Anonymous To Release Stephen Avery Evidence Soon

While the launch of Netflix's Making a Murderer has incidentally spurred American audiences into behaving like amateur detectives, the series has also attracted the attention of a group that could in fact have a serious impact on the life of the docuseries subject. Supposed members of cyber hacking group Anonymous claimed on several social media accounts to be in possession of evidence that, members say, proves Steven Avery is innocent of the murder of which he was convicted. But when will Anonymous release the so-called evidence on Steven Avery?

Anonymous, according to its own schedule, already missed the deadline for sharing the proof. On Sunday, Twitter account @OPAVERYDASSEY stated in a tweet that authorities from the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Office would have 48 hours to release phone records, which allegedly prove a conspiracy between law enforcement officials Sgt. Andrew Colborn and Lt. James Lenk to frame Avery. But by Tuesday evening, no records had been released by either group. (Bustle has reached out to the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department for comment.)

Unless Anonymous is pulling a major bluff in hopes that the Sheriff's office will release some kind of information, documents from the hacking group could pop up at any time. A tweet published on Monday morning under the same account states that another cyber group, known as Ghost Security, would release documents "shortly." Why Anonymous may have transferred leadership over the information release is yet to be explained by the group.

Anonymous and Ghost Security are not the only groups interested in seeking what they say is justice for Steven Avery. Tens of thousands of people have signed online petitions on sites including Change.org, which are aimed at having Avery released from prison. But whereas petitions often mean slow change, an information release of authentic evidence by Anonymous would likely be a catalyst for more immediate action on the part of criminal justice and legal authorities.

In 1985, Avery was wrongfully convicted for the rape of a woman and spent 18 years in prison for those alleged crimes, and, in 2007, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of a different woman, Teresa Halbach. He was arrested and charged with Halbach's murder at the same time a lawsuit against the county for his wrongful conviction was ongoing. Avery has claimed that police framed him for Halbach's death in order to quiet the lawsuit related to the earlier wrong conviction; the police department denies this.

For those who have become invested in proving the Wisconsin man and docuseries subject's innocence, it's now a waiting game to see how Avery's story will continue beyond the 10 episodes of the Netflix series.

Image: Netflix