Updated 5th Anniversary Edition Including Exclusive Interview with Steve AveryIn 2016-17, while working for the USA TODAY NETWORK's Wisconsin Investigative Team, author John Ferak wrote dozens of articles examining the murder case against Steven Avery, who had already beaten one wrongful conviction only to be charged again with the murder of Teresa Halbach in 2005. This case captured global attention through the Netflix documentary "Making A Murderer."
In this anniversary edition of WRECKING Demolishing the Case Against Steven Avery, Ferak not only lays out in meticulous detail the post-conviction strategy of Kathleen Zellner, the high-profile, high-octane lawyer fighting to free Avery but also includes a new "Five Years Later" section. This update provides fresh insights and developments in Avery's ongoing legal battle.
Additionally, this special edition features an exclusive a November 2023 interview with Steven Avery. For this book, Zellner, arguably America's most successful wrongful conviction attorney, granted Ferak unprecedented access to the exhaustive pro bono efforts she and her small suburban Chicago law firm have invested in a man she believes to be wrongfully ensnared by Manitowoc County's unscrupulous justice system. This anniversary edition offers new revelations and a comprehensive look at a case that continues to stir public debate and demand justice.
A native of Joliet and Plainfield, Illinois, John Ferak chronicled the awful tragedy in rural Murdock while serving as an investigative journalist from 2003-2012 for the Omaha World-Herald, Nebraska's largest news organization. Ferak appeared on Investigation Discovery's "Cold Blood."
These days, Ferak is an award-winning investigative team member for Gannett Wisconsin Media, based at The Post-Crescent in Appleton, Wis. He also has worked as a reporter or editor at the South Bend Tribune in Indiana, The Daily Herald based in Arlington Heights Ill., and the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Although Ferak takes his writing and journalism seriously, he enjoys spending his free time with his wife, Andrea, and their three children. Ferak roots for the Green Bay Packers and the Nebraska Cornhuskers. He is a devoted follower of Major League Baseball and the Chicago White Sox. He is also known to enjoy a can or two of his favorite canned beer, Pabst Blue Ribbon, “The people’s beer,” as he likes to call it.