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Examining the results from Velie’s search of the Dassey hard drive

March 19, 2020
Zoey

Post on Reddit by Temptedious

Examining the results from Velie’s search of the Dassey hard drive for “key word terms” Special Agent Fassbender believed relevant to the investigation (blood, body, bondage, bullet, cement, DNA, fire, gas, gun, handcuff, journal, MySpace, news, RAV, stab, throat and tires).

Examining the results from Velie’s search of the Dassey hard drive for “key word terms” Special Agent Fassbender believed relevant to the investigation (blood, body, bondage, bullet, cement, DNA, fire, gas, gun, handcuff, journal, MySpace, news, RAV, stab, throat and tires).

Before we begin, Here is a previous post of mine dealing with additional information contained on the Velie CD and Dassey computer. This linked post contains my examination of the Dassey computer internet browsing data and MSN conversations. The post does not contain anything in regards to the results from Velie’s search of Dassey hard drive for specific key word terms. Think of this submission as a supplementary post to the one linked above.

In this post:

  • I first review the creation of the Dassey computer forensic image as well as the creation of the Velie CD. I then examine Fassbender’s 2006 attempt to suppress the instructions he provided to Detective Velie – that he search the Dassey computer hard drive for specific keyword terms related to the case. Fassbender failed to report his actions and also failed to report the results, or turn over Velie’s final report that contained the results of his request.
  • I then examine the file paths and file names that responded to Velie’s search of the hard drive for the key words provided to him by Fassbender. As of now we can only view the file paths and file names corresponding to each “key word” term.
  • Unfortunately, we do not have access to the thousands of HTM reference documents corresponding with each search result. Even so, I still felt as though I should share what I noticed in the file paths and file names associated with the key word term. For example, I discovered yet another reference to the Saw movies, a deleted file titled “SAW II” recovered via Velie’s search of the Dassey hard drive for the keyword: “Gas.” Saw II was released in theaters on Oct 28, 2005, only three days before Teresa was killed.
  • Finally, I review the more recent discovery by the State of folders on the computer titled, “Teresa, Halbach and DNA.”

Examining the Creation (and Suppression) of the Dassey Computer Forensic Image and Velie CD Report

In general, I think it always helps for everyone to have a firm understanding of how the State suppressed the contents of the Dassey computer via both non disclosures and late / deceptive disclosures. Non disclosures and late / deceptive disclosures all violate Brady.

Fassbender first seized the Dassey computer on April 21, 2006, and delivered it to a Detective Velie a day later, who (after a talk with Fassbender) made a copy of the computer’s hard drive – a forensic image. This raw data image was spread across 7 DVDs. Velie then examined the computer’s raw data via multiple digital forensic tools (Hash analysis, Encase, Enscript, HTML carvers etc). Before we even get to the key word search results, Velie discovered thousands of other material files, such as images of women being bound, blindfolded, tortured and raped. Velie also discovered child and teenage porn; creepy MSN instant messages; and hundreds of incriminating search terms entered into google image search (for images depicting pedophilia, torture and rape). Using digital forensic tools, Velie isolated and extracted from the hard drive the data he and Fassbender believed would be relevant to the investigation into Teresa’s death and included the information on a Final CD Report – The Velie CD.

  • The 7 DVDs (which were provided to Strang and Buting in an untimely and deceptive manner) contained 6,545 pages of unreadable raw data that was not organized into any sort of analytical framework. The raw data on the 7 DVD forensic image was unreadable and indigestible without the aid of qualified experts utilizing the appropriate software, both of which would be required to facilitate the isolation and extraction of files investigators suspected would be material. Even Kratz and Fassbender required the raw data on the forensic image to be “cooked” before they would have been able to digest (or understand) the information contained therein.
  • The Velie CD (which was withheld from Strang and Buting entirely) contains the results of the State’s forensic examination – the cooked data – 2,449 pages of easily digestible information that could be read by any old body on any old computer without any experts or special software.

