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Could Swedish blood test solve ‘Making a Murderer’?

Researchers at Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet (KI) medical university are hoping to use blood tests to solve an American murder case which gained global fame in a Netflix documentary.

Published: 17 October 2016 08:13 CEST

Could Swedish blood test solve 'Making a Murderer'?

Steven Avery (right) was sentenced to life in prison in 2007. Photo: Dwight Nale/AP

The documentary series ‘Making a Murderer’ looks at the story of Steven Avery, who is currently serving a life prison sentence for the murder of photographer Teresa Halbach in Wisconsin. He maintains that he is innocent.

Now, researchers at KI will carry out tests of the blood trail used as evidence in the case, which should help show whether he was correctly convicted or not.

KI senior researcher in molecular biology Kirsty Spalding watched the Netflix series when it aired in 2015. When she realized that Avery had been imprisoned without proper testing of the blood evidence being carried out, she contacted his lawyer, Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) reports.

“I e-mailed her to say ‘I believe we can determine with radioactive carbon-dating whether the blood was planted or not’. I received a reply within half an hour,” Spalding told SvD.

In the series, the documentary makers argue that Avery was wrongly convicted, and that local police and prosecutors may have planted his blood in 25-year-old photographer Halbach’s vehicle.

Avery, 54, had previously been acquitted in 2003 of the 1985 rape and attempted murder of Penny Beerntsen, for which he served 18 years in prison.

But in November 2005 he was arrested again, this time on suspicion of murder in a new case. Two years later he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the killing of photographer Halbach.

The practice that makes the new blood test possible is radiocarbon dating. The large increase in radioactive carbon in relation to non-radioactive carbon can be used as a timeline which is helpful when dating for example human tissue.

“I thought we could measure the level of radioactive carbon in relation to normal carbon and from there know whether the blood from Steven Avery’s conviction is from 1996, or from the murder of Teresa Halbach which was sentenced in 2005,” Spalding said.

If the blood is old, it could be a sign that it was planted. When the test will be performed is not yet known.

Swedish rail derailments could be linked to 'Russian-backed sabotage'

The report comes just days after prosecutors arrested two German-Russian men on suspicion of spying for Russia and planning attacks in Germany to undermine military support for Ukraine. There have been similar alleged incidents in several other European countries.

FT also claims that security services in Sweden suspect that a series of recent railway derailments may be acts of state-backed sabotage.

It doesn’t mention any specific incidents, but late last year, a fully-loaded freight train derailed on the Malmbanan near Vassijaure in northern Sweden, damaging around 15 kilometres of the line.

Repairs began quickly, but state-owned Swedish mining company LKAB, which uses the line to transport iron ore was greatly affected, with losses of around 100 million kronor per day while the line was closed and a 3.8 million drop in operating profits for the last quarter of 2024.

It reopened on February 20th, but just five days later it derailed again in Vassijaure, this time along a shorter stretch.

Fredrik Hultgren-Friberg, press spokesperson at the Swedish Security Services (Säpo), reiterated to Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) what’s previously been said, that Säpo is collaborating with police on the Malmbanan investigation.

“Säpo has an ongoing, routine collaboration with the police force on a number of cases, primarily when it cannot be ruled out that a foreign power is involved. One of those collaborations is on the investigation around Malmbanan,” he said.

Hultgren-Friberg declined to comment on the FT’s reports that Russia is planning attacks on European infrastructure.

“What I can confirm is that Russia is the largest single threat to Sweden,” he told SvD. “We’ve said that for a while. What we can see is more aggressive, risky behaviour from Russia in their illegal actions and spying in Sweden.”

Swedish police and Säpo have previously confirmed that they are investigating the Malmbanan incidents as possible sabotage, which doesn’t automatically mean that they actively suspect sabotage, but is also a routine procedure to facilitate the probe.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told Swedish news agency TT that the reports in FT did not come as a surprise to him.

“Russia is prepared to go further and carry out operations and sabotage on other countries’ territory,” he said.

But when asked whether such acts of sabotage had taken place in Sweden, he said that wasn’t the case.

“We haven’t seen any such signs for now, but we are on our toes. Other countries have seen things where they know or believe that there are such connections,” Kristersson said.

In late April, LKAB said it was so badly affected by the derailments that it may need to close temporarily as it’s not able to get stock to customers quickly enough, so its warehouses are nearing capacity.

“It’s a real worry,” LKAB’s CEO Jan Moström told TT. “If we can’t lower our stock then we’re going to have to start dialling down production capacity.”

Moström believes that this could affect up to 600 people – half being LKAB employees and the other half being independent contractors.

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