Morbid - Episode 122: The West Memphis Three Part 1

Episode Date: March 2, 2020

This is going to be a doozy of a series, weirdos. Tonight, we start our deep coverage of the West Memphis Three case. Part 1 will cover the tragic murders of 8 year olds Christopher Byers. Michael Moore and Steve Branch in May 1993, as well as the beginning of the investigation that eventually led to a legendary trial and three convictions. Sources: https://innocenceproject.org/west-memphis-three-go-free/ HBO Paradise Lost 1 The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills HBO Paradise Lost 2 Revelations HBO Paradise Lost 3 Purgatory Devil's Knot by Mara Leveritt Life After Death by Damien Echols Dark Spell: Surviving the Sentence by Mara Leveritt Almost Home by Damien Echols Visit our sponsors! AMC Shudder To try Shudder free for 30 days, go to shudder.com and use promo code morbid. Upstart See why Upstart is top-ranked in their category with over 300 businesses on Trustpilot and hurry to Upstart.com/morbid to find out HOW LOW your Upstart rate is. Daily Harvest Go to Dailyharvest.com and enter promo code MORBID to get twenty-five dollars off your first box!  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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That's W-O-N-D-E-R-Y-P-O-D. Audible.com slash wundery pod or text wundery pod to 500-500 to try audible for free for 30 days. You can host the best backyard barbecue. When you find a professional on Angie to make your backyard the best around. Connect with skilled professionals to get all your home projects done well. Inside to outside, repairs to renovations. Get started on the Angie app or visit Angie.com today. You can do this when you Angie that. I just said, hey, hey, weirdo is a dash and I like moved my head really fast and I'm not

cracked and it actually really hurt. I love it. It was fairly good for you. Sure. It's like a self-chirpactic situation. Love that. Love that for you. Should we say our show is really quick? Yeah, before we dive into anything,

we got to tell you about our show's guests. Because now they're so many. Because now we finally have been able to tell you about the new ones that we're real excited for. They're on the live tree. So excited. She calls it a live tree every single time, but it's called a link tree. I meant to say it the right way this time too. I was and I looked at it. You said it was such like gusto. You were like the live tree because you know what it is live tree. Fuck everybody.

So it's a link tree, but here they are. Okay. So anyway, I'm just kidding. April 14th, we're going to be at the punchline comedy Club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Be there or be a rhombus. Ooh, I like that. You're elbow just cracked. It did. Are we 90 so big? That was my shoulder, actually.

Oh, really good. Okay. And then April 15th, the very next day, we're gonna be at the DC improv in Washington, to see, ooh, monuments. Yeah, that's great. April 23rd at the Grammar C Theater again for the death becomes a show. What up Grammar C theater will come a back at you? I hope death doesn't actually become us. Guys, go by

those tickets. Go to brightyoungthings.com and go by tickets there because we're bright young things. You want to come see us live. We've posted the links on tons of our social media for all of these things and also go to our website morebidpodcast.com and you'll find all of them too but keep going. Yeah. May 6th we will be at Stand Up Live in Holtz Vale, Alabama. Alabama! We're coming for you and we won't do these accents because that's real annoying. Yeah.

And probably offensive, I'm sorry. I always do it though. I apologize. I bet Nashville people have accents too though and we're going to be cool ones. Yeah, everybody has a cool accent. Yeah, I don't know if I can do that. We're. I bet Nashville people have accents too though. And we're gonna be cool ones. Yeah, everybody has a cool accent. Yeah, I don't know if I can do that. We're just not gonna do it. Good at doing them.

May 7th early and May 7th late, so we'll be at Zane's in Nashville. What up Nashville, we are coming for you. And I said it once, I'll say it again, Jackie Shimmel had a show at Zane's, so I feel like royalty that we're going there. Hell yeah. Oh, cool.

And also someone corrected me, it wasn't white buffalo sauce that I wanna get for John. In Nashville, it's white barbecue sauce. Ooh, yeah. I love barbecue sauce, but why is it white? It's like fancy. If you're from Africa, why are you white? Mean Girls Quote.

You gotta don't have that. That's what the Mean Girls Quote. Then June 11th, we're going to be in Chicago, because we had another show since so many of you wanted to see us. And are you so excited? Because we were really excited to tell you guys about that one. Because you kept saying like, oh man, the show is sold out and I kept feeling bad, but then I was like, wait a second, I don't have to feel bad. We had a show. Because we got another one.

A little more exciting. Because we had a few people that were just like, oh I found out too late and I was like, oh I feel bad and then we got it and I was like, oh we have to tell people. Now we tell you. And then we'll be there for the was like, oh, we have to tell people. Now we tell you. And then we'll be there for the June 12th show, as well, both are at Talia Hall. Woo-hoo, the creepiest, spookiest place ever. Yes. And then the very last show.

All of them are gonna be great, but this one especially because it's in our mother fucking hometown. Boston. Our mother fucking dream venue. Yeah. I wanted you to say the Wilbur I didn't the Wilbur July 11th the Wilbur Boston guys a lot of you have mentioned that you remember when we like put into the universe

Like a million episodes ago that we would love to do a live show at the Wilbur. Yes I've show at the Wilbur. Yes. And it's happening. Happening ASMR. I didn't know what you said. That was like ASMR. Oh. You're like, yeah, ASMR.

No, I'm really excited. I'm really, really, really excited for the Wilbur. And you better all be there. Me and Annie went to a show at the Royale, which is like right down the street from the Wilbur the other night. And we're just like walking past the rock bottom, which is like one of your favorite places and one of my favorite places.

Love rock bottom. And I'll send any grabs by fucking arm like a crazy person and she's like, ah, shit I'm like, what dude? And she points up at the Wilbur, like what's that called? Oh the marquee. Yes. And she it was it's Ed morbid. Oh, I literally-

I literally- I- I died. I lost my voice. I'm sorry, yes. That's okay. I died. You sent me the pig, I asked asked me the pictures of this and I am still not fully over it. No, I'll never be over it. I'm not, I'm not even under it. I think I'm just like within it. I'm like a Jason to it. I'm, I'm within it. I'm fully in it. Right now. It's

enveloped to me. I still can't believe, I can't believe we're playing, playing anything, playing. I say playing. Yeah, like I was fucking whatever we just about my guitar. I'm still like astounded that we're doing any of these shows and that you guys are coming to them and wanting to see us. You like us. So the in the Wilbur, just my mind can't wrap around that because especially like John and I throughout our entire relationship from like dating to now have like lived at the

Wilbur. Because we are comedy show gurus. Like we love comedy shows. It's just a huge part of our relationship. So we have been to like a zillion shows there and to think that I'm going to be on the stage now. I can't even say. It's insane.

