In 2007, Avery was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide and sentenced to life in prison. Dassey, Avery's then-16-year-old nephew , confessed to helping his uncle rape and kill Halbach before burning the body in a fire pit at the Avery family's salvage yard. After a lower court found Dassey, who is intellectually impaired, had given an involuntary confession to investigators, the court's decision was nullified late 2017 when the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Dassey’s original conviction.