Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. Little kids will be looking under their bed 'Damien might be under there! West Memphis is pretty much like a second Salem," Echols stated in the 1996 documentary Paradise Lost: The Murders at Robin Hood Hills. In the minds of many, the bizarre nature of the Robin Hood Hills murders could only have been committed by one of Satan's minions. Echols' disdain for authority, penchant for black clothes, and propensity to make shocking statements didn't help his plight. When the pair got the call from Nevins, they mobilized immediately, landing in Arkansas shortly after the arrests. This is before considering the 2013 dramatized movie based on the events (and Leveritts book), Stidhams plans to release the book Harvest of Innocence, and how elements of the case made their way into True Detectives third season. At that time, I was a little naive that what you read in the paper must have some truth to it, and all the press reports coming out of Arkansas were saying that this was like a slam dunk, an open-and-shut case with a confession that was printed in the newspaper.. Stating that she would ask around, Hutcheson agreed to "play detective.". (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. Leave your condolences to the family on this memorial page or send flowers to show you care. But we stuck with it, and every so often something would happen, and little by little, people would come around., They spread word about the website through online discussion groups and by hanging flyers in the art houses that screened Paradise Lost, and by 2000, WM3.org was getting 4,000 to 8,000 hits a day. There have also been several high-profile incidents of laypeople reinvestigating decades-old cold cases in more rigorous, journalistic ways and helping bring them to a resolution. All of them were convicted after Misskelley confessed to helping Echols and Baldwin with the murders, which he later recanted. We made a promise early on that we would never pretend to be law enforcement or detectives, Sauls says. Peter Jackson, who would produce a separate documentary about the case titled West of Memphis in 2012, and his partner, Fran Walsh, funded an extensive private investigation and helped hire forensic experts to comb through evidence. Yes, the West Memphis Three are out of prison, but as long as they are considered guilty in the eyes of the state, the case is closed, meaning no further investigation can occur. 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. "Everyone has a story and this just happens to be mine," said Hobbs. The arrest, trial, and conviction of the three young men known as the West Memphis Three came under national scrutiny as details of the case became public. However, within the first crucial hours after the bodies were discovered, mistakes were made at the crime scene that negatively impacted the investigation. Evidence in West Memphis Three case missing or destroyed, Judge sets bond for 76-year-old woman accused of killing terminally ill husband, Woman accused of driving into home, killing former pro basketball player Galen Young granted diversion, DA Mulroy says he doubts any drag shows will violate Tennessees new drag bill, MPD finds alleged chop shop operating in plain sight, Congressman Cohen announces $1 million grant for Memphis YMCA, Red hot Memphis womens basketball ready to make a run in AAC Tournament. 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. "People probably think I'm in Satanism because what they don't understand they try to destroy or ridicule. (Police questioned Byers several times during the investigation, but never considered him a suspect.) She said it was one of the highest-rated pieces they had. It was so emotionally taxing to watch and go through it again, he says. Explore. They began attending appeal hearings and visiting Baldwin, Echols, and Misskelley in prison. She also stated that beyond the single meeting at her trailer, she had no further contact with Echols. Hold for Elkhart County. 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. Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, defense attorneys working for the West Memphis Three filed multiple appeals on their behalf scrutinizing the lack of physical evidence against them. Published by The Commercial Appeal from Jun. So, how much is Terry Hobbs worth at the age of 50 years old? Terry Hobbs, one of the men named in the documents. Hobbs was Branch's stepfather. I never foresaw that they would in turn save us.. Terry Hobbs was born in 1958 and grew up in Northern Arkansas. West Memphis 3 / Terry Hobbs 2022 Update New Scott 94.5K subscribers Subscribe 241 Share 20K views 8 months ago https://www.crimeonline.com/2022/05/. Im not the jury. As rumors of a Satanic sacrifice swept the community, the minds of many in West Memphis were already made up. Terry Hobbs Net Worth. And the seemingly endless stream of threats against them and the frequent clashes with Mark Byers did nothing to dissuade them. Blood and urine samples from both men were collected and sent to the West Memphis Police Department. It ranges from Mark Byers, the crusading stepfather who became one of the West Memphis Threes biggest allies in the years before his 2020 death, to