After 10 years in prison Making a Murderer's Brendan Dassey is unrecognisable.

He was a pimply faced teen who thought he would be heading back to school after he purportedly confessed to being involved in a gruesome rape and murder.

But Brendan Dassey, who has spent close to a decade behind bars for a crime many think he is innocent of, is now a man – as a photo shared by his cousin on Twitter illustrates.

Dassey – jailed at 17 alongside his uncle, 45-year-old Steven Avery, over the 2006 murder of photographer Teresa Halbach – featured in hit documentary Making A Murderer.

The 10-part series, available on Netflix, was largely filmed in 2007.

It showed the teen with a low IQ effectively confessing to involvement in a crime after being questionably interrogated by police without an adult or lawyer present.

He changes his story several times throughout the recorded confession and later admits he made it all up.

But he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Attempts to appeal the conviction with claims his constitutional rights were violated by ineffective counsel and an involuntary confession have so far been useless.

His legal team have also filed a lawsuit, arguing he should be released because his arrested and imprisonment was illegal, which is awaiting ruling.

His cousin, Carla Chase, also tweeted that Dassey was “doing ok & making new friends”.

If he really is innocent – as many people believe – the recent photo just highlights the complete waste of the formative years of his life.