The West Memphis 3 are three boys tried and convicted for the murders of three children in the Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Arkansas, United States during 1993. Damien Echols, the alleged ringleader, was sentenced to death; Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin were sentenced to life in prison. The case has received considerable attention, and many critics charge that the arrests and convictions were a miscarriage of justice inspired by a misguided moral panic, and that the defendants were wrongfully convicted during a period of intense media scrutiny and so-called "satanic panic".

Crime:
Three eight-year-old boys - Steve Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore - were reported missing on May 5, 1993 by Chistopher Byers' adoptive father, Mark Byers. An intensive search for the children was not undertaken until the morning after they were reported missing. Later that day, their bodies were found in a creek near Robin Hood Hills. The boys were naked and had been hog-tied ankle-to-wrist with their own shoelaces. All had been severely beaten and abused, but Byers was the most injured, having suffered a fractured skull, stab wounds to his groin, castration, and having had the skin of his penis removed. Autopsies were inconclusive as to time of death, but stated that, while Byers died of blood loss, the other two boys drowned. However, during the subsequent trial of suspects Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin, the medical examiner stated that the estimated and likely time of death was early morning the day the bodies were found.

On the night of the murders, workers in the Bojangles restaurant near the crime scene in Robin Hood Woods reported seeing an African-American male "dazed and covered with blood and mud" inside the women's restroom of the restaurant. The following day, when the victims were found, a restaurant manager named Marty King -- thinking there was a possible connection between the bloody, disoriented man and the killings -- called police twice to inform them of his suspicions. Only after the second telephone call did police gather evidence from the restroom. Police wore the same shoes and clothes from the Robin Hood Woods crime scene into the Bojangles restaurant bathroom and Detective Bryn Ridge later lost blood scrapings taken from the walls and tiles of the bathroom which were left by a possible murder suspect. This apparent neglect of an important lead was especially criticized after a hair identified as belonging to an African-American was recovered from a sheet, which had been used to wrap one of the victims.

Mark Byers testified that he had spanked Christopher Byers with a belt the evening that the children went missing. The Medical Examiner testified that certain wounds found on Christopher Byers' face were consistent with markings that could have been left by a belt buckle.

Investigation:
It is often alleged that from the beginning, area police mishandled the crime scene, due to either negligence or ignorance. Two striking examples of this are the possible cross contamination of the Bojangles restaurant scene with the Robin Hood Woods crime scene and the WMPD's loss of blood evidence, left by a possible suspect. Inspector Gary Gitchell had more than a decade and a half of experience investigating violent crime . Detective (Sgt.) Mike Allen had worked in criminal investigations with Crittenden County Sheriff's Department for eight years before he left to join WMPD . Police dispute accusations of failing to secure the crime scene, improperly collecting physical evidence, and leaving little or no documentation of their routines, duties and case activities.

According to Mara Leveritt, "police records were a mess—to call them disorderly would be putting it mildly". She took exception to the fact that some of the evidence was stored in grocery sacks, with the names of the grocery stores printed on them, because collection materials of known and controlled origin should have been used, although it is recommended practice by crime labs to store evidence in a similar manner to allow the evidence to dry rather than decay in a sealed container [citation needed]. She also mistakenly presumed that the crime scene video was shot minutes after Det. Mike Allen and Det. Bryn Ridge recovered two of the bodies, when in fact the camera was not available for almost thirty minutes afterwards.

A juvenile probation officer and many others, including volunteer search and rescue workers with no affiliations to law enforcement, were present when the bodies were discovered hardly surprising in light of their role in the search . When police speculated about the assailant, the probation officer speculated that Echols was "capable" of committing the murders.

Human bite marks found on at least one of the victims, according to testimony by experts on forensic odontology and pathology, were also overlooked during the original investigation and weren't investigated by a board certified medical examiner until four years after the murders. Upon proper examination it was concluded that the bite marks on both Byers and Branch did not match the teeth of any of the three convicted.

The West Memphis area was one of many communities then-swept with keen interest in satanic ritual abuse, the widely-criticized belief that vast networks of satanic cults were engaged in widespread crimes, including child abuse, rape and human sacrifice [citation needed]. Supporters of the West Memphis Three allege that police reached hasty conclusions based on speculation or hysteria.

