Author: rb809rb

Kathleen Zellner has been slammed over a social media post in which she declared that ‘the case is solved’, leaving her followers furious.

Zellner is known for her association with the Netflix series Making a Murderer, which follows the case of Steven Avery.

Avery was convicted of murder in 2007, after having previously been wrongfully convicted of sexual assault and attempted murder in 1985, for which he has since been exonerated.

The Netflix docuseries Making a Murderer followed Avery’s story since his 2007 conviction, and Zellner has taken him on as a client.

Zellner took to social media, sharing an article published by The Guardian which was reporting on a development on an entirely separate case about a Chicago police officer who was identified as the killer of an eight-year-old girl in a murder which happened some 65 years ago.

Sharing the reporting on the new development, she wrote: “Finally the case is solved!!”

However, many of her followers were left frustrated, as they had read the caption of the post and assumed at first that it was referring to Avery, when in fact it was referring to a different case entirely.

They took to the comment section below the post to share their frustration.

“Expected better than clickbait from you,” wrote one. “Really thought it was about Steven Avery.”

Another drew attention to the same problem, writing: “Kathleen, this is great news for the guy involved in the story you shared but how does that link to Steven Avery??

“I almost sent this to my ex, because we watched it together!!! Christ on a bike!!”

Meanwhile a third wrote simply: “Doesnt [sic] have anything to do with Steven….”

The case in question was the murder of eight-year-old Gloria Kowalewicz in 1960, a case which had gone cold for decades.

However, on Monday Chicago police announced that they have now used newly-found DNA evidence, which has implicated a former detective with Chicago Police to the crime.

Thomas McInerney was identified as Gloria’s killer, more than 20 years after he himself had died, and long after he had retired from the Chicago Police Department.

“McInerney should have never worn the CPD star,” the statement said, “and it is devastating to accept that he was never identified and held accountable while he was alive.”

Depite this, the statement still shared a hope that the breakthrough would bring ‘measure of closure to all who knew Gloria and her story’.

The DNA evidence in question was obtained from a website that allows people to explore their genetic ancestry.

On 12 November 1960 Gloria had been walking from her home to a nearby church where she would attend mass, but she would never make it to church.

While she was on her way, Gloria was abducted and shot, with her body being discovered in a ditch located on an area of preserved forest south-west of Chicago.

McInerney had joined the Chicago Police in 1959, and had been about to turn 25 when Gloria was killed.

A statement from the FBI has also said that it will investigate whether McInerney’s DNA is a match to any other cold cases.

Millions of motorists are in line for an average payout of £829 due to car finance compensation but they’ll have to wait for challenges against it to be heard, which will come in February.

The compensation scheme is worth £9.1 billion and there are thought to be around 12.1 million car finance agreements affected, but any possible payout will be beyond the legal challenge period set for between 16 and 26 February.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) plans to compensate drivers who were mis-sold car finance between 2007 and 2024, but the scheme is on hold while Volkswagen Financial Services, Mercedes Benz Financial Services, and Credit Agricole Auto Finance challenge it.

According to the FCA lenders have to keep preparing to pay compensation out and keep progressing people’s complaints, but they also warned ‘there may be no motor finance compensation scheme and no complaint handling pause’.

That’s in the event that the compensation scheme is quashed in court.

As for what this is all about, the FCA has accused car finance firms of having ‘broken the law by failing to disclose important information to customers’.

When people bought cars on finance there was often something called a Discretionary Commission Arrangement (DCA) which meant that dealerships got a commission from the lender based on the interest rate charged.

Costs were passed onto the customer which meant that in millions of cases the interest on their car finance was increased to pay the dealer or get a higher commission.

It means that in around 12.1 million car finance deals in the UK someone was paying more than they should and they often weren’t told about a DCA being part of their car finance costs.

Because of exclusive agreements between dealerships and lenders it means customers may not have been given accurate information about the best deal available.

Regulators had been hoping that this would get handled in December but with the delay it’s going to be the new year at the earliest when people can expect to get any compensation.

Remember that the £829 payout is an average, the amount people will get depends on the cars they bought and how much they were paying for them.

If you wanted to know whether you were eligible, if you bought a motor vehicle on finance between 6 April 2007 and 1 November 2024 with a Personal Contract Purchases (PCP) & Hire Purchase (HP) then you might be eligible.

In which case your first port of call ought to be your lender to make a complaint, after which you should hear within three months whether or not you’re eligible for compensation.

After that you have a month to accept the compensation amount or challenge it.