Teen Confesses To Raping And Killing Photographer

March 4, 2006 8:01 p.m. EST

Yvonne Lee - All Headline News Staff Reporter

Manitowoc, WI (AHN) - A 16-year-old Wisconsin boy confesses that he and his uncle raped and killed a photographer last Halloween.

The Associated Press reports Brendan Dassey is charged with being party to homicide, mutilation of a corpse and sexual assault.

According to a criminal complaint, Dassey says Teresa Halbach, 25, was shackled naked to a bed, stabbed and slit in her throat.

Dassey and his uncle Steven Avery, 43, then dragged her body to a garage, shot her and burned her corpse in a pit.

If convicted of the charge, Dassey faces a mandatory term of life in prison. Prosecutors plan to seek additional charges against Avery, who was charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and possession of firearms by a felon in November.

Avery had already served 18 years in prison for rape before being exonerated by DNA evidence in 2003.Prosecutor Ken Kratz says at a news conference, "I intend to hold each of these defendants accountable for the rape, torture and murder of Teresa Halbach... There is a substantial amount of physical evidence that now makes sense, fits a lot of pieces together."

Kratz says Avery lured Halbach to a salvage lot by calling Auto Trader Magazine and asking for one of its freelancers to photograph a minivan for sale.