Yeah. When Lisa Gary Gullman there, you and me, we were in the like literally the last row since because I'm a broke bitch. And we were just watching and I was like, oh my god, I was like, Gary Gull is there and like, Ashkel and Alaina are going to be there. What the thought? It's beyond. It's insane.

So we just want to thank you guys so much for buying these tickets and for allowing us to do this because it's so fun. And guys, a lot of, well, not a lot. Most of these shows are sold out. I'm not glad to hear that. A lot of them are sold out, but the world is not. The world is not. And I don't think Chicago, the first show is so.

Yeah, the new show is not sold out yet for Chicago and the world. So, and also the Grammar Seat Theatre, death becomes death festival. So go get your tickets for those. Go to morbidpodcast.com. They're all right there. Or you can look in our Instagram bio and the link trees right there with all the shows. Go do it, because we wanna keep doing this,

and it's gonna be awesome. So, do you think that we probably talked enough? I think we did. Don't wanna get anybody on our case. We don't wanna get anyone on our case file. Speaking of case file. It's good podcast. I love case file.

I love it. Go listen to case file if you don't like our banter. Because he gets right to it. If you like a serious show, head over there. And if you love a lovely accent. We love an accent. Go listen to that show and it's authentic. It's not like my accent. You have many accents though. No, no, you're pretty good at that. So let's talk about what we are going to cover tonight. Okay. This is going to be part one of... Definitely a three-parter, at the least. Maybe a four-parter?

Maybe a four-parter. Very large dive into this case. We are going to be covering the West Memphis 3. I'm stoked for this because I remember in high school when you were like, sit the fuck down, we're watching this documentary, it's gonna change your life. And I was like, okay. Let me tell you something. I was like, I'm 16, calm down.

And I was like, you need to watch this. And then the opening scene, I was like, well, I'm hooked. Yeah, the opening scene will ruin your life, but it's, yeah. It's, this whole documentary was so, like the documentary, this whole case is mind-blowing from start to finish. It's still mind-blowing. It's not even over, really. So this one, I mean this has been covered by a few other podcasts. There's been books about it. There's been documentaries.

There's been actual movies about it with like Reese Witherspoon playing Pamela Hobbs. So I'm not going to lie to you that movie sucks. No, it's terrible. Okay, cool. Glad by you know, like hashtag sorry, but It was not good But you know we all we all we all try we're just out here trying on this big floating world. Paradise lost that documentary. Yeah, those documentaries are great great and what was different about this case is it was one of the first ones like special especially during the Great. And what was different about this case is it was one of the first ones, especially during the satanic panic era that cameras were allowed

in the courtroom. So we got to see a lot of that, which changed it. I think that's part of the reason that's got so much hype. Because although this is a crazy case when you listen to it, this shit happens all the time. Other people that are lower income, like poor people that are outcasted cannot, you know,

they are the ones who get thrown to the wolves more often times than not and put in the position to be arrested and put on death row like these boys were. It's so fucked up. So it's really sad and it's really fucked up and it exposes a lot of shit about America especially.

And speaking of that, I want to protect ourselves from the vast amount of DMs and messages and emails that will probably be yelling at me because that happens a lot during these things truly. So first of all, most people, when you guys have something to tell me that I was wrong about or something that you have a differing opinion about, nine times out of 10, I love it. Because usually people are respectful. And it teaches you something.

Yeah, and they want to teach me something which I love. They're respectful about it. They start a dialogue with me. We can have a conversation. Or with other listeners. I love seeing that. Yeah. And I encourage that huge and respectful dialogue. Yeah, and especially in this case,

because people are going to have totally differing opinions. This is a really just like, it's got both sides and it's people are really passionate on both sides. Totally respect that. Just be respectful with your opinions. So I'm gonna start off by saying, if political and religious affiliations are brought up in regards to this case,

because it does have a place in this case, it's because it's pertinent to the narrative and it's factual. It's not me surmising anything based off of, you know, what I think of people or anything like that I am only saying these things as facts like that this takes place in the Bible belts and that this was a very conservative Religious community that is not again not me coming up with it. It's just a fact. Yeah, and we're not gonna state our opinion either I know and

either right. No. And just like Ted Bundy was a Republican, John Wayne Gacy was a Democrat. shitty people lie on both sides of the aisle. Exactly. I'm not making it up. I will only bring it up if it is again pertinent to the narrative of what we're talking about. Like Ted Bundy, it was pertinent to the story when we cover John Wayne Gacy, which we will. It's going to be pertinent to that story to talk about him being a Democrat. So I don't want anybody to be like, ah, you're attacking my religion or my political affiliation. Because we're not. And I just shut up. Look, I'm not. So like, I'm gonna find you. Because we're not. I'm like, shut up.

Because I'm not. We've gotten to that point where it's we're over. It's just facts. If the facts upset you, I don't shut up! Because I'm not working too hard. We've gotten to that point where it's just facts. If the facts upset you, I don't know what to tell you. I can't change them to bend to your will. So, I just wanted to put that out there so that we could kind of avoid any conflict that may or may not arise because of this. So, we're gonna jump right in. So this case takes place in 1993. I wasn't even in love. Wow.

Wow. Everybody tricked that in for a second. I mean, three years. That only stresses me out. It's every time I hear it. I'm like, you're not like that. I'm like, you're not like that. I'm like, you're not like that.

I'm like, you're not like that. I'm like, you're not like that. I'm like, you're not like that. I'm like, you're not like that. I'm like, ah, so, so Ash wasn't alive yet. Everybody just deal with that. You're welcome. And so this was, this was in West Memphis, Arkansas in the United States. If you were not from the United States, this is like I said, a very, at least at the time, it was a very conservative, very religious place. It was very small townish, you know, I mean like outcasts at the time. It was a very conservative, very religious place. It was very small townish, you know, I mean like outcasts at that time were not really taken too fondly, as we will see. This was also because this was really due to the Satanic panic hysteria that was going on in the

United States. This happened between the 1980s and the early 1990s, so this was like prime time. This happened between the 1980s and the early 1990s, so this was like prime time. Right. Now, just a little bit of like, just to show you a little bit of how the Satanic Panic thing was happening. In 1988, Geraldo Rivera, who I fucking hate, just putting it out there, I fucking hate

Geraldo Rivera. He made a documentary called Devil Worship, exposing Satan's Underground. Oh good. Yeah, and it was just him being like, ah, let's get everybodyorship, exposing Satan's underground. Oh good. Yeah. And it was just him being like, ah, let's get everybody scared, and that's fun. So, he basically, and it also became the highest rated televised documentary to air up until that point. Oh, wow. So, that's telling you like how big this whole thing was.

