On May 5, 1993, three eight-year-old boys went missing after riding bikes in their neighborhood after school. The next afternoon, the bodies of Michael Moore, Christopher Byers and Stevie Branch, were found submerged in a nearby drainage ditch, naked and hog-tied with their own shoelaces.
News of the heinous crime quickly spread and leads suggesting that a group of teenagers had murdered the boys as part of a Satanic ritual grabbed the attention of investigators. After nearly a month, on June 3, a local teenager named Jessie Miskelley Jr., 17, voluntarily decided to give a statement to police. After several hours, Miskelley confessed to the crime and implicates two other area teenagers, Damien Echols, 18, and Jason Baldwin, 16. His confession is a rambling tale of a cult which killed dogs, participated in orgies and killed the boys for sport.
All three teenagers were arrested and charged.
In two separate trials in early 1994 (Miskelley was tried separately from Baldwin and Echols because of his confession and his refusal to testify against the others), prosecutors presented a case that was as shocking as it was gruesome. They alleged that the crime was born out of a fascination with the occult and human sacrifice. The defense teams for all three defendants vehemently denied the allegations. The defense argued that their was no physical evidence tying the Three to the crime and that Miskelley's confession was coerced and the product of hours of grueling interrogation.
All three young men were convicted of the murders. Baldwin and Miskelley received life sentences while Echols received the death penalty.
All three appealed their cases and maintained their innocence throughout the years. New evidence is giving the "West Memphis Three" hope for freedom. DNA tests of fibers recovered from the crime scene did not match any of the WM3, but one hair did match the stepfather of one of the victims, Terry Hobbs, while another matched Hobb's friend. Allegations of juror misconduct during the original Baldwin/Echols trial have also come to light.
In November 2010, the Arkansas State Supreme Court ordered an evidentiary hearing which could lead to a new trial, if it is determined that the new evidence would be enough to convince a jury of their innocence.
