The Victims The Place Time It Was The Crime The Investigation The Convicted
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The Victims The Place The Investigation Time it was The Crime The Convicted

Note:  This website intends to be a thorough investigation of the matters surrounding the disappearance and murders of Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore. All told this site has approximately 150,000 words, equivalent to a 700 page book. Many of the pertinent topics are covered here. Others are not. This site does not endeavour to follow the latest developments and legal machinations of the case. Some pages are not up-to-date. The pages on Terry Hobbs and John Mark Byers while essentially correct do not include novel information that has come forward in the last two years. Other pages do not need updating as the information in them has not expanded in recent years. I have not posted novel pages to this site for several months now due to conflicts in time. Nevertheless you will find a remarkable story told here in great detail. 

This site does not primarily deal with the West Memphis Three. I believe in their innocence. More properly put, I believe the evidence of their guilt is very flimsy and that the strength of this evidence ranks behind literally dozens of others of possible culprits. While this site does discuss the injustice committed against them, it is more directed to the crime against the murder victims. There are no photos of the dead children or their injuries on this site. It is best they are remembered as they were in life.

INTRODUCTION

    As though part of a morbid Grimm's tale, three eight-year-old boys headed into the woods at the setting of the sun. And with the last of daylight, they disappeared. What happened then was unspeakable.

    This site is dedicated to the brief lives of Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore. These pages are dedicated to finding the truth about their deaths in West Memphis, Arkansas that took place on or about May 5th, 1993.

    The gruesomeness of the crime made it sensational nationwide news. With the subsequent arrests and trials and the allegations of occult sacrifice the notoriety increased. The media followed the story with countless reports and articles. The story became the fodder of Geraldo and Maury Povich.

    Three teenagers were charged with the crimes. Each plead innocent. After a pair of trials remarkable in their strangeness, each was convicted. But the story didn't end there. Through two books and two documentaries, the convicted have achieved a celebrity status as "The West Memphis Three."

    And so there are unhealed wounds as deep as the cuts made on the victims. For those who believe in the innocence of the convicted, there is the belief in an ongoing injustice and that the actual murderer has gone free. For those who believe in the guilt of the convicted, the unceasing publicity of the convicted steals the focus from the victims. This is especially true for the families of the victims who live with the constant memory of the pain of the tragedy. This log is dedicated to the community of all of those touched by this crime.


Log of Pages     Sources and Resources    Principles of this website      Index

MOST RECENT ADDITIONS.
MAY 15, 2009. The event-filled two days of May 5th and 6th are explored in Night and Day.
MARCH 6, 2009. The triumphs and the downfall of the Crittenden County Drug Task Force are recounted in West Memphis Confidential.
FEBRUARY 24, 2009. Chapter 12 (Whodunnit, The Crime Scene) has been added to the case narrative.
JANUARY 19, 2009. Chapter 10 (Later Evidence) and Chapter 11 (DNA) have been added to the case narrative. 
JANUARY 5, 2009. The case is presented in narrative form with the first nine chapters complete. The series begins below and continues through the links at the bottom of each page or else here.  (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)

 Memphis pyramid, looking from Arkansas

Moonrise over the Memphis pyramid, looking from Arkansas.

A Twilight Kill

    The phases of the moon are tricks of light and shadow. For the moon to be full, it must rise when the sun sets. On May 5th, 1993, as daylight disappeared, the round moon crested the Memphis skyline. The Mississippi River, at that time turbid and swollen from a season of floods, separated the Tennessee Metropolis from its Arkansas namesake, West Memphis, a trucking hub and home to 30,000. With dusk deepening over the small town, three eight year old boys had already been missing for two hours. By the next day they would be found dead, brutalized, hog-tied and sunken in a ditch. 

    Dana Moore, mother of victim Michael Moore, saw the three at a distance. Her son was in his cub scout uniform aboard his bicycle while his second grade schoolmates, Chris Byers and Stevie Branch shared a bike. Childhood friend, Kim Williams reported accompanying Michael and Stevie to the edge of a patch of woods called Robin Hood Hills. Another childhood friend said Chris Byers dropped by his house. This neighbor said Chris told him his stepfather had whipped him and he was running away from home.

    Mark Byers, the stepfather of Chris, was a hefty six foot five. Full-bearded and sporting long hair often tied back in a ponytail, the left side of his face drooped from damage from seizures. Changing into overalls and a long-sleeved shirt he undertook a frantic eighteen hour search, patrolling the neighborhood with his wife, Melissa and his thirteen year-old stepson, Ryan. He would later complain of receiving virtually no help from the authorities. "I called the Sheriff's Department the second time. I said, look, I've had one police officer out here helping me look for these boys." [Mark Byers, May 19, 1993 interview] Byers would describe two occasions when his search took him to the area where the victims were found. "I was out looking until 4:30 a.m. I walked within 10 or 15 feet of where the bodies were found and I didn't see them." [Mark Byers, quoted in West Memphis Evening Times, May 7th, 1993]

    Terry Hobbs, wiry tough with a thick frowning mustache and a glassy gaze, was the stepfather of victim Stevie Branch. He described beginning his search well before nightfall, including passing near the discovery site. Recently, Hobbs' companion during his search has contradicted his account. Terry would wait until the evening closing time at his wife's restaurant to inform her of her son's disappearance.

    Within two years, Terry Hobbs, Mark Byers and Dana Moore would each be convicted of violent crimes. Hobbs shot and wounded his brother-in-law. Mark Byers would be convicted of using a gun to incite a child to engage in a fist fight. Moore would strike and kill a pedestrian with her car. Melissa Byers would die in the presence of her husband, the cause of death undetermined.