Right. How scared people were. Yeah. Like, in 1991, 2020 did an episode that televised an official Roman Catholic exorcism. Are you serious? Yep. And that's terrifying. Oh, yep. Anybody? I mean, I think we can all agree on real exorcism.

I don't want to watch an exorcism live. What is that? What? 2020, no thanks. So that's really going to aid them in their, you know, satanic panic situation. Because if you're watching real exorcism, you're going to be like, what the fuck is going on? What is America? And there were also like, there was a documentary, it was an even gelical documentary called Hell's Bells, and it kind of tried to connect rock music

and metal to the devil. Yeah, that's a far-fetched thing. And that's a huge thread that will like run throughout this. We're really gonna touch upon that in part two. When we get to the suspects. Got it. Right now in part one, we're really just gonna set the scene. I'm gonna tell you about the crimes because fair warning, they're horrific. I'm gonna warn you again when I'm gonna talk about the injuries and stuff because it's really terrible. Yeah, they're fucked up. But part two, we're really gonna discuss Damian Eccles, Jason Baldwin and Jesse Miskelli, how they became wrapped up in this and, you know, their backgrounds, all that good stuff. So, August, I'm gonna bring you forward a little bit first.

Okay. August 19th, 2011. Oh, okay. Forward a lot of it. Forward a lot of it. Damien Eccles, Jason Baldwin and Jesse Miskelly walked out of a courthouse in Jonesboro, Arkansas as free men. Hell yeah. All of them had spent 18 years behind bars after being convicted of the absolutely heinous murders of Stevie Branch,

Christopher Buyers, and Michael Moore, who were all eight years old back in May 1993. Now, Damien Eccles was 36 years old when he was released. He was 18 when he was arrested. My God. He had spent his time on death row because he was sentenced to death. Jason Baldwin was 34, my age, when he was released. He was 16 when he was arrested. Jesus. And he had been sentenced to life. Jesse Miskelli was 36 when he was released and he was 17 when he was arrested. Sentenced to life as well. Like I said, we're going to be going much further into all three of these men's lives, the background, connections to the case in part two. So we're going to start with the crime. Go away back now Wednesday May 5th 1993 West Memphis Arkansas. Eight

year olds Christopher, Stevie and Michael, they head off on their bikes to play. Michael's mother Dana saw them head off around 6 p.m. was the last time she saw them. Yep. Now they all lived in the same neighborhood. Two of them were next door neighbors. I think Christopher and Michael were next door neighbors and Stevie lived like not far away. It was one of those neighborhoods where you send them off to play. They come back, you know, and it was in 1993. Right. You're not too worried about anything. You send your kid out to play in the neighborhood. They come back by dinner. That's really what it was. Right. So North of their homes was a place called Robin Hood Hills, which was a very,

it was kind of like deceptively thick wooded area, around three or four acres large. This wasn't a good place to play from a parent's perspective, but a great place from a kid's perspective. Right. Because it was like this creepy forest, it had like ditches and creeks and like wooded areas and forts you can make and stuff. It was like bridge to terabetheia. It was exactly that. Yeah. So mainly, you know, parents didn't love this because it was in very close proximity

to a very busy truck stop and one of the busiest freeways in the country. So yeah, please don't play their kids. It was basically on the other side of the woods was this freeway in truck stop. So these three had been best friends. They were cub scouts together. Stop.

Not eagle of cubs yet. I love them. And this would be the last time that they would be seen alive. Now, John Mark Buyers was Christopher Buyers' stepfather. Okay. He had called police on this day to report his eight-year-old stepson, Christopher, was missing. Now, Dana Moore, their neighbor, was the last to see the kids at 6 p.m. like I said. Right. She said John Mark Buyer said that Christopher was playing with Dana's son when he last

on their son Michael, and now neither of them have been seen since 6 p.m. Now, officer Meek is the one who responded to the call. She was told that Christopher Mark Byers was born June 23rd, 1984. He was about four foot four, about 50 pounds, dark hair and brown eyes. He was wearing blue jeans and a long sleeve white shirt when he was last seen. He was also on some medication. He was on Ritalin for hyperactivity. And he had not been given his medication that day, which John Mark Buyers was concerned about, obviously. Right. Officer Meek takes John Mark Buyers' statement and as she does this, she receives a call from a nearby Bow Jangles restaurant. This is like a chicken fast food place. Love it. We don't have them around here, so I'm not positive.

Anyone from the South, I think, is where they are? Let us know. Is it good? I don't know. We would go. We would go. Chicken, am I right? She, so Officer Meek arrives at the Bojangles restaurant.

So she leaves John Mark Buyer. She's like, all right, we'll get on this. She arrives at the Bojangles restaurant, and she talks to a person who called, basically, it was the manager. His name was Marty King. She talks to him through the takeout window. Weird. She doesn't go into the restaurant. Is she standing? I guess. So the report that he gave was that shortly before she arrived, he had witnessed a black man enter the restaurant. That was not like, you know, that's not weird, but he was covered in blood.

That's weird. So that's weird. He was very disoriented, like, very like all over the place, so they immediately were like, what the hell is going on? He went into the ladies room and was, again, very disoriented, falling into the walls and stuff. They called the police and he had left on foot before they got there. Okay. Now, blood was all over the bathroom wall. Oh. All over the bathroom, Stolec smeared.

Like he clearly had it. They were like, I don't know if he was bleeding per se, but he had blood on him. Yeah, it looked like he was bleeding in some way, but like, I don't know if it was all his. So, Officer Meak never went into the restaurant. Okay. She didn't go in. Seems like that would be standard procedure. It's just like what?

What? I'm not a cop, but well, she got another call while she was taking this report. And it was from someone like some like disorderly contact conduct call. Like, you know, like, he said something else. And she left to go do that, which is why she didn't go into the restaurant. But it's like, I don't know that seems, I think I would take priority to this. Well, and it's like, why are they throwing all these different things at you? Like, can you just like finish one thing?

Like, yeah, it's like, maybe just be like, hey, can someone else take that to sort of like conduct some weird shit's going on at a blood jangle? Right. And I just had a missing kid. I'm currently at a bloody blow jangle. Yeah, blow jangle minutes. I did it. I'm currently at a bloody blow jingles. Yeah, blow jingles. Wait a minute. How did I do the music?

That bloody blow jingles. So she leaves to go 10 to that, the disorderly contact. During this, she gets another call. This call is from Dana Moore, Michael Moore's mother. Okay. It's now 9.24 p.m. Dana says Michael is missing, still missing. And he was riding bikes with Chris Byers.

