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. West Memphis police brought Terry Hobbs in for questioning in June 2007, and coverage soon led to a widespread examination of the original verdict, with Hobbs even telling police that some of his relatives suspected him in the killings. My attorney was in the evidence room this morning and saw it with his own eyes. With the evidence mounting that all three accused had been innocent, the deal ensured that Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley would never be allowed to pursue civil action against the state of Arkansas for wrongful imprisonment. Taylor's presence suggests that at 4:30 p.m., Branch and Moore had not yet found their friend Byers. Police almost immediately turned their attention to Baldwin, Echols and Misskelley and suspected them of killing the boys. He was 62. pg.acq.push(function() { Kara Goldfarb is a writer living in New York City. By Benjamin H. Smith Who Killed The Forgotten West Memphis Three? 1:53 Digital Original Motivations For Investigating The West Memphis Case 1:05 Preview But in 2011, the West Memphis Three walked free. From the murder of Shanda Sharer to the Columbine massacre, there was little that wasn't blamed on this new devilish culture. Despite the continuing doubts over the testimony, police pulled in Misskelley on June 3 alongside two other alleged cult members, Ricky Climer and Alvis Bly. But it seemed the story for the West Memphis Three was over. Judge Laser vacated all previous convictions and ordered a new trial where the West Memphis Three would be allowed to make the plea, sentencing them to time served. MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) A former Memphis Fire Department emergency medical technician told a Tennessee board Friday that officers impeded patient care by refusing to remove Tyre Nichols ' handcuffs, which would have allowed EMTs to check his vital signs after he was brutally beaten by police. The autopsy in full is harrowing reading, with Moore receiving 63 specific wounds, including ten skull fractures. The hair would tie in with a reported sighting of a "disoriented" man on the night of the boys' disappearance. }); Byers claimed the knife had never even been used, changing his story to say he'd used it to cut deer meat after the presence of blood was found. While the three, better known as the West Memphis Three, entered an Alford plea and are therefore not innocent in the eyes of the law, DNA evidence suggests someone else is responsible for the 1993 murders of James Michael Moore, Stephen Branch, and Christopher Byers. During the weeks that followed, law enforcement would only state that Echols was a source of information, not officially designating him a suspect despite looking at him more than anyone else. It took them 18 years to clear their names. }); Soon after, witness, Narlene Hollingsworth, reported she saw three boys riding bikes, almost hitting one when he rode out in front of her car. 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. } An attorney involved in the West Memphis Three case, in which three teenagers were convicted of killing three boys in 1993, is claiming that evidence related to the case that was believed to be lost or destroyed has been located at the West Memphis Police Department, local CBS affiliate WREG reported.Attorney Patrick Benca, who represents On the evening of May 5, 1993, three 8-year-old boys disappeared from the streets of West Memphis, Ark. eventAction: 'load' 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. The three would be confirmed to be together between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., with the boys spotted headed toward Robin Hood Hills; Terry Hobbs, Branch's stepfather, calling out for them to return. Copyright 2023 Empire Media Group, Inc. Front Page Detectives is a registered trademark. The police contended the tapes couldn't confirm this, with interference masking conversations. During the trial, Echols blew kisses to the victim's family, a sign taken by many as a sure sign of guilt. By Benjamin H. Smith Who Killed The Forgotten West Memphis Three? He was 62. It took 18 years, a deep probe into the criminal justice system, and the rallying of a Stevie Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers were only 8 years old when they viciously murdered in 1993. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), However, he was far from the only person of intense interest with two other teenagers, Chris Morgan and Brian Holland, attracting early interest. Baldwin got life behind bars, and Echols was sentenced to death by lethal injection. Terry Hobbs, meanwhile, still believes in the guilt of the West Memphis Three, telling Memphis ABC affiliate WATN in 2019 that "I still believe in my heart that Jessie, Jason, and Damion Echols are responsible for what happened to our children.". Standing 6-feet-5-inches tall and weighing 238 pounds, Byers was an imposing and threatening presence. He was called a 'baby killer.'