The Velie CD was withheld because it could have been used by the defense to impeach and incriminate the State’s number one civilian witness, Bobby Dassey, by demonstrating he lied to police about his activities on the day of the murder and also that he harbored a propensity for sexual violence that would have given him a motive for Teresa’s murder. Zellnder says, “The images and search terms on Velie’s computer report CD are obviously relevant as they show Bobby Dassey, and not Appellant, was motivated by his sexual desires to commit the murder.”

As noted above, the forensic image was turned over, but was done so in an untimely and deceptive manner, which qualifies as an act of suppression. Perhaps most notably, Fassbender and Kratz both identified the forensic image to the defense as a copy of a computer belonging to Brendan Dassey, even though they both had reason to know the computer was kept in Bobby’s room and that the disturbing images on the computer continued to be accessed after Brendan’s arrest.

In addition to Fassbender and Kratz misrepresenting who the primary user of the computer was, they also misrepresented the evidentiary value of the computer. Kratz went so far as to say, “nothing much of evidentiary value was found.” Neither Kratz nor Fassbender mentioned the copious amounts of torture porn or the fact that all images of torture were of young women, nor did anyone mention the pornographic searches that occurred before Teresa arrived on Oct 31, 2005, at a time when Bobby told police he was home alone sleeping. Fassbender didn’t mention the many searches for and images of child porn and teenage porn, only choosing to vaguely report the computer contained images of “potential young females.” Curiously, Fassbender chose to report some benign instant messages recovered from the computer that were sent on Feb 28, 2006, but totally ignored the disturbing instant messages recovered from the computer that were sent just a day earlier, on Feb 27, 2006. Finally (getting to the point of the post) Fassbender also failed to report the results of a unique examination of the Dassey computer for certain “key word terms” related to the murder that he himself requested Velie conduct.

Examining Fassbender’s failed attempt to conceal the instructions he provided to Velie prior to the examination of the Dassey computer.

Recall above I mentioned that Fassbender seized the computer on April 21, 2006 and turned over the computer to Velie for an examination. However, above I didn’t mention that before the examination occurred Fassbender made a special request of Velie – that he include in his final report the results of a search of the Dassey computer’s hard drive for the terms: Blood, Body, Bondage, Bullet, Cement, DNA, Fire, Gas, Gun, Handcuff, Journal, MySpace, News, RAV, Stab, Throat and Tires. For those who have been following the case, you know Zellner has so far been very tight lipped about the significance of these specific search results for those specific terms, so far only saying the terms bolster her claims that the State uncovered and suppressed multiple evidentiary links between the computer and specific details of the crime. Beyond that, the terms have only come up once or twice; Zellner only briefly mentioned these key word terms in her recently filed appeal brief, doing so only to address the suppression of the results. On Page 66 of her appeal, Zellner says:

The 7 DVDs did not contain the results of Detective Velie’s unique search terms found exclusively on the CD. Those search results are as follows: 2,632 search results for the terms: blood (1); body (2,083); bondage (3); bullet (10); cement (23); DNA (3); fire (51); gas (50); gun (75); handcuff (2); journal (106); MySpace (61); news (54); RAV (74); stab (32); throat (2); and tires (2). (741:23). It is undisputed that the results of those unique word searches of Detective Velie were suppressed and withheld from trial defense counsel, prior postconviction counsel, and current postconviction counsel.

The thousands of key word search results were contained on the Velie CD Final Report, which was withheld by DOJ Special Agent Fassbender, who kept the report in his possession rather than turning it over in discovery. When Zellner (after a healthy amount of gaslighting from the DOJ) finally received the Velie CD, she discovered it contained additional supplemental reports of detective Velie. One of those suppressed supplemental reports (Exhibit A with a previous filing) documented Fassbender’s instructions to Velie:

“Special Agent Fassbender provided me a key word list and I entered the key word list into Encase and ran the key word search. I also took the same key word list and ran an HTML carver searching for key words within web pages. The results of those searches were transferred to a final report for Special Agent Fassbender’s review.” (Screenshot of report)

This was a special request from Fassbender, requiring Velie to take a separate action from the “overall layout and hash analysis” he would have performed on his own. Velie took the key word list and conducted one search (via encase) that would highlight specific files which originated on the computer containing one or more of the keywords. Velie then conducted a separate search (via HTML carving) that would detect any websites visited on the computer that contained one or more of the keywords. Velie then transferred the results of those searches to a final CD report along with the results from the rest of his examination. That CD was given to Fassbender for his review – and that was the end of that.