And now she says they were also with Stevie Branch. Right. Michael Moore was born James Michael Moore on July 27th, 1984. He was about four feet tall, 60 pounds, brown hair, blue eyes. These kids were so freaking cute. Yeah, they were fucking adorable. Like Michael Moore, I just wanna smush him. Like, he was wearing blue jeans, a Boy Scout shirt,

and an orange Boy Scouts hat. Oh, like adorable. They were riding around the neighborhood and she says it had been a while since she spotted him. Like, she was trying to keep an eye on them, but they kinda went out of her sight for a little while, so she got a little like, okay, I need to know where they are. So she sent her older daughter Don after them to go see where they were going. Don couldn't find them. So she was like, I don't like this.

It doesn't sit well. So now another officer is called, and they go respond to another call, another call that's coming from Catfish Island restaurant where Pamela Hobbs is working. Pamela Hobbs is Stevie Branch's mother. Okay. Now Pam called police because Terry Hobbs, her husband and stepfather to Stevie Branch, came to pick her up from work with their oldest daughter Amanda and it was around 9.20 pm. work with their oldest daughter Amanda and it was around 9.20 pm. He had showed up. Yeah. He walked into the restaurant. He like went right by here and went straight to a pay phone and called someone. Which is weird. Never told her like didn't like immediately tell her who or how to give her any kind of context. So, so Pam's like, what the fuck? So she leaves the restaurant and goes to the car because she's like, I don't know what he's doing. He'll tell me.

And she notices that only Amanda's in the car. And not Stevie the car because she's like, I don't know what he's doing. He'll tell me. And she notices that only Amanda's in the car, and not Stevie. So immediately she's like, where Stevie? He's eight. Like, yeah, exactly. Leave him alone. Terry comes out and is like, I just called the police from that pay phone

because Stevie's missing. And she's like, what? And he's like, me and Amanda have been together this entire time trying to find him weird that you're already setting out If you were with someone else, that never sits well. I'm not accusing anyone of anything I'm just putting it out that is a little strange. I'm anybody to be like I buy the way this whole time Which ends up being not the case just putting that out there right? So time, which ends up being not the case, just putting that out there. Right.

So, he's like, you know, Stevie hasn't come home. Stevie went out with Chris and Michael. We can't find any of them. We've been looking. So that's when an officer Moore arrives, not related. Got it. And talks to Pam. So she says Stevie left to go outside and play after school.

She hadn't seen him since because she was at work Right, so she mentions that Dana had seen him around 6 p.m. Like that was the story And that's the last she knew so Stevie was born Steve Edward branch on November 26th 1984 She told police he was about four foot two 60 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes He was wearing blue jeans in a white short sleeve shirt. Which sounds like a little like... Like such a cute little... Like James Dean.

Yeah. Like blonde hair, blue eyes, with a little... Yeah. Like a little cutie-potute-ie. I just want to like gather them all up and be like, you're okay. Oh, I hate that. So reports were that they were headed in the direction

of Robin Hood Hills from people who had last seen them. Right. People were like, yeah, I think they were going that way. Now, remember, that's not a kid-friendly place from a parent's point of view. It had a large drainage ditch that was deep and could be dangerous. Everyone is searching the neighborhoods at this point, like family and friends. They're asking if people saw them, getting witness statements. They start searching the woods, but it's pitch blackout at this point Yeah, it's probably like what ten or something. Yeah, and after midnight, they still were no sign of them. Oh god Now I cannot fathom now this I really can't I can't fathom this Fathom I was like whoa. I cannot fathom it. I can't even say the word fathom right so

But yeah, that would be awful. The next morning, they picked the search back up, the family and friends of these boys joined law enforcement on a massive search that involved multiple police departments. Like even the State Department came out, like, it was huge. Yeah, I mean, there's three eight-year-old boys missing.

This is huge. Yeah, and it just gone like, and this is like the early 90s. I'm sure this didn't really happen a lot, or how did it happen a lot in that area. This is a small air, you know, it's a very like, everybody knows everybody probably.

But when they had ground crews and helicopters searching for them, Robin Hood Hills was massively searched. Now May 6, 1993, so the day after they went missing. Okay. In the early afternoon, the day after they went missing. Okay. In the early afternoon, the three boys' bodies were discovered. Oh, yeah. So the worst case scenario.

Yeah. This gets rough, doesn't it? This gets really rough. I don't recommend... I don't recommend looking up any crime scene photos or anything. Yeah. I mean, if you want to, that's totally... They are in the documentary. they are in the in the

documentary the documentary show the very last photos of this in video it's upsetting but it's also you know necessary to tell this story unfortunately right but it's really upsetting some people can handle it some people can't so there's something called a diversion ditch in the Robinhood Hills So there's something called a diversion ditch in the Robin Hood Hills and it's filled with water. And I think what it basically does is like separates where the part of the woods go to the freeway and where it enters. Right. Now over that water there's a big pipe that acts like a bridge over it. Okay. And this bridge goes from like the entrance of the woods into the inside of the woods. At 130 p.m. as the searchers were leaving that area, officer Steve Jones, a juvenile officer who comes back into the story later, he spots a black sneaker, clearly a child sneaker, with no laces in the creek.

So they had already searched this area thoroughly. So they're already like, what the fuck is that doing there? We just stood there before. So it seemingly floated to the surface. So now they're like, oh no. So there's no dive crew on scene or anything. And they were like, someone has to go in there. And they have to investigate this. And it was like murky, just muddy water, like really gross.

So detective Brian Ridge, who like high five, Brian Ridge, because for him to offer to do this is like, he's a real cop shit here. Like he's a true blue cop here. So he offers to go into the water. Right. He's feeling around on his hands and knees in the water. In the water.

In the water. Oh my God. And it's like Mud like just dirty Marcos and he's literally just crawling on his hands and he's waiting to hit something Well, that's fucked up and I hate I'm not a big water person like I'm not a great swimmer I don't like water and at things under water like things submerged and water freak me out. I got that so Waiting to hit something underwater would, I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it.

So suddenly he jumps into, he pumps, wow. He bumps into something. Okay. He pulls this something out of the water and what he pulls up is the body of Michael Moore. Oh my goodness. So he bumped into the body of Michael Moore. Oh my goodness. So he bumped into the body of Michael Moore. Oh, that's so awful.

Which is horrific. This is where it gets really rough. Just warning you, kids, real rough. Michael Moore is naked, completely. His left hand was tied to his left foot, and his right hand was tied to his right foot behind his back. So like hog tied almost. Hog tied, that's what they called it.

