In May of that year, police discovered the bodies of Michael Moore, Stevie Branch, and Christopher Byers in the Robin Hood Hills, a small wooded area near the I-40/I-55 exchange. By the end of Paradise Lost, you cant believe they were found guilty, Bakken says. Terry Hobbs Memphis 32, 14-Jun, Superior Funeral Home-Hollywood. On the evening of May 5, 1993, 8-year-olds Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore went missing in West Memphis, Arkansas. Minutes later, Sgt. Evidence in West Memphis Three case missing or destroyed - Action News 5 The idea of killer teens in the Christian South, not any greater sense of purpose, was mainly what intrigued Sheila Nevins, then the head of HBOs documentary division, when she spotted a story about the case on the inside pages of The New York Times. Baldwin is the co-founder of the legal advocacy organization Proclaim Justice. Hobbs, with the help of an author, put all that journaling intoa book about the 1993 murders of his stepson Stevie Branch, and Branchs friends Michael Moore and Chris Byers. Misskelley, who reportedly had an IQ of 72, changed his story several times, and only a small part of his statements was recorded. Essentially, it allows the accused to assert their innocence while pleading guilty, conceding that the prosecution has an overwhelming amount of evidence to procure a conviction. The idea of the average citizen becoming embroiled in a criminal investigation isnt far-fetched in 2021, decades removed from the launch of WM3.org. A later confession during the trial phase would prove equally problematic. And they used that visibility to help raise funds for the defense. Getting that kind of creative validation was exciting, but we were also extremely frustrated that it didnt move from the entertainment page of the newspaper to the editorial page, Berlinger says. The Messed Up Truth About The West Memphis Three Murders - Grunge.com What a story it is. I still believe in my heart that Jessie, Jason, and Damion Echols [sic] are responsible for what happened to our children, Hobbs told Memphis ABC affiliate WATN in June 2019. More than 2,500 people attended and the story dominated the local press for days. Stidham, who was just 30 years old and not long out of law school when the court appointed him to be Misskelleys attorney, went in thinking he would negotiate a deal for his client, who had told police that his acquaintances Baldwin and Echols committed the crimes and that he was present and played a role as an accessory. ", According to Devil's Knot, a week after the discovery of the bodies, Detective Don Bray interviewed Vicki Hutcheson, a truckstop employee. Luminol tests, which reveal the hidden presence of blood, were not performed at the scene until six days later. Almost 30 years ago, three eight-year-old West Memphis boys were found murdered and three teenagers were charged in the murders. Some believe the West Memphis Three are guilty to this day, and others, including some victims family members, point to their innocence and maintain the real perpetrator is still at large. Mojo was right. As for Paradise Lost, it was the inciting incident in the two-decade chain of events that led to the release of the West Memphis Three. However, under pressure, leading questions, and scare tactics, Misskelley wove a contradictory story that first placed him at the crime scene as an eyewitness to the murders and then as an active participant. I had a big box. But its closing moments point to how the filmmakers felt: that a horrific tragedy had just been compounded by a monumental miscarriage of justice. I'm not stupid." The Alford plea is a seldom-invoked and somewhat confusing legal maneuver, but the basics are fairly straightforward. More than 25 years after the murders of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis,a new book gives a first-person account of what was happening behind the sce More than 25 years after the murders of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis,a new book gives a first-person account of what was happening behind the scenes. Terry Hobbs passed away in Nampa, Idaho. After new DNA evidence was discovered, the West Memphis Three were released from prison in August 2011 by agreeing to an Alford plea, which allowed him to proclaim their innocence while admitting the prosecution had enough evidence to convict him. And without substantial physical evidence, police zeroed in on a pair of teens they knew well: Echols, a self-professed Wiccan who wore all black and read Stephen King, and his best friend Baldwin, who was considered an outsider because of his love of drawing and bands like Metallica. Baldwin, who had been coached by his lawyers to avoid speaking to the press, says money was the only reason he agreed to the added pressure of appearing in the documentary, especially when everyone else in a position of authority seemed adversarial toward him. Also part of the plea was the provision that the three could not sue the state. Terry Wayne Hobbs was born on May 21st, 1958. During Misskelley's trial, Hutcheson testified that she had attended an "an occult Satanic meeting" she referred to as an "esbat." Terry Hobbs, Actor: Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers. They werent connected in any direct way, Bakken says. Also, law enforcement chose not to focus on the victims' families as the starting point of the investigation as is the norm. So when I saw this tiny little article in the Times, I wasnt about to free anybody that was guilty. I didn't even comprehend that the situation could get this serious that it can go this far. Terry. Mojo, however, was considerably more fired up, believing the same thing many of Paradise Losts viewers did: that the movie showed an incredible miscarriage of justice, one that would surely be fixed. The West Memphis Police Department interviewed Hobbs, who was dismissive of the findings, claiming the hair could have been picked up during a visit to his home since the victim "played with our little boy regularly," according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "The reason I made the West Memphis boogeyman comment during the first film was because I was making light of the situation," Echols says in Paradise Lost 2: Revelations. Terry was born on September 11, 1959 in Sweetwater, to Jack Harvey and Marjorie. A benefit album was released in 2000, and the phrase made it into a Dawsons Creek episode when Pacey shouted Free the West Memphis Three over an airport intercom. The great irony of the 18-year quest to free the West Memphis Three is that it didnt begin as a crusade. Main Page; After ending his first marriage, he wed Pamela Hicks Branch in 1986, when her son Stevie was almost 2 years old. Its first season ostensibly focused on the disappearance of a Georgia beauty queen, but it spent nearly as much time digging through the salacious details of the victims love life and dipping into amateur psychology as it did looking at evidence. https://t.co/dXOtQkmjee. Even today, years after his name was cleared and authorities ruled Lams death accidental, Morbid still receives threats. 