Startled and shocked, Allen hurriedly left the area and immediately called Chief Investigator Gitchell. Realizing this was homicide, uniformed police officers hurried to Robin Hood Hills and hastily set up a perimeter with yellow police tape.
Investigators determined that the remainder of the ditch had to be searched. While investigating the ditch area, numerous pieces of the boys clothing were found. Two pairs of children's jeans were found inside out, with the zippers intact, as if they were ripped off their bodies. Detective Bryn Ridge volunteered to enter the dirty water and scour for the other boys. While moving through the water, Ridge discovered sticks stuck in the mud, their ends wrapped with items of clothing. Searching in the water farther down in the gully ten feet from the location of Michael Moore, the naked bodies of Stevie Branch and Christopher Byers were found submerged in the water, held down by sticks lodged deep in the mud. Branch had evidence of a beating similar to Moore, but there was something more horrifying: a deep wound on the left side of his face. It looked as if his face was bitten. Byers had endured an awful wound as well: his penis and scrotum were cut off. Deep knife wounds interspersed the area around where his genitals should have been. Both boys were bound with shoelaces like the body of Michael Moore: left wrist to left ankle, right wrist to right ankle.
Investigator Gitchell decided to videotape the crime scene while the other police officers worked to drain water from the ditch. A group of parents heard that bodies were found and headed toward the crime scene. Gitchell had the painful task of informing the parents that their sons were not coming home.4 In front of the yellow crime tape, Gitchell informed the Moore, the Byers and the Branch families of the terrible findings. The parents of the boys broke down and sobbed, with television camera crews onsite to videotape their grieving. John Mark Byers, in shock, openly said what he hoped for the killer: “God shows a little mercy on his soul, because I sure wouldn’t.”
An astonished crowd gathered near the taped-off crime scene. Police officers near the crowd heard whispers of devil worship in Robin Hood Hills circulate among the gathering residents. Locals spoke of bizarre rituals in the woods, with strange people frequently entering and leaving the undeveloped area.
3. THE INVESTIGATION
The West Memphis police began their search for the killers of the children by first scouring the area for evidence. Many groups of people had been through the area the night before---many tracks had been walked over. The police dropped a boat into the Ten Mile Bayou, the long canal nearby designed to alleviate flooding from the Mississippi River. A grappling hook thrown over the side of the boat caught a metallic object, and police soon pulled up both Michael Moore’s and Steve Byers’ bicycles.
Marty King, the manager of Bojangles restaurant, contacted the police again and retold the story of the man covered in mud and blood who occupied the women’s bathroom for an hour. Detectives Ridge and Allen, who just completed the search in the ditch, cleaned themselves and headed over to the restaurant. Unfortunately, the cleaning crew of Bojangles had done a thorough job the night before and little evidence remained. However, near the toilet was a spot of what looked to be dried blood. Ridge scraped off the blood and put it into an evidence container. Neither Ridge or Allen considered the evidence material to the current case. Upon his return to the police station, Ridge placed the container with the dried blood into his desk and promptly forgot about it.
The next day on May 7th, 1993, the Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee) headlines blared:
MUTILATED BODIES OF THREE BOYS FOUND IN BAYOU:
Hunt for suspects in W. Memphis
Three 8-year-old boys were found slain Thursday, their bodies submerged in a drainage ditch.
West Memphis police would not comment on the cause of death, but an Arkansas State Police broadcast Thursday night said West Memphis police were investigating the abduction and sexual mutilation of three boys.
Neighbors last saw Weaver Elementary School second-graders Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore riding bicycles between 5:15 and 6 p.m. Wednesday. The search by police, parents and neighbors began at 7:30 p.m.
"We do have three homicides," said Insp. Gary Gitchell of the West Memphis Police Department. "I won't comment on the crime scene or what we found."
Mark Byers, father of Christopher, characterized whoever killed his son as an "animal."
"I hope God shows a little mercy on his soul, because I sure wouldn't," he said.
The bodies were to be sent to Little Rock for autopsies by the state medical examiner...
...Authorities said they drained the ditch to search for additional evidence. Police were also searching a culvert where bicycle tracks and small sneaker prints were found.
The culvert, which connects to the drainage ditch, runs under Interstate 40 near a truck wash. The ditch was a few hundred yards north of where the children were last seen, and less than a half-mile from the children's homes...
...About midafternoon, anxious parents were awaiting official word as neighbors massed at the police barricade on McAuley Drive after hearing one body had been found.
Pam Hobbs, mother of Michael Moore, collapsed when authorities told her that her son's body also had been found.
"Oh Lord!" she said, collapsing to the asphalt before being raised into the arms of friends and family.
Neighbor Bo Hamrick said he and friends had helped search the area on three-wheelers since about 7 a.m. Thursday.
"It's nothing but woods, woods and trails - a few trails just wide enough to get a three-wheeler through," he said. "I thought, if we get our three-wheelers out, they'll hear us, if they're back there hiding. They always are."
Gitchell, the lead investigator, said he could not confirm whether a story from a neighbor who reported seeing two men with some children in the area was accurate.
