The town of Manitowoc, Wisconsin has seen an unprecedented number of tourists since the airing of the Netflix masterpiece Making a Murderer.
The town is playing host to the visitors who have come to protest Steven Avery’s innocence and those who have come for a snoop around the Avery properties.
But the town, usually of less that 35,000 residents are ill-equipped to deal with the publicity and the number of guests.
“We made our judgment [regarding the case], and the trial came to an end, and locally most people were in support of that,” Jason Ring, the president of the Manitowoc Area Visitor and Convention Bureau, told the New York Times.
“Now it’s back — by no choosing or no doing of anyone in this community. So that’s the first point of injustice. [We] have to live through it again.”
“It’s not how Manitowoc wants to be put on the map,” Current Sheriff Robert Hermann said.
“Look, we lived this whole thing like a juror,” resident Suzanne Fox said.
“He was guilty as sin.”
Calls have flood the telephone numbers and Facebook pages for the sheriff’s department, police station and the Historical Society.
The Manitowoc Police department has also been overrun on Twitter where it consistently disregards any involvement in the case.
The Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Office and the Manitowoc Police Department are two separate law enforcement agencies.
— Manitowoc Police (@ManitowocPolice) December 23, 2015
Anyone commenting about these cases involving Steven Avery has directed their opinion to the wrong law enforcement agency.
— Manitowoc Police (@ManitowocPolice) December 23, 2015
The filmmakers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demons acknowledge the negative impact the series has had on the town.
“We have empathy for Manitowoc because we know that people have been reaching out in unkind ways and posting things about the city and the county,” Ricciardi said.
“That’s an unfortunate response because we have always wanted the series to be constructive, not destructive.”