24 to Jun. Metallica had never licensed a song for a film before, but when they learned about the case, Berlinger says, they made an exception. I went to a Baptist school and I got accused of being a devil worshiper because I was trying to learn how to write hieroglyphics, says Sauls, today a screenwriter and VFX designer. When Alex Sinofsky is asked about his fathers work on the film, he recalls the frequent trips and long hours spent editing film on a Steenbeck he kept in the house. It's affected a lot of lives, but for some reason it keeps being brought up," said Hobbs. In February, Netflix released Berlingers Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, a docuseries that looked at the 2013 death of Elisa Lam, a Canadian student who died while vacationing in Los Angeles. The specter of the church looms over Paradise Lost, best represented by an early scene in which Mark Byers leads his congregation in prayer and song. This case was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Courts, Tennessee Western Bankruptcy. One of Kathy Bakkens earliest jobs in Los Angeles allowed her a certain kind of cultural currency: She designed movie posters for an entertainment-advertising company, which meant she got to see films months before they were released. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. Michelle McNamara helped crack the Golden State Killer case by poring over thousands of pages of case files while working on her book Ill Be Gone in the Dark, which was published two years after her 2016 death, while Chris Lambert and his podcast Your Own Backyard were highlighted by authorities after two arrests in April in connection with the 1996 disappearance of Cal Poly student Kristin Smart. Everybody Id come in contact with was hostile to the truth, Baldwin says. Baldwin remembers grabbing a Mountain Dew and a burrito and sitting down, still unaware of what he was about to watch. Certain that, under what he felt were ridiculous circumstances, Echols' confidence and, on occasion, flippant attitude during the trial was often misinterpreted as evidence of his coldness toward the victims and their families. Years of solitary confinement and the abuse he said he suffered at the hands of prison guards had taken its toll. "They said close to the crime scene because at one time I did walk near where they had found the kids with Terry Hobbs But I didn't wear hats back then, my hair could have blown around anywhere, Jacoby told Memphis NBC affiliate WMC-TV in 2013. My first thought is, I hope this dude isnt trying to pull me into some type of escape, Baldwin says nearly a quarter-century later. Except this was 1996, and home internet was still in its infancy. Berlinger contrasts this with the approach taken by Bakken, Sauls, and Co., who considered the truth sacrosanct and avoided rumor and innuendo in part because similar speculation helped convict the West Memphis Three. This is the true story of the West Memphis Three murders. Searching obituaries is a great place to start your family tree research. Baldwins attorneys even avoided putting him on the witness stand or mounting much of a defense, believing the burden was on the state. Terry Hobbs | Cinemorgue Wiki | Fandom "I'd like to see this put to rest. Hes since parlayed the popularity of the show into a booming podcast network and documentary deal with Oxygen. Bakken and Sauls say they tried to avoid offering theories about the case publicly, opting instead to try to work through official channels. So advocacy and diligence become tantamount, because most people in a similar situation to the one he was in dont have the benefit of filmmakers and musicians fighting on their behalf. To date, no DNA evidence from the crime scene can be linked to Damien Echols, Baldwin, or Jessie Misskelley. The Legacy of 'Paradise Lost' & the West Memphis Three - The Ringer He had always maintained he didnt commit the crimes, and outside the Varner Units walls, a growing chorus of activists and legal observers were arguing that same thing on his behalf. Among them was a disoriented, muddy, and bleeding African-American man who stumbled into a West Memphis Bojangles restaurant men's room less than a mile from the crime scene. Hobbs described what it was like the day the three walked free. He was 56. Hobbs says his book is 25 years in the making, adding it is called Boxful of Nightmares for a reason. While police had focused on Echols and Baldwin in the intervening weeks because of their reputation, the arrests came largely because of a confession by Misskelley, which was leaked to the largest newspaper in the area, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, and ran under the banner headline Teen describes cult torture of boys. At a press conference shortly after the arrests, the lead investigator was asked how confident he felt about the case on a scale of 1-10. Hobbs was Branch's stepfather. Misskelley initially told police that the killings happened during the day; knowing that they actually occurred some time after dusk, the officers corrected him, helping him retrofit his story to the cases few known facts. Baldwin, the youngest member of the trio that had come to be known as the West Memphis Three, was serving a life sentence after being convicted on charges connected to the 1993 killings of three 8-year-old boys. Another hair found near the crime scene on a tree stump was found to be consistent with the DNA of Hobbs friend, David Jacoby, according to court documents obtained by Oxygen.com. (WMC) - Not a single piece of evidence ever connected the West Memphis Three, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, to the 1993 murders of Steve Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore. . June 29 Terry Hobbs, 34, 1718 Spyglass Lane, Mishawaka, booked on a warrant from Elkhart County. I don't know if the other 2 did, but even if they did polygraphs aren't admissible in court. That there were three victims was a link to the biblical number of the beast. Who Is Terry Hobbs, Stepfather Of West Memphis Three Victim? | True Damien Echols (@damienechols) July 7, 2021 Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of Branch who was under suspicion but never charged, said he welcomes new DNA testing. Pam Hobbs divorced Terry Hobbs in 2004 and has reversed her position on the West Memphis Three's guilt. The first film gave rise to a movement devoted to reopening the investigation in hopes of exonerating, and ultimately freeing, Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols, and Jessie Misskelley. They were released after prosecutors agreed to an Alford plea, in which the men maintained their innocence but pleaded guilty. In June 1996, Paradise Lost debuted on HBO, bringing the story of the West Memphis Three to TV sets and showing the power of the camera in the courtroom. Heavy metal music, role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, and horror movies were regarded as gateways to evil.