The victims
The victims.  Left to right, Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Stevie Branch.
Continued in, A Twilight Kill, Part Two: True Believers

PRIOR RECENT ADDITIONS.
DECEMBER 12, 2008. Several pages have been edited to incorporate recent developments. The new information is summarized here.
DECEMBER 2, 2008.  The robustness of the hair DNA evidence is examined.
JULY 8, 2008.  The format of this website has been updated and improved, thanks to Michael Gillen.  
JULY 4, 2008.  A page has been added describing the effects of the full moon on this case.  
JANUARY 11, 2008.  Bryan Keith Woody.
JANUARY 11, 2008.  Sir Mikeal and The King.
DECEMBER 11, 2007.  The Telltale Hairs.

A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE CASE

[Note: the following summary is meant to guide the novice through the facts of the case.  Each link is to an unique page.]

    On May 5th, 1993, on the night of a full moon, in West Memphis, Arkansas three eight-year-old children, Michael Moore, Christopher Byers, and Stevie Branch, disappeared. They were last seen by family, neighbors and schoolmates about 6:00 pm heading in the direction of a wooded area not far from their houses. The day proved busy and the initial search was limited. One of those who would testify as to last seeing the children was also involved in the search.

    Their bodies were discovered the next day in a small patch of woods behind the Blue Beacon Truck Wash, not far from the interstate. The victims had been beaten, cut, bound and sunk in a ditch. Each child had dozens of injuries. At the time, authorities and media speculated whether the crime was related to other area child murders. Neighbors described ominous sightings of white and black vans.

    It was debated whether or not the discovery site was the site of the murders. Its unique geography, bound on one side by a bayou that needed to be crossed by pipe and on another by all night business made entry difficult, however, no blood was found, in spite of one victim bleeding to death. The discovery site became the only designated crime scene and was presented at trial by the state as where the murders took place.

    There was a limited amount of physical evidence at the crime scene. Samples were taken from a large number of suspects which can be used to match DNA. Anomalous fibers were collected from the victims and their clothes. Not all of the children's clothes were recovered from the discovery site: two pairs of underwear and five socks were missing. A spot of wax was found on one of the victims clothes. Other evidence was left behind at the discovery site. The physical evidence is listed here and the crime lab findings, here. Perhaps most significant were a variety of hairs, including those found under the victims' bindings. The results of the DNA tests have been released. One of these hairs has been recently found to match the stepfather of one of the victims, Terry Hobbs, although this match is imperfect. 

    The police began their investigation by canvassing the victims' neighborhood. Early on, the possible involvement of a Satanic cult was taken seriously. Those interviewed in the search for the cult yielded contradictory or ridiculous stories. The investigation echoed an event of the more distant past, including the extensive amount of time chasing down rumors from children including wild stories about a local teenager, Damien Echols. Polygraphs directed the investigation, with individuals who passed being dismissed as suspects. A mysterious hitchhiker with a devil tattoo was noted, but never found. A child molestor with a disturbing history was interviewed. A pair of filmmakers who had recently moved to the area were also questioned. During the course of the investigation, twenty knives were taken into evidence, from the crime scene, from a lake behind where one of the arrested lived and from other suspects. Three sticks gathered from the crime scene would play a role in the trials.

    Damien Wayne Echols, a teenager with a troubled history (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), was visited by police the day after the discovery and would become a central target of the investigation. Damien's best friend, Jason Baldwin, would also become a target, although with some confusion as there were two suspects with this name.

    Narlene Hollingsworth and her family say they saw Echols not far from the discovery site on the night of the murders. One Hollingsworth was also a suspect.

    On June 3rd, 1993, Jessie Misskelley confessed to his involvement in the murders, also implicating Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin. The confession was presented as evidence for the search warrants and the three were arrested. The confession was attacked by the family of the accused as being inconsistent, by forensic linguistics as being non-informational and, at trial, as being coerced.

    The trials took place from January to March of 1994. The motive for the murders was presented as being occult sacrifice. Others were presented at trial as alternative suspects including the stepfather of one of the victims, John Mark Byers, a controversial character with an unexamined alibi. Also put forward was a mysterious bleeding man at a Bojangles restaurant less than a mile from the discovery site.

    The three defendants were convicted. Jessie Misskelley was sentenced to life plus forty years, Jason Baldwin received life without parole, and Damien Echols received the death sentence. They are in prison appealing the convictions. The quality of evidence leading to conviction is examined, beginning with Jessie Misskelley and continuing with Jason Baldwin.

BASIC INFORMATION

The victims.

Steve Edward Branch, eight-years-old, 4 ft. 2, 65 lbs, blonde hair. Last seen in blue jeans, white t-shirt on a black and red bicycle.

Christopher Byers, eight-years-old, 4 ft., 52 lbs, light brown hair. Last seen in blue jeans, dark shoes, and white long sleeve shirt. 

Michael Moore, eight-years-old, 4 ft. 2, 55 lbs, brown hair. Last seen in blue pants, blue Boy Scouts of America shirt, orange and blue Boy Scout hat on a light green bicycle.

    [sources: Missing person reports, autopsies. The clothes found were slightly different.]

Time of disappearance.

    Last seen by family members 5:30 to 6:00 pm, May 5th, 1993. Missing person reports filed 8:30 and 9:30 pm.  Last seen by neighbors 6:00 to 6:30 pm.

Time of discovery.

    The bodies of the three were found naked, sunken in a ditch between 1:30 and 3:00 pm, May 6th, 1993.

 

Copyright © 2008 Martin David Hill
Site Design By Michael Gillen