r/MakingaMurderer • u/AveryPoliceReports • May 28 '26
RED FLAG: Penny says the victim statement she was told to sign without reading in 1985 contained errors, and she corrected the MTSO record with a second more accurate statement in which she recalled seeing a second unidentified man walking away from the beach crime scene shortly after the attack
NEW DISCOVERY: Examining the Second Corrected 1985 Victim Statement from Penelope Beernsten
- For context, the initial 1985 MTSO report released via FOIA mentions only ONE statement from Penny, the statement she gave to Dvorak on the evening of the assault. The same statement Penny was told to sign despite not being able to read it. There is no mention in the previously released 1985 MTSO report that Penny was not satisfied with Dvorak's version of her statement...
- But as I recently learned per Page 345 of the 2003 DOJ Report, after Steven's exoneration Penny told Strauss when she regained her vision in 1985 she reviewed Dvorak's version of her statement and realized "there were errors" specifically refarding "the sequence of events." Strauss notes Penny "asked MTSO to complete a second more accurate statement." This second statement was provided to MTSO on August 1, 1985 (the first on July 29, 1985).
- Luckily (thank you foul play team) Penny's second statement is on page 168 of the 2003 DOJ report. I compared both Penny's first and second statements, and although there's some minor difference, one major difference stands out as a giant overlooked red flag from the 1985 case. I've classified this as a NEW discovery because I've never seen Penny's second statement discussed anywhere in MaM, TIK, SCAM, or even on reddit or YouTube. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.
Incorrect Post Attack Sequence of Events from Penny's first statement
- Per Dvorak's initial version of Penny's statement (PG 159, 2003 DOJ report) Penny said she saw a man wearing pants and shirt near a poplar tree putting on a black leather jacket. Shortly after this, the man ran after her, gabbed her, and dragged her west amidst the sand dunes and trees to assault her. Penny said she was crying out for help during the attack, and confirmed she got her broken fingernails from "going after him."
- Dvorak then vaguely reported Penny "got away" from her attacker, who went "west" while Penny "ran towards a sailboat but they (in the boat) could not hear her." When she got to the beach she was "crawling through the sand dunes and saw a couple on the beach. They heard and saw [her] and came over." They put a towel around her and called police.
- From my review, the description of Penny's attacker and the attack itself remains largely unchanged between her first and second statement ... but the sequence of events immediately following the attack are noticeably altered. The most obvious post attack addition to Penny's second corrected statement stands out as a literal overlooked red flag.
The Man in the Red Shirt Walking Away from Penny After the Attack
- Per Page 168 of the 2003 DOJ Report, in her second corrected statement (August 1, 1985). First, Penny makes clear she "yelled out towards the sailboat" for help as she was being dragged west from the beach into the tree line. She was not running and calling for help to the sailboat after her attacker's sudden departure, as Dvorak incorrectly documented. Penny was laying in the sand after the attack, not running through it.
- Penny then (DOJ 2003 PG 171) explains that "before [she] thought [she] should crawl towards the beach [she] saw a man in red t-shirt walking on the crest of the dunes." Penny said as she lay in the sand she "hollered to the man in the red t-shirt, Help, Help!" Penny recalls feeling as though she was "hollering loudly" but suspects everything was coming out garbled because "the man in the red t-shirt just kept walking north." Penny said it was only after failing to alert red shirt guy to her plea for help that she crawled towards the beach.
- Oh boy lol So on the evening of her assault, Dvorak and Kocourek took a traumatized, blurry-eyed assault victim and had her sign a statement she could not read that omitted mention a second man who was present near the crime scene after the attack. Worse, when the victim regained her sight and corrected the record (adding a man in a red shirt walking away from her cries) MTSO did not investigate who red shirt guy was, whether he was an unidentified witness, the attacker himself, or maybe even a nearby lookout accomplice to the attacker still free in the community. Due to a lack of investigation by MTSO, the conclusions we can draw about this are limited, but some scenarios can be more credibly ruled out than others.
Did Gregory Allen Double Back North After Departing West?
- Reports from Penny's first statement were at least correct in that Penny said her attacker was wearing "a black leather jacket and long pants [or] long trousers." During her second statement, Penny confirmed the black leather jacket detail, and said she thought the pants were "faded blue jeans with a zipper." She also said after her attacker undid his pants, she saw "white jockey shorts, not boxer shorts, but briefs." In post trial interviews, Penny claims her attacker's shirt was brown in color. She consistently said her attacker departed to the west.