So basically if you laid on the ground and you put both your feet up behind you and then you like put your arms behind you and tied them together, that's how they're. Oh gosh. A very, very weird way to tie someone. Right. So they were tied with their own shoelaces

out of their own shoes. He had several bruises, welts, lacerations, all to his head and his face. Now Brian Ridge is like, oh shit, they put, they put Michael Moore's body on the bank. And that was like, I have two more boys to buy. And he's like, we just found one. I have to keep looking. What makes a person a murderer? Are they born to kill or are they made to kill? I'm Candice D'Long and on my podcast Killer Psychie Daily, which you can find exclusively on Amazon music. I share a quick 10-minute rundown every weekday on the motivations and behaviors of the criminal masterminds you read about in the news.

I have decades of experience as a psychiatric nurse, FBI agent and a criminal profiler. On Killer Psychie Daily, I'll give you my expert perspective on cases like the mysterious New York City drugings, Breaking Down Lori Valow, a.k.a. Mommy Doom stays motives and what drove Caitlin Armstrong to murder? I'll also bring on expert guests who add even more insight into these criminal minds. I promise you won't regret adding these 10 minutes to your morning routine.

Hey, prime members, listen to the Amazon Music exclusive podcast Killer Psychie Daily in the Amazon Music app. Download the app today. What if you were trafficked into a cult over shot nine times, or fell in love with a vampire, or went into a minor surgery and woke up one week later, paralyzed?

What would you do? I'm Whit Missildine, the creator of this is actually happening, a podcast from Wondry that brings you extraordinary true stories of life-changing events, told by the people who lived them. From a young man that dooms his entire future with one choice, to a woman who survived a notorious serial killer, you'll hear their first person account of how they overcame remarkable circumstances. Each episode is an exploration of the human spirit and personal discovery.

These haunting accounts sound like Hollywood movies, but I assure you this is actually happening. Follow this is actually happening wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to ad-free on the Amazon Music or W-y app. So we keep searching. He eventually finds Stevie Branch's body. He's found naked as well and tied in the same way. It seemed that he had the same kind of beating marks to his head and face and neck, bruising, welts,ts, lacerations. The thing that sticks out about this boy's injuries was the possible bite marks on his face. It appeared that he had bite marks around his face and I looked at the autopsy photos which are horrific just to warn you if

you're looking at them. That side of his face has been like chewed up by a person. Well, that's that's what they think. So it's been it's been really, really demolished. So he looks like someone savagely bit his face. Oh my god. In several times. Brian Ridge is like, now we have to go back in. So he goes back in and he finds Christopher Byers body, same ligatures, naked, beaten in the same manner. Christopher, however, and this is really rough, had been castrated. Awful. So this is going to be graphic just letting you know, but it's important to tell you what happened to these poor boys. His scrotum was cut off and the head of the penis was gone, and there were also several stab marks all around the area, as if it had been like carved. These two things were never found. These things

said that have been cut off of him, they never found them. Okay, which is strange. That is. these things that have been cut off of him, they never found them. Okay, which is strange. That is. And it's also strange to have one. It's almost like it was like a variation of injuries. It was like Christopher got this horrific genital medilation. Stevie got this horrific facial medilation and then Michael just kind of got it's almost like a a gradient.

It's like an, well, it's almost like an elevation of rage. Like maybe he was killed first and then he got, whoever murdered him was getting more pissed off and then the end rage or, or it could have even gone the other way. Well, that's what it yeah, I don't know. It's very strange. And it makes it, these are why,

this is why when they came down to trying to understand, did they know the person that did this to me? They not know it. They're a group of people. I guess that's if you think about it, why it wasn't penned on just one person. Exactly. Because there are a lot of things in this case,

that point to multiple people. Yeah. But then there's a lot of things in this case that you can also point to being like, okay, but one person could. One really fucked up person. Yeah, because people will be like, how could you control three bullets?

They're eight and terrified. If you terrified them, you know, it's not easy, I wouldn't think. And I feel like you would almost be, I don't know if this makes sense, but almost be more scared of somebody that you know. Yeah, because you're supposed to somebody that you don't know.

Yeah, like you'd weirdly trust them in a way, and then if that's betrayed right in front of you, it almost paralyzes you. And I think it would be almost, I think it would be harder to get away from somebody was to somebody that you don't know. Yeah, like you'd weirdly trust them in a way and then if that's betrayed right in front of you, it almost paralyzes you. And I think it would be almost, I think it would be harder to get away from somebody that you do know as opposed to somebody that you don't know.

Yeah, I could see that. You know what I mean? Yeah, I could definitely see that. So they keep searching because now they're like, okay, we have three bodies, they've laid them out on the banks. That's actually an image in the Paradise Lost Document. Yeah, it's awful. Yeah, it's an image in the Paradise Lost Document. Yes, awful.

They keep searching because now they're like, we, they don't have their clothing. Where are their clothing and where are their bikes? And they need, I mean, there's so much evidence that could be on that. Now we got to make sure we get everything. So they keep searching and they finally find their clothing. So what had happened was someone took sticks and pinned the clothing to the bottom of the muddy creek. Okay. And they had pinned the kids as the bottom of the muddy creek. Okay. And they had pinned the kids as well with their ligatures. So that's why they weren't floating to the surface.

They were like pinned down by these big sticks that someone stuck in. So it was like they stuck it in between where they had been tied. Yeah. Exactly. And they pinned down the clothing to the bottom. Same thing. Okay. So they also found two bikes.

And now most people are like, where's the third bike? There were kids. There were reports that there were either three bikes or that one of them was like riding on the back of the other bike. Right. That kind of thing is like kids do that. Yeah. I mean, I used to do that all the time in my back.

Exactly. So, now they removed them from the water and placed them on the water bank. That's problematic. Because the corner really should be the one to take them out of the water. Right. And it's, if it's not possible, you should call them right away because they need to gather evidence around and on the body before you transport them. The corner was not called for another two hours. Do you know why that is? No.

I think it's... I know that part of it was... They were searching for the clothing, so... But the problem there is you've put... Now put these bodies that were in water for... We don't know how long... On the banks... In May... In Arkansas...

Hot Sun... And now we're... We're even speeding further up Decomp, which is already speeding up from the water. Right. So it's like, now we've further kind of skewed time of death and injuries as well. Right. So it's like, while they were looking for the clothing and the bikes, they're just sitting on the bank. For two hours. It's just a long time. And so the coroner was finally called at 3.20 p.m. to come to Bluebeak and Truckstop to pick the bodies up because they wouldn't even be able to get the vehicle

in the woods to get them. Oh, so then they moved them from the bank to this. Exactly. So then they wrapped them in sheets, put them in body bags, and carried them to the vehicle. And sheeping them in sheets is probably not a great thing to do. Kind of necessary. You don't need me like I don't want to shit too much on this whole thing because they

kind of had their like this is a poor choice of words their hands tied in this scenario right because it's like they're in this it that forced is like deceptively thick and it's just a very weird place to get to and it it's like, I understand why they were kinda like, so like, I'm not saying they like botched to this or I go, but like protocol wasn't perfect here. Everything could have gone a little smoother in this video, but they were doing their best to give in this sort of instance.