"We've got our work cut out for us," he said, declining to say if authorities had any suspects.5
John Mark Byers voiced concerns that the Crittenden County Sheriff's Department did not join the search until Thursday morning despite his repeated requests. He was dismissed by the Crittenden County dispatcher, who said the location was not in their jurisdiction. "If they had brought them out there last night, we would have had a chance of finding those boys alive," he said before praising the all-night search effort by West Memphis Police Department officers. "They could have used some help; hell, yes, they could have used some help.” said Byers.
Pervasive fear concerning a killer on the loose plagued the West Memphis community. Parents wanted to know the whereabouts of their children down to the minute. The police department call-in line rang continuously, with concerned citizens phoning in tips and information of varying quality. Hundreds and hundreds of tips would pour into the West Memphis Police Department in the week following the murders. Police compiled detailed descriptions of potential suspects of all types: vagrants, mental patients, convicted sex offenders, oddballs, etc.
Law enforcement from all over the United States called to offer assistance. Information about similar cases flooded the West Memphis Police Department from other law enforcement agencies in the country. The murders caught the attention of the national media, and news teams from all the major television stations headed to West Memphis to follow the case.
A reward fund set up to encourage to provision of leads and tips quickly grew to $7,000 dollars. The public knew that the boys had been severely beaten on their faces and heads and that they were bound. However, the specific details of the sexual mutilation were not known to the public; the fact that only one of the boys had been mutilated was kept from the public by the West Memphis police.
Forensic specialists drove to West Memphis from the state capitol of Little Rock to help with the collection of evidence. The FBI assisted by providing a behavioral and psychological study of the killer. West Memphis police resources were reallocated, with members from the Drug Task Force reassigned to help with the investigation. A total of twelve Det
ectives would work to solve the murders. Gitchell gathered his team of Detectives and instructed them to go house to house in the area and interview families about the crime.
At the Mayfair Apartments, a lower rent complex adjoining Robin Hood Hills, residents repeated claims that Satan worshipping took place in the woods. “Kids with black and red hair hang out there in a cult.” one said. The apartment complex rests about two hundred yards from the murder site and close to one of the pathways leading into the woods. After a day of collecting information from residents, the police heard similar accounts of devil worship by locals. One account talked of a man in his twenties who had reddish hair and wore a pentagram. Another spoke of drug addicts who practiced “voodoo, mutilation, everything evil---don’t get much sun.“6 Another mother recounted her son telling her of “a Star of David [hexagram] crudely made out of the leg of a child’s swing set. A sign read something like “Leave Now or You Won’t Get Out.”7 The mother told of two boys that lived in the Mayfair Apartments who disappeared after the murders happened. An additional tale of satanic worship arose from another resident. She said “her husband found dead sacrificed animals in Robin Hood around this time. She stated that during nights she could smell smoke and hear chanting and strange music.”8 One neighbor frequently saw pentagrams and crosses traced in the dirt pathways in Robin Hood Hills. Another said she once saw a dead baby hanging from a tree.9 In all, the house to house interviews yielded over six independent tales of youths meeting for secret rites in Robin Hood Hills.
Police interviewed as many suspects as possible, working without breaks or much sleep. Tips of all sorts kept them busy following leads: hitchhikers, school teachers, drifters, truck drivers, sex offenders and known occultists were investigated. Many individuals were polygraphed using new equipment acquired by the West Memphis Police Department. Officers queried the National Crime Information Center, (NCIC), but only the record of Mark Byers popped up. He had been arrested the year before on cocaine and weapons charges. A cab driver told of a passenger who paid 390 dollars for the drive from Memphis to Nashville on the night of the killings. The police never found the passenger.
The Sunday following the murders, the local churches addressed the shock to the community. At the Holy Cross Episcopal Church, Rector Fred H. Tinsley, Jr. condemned the acts as “the incarnation and manifestation of evil.” He continued: “While I do believe to the very core of my being in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I freely admit to you this morning that my heart is sorely troubled. We’re not dealing with the garden-variety sin here. Anyone who would do something like this is not like you or me.”10 Listening to the sermon, the inconsolable parents of Michael Moore sat in the audience and wept.
The West Memphis police continued to hear sordid tales of cult activity. Michael Moore’s ten year old sister Dawn reported seeing cult members exiting Robin Hood Hills with blackened faces. Dennis Ingle, a fire and brimstone preacher at Lakeshore Baptist Church, knew of cult activity and forwarded his concerns to the police. On Sunday, May 9th, police met with Ingle. He told of a strange young man, Damien Echols, who frequented Lakeshore Trailer Park. He noticed that Echols had the numbers 666 written on the side of his shoes. His current girlfriend Domini Teer lived in the trailers. The police took note of the information. Remarks about cult activity by locals proliferated, and repeatedly the tales included the name Damien Echols.