famed FBI criminal profiler (and Mindhunter inspiration) John E. Douglas. What a story it is. It was born out of genuine admiration for the fact that these guys took the time out of their lives to dedicate, to go down to Arkansas, to build a website, to really step out of their lives, Berlinger says. Griffis also found the devil in nearly every number associated with the crime. I dont know if they were questioning it, but they werent mistreating me and telling me that what I was telling them wasnt true., While Berlinger admits that he and Sinofsky may have tilted pro-prosecution in the early days of filming, that quickly changed after witnessing how the cases came together and spending time with the three teens during pretrial jailhouse interviewsparticularly Baldwin, who Berlinger describes as sweet and studious.. It was clear that Paradise Lost was resonating. The state of Arkansas continues to attempt to prevent this testing from happening. It wasnt hard for him to imagine his teenage self ending up in Echolss situation. Reaching its apex in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Satanic Panic was a wave of paranoia rooted in the belief that Satanic cults intent on corrupting the souls of the young had infiltrated American society. As the appeals processes stretched across several years and the buzz of the initial film faded, the directors began looking for ways to keep the story alive. By going into the courtroom and sticking with the case for its entire duration, Berlinger and Sinofsky were able to capture what may have otherwise been lost to time or left out of transcripts. Terry L. Hobbs, 63, of Caldwell, HOBBS, Terry L., passed on March 7,2021 at the age of 63. One of those shows, Truth & Justice With Bob Ruff, became the basis for an Oxygen docuseries last year titled The Forgotten West Memphis Three, which took a closer look at the three victims and tried to shine new light on the evidence. Its my perspective of what happened in 1993, 26 years ago in West Memphis, Arkansas, said Hobbs. By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. The only possible culprits were 18-year-old Damien Echols, a poor teen with an interest in the occult and a record of mental illness, his friend Jason Baldwin, a quiet kid whose talent for art tended toward dark subjects, and Jessie Misskelley, a 17-year-old misfit with an IQ of 73. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. Well, perhaps not nobody. Three teenage boys were arrested for the crimes Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. and prosecutors argued they killed the boys as part of a Satanic ritual. Now, I see they can. June 29 Terry Hobbs, 34, 1718 Spyglass Lane, Mishawaka, booked on a warrant from Elkhart County. As detailed by The Hollywood Reporter in 2011, Jackson and Walsh helped fund key investigations for the West Memphis Three's defense during the last seven years of their incarceration. Jesse was gonna take it anyway. Terry Hobbs stated both family and co-workers believed he was guilty from day one and continued to believe him guilty after the trial and convictions of the West Memphis Three. However, in 2010, a series of rapidly unfolding developments turned the tide for Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley. Share Memories & Support the Family. A murderer was loose in West Memphis. They asked to see a cut, and they immediately said, Not only are we going to let you use all that music, but were not going to charge you anything for it., Metallica would be the first celebrities to throw their support behind the West Memphis Three, but they were far from the last. "I knew from when I was real small that people were going to know who I was," Echols said in 1994. This is a brand new website dedicated to the internationally famous musician, Terry Gibbs. The concept of citizen investigations intrigues Berlinger just as much as it did in the 1990s, though today hes often more concerned with the moral implications. Classmates at Weaver Elementary School, the three were active in their Cub Scout troop and responsible enough to be trusted to roam their neighborhood without supervision. But the lawyer quickly noticed inconsistencies in Misskelleys purported confession. At the time of the West Memphis Three trial, Griffis claimed to have given seminars to 38,000 police officers all over the globe. By getting to the story quickly, the directors were able to document the post-arrest period and two trials that followed in painstaking detail. In 1996, a screener for Paradise Lost passed her desk. While thats cooled from the days of concerts in the shadows of the Arkansas Supreme Court building, the documentaries still live on HBO Max, where they pull in new viewers to this day. He had been expecting a visitation, but was instead led to the prison chapel office, where inmates were typically brought only if someone close to them had died. With a large population of fundamentalist Christians, the American South was particularly subject to occult paranoia. (Despite Misskelleys statement, the coroners examination found no injuries on the victims consistent with sexual assault.) They were naked and hog-tied with their own shoelaces, and showed signs of blunt force trauma and mutilation, the latter