Like, normally I'm real quick to be like, they fucked this up, but like, did they fucking up a little, sure, but like, did is it. Did they fucking up a little shirt? But like, did they have too many choices here? Not really. Well, and this is like a very like niche case. It is. It's hard to just like shit on it.

But you know, they did what they could. They got them to the coroner vehicle. At this point, people had like gathered outside of the woods, like outside of the perimeter. Yeah. Because they had the crime scene tape up and everything like that. They actually have video of Pamela Hobbs. Oh God. And Terry Hobbs being told and it is heart wrenching. I was just gonna say Pamela Hobbs has the reaction that you're like, yep, that's what I would do. That's exactly what I would do.

reaction that you're like, yep, that's what I would do. That's exactly what I would do. Like she literally just falls to the ground. Oh. And she's just screaming. Of course she is. And it's like, she's like paralyzed, falls to the ground. Well, that's just like so sad. It really is.

It's terrible to watch. So detective, our inspector Gary Gitchell is put on the case as the lead investigator. Okay. I have feelings about Gary Gitchell, but... Whenever you have feelings about somebody, they're typically not good ones. I have some feelings. Are we going to get to it later? We are definitely going to dive real deep into them later, probably in part two. I think that he was just very arrogant, very set in his

thinking of wanting to close this case as soon as possible, regardless of facts and evidence. I think that's always an issue. It's like, sure, we want to close the case like we want to figure out who did this, but we don't want to close it for it to just be close. You don't want to close it with the wrong people. Right. Right. Mine bars. Like that's that's not really closing it. That's just closing it on paper and trying to make people feel better, which I understand that this case was really like case was really like a hot topic because it was like three eight-year-old boys. Right. Because parents that are sitting there being like fix this, find who killed my children. And then there's also other parents that are sitting there being like, are our children

next? We need to know if this person is caught or not. I get that. But again, you have, you can't just line the evidence to fit your way of thinking you have to go with the evidence and actually do the job. Exactly. Well, and because of the significance of this case, it was pretty much the biggest thing that was hitting the area in a long time. Yeah, of course. The West Memphis did not have these kind of homicides.

The Arkansas State Police actually offered to help the West Memphis PD. They were like, can we offer our assistance? Because the West Memphis PD had never, they didn't even have training to handle these kind of homicides. Right. So they were just flying off the seat of their pants trying to do what they could do. Now Gary Gitchell declined their help, which is, I'm sorry, that's just stupid. It's just him with like the hero complex of wanting to be the one to solve the case. Which like good for him if he really wants to solve the case. Yeah.

But like, solve the fucking case. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, this was huge. One thing that was good was he was doing the thing that a lot of police officers, due to departments do in these scenarios, which is try to keep as many details to the chest or the chest. They possibly can because again, when you start, you know, trying to find who did this, you don't want someone that's reddit and is giving you that detail because they read

it in a paper. You want them to slip and say a detail and be like, oh, that's nowhere. I don't know why you would know that, you know? Right. So they wanted to keep it all hidden. But unfortunately, the same evening that the boys were found, some reporters from the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper were sitting around doing what reporters did especially back then in listening to police scanners. Oh, shit.

Because that's how you find your big scoops. Right. They start listening. They hear this crime scene going on. They hear all the details. Oh, shit. What did they do? Boom in the paper the next day.

So do they typically say, like, everything via police scanner or has that changed now? Because of... Well, you can hide channels, like in the polyclass case they hit they hid some of the they accidentally hid some of the information the below from all the area police as you can put it on a certain channel this just wasn't you know the scanners work the way they work right so like they're gonna hear and I don't think they were really thinking that far ahead, to be honest. But it was printed front page,

and let me show you. Next day. So now, and also it was printed, like a lot of inaccuracies were put in that one. Like they added, they made it that the boys were sexually assaulted. And that was not proven to be true. And that was just them surmising it from what they saw at the scene.

That was no medical examiner saying that or anything. So it was printed as fact when it wasn't. Okay. So now the whole idea of trying to keep it close to the chest is shot. It's shot. They really don't have anything to work with at this point. Because the crime scene itself had like very little evidence. Right.

There was no blood visible at the crime scene, which is shocking when you look at the injuries to the boys. Everybody was like, where the hell did that blood go? So now they're thinking where they killed on the bank and put in the water, where they killed in the water, or where they killed somewhere else and brought here. Well, it didn't seem to begin with like they were killed

somewhere else and then brought there because they had just searched that whole area and then the shoe came back up. Not necessarily. When they were searching the area, the boys were underwater. Oh, they just didn't see them because the water's very marquee and muddy and even though like the shoe was in the water too.

Yeah, okay. The shoe just floated up. I see what you're saying. So in the way the crime scene was, it made it very difficult to gather a lot of evidence. So now, their only option is we got to look at the boys, we have to look at the injuries, the ligatures, what can we gather from this. So they do see that this way of hog tying them was weird.

Like as we said, it wasn't like a normal, you don't find people hog tied like that very often. No, especially they were like a children. Yeah, so they were like, this is peculiar. So they started, one of the officers on scene was like, well, in Vietnam, in the war, this is how they would, they would do this to prisoners, like prisoners of war. To go weird torture thing.

And so they were like, maybe this is someone that's been in the Vietnam war and saw this kind of thing. Okay. Because it is again peculiar. Sure. So they started thinking, you know, is this a Vietnam vet? Like, what's, should we be looking for a Vietnam vet? Like at this point, they're literally grasping straws.

Yeah. Which is why they come so quickly to the, oh, it must be those goss kids. Mm-hmm, scenario. Because they got nothing. They really do. So, they start thinking about that. And then they see they're looking further into the ligatures. Now that they've kind of, they're said, okay, the hog tying is weird.

Maybe a Vietnam vet. Someone who has seen this kind of thing before because you don't just come up with that. Right. So then they start seeing the kind of knots that were used because it wasn't, it's so funny whenever I hear like, kinds of knots used, I'm like, I just tie knots. Like, why knots would not be anything? It's just a knot. It's so weird to me when people use specific knots too because I'm like, why would you use

a specific knot? It's a more specific detail that they could tie to you. Right. It's just weird to me. So Michael, do you think it's like force of habit? I think it is. Yeah, I think it might just be like, that's how they tie. Right. Because they were taught to tie that knot.