Police interviewed Echols two days after the bodies were discovered. During a lie detector test, he denied any involvement, but the polygraph examiner claims that Echols chart indicated deception. Officer Durham (who administered the polygraph) did not keep any record which produced by the polygraph that indicated Echols was ever deceptive when being tested. Also, throughout the course of the trial, and afterwards, many teenagers came forward stating that when they had been questioned and polygraphed by police, Durham among others was at times aggressive, and verbally abusive if they didn't say what was expected of them. After the test, when asked what Echols was afraid of, he replied, "The electric chair." (Arkansas uses lethal injection). After a month had passed, with little progress in the case, police continued to focus their investigation upon Echols, interrogating him twice more as they had many other suspects, and claiming he was not a direct suspect but a source of information.

On June 3, police questioned Misskelley. He had been named as a person who might be able to provide useful information about Damien Echols by Vicky Hutcheson. Hutcheson's testimony would prove pivotal, but years later after serving a lengthy sentence for possession of a controlled substance she admitted that she had made up the story. Ms. Hutcheson was under investigation by Detective Don Bray of Marion PD for allegedly writing bad checks, an offense for which she was never charged. Misskelley's parents were not present during the interrogation[citation needed]. If his reported IQ of 72 was accurate for the time of the interview, this would mean that at that time his mental age was slightly over 12. Only 46 minutes of his confession was recorded . During Jessie's trial, Dr. Richard Ofshe, a Pulitzer Prize winning expert on false confessions and police coercion, and Professor of Social Psychology at Berkeley, testified that the brief recording was a "classic example" of police coercion. Professor Ofshe has described Misskelley's statement as "the stupidest fucking confession I've ever seen". There is no evidence that Misskelley denied his role in the crime and subsequent to his conviction that he confessed a second and third time, the latter of which with both of his attorneys present and the entire matter on tape.

Misskelley is mentally retarded (his IQ is 72), and was a minor when he was questioned, and though informed of his Miranda rights, later claimed he did not fully understand them; these facts have led to widespread condemnation of his confession as coerced and unreliable [citation needed]. The Arkansas Supreme Court determined, in their lengthy review, that his confession was in fact voluntary and that he did, in fact, understand the warning and its consequences. Misskelley specifically said he was "scared of the police", during his first confession. Portions of Jessie's statements to the police were leaked to the press and reported on the front page of the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper before any of the trials began.

Shortly after Misskelley's original confession, police arrested Echols and his close friend Baldwin.

Misskelley's attorney, Dan Stidham, who was later elected to municipal judge, has written a detailed critique of what he asserts are major police errors and misconceptions during their investigation.

Suspects' background:
Baldwin and Misskelley had minor criminal records (for vandalism and shoplifting, respectively) and Misskelley had a reputation for being hot tempered and engaging in frequent fistfights, but Echols had a more troubled past.

His family was very poor, had frequent visits from social workers, and Echols rarely attended school. He had a tumultuous relationship with an on-again-off-again girlfriend, culminating when the pair ran off together. After breaking into a trailer during a rain storm, the pair was arrested, though only Echols was charged with burglary.

Police heard rumors that the young lovers had planned to have a child and sacrifice the infant, and based on this story, had Echols institutionalized for psychiatric evaluation. He was diagnosed as depressed and suicidal, and prescribed imipramine. Testing demonstrated poor math skills, but also showed that Echols ranked above average in reading and verbal skills.

He had spent several months in mental institution in both Arkansas and his mental problems were severe enough to gain him "full disability" status from the Social Security Administration. During Echols' trial, Dr. George W. Woods would testify (for the defense) that Echols suffered from a "serious mental illness characterized by grandiose and persecutory delusions, auditory and visual hallucinations, disordered thought processes, substantial lack of insight, and chronic, incapacitating mood swings."

Trials:
Echols and Baldwin were tried together; Misskelley was tried separately.

