Manitowoc County detective involved in Steven Avery case arrested on suspicion of misconduct
MANITOWOC – A former Manitowoc County Sheriff's Office lieutenant is under investigation on suspicion he mishandled department funds.
The Brown County District Attorney's Office has issued a criminal complaint against David Remiker, a retired lieutenant of the Manitowoc County Metro Drug Unit, charging him with one count of misconduct in office, according to a release from Manitowoc County sheriff's Office. Remiker retired from his position Jan. 31, 2024.
The charge stems from an internal audit conducted in February, which found several thousand dollars of asset forfeiture funds were not deposited into designated accounts, the news release said.
Following the audit, the sheriff's office immediately requested the Wisconsin Department of Justice to investigate.
Manitowoc County Sheriff Dan Hartwig extended gratitude to the DOJ and the Brown County DA for their assistance in the investigation. He noted the charge reflects solely on the actions of one individual and not the 113 other members of the sheriff's office.
The criminal case remains active and no other information was immediately released by the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Office.
Remiker played a role in the investigation and arrest of Steven Avery in the murder of Teresa Halbach nearly 20 years ago.
Halbach, a 25-year-old photographer from Calumet County, was last seen on Oct. 31, 2005. She had come to Avery's Auto Salvage Yard in rural Mishicot to take pictures of an automobile Avery was trying to sell through Auto Trader magazine. Her vehicle was found several days later, partially hidden, on the property.
A few hours after Halbach's car was found, Remiker and a Calumet County deputy searched Avery's trailer and garage. He was one of a handful of sheriff's detectives from Manitowoc County whose actions were heavily scrutinized by Avery's defense lawyers Dean Strang and Jerome Buting, who had built their defense on the premise that Avery was innocent of the Halbach murder and investigators from the sheriff's office planted blood and other clues against him.
Remiker also was reprimanded in the 2007 trial of Avery's nephew, Branden Dassey, for failing to log in a visitor to the room of the sequestered jury. He told his supervisors he had no prior knowledge that the husband of his fellow Manitowoc County sheriff's deputy, Melia Prange, had entered the secured area of the jury, but a report found he "was aware of the husband's presence at certain times."
Both Avery and Dassey are serving lifetime sentences in state prison for their roles in Halbach's death.
Contact reporter Patti Zarling at or call 920-606-2575. Follow her on X and on Instagram