Even though Fassbender himself asked Velie to search the computer for specific terms, he never reported doing so. That’s problem number one, and it only gets worse. Velie did report Fassbender’s instructions (Exhibit A, linked above) and also provided the results (Exhibit B, linked below) but Fassbender withheld those reports as well. As we can see, Fassbender did his best to prevent the defense from learning of the instructions he gave to Velie, and he also tried his best to prevent the defense from learning of the fruit of those instructions.

Why did Fassbender go to such lengths to suppress his instructions to Velie re the key word terms? Is it possible the withholding of the Velie CD was more about the key word search results than the torture porn or child porn? Note that without the Velie CD Zellner’s digital forensic expert had no way of knowing exactly which files the State was able to isolate and extract via encase or HTML carving. Zellner’s expert found plenty on his own, including images of torture, but would he have thought to search the computer for every single term Fassbender provided to Velie? I began to wonder if it was possible some significant files were found based on Fassbender’s key word list.

The Key Word Search Results

There were thousands of results obtained from Velie’s search. The report lists the key word term followed by a file path and file name, and each result contains a link to an “HTM reference document.” Thanks to Zellner’s zeal we now have access to some of this information. We can see the file names that correspond to each key word term, and we can also see where the file was found on the hard drive – the destination folder (windows, documents and setting, temporary internet files, program files or lost files). Lost files are files that have been deleted. There are many, many lost files listed in the results. Again, we do not have access to the HTM reference documents corresponding with each search result. This is unfortunate, as I assume those reference docs contain a shot of the website or photo or file or folder that was returned as a result of the search. Without that reference document we won’t be able to deduce much about the files I identify, some of which are surely harmless. On the other hand, some file names struck me as relevant.

Below you’ll see just some of the files I picked out from my review of Velie’s search of the computer for Fassbender’s keyword terms. First, you’ll see links to the exhibit itself, which is split across two separate documents. The split exhibit is somewhat confusing, so page numbers will be included for each file name I note, and every now and again I will include a screenshot of a file path / file name for easy viewing.

  • Exhibit B (Part One: Begins Page 58)
  • Exhibit B (Part Two: Begins Page 1)

BODY (Exhibit B – Part One Page 58):

  • A search of the registry for “Body” returned thousands of results, and many of the resultant file paths are not incriminating at first glance. Here is an example of a resultant files path: Ddrive – Documents – Application – Microsoft Money – Investment research (Page 58, part one).
  • There are many file paths from the “body” section (Page 59) leading to temporary internet files vaguely labeled Images1, Images2 etc. There are many, many file paths leading to temporary internet files in the “Body” section (Page 59-65). These still might be innocuous results; it’s hard to tell with such vague file names, however these images were isolated due to Velie’s search of the computer for the word “Body”.
  • Throughout the exhibit (beginning on Page 66, part one) we see many, many file paths to “lost files” or deleted files. Some of the deleted files in the “Body” section (page 73-80) are, again, vaguely labeled Images[1], Images[2], etc.
  • There are also file paths (Page 66) leading to “adult flash games” and deleted files (Page 67) titled “anal insertion, beating skulls.” (Screenshot)
  • On Page 71 we see files paths to deleted files titled “double fisting, extreme pussy hole.” (Screenshot)
  • On Page 81 for the “Body” results there are file paths to deleted files titled “leaking liquids”.
  • Page 85 reveals file paths to deleted files titled “Tara Reid Robbed, teenage pussy, teenage sinners.”
  • Page 86 from the results of the registry search for “Body” also shows many files paths to Adobe Acrobat reader documents or ebooks titled, “HowTo01, HowTo02, HowTo03” etc.
  • On Page 92 there are various files paths leading to “HP Digital imaging project templates,” some titled “Flyer_Blue ribbon” and “Flyer_Halloween.” (Screenshot) These files are totally innocuous, but you can bet they caught my eye.
  • On Page 96 (of Part 1) of the “Body” results we see three separate file paths all including the program, “IntelliMover Data transfer / demo / data transfer demo tell me more.” (Screenshot)

