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However, a hair "not inconsistent with" Steve Branch's stepfather, Terry Hobbs, was found, and crucially it was tied into the knots of the bindings that had hogtied one of the children. }) LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas After three years of fighting to get new evidence tested for DNA, the state is saying the West Memphis Three petition should be tossed out. window.adsContainer = {"positionAfterTitle":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle5_Rel_Newrev","isOrganicUserAd":true,"max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position2":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_After_Title_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position3":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Below_Next_Rel_Newrev","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position4":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle_Rel_Newrev","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position5":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle1_Rel_Newrev","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position6":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle2_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position7":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle3_Rel_Newrev","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position8":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle4_Rel_Newrev","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position9":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle5_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position10":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle6_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position11":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle7_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position12":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle8_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position13":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle9_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position14":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle10_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position15":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle11_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position16":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle12_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"positionTop":{"code":"Article_Desktop_970x250_Header_Rel","isOrganicUserAd":false,"max_width":970,"max_height":250},"positionBottom":{"code":"Article_Desktop_Sidebar_Bottom_Rel_Newrev","isOrganicUserAd":true,"max_width":300,"max_height":600},"positionBottomRight":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_After_Title_Rel_Newrev","isOrganicUserAd":true,"max_width":336,"max_height":280}} Initially a suspect himself amongst some people, John Mark Byers added his voice to those doubts before being killed in a car crash last year. But in the process, the West Memphis Three get blamed for the crime they didn't commit. The Story Of The West Memphis Teens Wrongfully Imprisoned 18 Years For Satanic Murder. While the stepfather initially denied it had ever been used, he later changed his story and said he had used it just once, to cut deer meat. Who Is The Real Killer Behind The 'West Memphis Three' Murders? 1:53 Digital Original Motivations For Investigating The West Memphis Case 1:05 Preview Police detective Bryn Ridge would later testify he somehow lost the samples from Bojangles' wall. Judge David Burnett, the original trial judge, disallowed the presentation of the new information in his court in 2008, citing the DNA tests as inconclusive. 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. In statements under oath, the three witnesses say that Michael Hobbs told them, "My uncle killed three boys in West Memphis." New evidence immediately began to come to light that cast even further doubts on the already shaky judgment and presented new and surprising suspects. 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. 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. They had a daughter together, Amanda Hobbs, who was 4 years old at the time of her brothers death. Their trial, which included One of those people would be Pamela Hobbs. In 2000, Berlinger and Sinofsky would produce "Paradise Lost 2: Revelations," a sequel to their 1996 film. Two of the boys' underwear, however, was missing. He took one of them I don't know which one cut him on I think it was on this side of his face.". All three boys were naked and hogtied using their shoelaces, each ankle tied with a wrist behind their backs. "We are pleased that the evidence is intact," Benca said, according to WREG. But in the process, the West Memphis Three get blamed for the crime they didn't commit. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), After 18 years behind bars, they were freed. VEGA, Texas (KFDA) - Two people were killed and two others were injured after a three-vehicle crash on Interstate 40 west of Vega. They'd first come into contact almost precisely a year before Echols was arrested alongside his then-girlfriend Deanna Holcomb. "We are trying to find the real killers. WebWest Memphis Three, three American men who in 1994, while teenagers, were found guilty of murdering three young boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, allegedly as part of devil worship. Taylor's presence suggests that at 4:30 p.m., Branch and Moore had not yet found their friend Byers. }); Advances in DNA testing allowed forensics to be utilized on hairs found at the scene, with none again matching for the three imprisoned men. if(document.querySelector("#google_image_div")){ Sometimes justice is neither pretty, nor is it perfect, but it was important to take this opportunity to be free.". Subsequent interviews with Vicki Hutcheson were just as contradictory. Local community members also rallied in support of the three, believing that their initial trial was unfair and handled incorrectly. Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley were accused of killing three eight-year-old boys: Chris Byers, Stevie Branch, and Michael Moore. She also revealed that her ex-husband had once asked her sister point-blank if she suspected him in the killings. ga('ads.send', { The story will be familiar to many working-class American youths, with Echols' poverty and mental health struggles disconnecting him from society, writing that "As I grew older I learned to be ashamed of being poor, too. ADVERTISEMENT 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 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. The West Memphis Police Department denied any connection in a statement to ABC 24 Memphis. There was a sense of disconnect from society amongst many young people, with the counter-culture that produced grunge giving way to the metal From the murder of Shanda Sharer to the Columbine massacre, there was little that wasn't blamed on this new devilish culture. Attempting to shelter from a storm, the two broke into a trailer and were charged with burglary and sexual misconduct. When West Memphis teens Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley Jr. were tried and convicted of the murders of three 8-year-old boys in 1994, many in the community felt confident that investigators had put the right men behind bars. After 3 years of fighting to get new evidence tested for DNA, the state says the WM3 petition should be tossed out and now, the attorneys are responding in court. "Lawyers have to follow the law and when you file in the wrong place that's not my fault," said Attorney General Griffin. 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. He tried to fight back and showed defensive injuries. 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. I believe there was an incident of over-disciplining one of the boys. 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. The first of that evidence emerged during the filming of HBO's 1996 documentary on the case: 'Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills.'. Terry Hobbs and Pamela Hicks. John Mark Byers was the stepdad of one of the victims and said before the hearing, Theyre innocent. pg.acq.push(function() { All three were second-grade pupils at Weaver Elementary School, with Branch being an honor student. 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. 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 YoutubeMugshots of the West Memphis Three. Opinion remains divided on whether the right men were convicted or if the actual killers still walk the streets of West Memphis. Based on the way the boys were tied up hands bound on either side of the body to the same side ankle Clemente theorized the suspect is somebody who works with animal carcasses, a butcher or a hunter., [T]he ligatures are not restraining ligatures. Terry Hobbs and Pamela Hicks. So if the West Memphis Three aren't the real killers, who is? 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. Yet, the moral panic would culturally define the decade for many youths, lingering as the remnants of the "Satanic Panic" that led to many wrongful convictions a decade earlier. 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. 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. Crime News is your destination for true crime stories from around the world, breaking crime news, and information about Oxygen's original true crime shows and documentaries. Both men were increasingly concerned about the potential for human sacrifices when it was a full moon. While the documentary opened the public's eyes to the miscarriage of justice that had transpired to get Echols, Miskelley Jr., and Baldwin convicted for a crime they did not commit, it also threw doubt on Byers, a suspicious character who seemed to have a penchant for theatrics. The autopsy in full is harrowing reading, with Moore receiving 63 specific wounds, including ten skull fractures. Prosecutors argued that the three teenagers, with Echols as the lead, committed the murders as part of a satanic ritual. Branch had 21 particular wounds, including a large gouge to the left side of his face, with Byers having 62 differing injuries.