On May 10, 1993, four days after the bodies were found, the police had not solved the cases. When Detective Bryn Ridge questioned Echols, he asked him how he thought the three victims died. Ridge's description of Echols's answer is abstracted as follows: "He stated that the boys probably died of mutilation, some guy had cut the bodies up, heard that they were in the water, they may have drowned. He said at least one was cut up more than the others. Purpose of the killing may have been to scare someone. He believed that it was only one person for fear of squealing by another involved." At the time Echols made the statement, police thought that there was no public knowledge that one of the children had been mutilated more severely than the others. This however is directly contradicted by the fact that only minutes after the three bodies were found, Mark Byers, (victim's stepdad) told reporters "that two boys had been badly beaten and that the third had been even worse." It was a strange statement in light of the fact that Det. Gitchell had not released that information to anyone yet.

Misskelley's confession was also given to the jury. He stated that in the early morning hours of May 5, 1993, he received a phone call from Jason Baldwin. Baldwin asked Misskelley to accompany him and Damien Echols to the Robin Hood area. Misskelley agreed to go. They went to the area, which has a creek, and were in the creek when the victims rode up on their bicycles. Baldwin and Echols called to the boys, who came to the creek. The boys were severely beaten by Baldwin and Echols. At least two of the boys were raped and forced to perform oral sex on Baldwin and Echols. According to Misskelley, he was merely an observer.

While these events were taking place, Michael Moore tried to escape and began running. Misskelley chased him down and returned him to Baldwin and Echols. Misskelley also stated that Baldwin had used a knife to cut the boys in the facial area and that the Byers boy was cut on his penis. Echols used a large stick to hit one of the boys. All three boys had their clothes taken off and were tied up.

According to Misskelley, he ran away from the scene at some point after the boys were tied up. He did observe that the Byers boy was dead when he left. Sometime after Misskelley arrived home, Baldwin called saying, "we done it" and "what are we going to do if somebody saw us." Echols could be heard in the background. Misskelley was asked about his involvement in a cult. He said he had been involved for about three months. The participants would typically meet in the woods. They engaged in orgies and, as an initiation rite, killing and eating dogs. He noted that at one cult meeting, he saw a picture that Echols had taken of the three boys. He stated that Echols had been watching the boys.

Misskelley then went into further detail about the sexual molestation of the victims. At least one of the boys had been held by the head and ears while being accosted. Both the Byers boy and the Branch boy had been raped. All the boys, he said, were tied up with brown rope. These statements among others, cast considerable doubt on the valididty of Misskelleys confession. Autopsies showed no sign of rape on all three victims, despite Misskelleys statements, and it is well documented that they were all tied with their own shoe laces, not brown rope.

Anthony and Narlene Hollingsworth were well acquainted with Echols and testified that they saw Echols and his girlfriend, Domini Teer, walking after 9:30 on the night of the murders near the Blue Beacon Truck Stop, which is near Robin Hood woods where the bodies were found. The witnesses testified that Echols had on a dark-colored shirt and that his clothes were dirty. This evidence placed Echols in dirty clothes near the scene at a time close to the murders. Although not material to this point, other evidence established that Domini Teer might be confused with Baldwin as both had long hair and were of slight build.

Twelve-year-old Christy VanVickle testified that she heard Echols say he "killed the three boys." Fifteen-year-old Jackie Medford testified that she heard Echols say, "I killed the three little boys and before I turn myself in, I'm going to kill two more, and I already have one of them picked out." The testimony of these two independent witnesses was direct evidence of the statement by Echols. These witnesses were cross-examined by Echols's counsel. Upon cross examination, the two girls testified that they didn't hear anything before or after these alleged statements, that they were unsure of how far away they were, and that they could not identify any of the others surrounding Echols, besides Baldwin.

Lisa Sakevicius, a criminalist from the State Crime Laboratory, testified that she compared fibers found on the victim's clothes with clothing found in Echols's home, and the fibers were microscopically similar. She also testified that many fibers are microscopicaly similar and that this comparison proved nothing.

Dr. Frank Peretti, a State Medical Examiner, testified that there were serrated wound patterns on the three victims. He also testified that whoever castrated Byers had to have some skill with a knife, and plenty of light and time to do it. On November 17, 1993, a diver found a knife in a lake behind Baldwin's parents' residence. The large knife had a serrated edge and had the words "Special Forces Survival Roman Numeral Two" on the blade. Dr. Peretti testified that many of the wounds on the victims were consistent with, and could have been caused by, that knife.

