Read This: A Making A Murderer fan goes to extremes to prove his pet theory

In December, 46-year-old Daniel Luke was crashing in his mother’s apartment in Portland, Oregon, and trying to learn coding and web design. By January, he was holed up in a cheap Wisconsin motel, trying to solve a murder case despite not being a policeman, detective, or investigator of any kind. What happened in between? Luke binge-watched Netflix’s ten-part documentary series, Making A Murderer. More so than any other true-crime tale in recent memory, Murderer has inspired its fans to become a nation of self-appointed Nancy Drews, taking it upon themselves to exonerate Steven Avery of the rape and murder of Teresa Halbach. Jesse Hicks has written up Daniel Luke’s strange odyssey for The Kernel, and it emerges as a strange tale of a man searching for the truth and for redemption in his own life. In a very convoluted fashion, Luke is trying to exculpate not only Avery but also himself.