. }); The West Memphis Three were the distinctive people in the town of West Memphis; however, there was little evidence suggesting they killed the three young boys. Moore was the group leader and, like his best friends, a proud cub scout, wearing his uniform even when not at meetings. Echols was from a poor background and struggled both with poverty and his mental health, having been institutionalized for several months after considering suicide. 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. 31 2021, Published 3:16 p.m. 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. ga('create', 'UA-67136960-15', 'auto', 'ads'); It took them 18 years to clear their names. While the three, better known as the West Memphis Three, entered an Alford plea and are therefore not innocent in the eyes of the law, DNA evidence suggests someone else is responsible for the 1993 murders of James Michael Moore, Stephen Branch, and Christopher Byers. On the evening of May 5, 1993, three 8-year-old boys disappeared from the streets of West Memphis, Ark. It was just days before the trial of Echols and Baldwin. Trinocular Co-Axial 1500x Metallurgical Microscope with Top-Bottom Light with 2MP Camera, Trinocular Microscope with DIN Objective and Camera 40x - 2000x, Junior Medical Microscope with Wide Field Eyepiece & LED 100x - 1500x, Trinocular Inverted Metallurgical Microscope 100x - 1200x, Binocular Inverted Metallurgical Microscope 100x - 1200x. Watch: Man connected to 'West Memphis Three' learns evidence connected to the case is missing By Dominique Dillon, FOX13memphis.com July 08, 2021 at 5:53 pm CDT WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. The friends rode over to Bobby Posey's house, where they learned Christopher had been whipped by his adoptive father, John Mark Byers, and planned to run away. "We are pleased that the evidence is intact," Benca said, according to WREG. 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. March 3, 2023, at 3:19 p.m. Video Shows Memphis Jailers Beating Black Inmate Who Died. After being told that she was questioning his involvement, Hobbs is alleged to have replied, "I could skin a man alive, I could cut him up.". The West Memphis Three are Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley Jr., whoas teenagerswere convicted in 1994 of triple murder in West Memphis (Crittenden County). 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 The Forgotten West Memphis Three, streaming now on Oxygen. In 2000, Berlinger and Sinofsky would produce "Paradise Lost 2: Revelations," a sequel to their 1996 film. They still had the convictions, but the men would be free. Now, the attorneys are responding in court. 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." He even said that he saw John Mark Byers assisting in the killings. }); pg.acq.push(function() { Motivations For Investigating The West Memphis Case, Timeline Of The West Memphis Three Victims. On one occasion, she said she was with her son all day; on another that he left home around 4 p.m. If the offender came across the boys as they were doing something wrong or misbehaving, it would have been even easier to control and reprimand them, said Clemente. With John Mark Byers ruled out, revelations in 2007 would point in a new direction equally close to home. Whose blood was on the knife was uncertain as it matched both Byers and the victim, both having the same HLA-DQ genotype. document.querySelector("#ads").addEventListener('click',function(){ March 3, 2023, at 3:19 p.m. Video Shows Memphis Jailers Beating Black Inmate Who Died. Their clothing was found tied to sticks implanted into the creek bed, with two pairs of underwear missing. document.querySelector("#google_image_div").addEventListener('click',function(){ Get all the latest information on Events, Sales and Offers. }); 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. Echols was generally seen as the dominant personality where Baldwin was concerned. There's absolutely no indication of that in this case. and "Do you know who killed those three boys?". They had a daughter together, Amanda Hobbs, who was 4 years old at the time of her brothers death. 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. While his repeated confessions may seem incriminating, Lawyer Dan Stidman would say in a 1999 letter to the court that "Absolutely nothing Misskelley told the officers or prosecutors would ever be admissible against him. It was likely the teenager was deliberately provoking Driver and exaggerating his lifestyle, leading the officer to become convinced that Echols was involved in a Satanic cult straight from a horror film.