On 30 January 2016, United Media Publishing posted an article reporting that Steven Avery, who was released after serving 18 years in prison for a wrongful sexual assault conviction (but was subsequently re-convicted on murder charges), and whose case was recently the focus of the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer, had been found unresponsive in his prison cell:
According to Waupun Correctional Facility representatives, Avery was found unresponsive in his prison cell at approximately 4:30 AM during his cell block's daily wake-up call. Correctional officers attempted to communicate with Avery, however according to one of the on-scene officers, "He (Avery) just wouldn't respond, it was pretty obvious to all that were on-scene that the lights were off and nobody was home".
The news is disheartening to Avery's thousands of new-found supporters on the tail of the recent 10 episode Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer. Many supporters that are hopeful Avery would live to see the outside of the Waupun Correctional Facility have taken to social media with an out-pour of support for the Avery family.
There was no truth to this report, however. United Media Publishing is a clickbait fake news site that fabricates headlines and stories to generate traffic and advertising revenues. Steven Avery is still alive, conscious, and pursuing an appeal of his murder conviction.