On May 9th, Detectives Griffin and Sudbury drove to Lakeshore trailer park and interviewed Echols about the murders. At the time, he was not a suspect. In a one page filed report, Griffin wrote that Echols stated that he had “been in Charter of Little Rock at Maumelle (Mental Hospital) with a diagnosis of manic depression and schizophrenia. Doctors prescribed Imipramine for the condition. Griffin noted that Damien had a pentagram tattooed into his chest. Damien told the Detective that he was involved with Wicca and belonged to the group Covenant of Divine Light. He said the murders might be a “thrill kill.” Griffin took a Polaroid picture of Echols and filed the following Investigative Report.
May 9th answer sheet from interview with Damien Echols
May 9th, 1993
Sheila Stuart
Criminal Investigation Field Report
...She also stated that around Oct. of 1992 that there were several black males that were supposed to be involved in devil worshiping in the Robin Hood area. She stated that her husband found dead “sacrificed” animals in Robin Hood around this time. She stated that during the nights she could smell smoke and hear chanting & strange music coming from the area. She also say two black males come out of the area one night wearing some type of green wrap with a hood.11
The police decided to bring Damien Echols into the police station for questioning. At noon, the interview began. Detective Ridge wrote down general information about Echols: five foot eight, 175 pounds. He had several tattoos. Domini on his right arm, the letters E-V-I-L on the knuckles of his left hand. A large pentagram was tattooed on the center of his chest. All the tattoos were self-administered and the police noted that the pentagram on his chest was particularly faded. Echols wore a necklace with a pentagram pendant.
Damien Echols told the detectives he dropped out of school in the ninth grade, but had passed his General Educational Development (GED) exam. He stated to police that he was at home at the time of the murders. When asked about his cult activities, he confirmed he was part of a group that included local residents Murray Jay Ferris and Bob Loomis. Ridge wrote in his notes:
He stated that his belief was there was a goddess and not a god. He stated that everyone in the group works toward a divine light and upon reaching that stage they become like gods themselves. He has been a member of this group for about five years, he stated.12
Damien confirmed he liked to read books, and one of his favorite writers was Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey, author of The Satanic Bible. According to Ridge, Damien said that:
He figured that the killer knew the kids went into the woods and even asked them to come out to the woods...he stated that the boys were not big, not smart, and they would have been easy to control. He also felt the killer would not have been worried about was screaming due to being in the woods and close to the expressway. He further stated that the killer probably wanted to hear the screaming.13
When asked by police who did the crime, Damien Echols responded with one word---”Satanists.” During questioning, Damien offered information to the investigators that only the killer would know. Surprisingly, he said that the murderers had urinated in the mouths of the three boys. This evidence was unknown to the police at the time of the interview, and would only be confirmed by the medical examiner after the completion of the autopsies.
Damien also said that the penis was a symbol of power in Wicca and that the number three was numerologically significant. He also stated that the person who committed the crime probably felt good about the murders and it felt good that they had the power to do what they had done. Damien also said that the more innocent victim would be, the more power the perpetrator would have received from the sacrifice. He added that the Book of Revelations was his favorite book of the Bible, as the Devil was handling out all the punishment. When asked who he thought committed the crime, Damien suggested LG Hollingsworth, Domini Teer’s cousin. Coincidentally, Hollingsworth was also at the police station to be interviewed about the murders. The full transcript of the police notes is included below:
May 10th, 1993
Damien Echols Interview
Lieutenant Sudbury and Detective Ridge
On Monday, Sudbury asked Echols to come to the police station for additional questioning. Both Lieutenant Sudbury and Bryn Ridge conducted the interview:
On 05/10/93, Damien Wayne Echols who is also known as Michael Wayne Hutchinson came to the West Memphis Police Department for an interview concerning any information that he may have concerning the above noted homicide. Present during the interview were Lt. James Sudbury of the Crittenden County Drug Task
Force, myself Detective Bryn Ridge, and Damien Echols. A subject description was filled out that contained information about Damien’s residence, his vital statistics, and his family. At this point Damien was not considered to be a suspect and only general knowledge questions were being asked. Damien was very calm and even cold as he answered the questions concerning his background and any knowledge he may have had concerning the homicide.
Damien stated that he was a member of a white witch group that he referred to as Wicca. He stated that his belief was there was a goddess and not a god. He stated that everyone in the group works toward a divine light upon reaching that state they become like gods themselves. He has been a member of this group for about 5 years he stated.
Damien stated that he had met one person that he considered to be a priestess. He stated that the person he met was Deanna Holcomb who he stated lived in the Harbor Yard, Hardin Village area of Marion on Cabrale Cove. He stated that she worshipped cats in what she did with her form of witchcraft.
Damien stated that on Tuesday 05/04/93 he was at home from when he got out of bed at about 10:30 to 11:00 a.m until he got up at about 12:00 noon when he left and went to Lakeshore. He stated that he has a lot of friends at Lakeshore since he used to live there with his stepfather Jack Echols.
Damien was wearing a necklace that he claimed that he had just bought at the Mall of Memphis on the Saturday before this interview. The necklace had a pentagram as a pendant that Damien explained meant some type of good symbol for the Wicca magic that he was in.
Abomination: Devil Worship and Deception in the West Memphis Three Murders Page 3