BONDAGE, BULLET, DNA, FIRE, GAS, GUN, JOURNAL, MYSPACE, NEWS, RAV, STAB, THROAT, TIRES (Exhibit B – Part Two Page 53)

  • On Page 53 of Part 2, we see results of the registry search for the term “Bondage,” leading to deleted files titled “Image1, Image2 and teenager.”
  • On Page 53 – 54 we see results for the term “Bullet” also leads to deleted images, among other seemingly harmless file paths. On Page 55 we see results for the term “DNA,” leading to deleted files titled “images[1], images[18]” etc.
  • On Page 56 we see results for “Fire” leading to deleted files titled “Fisting1, image1, image2” etc.
  • On Page 58 we see results for the term “Gas” leading to many deleted files titled “images[14], images[17], images[20], jizz_cumshots, wet-black-pussy, nude-teenage-girl, rough-teen-sex, SAW II.” (Screenshot)
  • On Page 60 we see results for “Gun” showing deleted files titled “Big cocks, castle pictures, images[6].”
  • On Page 65-67 the results for “Journal” lead to many temporary internet files from internet explorer 5. There are also lost files (deleted files) in the journal section titled, “Browse[1], Browse[10], Browse[11], Images[4], Images[32], Missing[1], suicidebabelovesya[1]” etc.
  • On Page 68-70 we see the results for “MySpace” leading to many, many temporary internet files and many more deleted images.
  • On Page 71-72, results for “News” leads to many, many deleted images and one file titled “sex gallery.”
  • On Page 73 we see results for “RAV” showing file paths to temporary internet files and many, many deleted files and images, some titled “image1, image2” etc. Other deleted files are titled “booking[1].” (Screenshot)

Those obsessed with images depicting intentional violence are more likely to commit murder than those not so obsessed

Some of these file paths are totally innocuous, but some are not. I’ve done extensive research on the Dassey computer internet browsing data and never once did I come across a search term for “beating skull” or “double fisting.” Also, I definitely felt it was notable that a search of the computer’s registry for “Gas” returned a deleted file titled “SAW II,” a movie that first came out in theaters only days before Teresa’s death. The Saw movies are all about the victims’ self mutilation and emotional terror being intimately experienced by the killer(s).

That first post on the Dassey computer data didn’t touch on the issue of the “keyword terms” provided to Velie by Fassbender, only because I hadn’t yet done the necessary research / examination of the results, so I didn’t notice or include the additional reference to Saw II. Even now after the discovery of the file name I can’t say much about it, how relevant it is, or what the reference document reveals. All we know is the “SawII” file had been deleted and it was detected by Velie because he searched the computer’s registry for the term “Gas.”

So this file could be totally irrelevant, but at the very least it is another connection to the Saw movies recovered from the computer data. Again, the saw movies are all about terror, torture and mutilation, and we know many images depicting the torture and mutilation of young females were found on the Dassey computer hard drive. As Zellner’s expert on child porn and sexual homicide says, when you are obsessed with images depicting torture and sexual violence it is only a matter of time before your mind will manifest a “justification for killing,” allowing you to gradually move from a fantasy life to a reality of stalking, assault, rape, torture, murder and mutilation.

Does it seem like a stretch to imagine that someone who got their rocks off to images of women being tortured might be intrigued by the horrific theatrics utilized by the SAW producers? This in turn might result in a slight obsession with the theme of the film, leading to Bobby’s creepy reference to the movie while harassing a young girl online. Personally I just can’t shake how creepy it was for Bobby to make such an unsettling suggestion to that girl while clapping back at her, if you will. Nothing to see here. Bobby is just roaming the streets at night, looking to meet a young girl in a secluded place to play a game from a famous horror movie by his rules involving the forced self mutilation of the victim.

