Case Profile: West Memphis Three

On May 6, 1993, police discovered the naked and beaten bodies of three 8-year-old boys in the woods of Robin Hood Hills in West Memphis, Ark. Steven Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore had been bound, and one of the boys appeared to have been castrated.

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The Accused

According to the news program 48 Hours, the murders occurred during a period of national outrage over murders attributed to satanic cults. Rumors and tips early in the investigation led police to consider the possibility that the three boys were killed as part of an occult ritual. Author Mara Leveritt writes in Devil's Knot that county juvenile police officer Jerry Driver was regarded by at least one local police officer as an authority on satanic worship. He provided investigators with a list of eight juveniles he suspected of being involved in occult activity. Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin were two of the names on the list.

Echols was an 18-year-old high school dropout who had expressed an interest in witchcraft and had served several stints in juvenile detention and psychiatric centers. He was also suspected of being the leader of a satanic cult. Baldwin was a 16-year-old friend of Echols and was considered, like Echols, to be an outcast.

On June 3, 1993, police questioned Jessie Misskelley Jr., a 17-year-old dropout with an IQ that suggested he bordered on mental retardation. In the recorded interrogation, Misskelley, an acquaintance of Baldwin and Echols, confessed to participating as Baldwin and Echols raped, mutilated and murdered the three boys. Misskelley soon recanted his statements, and critics later alleged that police coerced the confession. The admission, however, led to Misskelley's arrest — as well as the arrests of Baldwin and Echols.

In January of 1994 Misskelley went on trial for murder. The defense introduced evidence suggesting a man covered in mud and blood had entered a local restaurant the night of the murders. Jurors didn't buy it, and Misskelley was convicted on charges of first-and second-degree murder. On Feb. 5, 2004, he was sentenced to life in prison plus 40 years.

Echols and Baldwin were tried together. The prosecution built a case that portrayed the teenagers as devil worshippers who murdered the boys as part of a ritual sacrifice. Both defendants were convicted of capital murder on March 18, 1994. Echols was sentenced to death while Baldwin was given life in prison.