed a new appeal to have his conviction overturned. Watch Stachowski’s full interview above.