Missing Keyword Terms

Just a reminder, here are the terms Fassbender himself formulated and provided to Velie to aid him in finding material evidence on the computer: Blood, body, bondage, bullet, cement, DNA, fire, gas, gun, handcuff, journal, myspace, news, RAV, stab, throat and tires.

Now some questions. I absolutely understand why Fassbender would ask Velie to look for terms like body, blood, DNA and cement. Perhaps Fassbender provided those keywords because he believed someone was searching for “How to remove blood and DNA from cement.” But why did Fassbender want Velie to search the Dassey computer for files / websites visited for the key word “tires.” How would Teresa’s tires come into this? And why did he want Velie to check for files related to “MySpace”? Frankly, even Fassbender providing the term “journal” for the search somewhat confuses me.

But did anyone notice keyword terms that are missing? What did Fassbender forget to ask Velie to search for? How about the keywords, “Steven Avery, Teresa Halbach,” and maybe even “Auto Trader”? Wouldn’t that be prudent? I mean … Fassbender seized the computer as part of the investigation into Teresa’s death, he didn’t even ask Velie to search the computer’s registry for use of Teresa’s name? Doesn’t that seem odd?

IMO Fassbender absolutely should have added Teresa’s name to his list of keywords provided to Velie for his search of the Dassey computer. Perhaps Velie did so without being asked and came up with nothing. Either way, nothing was reported in 2006.

The State seized and examined the Dassey computer once more in 2017 and discovered Folders Titled “Teresa, Halbach and DNA”

About a year ago Zellner discovered the State DOJ opened up a post conviction investigation into her motions and claims (PDF). As part of the new investigation the State once more, on Nov 10, 2017, seized the Dassey computer and conducted a second forensic examination over the period of many months. Zellner also learned the State interviewed Bobby Dassey on Nov 17, 2017 (Screenshot) as part of their post conviction investigation.

  • During the interview Bobby was asked by Dedering if he knew “who created the folder with the page depicting Steven and Teresa’s photographs.” Bobby indicated he knew how to create folders, but he had no idea as to who created those folders. Bobby was then asked who created the “Teresa” and “Halbach” and “DNA” folders that were on the computer and he stated he had no idea who did this. Bobby was asked if he did it and he indicated, “No.”

There was nothing about any folders titled Teresa, Halbach and DNA on the Velie CD, meaning the State must have gleamed this information via a second forensic examination – the State was able to view data written to the computer’s hard drive beyond the date the forensic image was created (April 21, 2006) to the date the computer was seized (Nov 10, 2017). When Zellner noticed the significance of Dedering’s questions to Bobby, she requested any reports from the second examination, but was flatly denied over and over. This resulted in Zellner filing a Motion to Compel the State to produce the results of their second forensic examination of the Dassey computer. Zellner told the circuit court (Page 18):

“The information about the existence of folders for TERESA, HALBACH and DNA is completely new information that is not contained on the [Velie] CD disclosed to current post-conviction counsel. Obviously, the information in the folders about Ms. Halbach and DNA is material and, after this court’s in camera examination of that material, should be provided to current post-conviction counsel so that Mr. Avery can establish with reasonable probability that a different outcome would have resulted at his trial if this evidence had been disclosed to his previous counsel.”

The circuit court completely ignored Zellner’s Motion to Compel, and Zellner is now appealing from that abuse of discretion (PDF). Hopefully the Court of Appeals will remand the case with an order requiring the State to (among other things) provide Zellner with the requested information. We don’t know anything about those folders, other than their name, but I have a funny feeling Zellner is right and that the information contained within the folders is material to the case. The simple fact that the folders are titled “Teresa, Halbach and DNA” says to me Zellner should absolutely be provided with the information. It is very troubling the State isn’t telling Zellner what they found, especially because the information motivated Dedering to ask Bobby and Barb about the folders. If there’s nothing to see, then there’s nothing to hide. So why is the Wisconsin DOJ constantly withholding, misplacing or even out outright destroying pieces of the puzzle?

Thanks for the gilding!

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