Deanna Holcomb testified that she had seen Echols carrying a similar knife, except that the one she saw had a compass on the end. James Parker, owner of Parker's Knife Collector Service in Chattanooga, Tennessee, testified that a company distributed this type of knife from 1985-87. A 1987 catalog from the company was shown to the jury, and it had a picture of a knife like the knife found behind Baldwin's residence. The knife in the catalogue had a compass on the end, and it had the words "Special Forces Survival Roman Numeral Two" on the blade.

The State's theory of motive was that the killings were done in a satanic ritual. On cross-examination, Echols admitted that he has delved deeply into the occult and was familiar with its practices. Various items were found in his room, including a funeral register upon which he had drawn a pentagram and upside-down crosses and had a copied spell. Among the evidence seized was black t-shirts and lyrics from Metallica songs. Echols testified that he wore a long black trench coat even when it was warm. One witness, Jerry Driver, said he had seen Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley together six months before the murders, wearing long black coats and carrying long staffs. Driver, however seems to be an un-reliable witness, in light of his past experiences with Echols and many other teenagers from the W. Memphis area. Dr. Peretti testified that some of the head wounds to the boys were consistent with the size of the two sticks that were recovered by the police. Those wounds were never found conclusivly consistent with any known object, and the two sticks recovered by police were not recovered until July.

Dr. Dale Griffis, described as an expert in occult killings, though he testified that he has no formal education in that area, testified in the State's case-in-chief that the killings had the "trappings of occultism." He testified that the date of the killings, near a pagan holiday, was significant, as well as the fact that there was a full moon. He stated that young children are often sought for sacrifice because "the younger, the more innocent, the better the life force." He testified that there were three victims, and the number three had significance in occultism. Also, the victims were all eight years old, and eight is a witches' number. He testified that sacrifices are often done near water for a baptism-type rite or just to wash the blood away. The fact that the victims were tied ankle to wrist was significant because this was done to display the genitalia, and the removal of Byers's testicles was significant because testicles are removed for the semen. This part of the statement is biologoically inconsistent; semen is produced in the seminal vesicles and prostate, not the testes, and the three victims were pre-pubescent. He stated that the absence of blood at the scene could be significant because cult members store blood for future services in which they would drink the blood or bathe in it. He testified that the "overkill" or multiple cuts could reflect occult overtones. Dr. Griffis testified that there was significance in injuries to the left side of the victims as distinguished from the right side: people who practice occultism will use the midline theory, drawing straight down through the body. The right side is related to those things synonymous with Christianity while the left side is that of the practitioners of the satanic occult. He testified that the clear place on the bank could be consistent with a ceremony. In sum, Dr. Griffis testified that there was significant evidence of satanic ritual killings. Other experts who have reviewed the case disagree with Griffis' claims, stating that their is a definite lack of ritualistic overtones to the crime.

Lisa Sakevicius, the criminalist who testified about the fibers, stated that Byers's white polka-dot shirt had blue wax on it and that the wax was consistent with candle wax.

Detective Bryn Ridge testified that Echols said he understood the victims had been mutilated, with one being cut up more than the others, and that they had drowned. Ridge testified that when Echols made the statement, the fact that Christopher Byers had been mutilated more than the other two victims was not known by the public. This is contradicted by the victim's step-dad, Mark Bryers, telling reporters one child "had been even worse."

When Echols was asked about his statement that one victim was mutilated more than the others, he said he learned the fact from newspaper accounts. His attorney showed him the newspaper articles about the murders. On cross-examination, Echols admitted that the articles did not mention one victim being mutilated more than the others, and he admitted that he did not read such a fact in a newspaper.

Pink Floyd lyrics from the suspect's notebooks, Stephen King novels and Echols' interest in heavy metal music and Wicca were also presented in court as evidence against the teenagers. The state's expert witness on "occult crime" had obtained his degree via mail order, and had taken no college or university classes on the subject.

Misskelley's videotaped confession was played for the jury.

