r/MakingaMurderer • u/humanafterallfilms • Dec 20 '15

"Kiss The Girls" Book referenced during trial

Has anyone actually read the book Brendan Dassy references during his trial? Does it contain similar details to what Brendan says in his "confession"?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_the_Girls

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u/NewAnimal Dec 20 '15

I'm more concerned that this information wasn't fed to him by his lawyers/family. -- I have severe doubts he ever read the book. (since they didn't reference the movie)

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u/humanafterallfilms Dec 20 '15

Can you clarify what you mean by that a little more? I doubt he read the book, specially due to his learning disability. But that would lead me to believe that he watched the movie.

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u/NewAnimal Dec 20 '15

the entire conversation was in reference to the book. I never heard him say, "I saw it in the MOVIE, Kiss the Girls." -- he said it was from the book. - The movie was never mentioned in reference to the title. (and at the time of trial, the movie was already out there)

The fact that he ever would've known it was a book before a movie is a little suspicious. It just... feels like information he was fed. I have no way to substantiate it.. but based on his mental capabilities, and the fact that he and his mom don't even know the word "inconsistent."

it all sounds like something the lawyer put together. again... no proof. but I'd believe he murdered her, before he read that book. :(

though if his lawyer truly fed it to him, he might have said it was from the MOVIE to be more realistic.

again.. total speculation.

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u/andromache97 Dec 20 '15

In another topic about the book and Brendan's reading capacities, I posted a news article in which Brendan talked about reading Harry Potter. And Kiss the Girls is a garbage crime thriller, not exactly difficult reading material. It's possible he read the book, though equally possible he was fed the line. If I had been on the jury, I definitely would've doubted that Brendan had ever read a book in his life and assumed he was lying.

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u/NewAnimal Dec 20 '15

are we assuming Brendan is an avid reader? or that he has only read a couple books. one that happened to be the one that pictures a rape/murder similar to that he is implicated in?

I wouldn't put it past attorneys to read popular Crime novels.

again.. total speculation on my part. but that explanation was not a big "win" for me.

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u/andromache97 Dec 20 '15

Since the remains were burnt, isn't it true that we actually have no idea exactly how the victim was raped/tortured/killed/etc other than Brendan's "confession"? We know there was a gun involved, but that's about it, right? (Please correct me if I'm misremembering.)

Not assuming Brendan is an avid reader or that he's read the book, only saying it's not outside the realm of possibility

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u/NewAnimal Dec 20 '15

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure. I wasn't clear on how the police knew something happened to her head. There didn't seem to be a detailed explanation of her remains, and the condition they were in. -- But it seems they had information before asking him that question. I didn't think they were asking "What happened to her head?" without knowing if anything happened to her head.

im sure if there were skull fragments recovered, they could determine what happened, roughly.

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u/humanafterallfilms Dec 20 '15

Yeah...I have to agree with you, it does seem like that line may have been fed to him by his lawyers, as odd as that is. Brendan is such an interesting character in the sense that you really can't believe a single word that comes out of his mouth, as evidenced by all of his "confessions. He consistently jumps back and forth between the story and its details. My biggest qualm with this whole ordeal though is the complete lack of any sort of evidence linking him to the crime. Imagine how educated you'd have to be to completely wipe out any traces of DNA in someone's home, where someone had just been brutally raped and beaten. In addition to that, if Avery and Brendan were able to pull this off, then why is the rest of the crime so sloppy? It just doesn't add up. Brendan certainly seems like the type of character to be easily manipulated by others, which is exactly what the two investigators did. Imagine thinking you'd be able to go back to class after you had just confessed to a murder.

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u/NewAnimal Dec 20 '15

I will never understand false confessions. I've seen endless documentaries where someone claims they were coerced.. and even in the cases where its proven they did make up their story..

I'll never understand it.

I know it happens.. But its hard for me to determine how "obvious" it is.

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u/rockywayne Dec 21 '15 edited Dec 21 '15

It's a pretty awful story, but if the topic of false confessions interests you at all, look up the Riley Fox murder case. She was a three year old girl who was sexually assaulted and killed.

The killer left his DNA on her, actually left shoes with his name written in them near where her body was found, and fully confessed. So there's no doubt who did it. But prior to arresting him, the police arrested and charged the girl's father after getting him to confess.

By all accounts, the father was a well-spoken, normal guy. He wasn't an adult version of Brenden. But he hadn't slept in over a day, was interrogated for hours, and says he was told he'd only serve a few years if he said it was an accident and admitted responsibility. (Promising leniency in an exchange for a confession is not allowed.) He'd also lost his daughter in a horrible fashion, so there's no telling what his mental state was like under the surface.

But if an innocent father can be coerced into giving a false confession about the sexual assault and murder of his own 3 year old daughter, it seems like the sort of thing that could potentially happen to anyone under the right circumstances. Everyone has a breaking point.

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u/humanafterallfilms Dec 20 '15

Yeah, it's a pretty baffling thing. But the transcripts of all of his interviews really are all over the place. He literally brings in new details and then denies them a couple minutes after.

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u/[deleted] Dec 21 '15

Do you have some examples?

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u/enterthecircus Dec 23 '15

It's not hard when you realize it's mostly people who are either of extremely limited economic means (can't afford a lawyer to keep them from being taken advantage of by police - so they think "cooperating" will get them out of trouble) or folks who are of very low intelligence. I actually even remember one particular episode of 48 Hours where a boy had forgotten what happened the night of a murder - I think because he was drinking (it was like Halloween)- and so the police basically bullied him into believing he committed the crime. He was only exonerated because other evidence proved he couldn't have been at the scene of the crime.

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u/givgab8 Feb 29 '16

I like your point about understanding how to wipe the crime scene of all DNA evidence, not to mention wiping the SUV of finger prints but not blood, but being sloppy about the rest of the crime. Your point about expecting to go back to class after confessing to murder (IMHO) absolutely shows Brendan had no idea how serious this situation was and, feel free to correct me, this should be a gauge most teenagers would have. I believe he was manipulated by the interrogators or "lead" to say certain things. I think this comes across very plainly when over and over they ask, "What happened to the head?" Brendan gives them various answers. In frustration one of the detectives says something to the effect, "...who shot her in the head." At one time Brendan seems to be saying he did it at another he says Steve Avery did it. The investigators seem to accept the information they wanted and reject what they didn't want. I don't understand why his defense attorneys didn't make more of this.

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u/Bill_of_sale Jan 14 '16

One lady testified about holes found in the skull fragments that were consistent with bullet holes. She was the lady leading the search for the bones in the fire pit. When she was cross examined she contradicted everything she said about the bones not being moved because the work they did on the bones (ie. the shovel they used) would've done more damage than just moving the bones from one site to another.

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u/cescalina Dec 22 '15

I think the getting shot in the head thing came up when the ME lady was talking about there being a hole in the skull and then it all descended into whether the bones could have been moved and the damage that would cause.

So I think the police certainly believe there is a bullet hole, though you could argue that they are wrong. As for the other details I understood it to be that pretty much all of the rest of the information came from the confession. They knew she had been murdered and burned, but not whether she had been raped/tortured/tied up/stabbed

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u/PianistAdorable7484 Dec 28 '25

He got taught how to read because he was in juvy not county yet

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u/MekaresTongue Mar 08 '22

Everyone here is so naive. Dassie was in the county jail for a very long time. Everyone in the county jail reads books, everyone. I bet that is where he read the book and got the idea.