Content warning: discussion of murder, dismemberment, and child abuse
Most people are probably aware of the satanic panic that gripped the United States in 1980s and 1990s. In case you don't, let me briefly explain it. It is a moral panic that lead to more than 12,000 cases of unsubstantiated cases of satanic ritual abuse. This began in 1980 when a psychiatrist and his future wife published a book about using memory recovery methods to access suppressed memories of patients to make accusations of satanic ritual abuse. Children are highly susceptible to suggestion, but that wasn't known at the time. Their accusations were taken as fact. Over time, the accusations became more associated with dissociative identity disorder and conspiracy theories (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_panic). While this might seem bonkers, it had real life effects on people. Innocent people were accused and convicted of satanic ritual abuse. One case of this is the West Memphis Three: Damien Echols, Jesse Misskelley, and Jason Baldwin.
These is a three-part documentary series on this case called Paradise Lost. It follows the case from their initial arrest to their time behind bars and their fight for their freedom. You can rent it from YouTube or Google Play for $2.99 or stream all three parts on HBO Max.
This is another case that, like the San Antonio Four, really sticks with me. Like the San Antonio Four, this case is an excellent example of a gross miscarriage of justice. Unlike the San Antonio Four, the victims here were actually victims. There was no mistake about that. Chris Byers, Michael Moore, and Stevie Branch were brutally murdered and mutilated. Because innocent boys paid the price, they never got justice either. Six lives, six boys, all done a horrible injustice by the legal system.
Chris Byers, Michael Moore, and Stevie Branch (8 years old) were found bound, murdered, and mutilated in West Memphis, Arkansas in 1993. Chris Byers' genitalia was horribly mutilated. I'll save you the gruesome details, but this detail is what really stuck out to me. This is not something a teenage boy would do. This is the work of an experienced killer. Whoever did this, it was not their first kill. Mutilation is often not done on the first kill. That's something a killer works up to once they have some confidence. Not long after the bodies were recovered, rumors of satanic cult involvement began to swirl.
Very quickly Damien became a suspect. He was a 17-year old drop out who suffered from depression, dressed in all black, and wrote dark poems. He had long hair, a tattoo and described himself as Wiccan. In the back woods anywhere in the south, especially in the 90s, any of these would raise an eyebrow if satanic involvement was suspected. Damien had been in a mental institution and attempted suicide while there. Clearly, he was mentally ill, but mentally ill does not a murderer make. As I have mentioned before, those suffering from mental illness are far more likely to be a victim of violence than to be the perpetrator. The police and the citizens of West Memphis saw this boy that they deemed as not one of them and pursued him relentlessly for a crime I honestly do not believe he committed. He met regularly with a social worker who wrote in her notes that he may become another Charles Manson or Ted Bundy. His friend Jason quickly came under suspicion as well.
Because of a local waitress, Jesse came under suspicion. I feel like it's important to note that it is likely Jesse had a developmental or learning disability because I keep seeing that he had an IQ substantially below average, but I can't find any further details about that. Lower IQ was used as a euphemism a lot in the 90s for people who had developmental or learning disabilities but hadn't been diagnosed. The waitress spun a yarn to police about her being involved in witchcraft with Damien, Jason, and Jesse. Because of this, Jesse was arrested and given a polygraph. After hours of questioning, Jesse finally tells police what they want to hear in what I firmed believe is a coerced confession. Eventually, the inconsistencies are ironed out and Jesse's story begins to match the known facts about the case.
After Jesse's alleged confession, officers got warrants for his, Damien's, and Jason's homes, and all three boys were arrested and charged with three counts of capital murder. After their trials, all three boys were found guilty. Jesse was found guilty on first-degree murders in all three charges, and Jason and Damien were found guilty of capital murder in all three charges. Jesse and Jason both were sentenced to life without parole, and Damien was sentenced to die by lethal injection.
After the HBO documentary Paradise Lost was released in 1996, concerns began to grow that the boys were wrongfully convicted. After Paradise Lost 2: Revelations was released in 2000, those concerns grew even more. In 2002 Mara Leveritt published the book Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three, in which she deeply analyzed the case. She too believed the 1994 trials were a gross miscarriage of justice. In 2003, the waitress told an Arkansas reporter that everything she had told police was a lie. In 2007, DNA results from the murdered boys came back and did not match Damien, Jesse, or Jason. After this evidence, the father of Chris Byers, John Mark Byers, said he believed the boys were innocent and had been wrongfully convicted. In 2010, the Arkansas Supreme Court ordered the trial court to consider if there is enough evidence to warrant a new trial. In 2012, Damien Echols published his book Life After Death (which I just found recently and had to buy!). In it, he expresses his feelings about if Jason would take an Alfred plea (plead guilty but maintain innocence) in order for the three boys to be released. The prosecutor wanted all three to take the deal or there would be no deal. Jason took the plea and all three walked free.
There is still a lot of speculation about who actually killed Chris, Michael, and Stevie. Some believe it was Stevie's stepfather, Terry Hobbs. In 2013, Billie Wayne Steward and Bennie Guy both signed affidavits that are considered highly credible because of the plausibility of events they recounted. They both say that Hobbs was probably the guy. One of Hobbs' affiliates, L. G. Hollingworth said he and Hobbs beat and killed the three young boys. However, no arrests were made after this information came forward.
Many still believe that the West Memphis Three were the ones that killed Chris, Michael, and Stevie. I don't. I believe they are innocent and were wrongfully convicted and done a horrible injustice by our legal system. Thankfully, their story got a lot more attention than did the San Antonio Four. In fact there was so much information on this I had to cut a large bit out and just stick to the important points. If you would like to read the full article, you can find it here: https://famous-trials.com/westmemphis/2287-home
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