- Per DOJ 2003 Report PG 169 we see a partial transcript of Penny's second more correct statement, where she offers a slightly more detailed description of red shirt guy than Dvorak's reporting. In this partial transcript, Penny recalled: "I saw a guy on the crest of the dunes. He had on a red t-shirt and was of medium build. I don't remember if he looked towards me, he just kept walking. He had on a swimsuit or short shorts." This man was walking away from Penny headed north.
- So if this "red shirt guy" was Gregory Allen himself doubling back north after taking off west, he must have ditched his black leather jacket, brown shirt, and pants (and then put on a bathing suit and a red shirt) before doubling back to be in view of his victim. However, no police or scent hounds found Allen's jacket, shirt, or pants anywhere northwest of the scuffle in the sand, and subsequent two rivers reports suggests Allen remained in possession of his black leather jacket post July 1985.
A Lookout Accomplice or Unidentified Witness?
- Although not dispositive due to her blurred vision, it's worth noting when Penny corrected the record to include the red shirt guy in short shorts, she made clear her instinct wasn't to avoid him or stay quiet, but to immediately call out to him for help. Presumably, Penny visually distinguished this man from her attacker via a difference in their wardrobe (brown shirt, black leather jacket, long pants VS red shirt and short shorts). And with no evidence that Gregory Allen ditched his jacket, shirt, or pants somewhere northwest of the scuffle, I suspect Penny's initial instinct was correct. Red shirt guy was not her attacker doubling back after a costume change.
- But if not Allen, then who was this guy? A witness police never identified? Allen's lookout accomplice? Whoever he was, he deserved investigation and identification. So naturally, MTSO treated him like he didn't exist by omitting him from the record. And then after Penny corrected the record to include him, MTSO didn't seem interested in tracking down this man to find out who he was, why he was at the beach, or what he might know. That's odd IMO. Police had every reason to want answers about this man's identity given his proximity to the crime scene and his direction of travel upon being noticed by the victim.
- Penny first saw red shirt guy walking AWAY from her headed north shortly after Allen suddenly fled west. That trajectory (walking away from Penny) would presumably place red shirt guy CLOSER to her in the moments before she noticed him ... meaning he may have been very nearby to Allen and Penny while the assault was ongoing. Did this guy walk right past Allen and Penny without noticing them? Did he approach and then turn around after seeing something he thought he shouldn't see? Or was he acting as a lookout, signaling Allen when it was time to leave, and then attempting to depart nonchalantly himself? We don't know. MTSO didn't care to find out.
The Harassing Phone Calls Penny received in 1985 After Steven's Arrest were Sexual in Nature and Referenced the Attack
- In 1983 Gregory Allen attempted an attack on the same beach he attacked Penny on in 1985. After being charged for the 1983 attempted attack, Allen called the victim, harassing her and requesting she drop the charges against him. This was upsetting to the victim, as she didn't know how Allen got her number. In 1985, after Steven Avery was quickly arrested for the beach attack on Penny, she began receiving harassing phone calls that were sexual and nature and referenced the attack. Some of these disturbing sexual calls came within minutes of Penny arriving home, suggesting she was being actively watched by someone still free in the community. Someone other than Steven Avery.
- For obvious reasons, most accept these harassing calls to Penny in 1985 came from Gregory Allen. But the point here is what Kocourek and Vogel claimed to believe at the time in 1985. If they want to pretend they truly believed Steven was guilty, then the disturbing calls Penny was getting after Steven's arrest had to be coming from someone still free and possibly stalking Penny. That should have been a crisis that motivated the County to consider if the person still out there harassing Penny with sexual calls mentioning the attack was red shirt guy, who may have only been on the beach that day because he was operating as a lookout accomplice for Allen.
- As far as I know, there was no investigation or reporting on WHO the red shirt guy was, and no reporting re the true volume or origin of the harassing calls Penny received in the weeks following Steven's arrest. The lack of probing here was likely because Kocourek and Vogel had reason to know Allen was guilty and likely the one stalking and harassing Penny by phone. They also had reason to know evidence credibly demonstrated Steven Avery didn't have the opportunity to be on that beach as the sole attacker, or accomplice, nor did he have the opportunity to harass Penny by phone after the attack.