of which may have been the work of wild animals, reported the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper. Further down, it includes names such as Rick Dior, a sound mixer who worked on Apollo 13 and Dirty Dancing, and Bob Richman, a three-time Emmy-nominated cinematographer whose rsum also includes renowned docs like An Inconvenient Truth and Waiting for Superman. Its headlined by not only the films directors, but also Sheila Nevins, its executive producer and winner of 32 individual Emmy awards, more than any other person in history. That there were three victims was a link to the biblical number of the beast. Share Memories & Support the Family. But they never had any physical evidence that connected us to this crime, Echols said in 2012. Mike Allen arrived on the scene. (Shortly after Villegass acquittal, Baldwin had something of a full-circle moment with his client: He took him to a Metallica show in El Paso, Texas, where they hung out backstage on the invitation of Lars Ulrich.). eyewitness evidence surfaced 16 years later. So when I saw this tiny little article in the Times, I wasnt about to free anybody that was guilty. 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. MEMPHIS, Tenn. (localmemphis.com)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. Debates still occur regularly onlinethe West Memphis Three subreddit is fairly active for one on a 28-year-old caseand podcasts have looked at the crime from all angles. Despite an offer of a reduced sentence, Misskelley ultimately recanted his statements and refused to testify against Echols and Baldwin. People in West Memphis are going to tell their kids stories. Terry Hobbs Memphis 32, 14-Jun, Superior Funeral Home-Hollywood. He was an actor, known for Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988), Fast Food (1989) and In the Heat of the Night (1988). According to Dan Stidham, the attorney for Misskelley, that money became essential for the cash-strapped defense teams, who needed to pay for expert witnesses and other expenses. La Mirada, California. Best selling books such as Lawrence Pazder's Michelle Remembers and disgraced evangelical comedian Mike Warnke's The Satan Seller fueled the madness with tales of ritual abuse and human sacrifice. When he was released in 2011, he met John Hardin, who worked with the West Memphis Three support group Arkansas Take Action, and the two bonded over a desire to do for others what had just been done for Baldwin. Armchair detectives of today, I think a lot of them dabble in conspiracy theory, Berlinger says. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Two of the West Memphis Three's most ardent supporters were director Peter Jackson, best known for The Lord of the Rings films, and his partner Fran Walsh. The bodies of Branch, Byers, and Moore were found in a drainage ditch in West Memphis May 6 . During the trials of Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols, Griffis drew tenuous links between circumstantial evidence, such as the killings taking place near the date of the pagan festival of Beltane. His net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. Misskelley told Hutcheson that he really didn't know much about Echols other than that he was "a weird person." Lying in the open air in near 80-degree temperatures accelerated the decomposition of the bodies. Other details that have come to light include that many wounds on the slain children, originally attributed to human bites and/or a serrated blade, were the result of animals feeding on the bodies. Terry Hobbs, Actor: Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers. Much of Cecil Hotel focuses on the amateur investigators who turned coincidences into conspiracy theories, ultimately accusing an innocent person of her death. Misskelley, who reportedly had an IQ of 72, changed his story several times, and only a small part of his statements was recorded. Jason Baldwin had no idea what was happening when a fellow inmate at the supermax prison in Varner, Arkansas, woke him up early one morning in 1997. In a last ditch effort, they entered an Alford Plea, a complex and seldom used legal maneuver that would see them plead guilty while still asserting their innocence. The case status is Pending - Other Pending. Now, he was being asked to consider something that he never dreamed he would: accepting a plea deal that would set the West Memphis Three free, but require them to give up their quest for exoneration. Terry Hobbs (1969 - 2019) Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers (Nightmare Vacation II) (1988) [Rob Darrinco]: Stabbed and hanged (after gaging), off-screen by Pamela Springsteen in Walter Gotell's office; his body is shown afterwards when Carol Martin Vines discovers him. The level of corruption in the American justice system is glaring and sickening.. It was a call about Damien Echolshe wasnt dead, but his wife, Lorri Davis, feared he might be soon. 