who killed the west memphis three

Sometimes justice is neither pretty, nor is it perfect, but it was important to take this opportunity to be free.". During the filming, Byers had given cameraman Doug Cooper a hunting knife which makers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky handed over to the police after discovering what appeared to be blood on it. Now, the attorneys are responding in court. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! While police initially suspected rape, there was no evidence for it. The following afternoon, the bodies of Steve Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers were found by a muddy ditch. The time spent to conceal them could have been skipped completely if there was no known relationship to the victims, Clemente told Ruff. They were released on Aug. 19, 2011. Meanwhile, at the Marion Police Department, Detective Don Bray was attempting to administer a polygraph test to Vicki Hutcheson, who had recently moved to the city. The discovery comes after West Memphis Police Chief Michael Pope resigned Tuesday. Climber only named Misskelley, Baldwin and Echols. Echols and Baldwin were best friends and shared a profound distaste for Bible Belt life in West Memphis, Arkansas and were drawn toward the rebellion of metal music and associated books and movies. During one visit to the station, officers used photographs of Echols, Misskelley and Baldwin for dart practice, having made their minds up about their guilt long before their arrests. The men garnered national attention due to a series of documentaries and books that questioned their convictions as well as the vocal support of numerous celebrities. No ritual paraphernalia or markings were found at the scene, and many in the police believed those responsible had been sexual predators or strangers from outside the town. eventAction: 'view' The use of shoelaces had yet to be revealed to the public, yet Martin was eventually cleared of any involvement. It took them 18 years to clear their names. }); Echols unwisely began to tell the fanatical Driver tall tales about local cults and animal sacrifices when Driver became his parole officer, telling him that he followed Wicca. pg.acq.push(function() { Classmates at Weaver Elementary School, the three were active in their Cub Scout troop and responsible enough to be trusted to roam their neighborhood without Over the nine years since their release, there have been dozens of theories that pointed to other suspects who could have been behind the deaths of Christopher, Michael, and Steve. All three spent most of their days as any other mid-1990s teenagers - listening to rock music, watching pro wrestling on television, and either poking around under the hood of a car or simply hanging out and causing trouble. Prosecutors would only give up harassing Misskelley for his testimony when I threatened to hold a press conference and disclose their efforts to entice his testimony." The bodies of the three boys had been found in Robin Hood Hills, a stretch of forested land in the city that was popular with children and where Christopher, Michael and Steve were last seen together. This was a result of getting enraged, going too far, and then having to basically clean up the mess," he said. Everywhere you look, you see people with things that you do not have, and it has a profound mental effect. The 'West Memphis Three' were exonerated following the advent of improved DNA technology (West Memphis Police Department) John Mark Byers, who was suspected in the deaths of three West Memphis children in 1993, died in a car crash earlier this week, officials in Tennessee revealed on Friday, June 19. On the evening of May 5, 1993, three 8-year-old boys disappeared from the streets of West Memphis, Ark. Yet, while Arkansas certainly has problems seen throughout the South, such as poor wages, West Memphis was then a city of 30,000 with a wide variety of cultures. } All three boys were naked and hogtied using their shoelaces, each ankle tied with a wrist behind their backs. When investigators found the boys bodies on May 6, 1993, they had been jammed into the muddy ground of the bayou, and their clothes had been submerged in the water with sticks. All three appealed the convictions. Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers were best friends. Their clothing was found tied to sticks implanted into the creek bed, with two pairs of underwear missing. In statements under oath, the three witnesses say that Michael Hobbs told them, "My uncle killed three boys in West Memphis." }); Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. Was there a serial killer still on the loose in Arkansas? Toggle dark mode }); 1:53 Digital Original Motivations For Investigating The West Memphis Case 1:05 Preview Yet, none of this makes a murderer, and Echols, like most readers of LaVey and Crowley, believed that their work had been unfairly maligned as evil, instead calling to libertarian freedom away from the confines of Christian morality. It doesn't take much effort to get him to say or do anything at all.". Moore was the group leader and, like his best friends, a proud cub scout, wearing his uniform even when not at meetings. All three achieved the rank of "Wolf," and Moore had his blue Boy Scouts of America shirt and Boy Scout hat on as he ventured out on his bicycle. Meanwhile, patrons at the Blue Beacon, a truck wash close to the scene, all had their credit card receipts collected, and the first suspects brought in were transients, with information being sought about two "dirty-looking" hitchhikers. Interested, police arrested both of them on May 17, placing them under a polygraph which indicated they were deceptive when denying involvement in the killings. These three would come to be known as the West Memphis Three. When they didn't, the first phone call would be made to police not long afterward, John Mark Byers raising the alarm with police close to 8 p.m. WebDevil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three is a 2002 true crime book by Mara Leveritt, about the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old children and the subsequent trials of three teenagers charged with and convicted of the crimes.The names of the three teens convicted - Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley - would come to be John Mark Byers was the stepdad of one of the victims and said before the hearing, Theyre innocent. Starting in the weeks that followed the killings, documentary filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky began to investigate the circumstances surrounding the case for their film "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills," airing