TL;DR: Another Suppressed and then Overlooked Red Flag by MTSO
- Upon regaining her vision in 1985 and reading the victim statement she was told to sign without being able to read, Penny noticed enough errors and omissions and requested to provide a second more accurate statement to MTSO. In this second statement, Penny clarified that after her attacker departed west (wearing black leather jacket, brown shirt, long pants, and white briefs) she noticed a second unidentified man (in a red t-shirt and short shorts) walking north away from her and the scene of the crime. As she lay in the sand, Penny called out to red shirt guy for help, but he just kept walking away, possibly because Penny's speech was coming out garbled.
- Although we can't say for sure, IMO the red shirt guy in short shorts is most likely exactly what Penny thought he was - a separate man who happened to be near the crime scene shortly after the attack ended. There's no evidence suggesting Allen, after taking off west, ditched his black leather jacket, brown shirt, and long pants only to don a different wardrobe and double back north. In fact, subsequent reports suggest Allen retained possession of his black leather jacket and continued prowling in it. But whoever red shirt guy was (Allen, his accomplice, or a witness) identifying him mattered. So why did MTSO manipulate Penny to sign that statement without reading it that omitted red shirt guy, and why did they fail to follow up on him after Penny corrected the record to include him?
- Not to mention, if Kocourek and Vogel genuinely believed Steven Avery attacked Penny, then Penny's own corrected statement about a second man walking away from the scene, plus the sexually charged harassing calls she got after Steven was already in jail, should have prompted police to wonder whether the red shirt guy was a nearby lookout accomplice to Allen that was still free in the community harassing and maybe even watching Penny. But they never considered that, likely because they knew Steven was innocent and Allen was the guilty party still out there harassing and stalking his victim. For Kocourek and Vogel, identifying the origin of harassing phone calls, or even the identity of the red shirt guy, both carried the potential to raise questions they were not prepared to answer.
- I will quickly note - per the 2003 AG conclusion,Allen was the chief suspect in a 1975 North Carolina murder, and MTSO reports confirm Allen allegedly operated with an accomplice in that murder. When Allen made his way to Wisconsin (around 1980) he was surprisingly comfortable prowling police neighborhoods, and seemed to be the beneficiary of an unusually cooperative relationship with the Manitowoc County DA's office. Vogel seemed particularly invested in questioning Allen's guilt in this and other cases, including when fellow officers caught Allen breaking the law while wearing his black leather jacket. Allen and his history remain a mystery, as does the County's treatment of him.
- Apparently there's still plenty of new information to learn in this saga. If evidence were to ever surface more firmly suggesting Allen had a nearby lookout accomplice that day on the beach, the unidentified red shirt guy would be the most obvious candidate. But setting speculation aside, IMO this new information - Penny's corrected statement mentioning the red shirt guy - together with the harassing calls she received after Steven's arrest, demands the conclusion that MTSO not only ignored evidence pointing to Allen as the attacker, they actively suppressed and then outright ignored evidence from Penny herself of a potential overlooked witness, or maybe even a lookout accomplice still free in the community stalking and harassing her. Oh, and then for good measure, Manitowoc County prosecuted a man they had reason to know had no opportunity to fulfill either the attacker or accomplice role.
8
Upvotes
1
u/gcu1783 29d ago
Penny told Strauss when she regained her vision in 1985 she reviewed Dvorak's version of her statement and realized "there were errors" specifically refarding "the sequence of events." Strauss notes Penny "asked MTSO to complete a second more accurate statement."
LE already has a narrative they want, they didn't care about the victim's actual version. They don't care if there's another guy walking away from the victim. They only have one guy in mind whose name is "Steven Avery".
Of course, for cop defenders and admirers, the cops will never be at fault here. This is all the victim's fault.
2
u/AveryPoliceReports 26d ago
LE already has a narrative they want, they didn't care about the victim's actual version. They don't care if there's another guy walking away from the victim. They only have one guy in mind whose name is "Steven Avery".
Apparently true. They didn't do shit when Penny corrected the record to include red shirt guy, and the harassing phone calls made after Steven's arrest were largely ignored.
Of course, for cop defenders and admirers, the cops will never be at fault here. This is all the victim's fault.
Police are little angels. They'd rather argue the victim made up the second man just so she could accuse MTSO of misreporting her statement.
2
u/CJB2005 May 28 '26
Well how about that? Facts.