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. Hobbs has never wavered in his conviction that justice was served the first time around. Hes subdued when discussing the facts of the case, but he comes alive while recounting his work with the Jaycees while in prison, or buying Metallicas Black Album when it came out in 1991. The Messed Up Truth About The West Memphis Three Murders, citing the discovery of her son's favorite pocket knife, One of the prosecution's key pieces of evidence linking Jason Baldwin, With their 2007 request for a new trial rejected, Baldwin is the co-founder of the legal advocacy organization Proclaim Justice. It was almost like an out-of-body experience., When the credits rolled shortly after the unforgettable final scene, which shows a now-convicted Baldwin and Echols leaving the courtroom in handcuffs and entering a police cruiser as Metallica plays, Baldwin sat stunned. Wherever it was screened, Berlinger says, it was followed by intense Q&As from audience members who couldnt believe what theyd just watched. It had been a long fight to clear their names, and the odds seemed better than ever. Quality. In the joint trial of Baldwin and Echols, which took place separately from Misskelleys, Berlinger and Sinofsky filmed the surreal moments that juries were actually present for: a rundown of the books Echols checked out of the library, a parade of band T-shirts worn by the pair, a copy of a Blue Oyster Cult record found in Damiens girlfriends house that became evidence because of the word cult and song titles like Dont Fear the Reaper. What the cameras couldnt capture, however, was the introduction of physical evidencethe prosecution didnt offer much of that aside from a knife that was never directly linked to the crimes and fabric threads deemed microscopically similar to items found in Baldwins and Echolss homes, an assertion that has been questioned in the years since the trials. During the final year of the two-year span, from July 2021 to July 2022, California lost about 211,000 people, according to data from the state Department of Finance. The killings came at the peak of the so-called Satanic Panic, a time of heightened worries about ritualistic abuse. That came partially through the exposure they got through this film., But perhaps the best measure of Paradise Losts impact is the work being done by Baldwin today. It'll be sort of like I'm the West Memphis boogeyman. Beyond the black-and-white print of the newspaper, there was a movement brewing. He died on April 4, 2019 in Panama City Beach, Florida, USA. Updated: 9:42 AM CDT June 11, 2019. February 27, 2023 (82 years old) View obituary. Even without a smoking gun, the circumstantial evidence was enough for a conviction in a place like Crittenden County, Arkansas. With their 2007 request for a new trial rejected, time was running out for the West Memphis Three. Im seeing the things I experienced, but not through my own point of view. That was more than the people deciding the case were able to hearthe presiding judge made the expert give most of his testimony without the jury in the courtroom because he questioned its relevance. "I'd like to see this put to rest. Produced and directed by filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, the film and its two sequels, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations and Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, gave audiences a unique and detailed look into the case, the accused, and the families of victims. Although Damein Echols had a teenager's typical disdain for authority, he nevertheless trusted that the system would work in his favor. Leave a sympathy message to the family in the guestbook on this memorial page of Terry Hobbs to show support. I couldnt not watch it at this point. To send flowers or plant a tree in memory of Terry Hobbs, visit the Tribute Store. Hobbs says his book is 25 years in the making, adding it is called Boxful of Nightmares for a reason. Paradise Lost also led to a famous citizen-activist campaign championing the release of the three teens that caught on at the dawn of the Internet Age and would eventually pull in Eddie Vedder, Henry Rollins, and a whos who of the rich and famous. He says his students seem to have a better grasp on the idea of coerced confessions than any of his peers in 1994. Events. A quarter-century later, what does the documentary tell us about citizen activism, the criminal justice system, and the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and 90s? Paradise Lost is a narration-free documentary filmed with a journalistic remove. Berlinger also concedes Revelations had some ethical problems, chiefly because it raised the possibility that Mark Byers committed the killings. Replacing Burnett was Circuit Court Judge David Laser. On August 19, 2011, all three accepted the deal and were immediately released from prison. Support came from unlikely corners: a classroom of kids who held a cookie sale that raised $30, local bands in Chicago who held a benefit show and sent $150. 