Well, Michael and Christopher were tied with the same exact knots. Okay. All of their ligatures were tied with one knot. And do you know what it was? I don't know what the knot was. Honestly, even if I knew the knot, like the name of the knot, I wouldn't even know what it was. I didn't see a couple of things where they listed different knots that people said it was, but they weren't reliable and they were different. Yeah. I want to report that. Right. So Stevie was tied with two different kinds of knots.

And those two knots were different from Christopher and Michael's knots. So we're dealing with three different kinds of knots. Christopher and Michael have the same ones. Stevie has two different ones. Okay, that's interesting. Weird. So that to me says two people.

That's several people. Yeah, at least two people. Right. It would be very odd for him to hear him or her to suddenly switch up knots with another kid and also put two different knots and the other ones. Like that would be weird. Unless you're just trying to fucking showcase your, but I feel like that's a knot. Yeah. And I feel like that's something that maybe wouldn't come to your mind during this. Right. But so that's weird. They also found DNA in one of the ligatures and they believed this could

have come from the killer. So they found skin basically like pieces of, I think like cuticle as well. At the time, they couldn't do a whole lot with it, but that's always frustrating when it's like, and it was the 90s. So you couldn't do anything with it. I'm like, can you damn it. What they did have was lumenol. Okay. We know luminal. I mean, everybody's watched CSI, right? It lights up when it comes in contact with bodily problems. Or hello forensic files.

Exactly. That's good. So they use luminal to basically tell, we don't see any blood, but let's see if there's blood around here. So from the report, they said there was a trail along a stream bed with positive reactions to the lumenall on either side of a tree. And the tree had more reaction noted to the right side of the

tree, which was facing the stream. Okay. There was also an area with used plastic sheeding west of the trail. There were positive reactions to the Lumenall there, which I wondered I was like, could they have used like sheeding or something to catch all the stuff? Like, it's a possibility. I don't know. And then they said to the right of some more trees at the West Bank of the stream, there was another positive reaction with the Lumenall. And, but it was explained by the police later that that's where the two victims were placed when they were taken out of the streambed. So it reacted positively, which it's good that

they were able to explain that because it means the Lumenol did its job. In the same streambed, there was a positive reaction indicated where another one of the victims was placed out of the water. So again, we're having like a control here that's working for them. On the east side of the, the east bank of the stream bed, there were a pile of sticks and a depression in the soil where the lumen all tested a concentrated area of positive reaction. Okay.

So a very concentrated area of like a lot. There had been a lot of blood there at one point. So there's that. And again, who's to say this is air blood? It is the woods. Right. Animals bleed. I don't, it's like, there was also a positive reaction

near some tree roots. And in the end, they basically said that the traces of presumed blood detected along the trail and at the bluff and on the slope of the bank were where the rescue and recovery teams took them out of the water. So that was all explained away. They said that the areas that were really positive with that like pile of sticks, the large concentration, and also the ones near the tree roots, that to them indicated that it happened prior to the recovery of the victims and were perhaps when they were being attacked.

Okay. So those they do look at as possibly their blood before they were recovered. But there's no way to be like 100% sure. There's no way. Yeah. So now it does say in the report that this luminal testing was done days after they were recovered and at least one rainfall had happened. Okay.

So that is tough. Yeah. I mean, again, the luminal proved itself to work when, you know, when the control tests were basically done where they had placed the body. Sure. I mean, you got to take that with a grain of salt, but at least they did a luminal test. Right. But it also, again, doesn't explain a lot of where the blood went, like where is all

that blood. Right. Because most of it was done to their heads and necks, which believed a lot. Anything from the neck up is going to bleed a ton. Exactly. And then also the other thing that's going to bleed a ton is your genital area. Right. And as we know, Mark, Christopher Byers was castrated.

Right. So that would have been an, and also CV branch is face, I mean, that was a massive wound. Right. All of this would have led a lot. The only other thing I can think of is if it happened in the water, that's what I was literally just about to ask you. Yeah. So I mean, it could have, it could have, it seems like that would be difficult. It would definitely be different. I mean, could have, it could have. Seems like that would be difficult. It would definitely be difficult. I mean, this whole thing was really difficult. But then maybe they ran into the water. I mean, the thing is they also,

there was nothing that indicated that they were stabbed through their clothing. So it looks to me like they were hog tied and or at least stripped and then attacked. Or I should say probably beaten at some point and then forced to strip or stripped. I know. In part two we're gonna get into like way more of this kind of thing like the theories and all this. Yeah. But so the autopsy was done May 7th by Dr. Frank Peretti.

What it stated was that Michael Moore received 63 specific injuries. He had 34 injuries on the right side and 19 on his left. Christopher Buyers had 62, 16 on his right and 36 on his left. Steve Branch had 21, he had seven on his right and 11 on his left. Steve, Steve Branch had 21, he had seven on his right and 11 on his left. Wow. These are all just like small like lacerations and bruising. And Michael Moore had a lot of skull fractures, he had 10. Oh my god. Which indicates a severe beating. Yeah. Almost all of his injuries were in the on his upper body. He had a ton of defensive wounds, which is really sad. Christopher Biers had, of course, a lot of injuries to his lower body altogether, 24. Oh my god. Now, the cause of death for Stevie and Michael was drowning.

And for Christopher, it was blood loss from the stabbing So that's interesting that Stevie and Michael went into the water still alive Mm-hmm, and Christopher didn't let us interest a weird and it It makes the time a little weird because you're like so did So Christopher died essentially from bleeding out, which can happen quickly if you hit the right thing. I mean, I don't see anything about his femoral artery being severed or anything, but that'll happen in like minutes. Yeah, but I mean, they were near that. So it could have happened.

So it could have happened. And there are a lot of different things down there. I mean, I'm no doctor, but it seems like it could happen pretty quickly. Right. I mean, I'm no doctor, but it seems like it could happen pretty quickly. And then Christopher and Michael and Stevie, it's like, so they got a severe beating. It looks like we're clearly like stabbed and lacerated in the face and neck and head. Right. And then just plunged into the water and it's like, was Christopher out of the water at

that point? Or was he in the water? Right. Because he didn't drown. So he had to be dead when he was placed in the water and it's like was Christopher out of the water at that point or was he in the water? Right. He didn't drown so he had to be dead when he was placed in the water. Right. It's just the whole thing. It's like really hard to like wrap your brain around. Yeah, it really is. What's odd about this too was like the families were like barely interrogated with the exception

being John Mark Bios who was definitely interrogated. I went with good reason. Pamela Hobbs and Dana Moore really just spoke briefly with the police on May 10th and it wasn't until recently that Terry Hobbs was interviewed at length at all. Okay. Later police did search the homes and they collected clothing samples for fibers and such, but Terry and Pam's home was not initially searched specifically for fibers. Okay. Which we'll find out later is a problem.

