Transcript from "Making a Murderer" Episode 5: The Last Person to See Teresa Alive;
Colburn being questioned on the stand about calling in Teresa's plate number...
Strang: One of the things road patrol officers frequently do is call in to dispatch and give the dispatcher the license plate number of a car they've stopped or a car that looks out of place for some reason. Correct?
Colburn: Yes, sir
Strang: And the dispatcher can get information about to whom a license plate is registered
Colburn: Yes, sir
Strang: If the car is abandoned or there's nobody in the car, the registration tells you who the owner presumably is
Colburn: Yes, sir
Strang: I'm gonna ask you to listen, if you would, to a short phone call
(tape begins)
Woman: Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department, this is Lynn.
Colborn: Lynn
Woman (Lynn): Hi, Andy
Colborn: Can you run Sam-William-Henry-582?
Woman (Lynn): OK. It shows that she's a missing person. And it lists to Teresa Halbach
Colborn: OK.
Woman (Lynn): OK, that's what you're looking for, Andy?
Colborn: Ninety-nine Toyota?
Woman (Lynn): Yep.
Colborn: OK, thank you
Woman (Lynn): You're so welcome. Bye-bye
(tape ends)
Strang: OK. What you're asking the dispatch is to run a plate that's "Sam-William-Henry-582"? Did I hear that correctly?
Colburn: Yes, sir
Strang: Sam-William-Henry would be S-W-H-5-8-2?
Colburn: Yes
Strang: This license plate?
Colburn: Yes, sir
Strang: And the dispatcher tells you that the plate comes back to a missing person or woman?
Colburn: Yes, sir
Strang: Teresa Halbach?
Colburn: Yes, sir
Strang: And then you tell the dispatcher, "Oh, '99 Toyota?"
Colburn: No, I thought she told me that
(Replays tape)
Woman (Lynn): It shows that she's a missing person. And it lists to Teresa Halbach
Colborn: OK
Woman (Lynn): OK, that's what you're looking for, Andy?
Colborn: Ninety-nine Toyota?
Woman (Lynn): Yep
Colborn: OK, thank you
Woman (Lynn): You're so welcome. Bye-bye
(tape ends)
Strang: Were you looking at these plates when you called them in?
Colburn: No, sir
Strang: Do you have any recollection of making that phone call?
Colburn: Yeah, I'm guessing eleven-oh-three-oh-five. Probably after I received a phone call from Investigator Wiegert letting me know that there was a missing person.
Strang: Investigator Wiegert, did he give you the license plate number for Teresa Halbach when he called you?
Colburn: You know, I just don't remember the exact content of our conversation then. But you think... He had to have given it to me because I wouldn't have had the number any other way
Strang: Well, you can understand how someone listening to that might think that you were calling in a license plate that you were looking at on the back end of a 1999 Toyota.
Colburn: Yes
Strang: But there's no way you should've been looking at Teresa Halbach's license plate on November three on the back end of a 1999 Toyota
Colburn: I shouldn't have been and I was not looking at the license plate
Strang: Because you're aware now that the first time that Toyota was reported found was two days later on November five?
Colburn: Yes, sir
I've watched this part of his testimony 3 times now and re-read the transcript half a dozen times and I can't get past how obviously nervous Colburn is when he's answering Strang's questions about calling in Teresa's plate number. It's also obvious to me that he was coached very well on how to answer. Most of his answers are simply "yes sir" or "no sir", as if he's being extremely careful not to let anything slip... JMO ~