On May 5, 1993 the bodies of three young boys were found murdered in the woods nearby their homes in West Memphis Arkansas. The bodies were savaged; all were beaten, some were partially skinned, one was castrated. The town was justifiably horrified and demanded the heads of those that committed such a crime. The police force in this normally idle highway community were eager to find those responsible. News of the crime spread around the nation. On the other side of the river, in Memphis, it was a headline in the paper for weeks. I was in school there at the time and I wanted the killers found more than anyone. What happened disgusted me.


The victims: Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Steve Branch

Less than a month later three teens were arrested and charged with the murders. Papers said they were hoodlums; one worshipped Satan, they did badly in school and had no future. Everyone talked about these "bad kids" and how they hoped they'd burn. The oldest was eighteen, the youngest fifteen.


The accused: Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley

The media followed the case as closely as possible, indicting them daily on the front page. The three boys were unassuming, not the sort you'd believe capable of carrying out such a crime. One of them confessed to police, describing exactly what took place. That and the testimonies of others, including a jailhouse confession to another inmate and a young girl that overheard them bragging about it in the stands at a local baseball game and their case was sealed.
First Jesse Misskelley, the son of a mechanic and confessor of the crime, was put on trial and summarily sentenced to life plus forty years in prison. Soon after his friends, Damien Echols, an eighteen year old loner and product of a broken home, and Jason Baldwin, a small, shy momma's boy, were tried together. Being poor and without any support, their defense consisted of state provided attorneys. Only one of the defendants took the stand where he answered questions concerning the library books about the occult found in his possession and what he thought about the crime.
With little defense, the two boys were found guilty. Baldwin received a life sentence without parole while Echols was sentenced to death.
That would be end of the story. Three people were sentenced for the death of three innocent boys. People were satisfied, if not happy. That would be the end, but it isn't.

An HBO camera crew filming the trial for an edition of America Undercover happened to catch the trial and the circumstances surrounding it. Finding the footage questionable they released it as a film and sent it to the network where it was seen by people around the world and what they saw didn't set well with them.
Misskelley's confession seemed coerced. The film revealed he had been kept away from his parents without food or the consultation of an attorney, illegal in any case but especially so with an underage child. Even more so if his iq is low enough to consider him mentally retarded. Despite being questioned for such a long period of time, the police only thought to record the last thirty minutes of the conversation. In court the jury heard the recording of a tired boy who needed assistance talking by an overeager detective who seemed to feed him the answers.
No evidence could match them to the scene of the crime. Their clothes were free of blood, an impossibility with such a crime and none of them seemed to have a motive. The marks on the boys could only be made with expert precision, a skill none of them seemed to have. They were far from the bloodthirsty killers they were portrayed as. Other than being intensely scared and nervous, none seemed the type that could so easily commit such crimes.
While the trial raged, the stepfather of one of the boys, a man named John Mark Byers saw the media interest as an opportunity for the spotlight. When cameras were around he raged at the three boys on the stand, invoking biblical vengeance against them and spitting on their makeshift graves for the camera. He swore he'd torture them were they ever set free.
A look into his past brought about even more questions. Byers was a jeweler who'd not been able to keep a job. He was an alcoholic and a drug user. On top of that he was known not only for beating his wife but for advocating the use of force as discipline for children.


John Mark Byers

Around Christmas he gave the filmmakers a strange gift; a used hunting knife with human blood on it. The filmmakers immediately handed the weapon over to the police, who tested it and found human blood. When pressed as to the blood type, the police replied that they had botched the results and could not give a second test.
The boys settled into their life in prison and life in the small town tried to get back to normal. As time passed however, the movie, as well as the notoriety of the case, began to grow. People from around the United States were in shock that such a thing could happen in this country. It looked as if three more boys would lose their lives while the killer of three other boys would be allowed to walk free.
A movement began to grow and the changes in technology allowed them to let their voices be heard. The prosecutors for the case, still congratulating themselves on a job well done, were on television again, defending their past actions. Meanwhile the accused boys had grown and showed up on television, commenting on the case. Echols had a stay of execution and had become a Buddhist as well as a very intelligent and prolific writer. Baldwin had graduated high school in prison and was studying Law.
While Echol's family had moved on, Baldwin's mother still yearns to see her soon free, as does Misskelley's father and they still actively support their sons. Dan Stidham, Misskelley's lawyer and the only one still working on the case, said the decision didn't sit well with him and has sworn to set them free. While his other clients have dropped him, he promises to see the case through to the end. It is the only case he works on now. Were it not for him, their futures would look bleak. He has gained the support of some of the most notable forensic experts in the country, who have studied the crime scene thoroughly.
New evidence has come to light. Bite marks on the skin of the murdered boys were discovered and, after testing was done, were found to not match any of the three men accused. It was impossible to have the same impressions made of Byers' teeth as he had them removed soon after the evidence came to light. Money is currently being collected to have DNA testing done in the case, which is hoped will clear the men of the crime, possibly freeing them from prison. The prosecutors in the case are doing everything they can to downplay its growing notoriety, labelling it as fair justice done. Meanwhile Echols is coming on his thirty second birthday having spent almost half his life in prison for a crime evidence shows he did not commit.

and John Mark Byers? His wife was found dead from mysterious circumstances. While he claims she overdosed, others believe she was strangled to death violently. Later he gained attention for burglary and attacking the son of one of his neighbors. He also faced police when he pulled a gun on a child, forcing him to beat up a smaller child. When he was arrested selling drugs to an undercover police officer he was arrested and thrown in jail.


The accused today: Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley

I wrote this for a few reasons. I feel close to the case, since it happened in the next town over and the age of the boys. I am only a year older than Echols and was right out of high school when the crime occurred. I know the depths people will go to ostracize people that don't fit the norm. I listen to a lot of the same bands they did and wore black, two things that the prosecution used against them in the trial.
The case shows the extent the media will go to get a story, publishing dishonest reports with only slight truth to them in order to get a reaction and sell papers. It's one of the reasons I no longer want to work in that industry.
I also think that no matter how shitty life can get and how I think I'm going through some bad shit there are always people that have it worse and are handling it better. It helps keep things in perspective.