West Memphis Three (2011)

True Crime with Aphrodite Jones: West Memphis Three (2011)

The case of the ‘Memphis Three‘ is one of the worst miscarriages of justice in American judicial history… In 1993, the bodies of three young boys were discovered in a muddy creek that led to a major drainage canal at Robin Hood Hills near West Memphis, Arkansas – three young teenagers: Damien Echols , Jessie Misskelley, Jr. and Jason Baldwin were quickly charged and convicted of the crimes based on the coerced confession of the mentally-challenged young Misskelley…

The case gained national attention through the brilliant HBO ‘Paradise Lost‘ documentaries that raised serious questions about the evidence used to convict the teenagers and through the vocal support of celebrities like  actor Johnny Depp and musician Eddie Vedder and Natalie Maines…

“Three eight-year-old boys—Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers—were reported missing on May 5, 1993. The first report to the police was made by Byers’ adoptive father, John Mark Byers, around 7:00 pm. The boys were allegedly last seen together by three neighbors, who in sworn affidavits told of seeing them playing together around 6:30 pm the evening they disappeared, and saw Terry Hobbs, stepfather of Stevie Branch, calling them to come home. Initial police searches made that night were limited. Friends and neighbors also conducted a search that night, which included a cursory visit to the location where the bodies were later found.

A more thorough police search for the children began around 8:00 am on the morning of May 6, led by the Crittenden County Search and Rescue personnel. Searchers canvassed all of West Memphis, but focused primarily on Robin Hood Hills, where the boys were reported last seen. Despite a human chain making a shoulder-to-shoulder search of Robin Hood Hills, searchers found no sign of the missing boys.

Around 1:45 pm, juvenile Parole Officer Steve Jones spotted a boy’s black shoe floating in a muddy creek that led to a major drainage canal in Robin Hood Hills. A subsequent search of the ditch revealed the bodies of three boys.”… Wikipedia