Steven Avery (born July 9, 1962) is the first person in the U.S. to be charged with a homicide after being exonerated by DNA evidence for a previous crime. The Wisconsin man was exonerated in 2003 after serving 18 years on a rape conviction in which DNA analysis later linked the crime to another man. On November 11, 2005 Avery was charged with the murder of 25-year old freelance photographer Teresa Halbach. His own blood was found in her SUV, which was found parked on his family's salvage yard located in a rural area west of Mishicot, Wisconsin, near Manitowoc and Green Bay.