Right. So now to me when I was listening to this, especially with the knots, when the knots came up, I was like, did anyone look at their Cub Scout leaders? Right. Or anybody to do with the Cub Scout? Right. They know knots and shit. Yeah.

And that's a little weird to me that they like, but then I looked and it looks like Michael Moore's father was one of their Cub Scout leaders. And I don't, to me, he doesn't ring us of suspects, but there's got to be other Cub Scout leaders. Right. I don't know. It could be a thing. But I think they did interview a couple of the Cub Scout leaders, but it never just never came with it. So on May 7th, Steve Jones, he was one of the officers on the scene when they found the boys. He was a juvenile officer. He was the one who saw, I believe he was the one who saw the sneaker first. Right, right, right.

So he interviewed Damian Eccles. Now he did this at the encouragement of another juvenile officer named Jerry Driver. Okay. Jerry Driver was literally obsessed with Damian Eccles. Weird. Obsessed where he was like, he is the devil. He's a devil worshipper. We need to lock him up. And he was like that from the jump. I mean, and at one point, Jerry driver, in fact, in part two, I'm going to get, I'm going to show you guys a ton more quotes from Jerry driver because they're bonkers. Yeah. Like he literally says he read Stephen King and he had black fingernails polish. He was a guy. Like he's the killer. He did it because he reads scary books

and paints his nails dark colors. And he just like, and there's, and again, I am gonna use Damien Eccles book as well as a couple of other sources for the next part. And we'll get way further into this because it's crazy. So the new thing, what happened? Yeah, when you see how Jerry Driver

would not leave Damien Eccles alone. Damien Eccles literally at one point moved out of state to Oregon and he still couldn't get away from Jerry Driver. We're just terrifying. Yeah, so this dude was like- And this was all before anything and how would you know that was even successful.

Oh yeah, that was even before. Like this guy was hell bent on getting Damien behind bars. And when they're happy, he was like, here's my chance. And it was like the perfect story. Yeah, perfect story. It was the perfect one. So on May 7th, Officer Steve Jones, who was working, a juvenile officer working with Jerry Driver,

interview Damien Eccles. And I even forgot to mention that Jerry Driver, you stood drive around West Memphis and he would look for cult meetings taking place. He would drive around on like full moons because he was like that's when they do it. So Homie was a witch hunter. Like he legitimately, like legitimately a witch hunter. He was, I thought you were a hugger. He was a witch hunter. He was a witch hunter. He was a witch hunter. He was a witch hunter. He would also, he had like a list of like teenagers around that he thought were involved

in satanic activity and Damien Eccles and Jason Baldwin. On top. And Jesse Miskelli were all in that list. I was just a miskelli on the list. Well, we get to that later. Yeah, we'll get to it. But like it's very, it's, it's, it's it's the difference that holds him into that list.

What happened to this man? I don't know man. I feel like he was a former pilot. Okay. Yeah, it just seems like when you're, when you pilot planes, shouldn't you be like a little more with this? Yeah, I feel like somebody that he loved left him and joined the cult. Yeah.

And he was like really pissed off about it. It's something happened because he was really into him. So they questioned Damian Eccles, they questioned him about the murders three separate times between May 7 and May 10. Okay. They questioned him twice at the mobile home where he lived with his parents and once at the police station. He said and he he never changed it. He was like, I was at home on May 5th, all night. His mom backed him up. He was like, I was not out at Marvin Hood Hills. And he said, I talked on the phone

with two friends in Memphis that night. Okay, like who can be back? Like look at my fucking phone records. Soon it looked like so that they're still, now Jerry Driver's gonna become obsessed with getting him behind bars. And it's so upsetting. It's to the point now where they, you know,

days are passing, they're starting to get into a month, they don't have any leads, nothing is panning out the Vietnam vet thing is not happening for them, they're not finding anybody like that. Right. And it's starting to become an issue. And the community is starting to be like, what the hell are you doing to get this person or these people who did this to these little boys?

Right. So now the police are getting desperate. They're not specifically Gary Gitchell is getting desperate. And remind me who Gary Gitchell is. Gary Gitchell is the leader of the investigator. Yeah. So this becomes the beginning of the end when it comes to Damien, Jason, and Jesse Muskely. And it's a straight up fucking witch. It's essentially a witch hunt. It really is. I mean, again, we're gonna present all the facts.

Right. There are certainly things that do not look good for Damien at times. Right. I mean, you take what you want from that, but I'm going to present all of it. I think you might come up with how I feel, which is that. And I have an accent, but I just want to make like something clear in the beginning, I was like, we're not going

to state our opinions. I meant on like religion or politics, what the case were totally that. Yeah, exactly. State our opinion. Yeah. I just don't want anybody being like you didn't use the word to or to. And now you know, yeah, no, we're like, when it comes to religion or politics, we're going to state the facts said you weren't going to. You said you weren't going to. Yeah, no, when it comes to religion or politics, we're going to state the facts. We're not going to go further with it. Right. Again, this was a very, which we are,

and I think that's going to be more pertinent for part two for us because we're going to get more into why Damian and Jason and Jesse were picked, specifically Damian and Jason, especially. And religion plays a big part in that. Damien was a self-emitted wicking, which in West Memphis at that time. They were like, you love seeing them.

Which you're a Satan worshipper, that's all it was. Like you couldn't even begin to explain himself. Which songs. And again, we're gonna go all into this in part two and that's gonna be really intense and really awesome and scary and terrifying But we're gonna stop here. So they have they have started to interview Damien They are getting desperate and shit's about to go down

Next week next week. So join us for part two of what's some offist3. And in the meantime, you can hit us up on Instagram at morbidpodcasts. Follow us on Twitter. A morbidpodcasts. Join the Facebook group, morbid, colon, a true crime podcast. Send us a Gmail. Do it morbidpodcasts.gmail.com.

Donate to the Patreon and look out for a bonus episode this week, most likely. That's right, patreon.com slash morbidpodcasts. We hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird. I don't want to do one for this one. Not so weird that you're a goth head. We got to rest it for no reason. Yeah, don't keep it that weird.

And don't be so fucking weird that you're a witch hunter who goes fucking driving on full moons looking for kids just having fun most likely. There you go, you had it. But I didn't do all all the time. Bye. most likely they go you had it. Bye! Bye! Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add Free with Wondery Plus and

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