Charger Features
Devil’s Knot--did the “goths” do it?Erin McMillan and Allison Coffey, Charger Staff To be different anywhere is a crime-- especially in a small town. Wearing all black, reading Anne Rice novels, and listening to Metallica
automatically makes you a bad person and/or a satanist. When we live in a world where almost every person is guilty of
one of those three things or similar infractions, it seems ridiculous
to accuse Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley of
a crime so horrific as the Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills in
West Memphis, Arkansas. On May 5, 1993, James Moore, Steven Branch and Christopher Byers,
three local eight -year-old boys, were seen riding their bikes.
The next day their bodies were found in a creek. They were horribly mutilated and their wrists were tied to their
ankles with the boys' own shoe strings. No physical evidence could
be found at the scene to link any person to the crime In West Memphis, Arkansas, a triple murder is far from the norm.
This led to allegations that the crime scene was poorly documented,
and the police notes were inaccurate at times and undetailed. A juvenile probation officer was among the search volunteers present
at the time of the discovery of the bodies. He immediately pointed the finger at Damien Echols, whom he had
had his eyes on for years. He concluded that Echols was the only person capable of the crime
and that it was part of a Satanic ritual. An associate of Damien Echols, the mentally handicapped Jessie
Misskelley, was soon questioned and confessed to the murders, bringing
down both Echols and another friend, Jason Baldwin. Most of his confession was unrecorded and did not go along with
the facts that police has already found. Even when this was later brought up in court, the judge ignored
it. No one knows for sure what happened in the room before his confession.
During the trial, items such as black concert shirts, lyrics by
Blue Oyster Cult and Pink Floyd, and Stephen King novels were used
to try and prove that the boys were guilty and Satanists. Unreliable informants were used, even after they were proven to
have given false testimony, and at one point a prosecutor went so
far as to point out Damien Echols and say, "There is no soul
in there." Accusations are still the only thing linking Echols,
Baldwin, and Misskelley to the crime. The verdicts were announced. Damien Echols received death by lethal
injection. Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin both got life in prison. Five
years after the case's conclusion, some interesting evidence arose.
A forensic pathologist and a forensic ondontologist examined bite
marks on the bodies using autopsy photos. They then compared the marks to all three of the accused and the
conclusion was made that none of the men could have made those bite
marks. A lot of the evidence in the case was ruined, lost, or destroyed,
which brings about the question, "Why is the police chief so
secure in his belief that he is the person responsible for ending
the lives of three eight-year -olds?" The West Memphis murders not only ended the lives of three young
boys, but they have also ruined the lives of three others, and shattered
a small Arkansas community. More information can be found on the website http://www.wm3.org/.
~Article prepared for web by Steven Linger and Joy Wheeler~ |