in June 1996 on HBO. All three were charged and accused of committing a Satanic murder. So if the West Memphis Three aren't the real killers, who is? Misskelley was interrogated for 12 hours, of which less than an hour were recorded. The deal is a plea whereby a defendant maintains their innocence but recognizes that the evidence presented would be enough to convict them. The alert was assigned to Officer Regenia Meek, who filled out reports and, with Officer John Moore, did a brief search, but nothing more expansive. Adding that his client was "a mentally handicapped person who is quite suggestible. hitType: 'event', However, that isn't quite the truth. Increasingly alarmed, searchers saw a black shoe floating in a muddy creek that afternoon. I believe there was an incident of over-disciplining one of the boys. It wouldn't be the only evidence that linked Hobbs to the murders, with his wife Pamela finding a knife that her son had carried with him in her husband's nightstand. Before the case could again reach the courts, Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley were allowed to enter Alford plea deals. He had an extensive collection of animal skulls, including dogs and cats and local rumors said that he had killed a dog, while no evidence was ever provided. Who killed Stevie Their clothing was found in the same creek, and some of it had been twisted around sticks that had been fixed into the muddy ditch bed. The new documentary focused on the bite marks, with the prosecution arguing that the marking seen on Christopher Byers' face in photographs is from a belt buckle and not teeth. The blade had blood on the hinge, and HBO ordered Berlinger and Sinofsky to hand the knife to West Memphis police. For the state, the Alford pleas were a face-saving exercise. My attorney was in the evidence room this morning and saw it with his own eyes. if(document.querySelector("#google_image_div")){ Candy-Land idealism is quietly suffocated in the relentless humidity. However, during his time at the station, Aaron mentioned that his three friends had been killed at "the playhouse.". Equally, Pamela's sister Jo Lynn McCaughey saw Hobbs washing clothes, bed linens, and curtains from Steve's room around the time of the killings. Echols, one of the West Memphis Three, and his legal team have hit another obstacle as they try to get the court's permission to test newly found evidence for DNA. To this day, it is still unclear who is responsible for the brutal murders, and in hopes of uncovering new potential leads, investigative podcaster Bob Ruff reexamined the case in . Echols was from a poor background and struggled both with poverty and his mental health, having been institutionalized for several months after considering suicide. While they showed the bravado and sense of adventure associated with many scouts, they were still innocent, with Byers said by his mother to still "[believe] in the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.". Efforts to release the West Memphis Three would be aided in 2003 when Vicki Hutcheson ultimately recanted her testimony, telling the "Arkansas Times" that everything she told police was a lie. The West Memphis Three had trials in 1994, with Echols and Baldwin tried together and Misskelley tried separately. If you found this interesting, you might also want to read about the study that finds black Americans are wrongfully convicted at a far greater rate. On Feb. 8, Misskelley claimed he had been drunk at the time of the killings and was drinking Evan Williams whiskey, claiming that he had thrown a bottle away under a bridge in West Memphis, swearing on the Bible as to the truth of his latest claims. John Mark Byers, stepfather of Chris Byers and initially the subject of considerable suspicion himself, is shown calling Terry Hobbs a "baby killer" outside an Arkansas courtroom. JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. Jessie Misskelley was given two 20 year-sentences on top of life imprisonment, while Jason Baldwin also received life imprisonment. Back with the search, the main focus was Robin Hood Hills near where witnesses last saw the trio, and that morning Branch andMoore's bikes were found next to a pipe bridge that crossed the bayou. Police on the case felt that there were cult-like and satanic overtones to the murders. In many respects, the reaction to these new youth movements was nothing new, with the metal bands of the 1970s and 80s having faced similar condemnation as "the Devil's music." An investigation of the murders looked into several suspects, including the stepfather of Steve Branch as well as two teenage boys who had abruptly fled to California shortly after the bodies were discovered. That's mostly during the teenage years.". However, it wasn't just about the music with many embracing rebellious philosophies that were inherently offensive to the traditions of Christianity, respect and patriotism that have always defined small-town rural America. Youtube Mugshots of the West Memphis Three. pg.acq.push(function() { A polygraph indicated some level of deception in his statements to police, yet it should be noted that a heart condition may have affected the results. document.querySelector("#adunit").addEventListener('click',function(){ Sign up to receive breakingFront Page Detectivesnews and exclusive investigations. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), Then read about the woman who was convicted for locking her deaf sister in a room for seven years. With the new evidence in hand alongside expert testimony that suggested the knife wounds and mutilation had been animal predation, Echols petitioned for a retrial. Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley were accused of killing three eight-year-old boys: Chris Byers, Stevie Branch, and Michael Moore. "We have no vested interest in trying to withhold any evidence from anyone on either side. Nevertheless, this is a complete delaying tactic," Soury explained. To prove his innocence, he agreed and passed a polygraph test during the filming of 'Paradise Lost 2: Revelations,' only for the documentary to throw doubts on the results by revealing he was under the influence of several psychoactive prescription medications that could have affected the test results. Over the years, however, the West Memphis Three continued to maintain their innocence, claiming they had nothing to do with the slayings of Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers, who were each found nude, hogtied, and mutilated in a bayou. Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers were best friends.

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