The Tattooed Man
Perhaps as unsettling as the Bojangles
incident is the account of a mysterious hitchhiker sometimes called
"the tattooed man." Ken Govar was travelling east on I-40 when he
picked up a hitchhiker on the road about 20 miles outside of Little
Rock. The man said he was heading to Knoxville, Tennessee.
He was described as intense, angry. Most unnerving to Govar was a
large tattoo of a devil on the passenger's forearm. When they arrived
in West Memphis at 3:30 pm, the hitchhiker insisted on being left
there, even though Govar would have been able to take him further along
the way to Knoxville. He asked to be let out at a convenience
store on the south side of interstate. From the description, this
store would either have been directly next to the Blue Beacon or
further down next to 18th Street. Ken Govar gave an interview to
the Little Rock Police and they made a sketch of the individual and the
tattoo (above).
". . . on the forearm of his left arm, he had a 6"
to 8" tattoo of a devil sitting on its haunches with three claws up on
his hands and the face, looked like kinda dinosaur sitting there on his
haunches, with the three claws up like this but he had the face of a
traditional devil, like you would draw a devil with a pointed chin and
you know the horns and everything. . . . It was horrible."
Hitchhiker description:
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26 to 28 yoa. 5'8 to 5'10
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"On the thin side of thin"
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Reddish blonde hair, bushy eyebrows and sideburns
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Stubbly red beard. Freckles.
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Bone tattoo in blood red background on right forearm.
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Devil tattoo on left forearm.
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Worked trimming trees.
The police made a file with the sketches and the
notes from Govar. He said was never contacted again by the West
Memphis police.
In the door to door interviews, one
woman described someone with a devil tattoo. She talked about the
Wren twins, who at age 19, already had jail time and a prison break to
their names. "The Wren boys have dropped out of sight last couple
of days! A boy & girl have been in the neighborhood for the Wren
boy's. This boy has a tattoo on his left forearm of a devil with a hood
on! with scratches on chest! Jeff." (The exclamation marks were
in the original police notes.) She went on to describe Jeff as a
white male, 5'9, 180, 18 years of age with a yellow Monte Carlo.
The police interviewed a Jeff Looney, who in some
ways fit this description. He knew the Wrens, having dated one of
their sisters. His father had a "butterscotch" Fifth Avenue, a
car that is large and boxy like a Monte Carlo. He was on the thin
side of thin, 5'11 and 140. He had a job trimming bushes.
He had a number of tattoos and his arms were photographed.
However, none of the tattoos looked like a devil.
The sketch made by Govar looks like the suspect,
William Welch. According to his intake form, Welch did have a
Grim Reaper tattoo on his left arm and a rose and heart on his
right. He was 5'10 and 160, but he could be better described as
muscular rather than thin. His hair was sandy blonde.
Could either of these have been the tattooed
man? The only explicit link in the West Memphis police files was
Govar's sketch found its way into the jacket of another mysterious
individual. On May the 6th, someone had taken a cab from Memphis
to Centerville, Tennessee, 168 miles. Initially, he asked to go
to a hotel near the airport and then asked to be driven to
Nashville. He got out the cab in Centerville, Tennessee
when the driver was refueling.
I contacted Ken Govar last year and sent him several
photos to see if he could identify "the tattooed man." I sent him
the photos at the time of the arrest of the convicted, Jessie
Misskelley, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin. Although none fit
his description, I deemed it best to have him look them over. I
sent him also Jeff Looney, William Welch and Tracy Laxton.
Tracy Laxton was brought in to the police because he
had frightened several local teenagers (including Jessie
Misskelley). Based on the fact that Tracy Laxton admitted to
hitching rides and returning to town recently and the fact that he had
red hair was 5'7 and 140 pounds he was included in the line-up,
although his heavy facial hair probably excluded him. Govar
responded that none of matched the person who he remembered and that
the tattoo was a devil, not a grim reaper.
Correspondence with Ken Govar.
Line up sent to Govar (sketch not sent, included for comparison. Also sent was the pictures of the convicted.)
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