The case of the West Memphis Three has garnered critical media coverage over the decades and has become the focus of an acclaimed documentary trilogy. In 1994, three teens – Jessie Misskelley Jr., Damien Echols, and Jason Baldwin – were convicted in the West Memphis murders of three cub scouts. Police believed they committed the murders as part of a cult ritual and arrested the three in connection with the case.
According to Distractify, Misskelley, Echols, and Baldwin served decades in prison but maintained their innocence. They eventually came to be known as the West Memphis Three. Moreover, each took an Alford plea deal in 2011 and has been free ever since. Very recently, they appeared in an HBO documentary titled Paradise Lost and have been at the center of various other projects.
The West Memphis Three are now in their 40s and continue to fight for justice. Since their release, Echols has turned into a believer in black magic. In fact, he has written books on how black magic saved his life when he was in prison. Baldwin moved to Texas and co-founded Proclaim Justice, which helps the wrongfully convicted. Misskelley is reportedly working in construction now.
Were the West Memphis Three actually guilty?
CNN reported that authorities conducted DNA tests between 2005 and 2007 that failed to link the West Memphis Three to the murders. Following this discovery, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled in November 2010 that all three could present new evidence to the trial court. However, a judge denied Damien Echols’ request to have evidence tested for DNA in June 2022. Echols, Jessie Misskelley Jr., and Jason Baldwin are the West Memphis Three.
In 1994, the alleged killers were teenagers when they were convicted of the brutal murders of three Cub Scouts. The victims were Steve Branch, Chris Byers, and Michael Moore. All three were eight years old at the time. Police found their bodies in a ditch, hogtied with their own shoelaces in 1993. At the time, police had found hair from a ligature used to bind Moore and another strand of hair from a tree stump near the bodies.
The outlet stated that the hair from the ligature was consistent with Branch’s stepfather, Terry Hobbs. Meanwhile, the hair found on the tree stump was consistent with the DNA of Hobbs’ friend. Nonetheless, authorities never suspected him in the case.
Moreover, in October 2009, witnesses who lived next to one of the victims claimed they saw them with Terry Hobbs. They alleged that they saw the boys with him the night before police found their bodies.
Critics have argued for decades that there was no direct evidence tying the West Memphis Three to the murders. Detectives found a knife from a lake near one of their homes, which they ruled to be the murder weapon.
CNN’s report mentioned that at their trials, prosecutors accused them of murdering the boys as part of a sadistic ritual. At the time, Echols and Baldwin claimed that authorities targeted them for being different from others.
The latter said, “The evidence against us was our personal preferences in music. I remember at one point during the trial, they lifted up a record, a Blue Oyster Cult record.” He stated that Prosecutor John Fogleman alleged they “found [it] in Damien’s girlfriend’s mother’s house.”
Several documentaries have covered the story of the West Memphis Three including HBO’s Paradise Lost trilogy.