By early 1994, all three had been convicted of the murders. Echols was sentenced to death, Baldwin received life without parole, and Misskelley received life plus 40 years.

Aftermath:
Mark Byers—victim Christopher Byers's adoptive father—gave a hunting knife to documentarians Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky while they were filming the first Paradise Lost feature. After noting what they thought was blood, Berlinger and Sinofsky gave the knife to police, who determined that the blood was human and matched Christopher Byers' blood type. Mark Byers had initially claimed the knife had never been used, then after blood was found on it, he claimed he'd used it only once, to butcher a deer. When told the blood matched his son's type, Mark Byers said he had no idea how that blood might have gotten on the knife. During interrogation, West Memphis police suggested to Mark Byers that he might have left the knife out accidentally, and Byers agreed with this. Mark Byers blood type also matched and he later claimed that he remembered cutting his thumb. Testing with technological advancements available today would prove conclussively whose blood it was but cannot be performed because the original evidence was destroyed as a result of the first test.

Echols, Misskelley and Baldwin submitted imprints of their teeth (after their imprisonment) and compared to the marks on Chris Byers's body; no matches were found. Mark Byers had his teeth removed after the first trial. He has never offered a consistent reason for their removal; in one instance claiming they were knocked out in a fight, and in another saying the medication he was taking made them fall out. Mark Byers had revealed to the police that he beat his stepson shortly before the boy disappeared, and had a previous conviction for beating his wife, Melissa Byers. She had contacted Christopher's school a few weeks before the murders, expressing concerns that her son was being sexually abused.

A violent nature was deemed a major factor in the hypothetical culprits' personality by an expert criminal profiler that examined the case. The profiler also noted that the culprit was likely to have been close to the child that was assaulted with the most violence, i.e. Christopher Byers.

A fact not revealed until after the trial was that Mark Byers had acted as a police informant for some time, and had several criminal convictions, including the one for domestic abuse. Unusually, these convictions were sealed, and were expunged following probation. Leveritt says that the "involvement of the police and the courts with him (Byers) prior to the murders is very intriguing."

Christopher Byers was the only victim that had been drugged with Carbamazepine, suggesting again that he was the main focus of the attack. The drug was one that Mark Byers was taking at the time of the murders as part of a tumour treament he was undergoing. Christopher had access to the drug himself, as part of an ADD treatment, but the Byers's said that he had not taken it on the day of his death.

In October, 2003 Vicki Hutcheson, whose testimony was used to convict the suspects, gave an interview to the Arkansas Times in which she stated that every word she had given to the police was a fabrication. She further asserted that the police had insinuated if she did not cooperate with them they would take away her child. She noted that when she visited the police station they had photographs of the suspects on the wall and were using them as dart targets. She also claims that an audio tape the police claimed was "unintelligible" (and eventually lost) was perfectly clear and contained no incriminating statements.

Today, although many of the people directly involved with the case believe the West Memphis Three to be guilty of the crimes they were convicted of (for example, Michael Moore's elder sister, who assaulted Jessie Misskelley's father in early 2005), some call for further investigation into the verdict. The biological father of Christopher Byers, Rick Murray, described his doubts in 2000 on the West Memphis Three website.

Rulings in appeals throughout the Arkansas legal system have almost unanimously favored the prosecution.

At the time of writing, primary forensic evidence tests are underway.

Documentaries and studies:
Two films, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, have documented this case, as have the books Blood of Innocents by Guy Reel and Devil's Knot by Mara Leveritt. The documentary films and Leveritt's book were strongly critical of the case, and argue that the suspects were wrongly convicted. Some have been critical of the filmmakers' omission of Echols' history of mental illness.

Also, Damien Echols now has an autobiography out, entitled Almost Home.

The first Paradise Lost documentary was filmed during the trial and investigation.

Paradise Lost 3 is currently in production.


How you can help:
• See the Paradise Lost movies!
• Buy a Free the West Memphis Three t-shirt!
• Donate money to the Defense Fund!
• Raise awareness with flyers and posters!
• Tell your friends! The more people that know about this, the more power we have to help these guys!
• Visit the website to read even more about this story.

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