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. Timeline Of The West Memphis Three Victims, Motivations For Investigating The West Memphis Case. Update: I was totally wrong. Cinemorgue Wiki. In West Memphis, Hobbs worked as an ice cream delivery man and Hicks worked at a restaurant. According to Griffis, black hair, black T-shirts, and black jeans were signs that a kid was in league with the devil. November 03, 2021 November 4, 2021 . Its no surprise the juries found the prosecutions narrative compelling, Leveritt says: For them, the image of killer satanists headbanging to Metallica was more than plausible. I think we were the first internet sleuths, but we were not internet sleuths.. The story felt personal for all of them, but especially Sauls: He had grown up in Florida and Georgia as an outcast obsessed with art and reading some of the same books Damien Echols had. A hair found on one of the ligatures to bind the boys, however, was found to be consistent with the DNA of Hobbs, according to court documents obtained by Oxygen.com. After 18 years in prison, the West Memphis Three were finally free, but not exonerated. Covered in wounds, all three showed signs of having been beaten. But on the subject of Paradise Lost, he speaks emphatically: He understands how important the movies were in helping him, Echols, and Misskelley walk free 10 years ago this August. Defense attorneys also pointed out that Griffis' doctorate was obtained through a notorious diploma mill and had been awarded with Griffis having never attended a single class. The bodies had been removed from the water and placed on the adjacent embankment, possibly disturbing physical evidence or otherwise contaminating the scene. Misskelley and Echols were 36; Baldwin was 34. Although she was unable to recall the exact location or anyone who attended the alleged meeting, she claimed a drunken Echols confessed to the murders. Branded the, What has never been definitively answered, however, is who committed the 1993 murders, and , Due to marital problems stemming from Stevies death, the couple divorced in 2004, reported, The test results showed that no genetic material on the crime scene evidence was a match to Echols, Baldwin or Misskelley, reported the, 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, "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, A year after the DNA results were released, Hobbs sued Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines for defamation, claiming she implied he was a murderer on the bands website and at a 2007 rally, according to, In 2009, three witnesses filed affidavits claiming they saw Hobbs with the murdered boys the night they disappeared, contradicting Hobbs previous statements to police, according to. She says she is too because they believe they are hearing different stories. Obituaries can vary in the amount of information they contain, but many of them are genealogical goldmines, including information such as: names, dates, place of birth and death, marriage information, and family relationships. A native of Winter Haven, born December 21, 1964, Terry . . We were mainly in it for the aesthetics of filmmaking, but the last scene of Paradise Lost, when Damien is chained up and sent away to death row, that was just heartbreaking and devastating for us, Berlinger says. The nonprofits work hasnt always been easyfundraising is hard, and because hes a convicted felon, hes unable to visit clients in prison or discuss pleasbut its been essential for him as he strives to live the words by 14th-century Persian poet Hafez that he keeps as an email signature: The small man builds cages for everyone he knows / While the sage, who has to duck his head when the moon is low / Keeps dropping keys all night long for the beautiful rowdy prisoners. Baldwin says hes learned that justice isnt a computer programthat you can input all the evidence and testimony and still get the wrong results. (Its worth noting that despite the issues raised by Lindseys work, the first season of Up and Vanished renewed interest in the case, which ultimately led to arrests, albeit of people that Lindsey hadnt previously covered on the podcast.). Hobbs said, I still believe in my heart that Jessie, Jason, and Damion Echols are responsible for what happened to our children., He added, You look at what happened and then you wonder, what if this did not happen, where would our boys be today? The prosecutor would later say, There was a lack of physical evidence to tie anyone or anything to the crime scene, while the lead investigatorthe same one who told the press the case was an 11 out of 10would concede, Youve got a lot of circumstantial evidence is what youve got. Terry Hobbs is absolutely terrible. But they were saying that he was about to die.. It's one. Bakken immediately showed her friends Burk Sauls and Grove Pashley, who were both equally gripped by what they had just watched. By staying on this subject for the next couple of decades, they gave these men a chance and really decades of freedom afterward. The second is by looking at it as an act of passion and perseverance. As the West Memphis Three languished behind bars for 18 years, thousands of supporters called out for their freedom while others vehemently declared their guilt. Metallica had never licensed a song for a film before, but when they learned about the case, Berlinger says, they made an exception. I think I introduced my dad to it because that was not his normal genre., Three Metallica songsOrion, Welcome Home (Sanitarium), and Call of Ktuluwould play throughout the documentary. Then youd try to find it, and it didnt exist, because when we went out to discussion groups, no one knew about the case yet., After learning that the teens were still in prison, Bakken, Sauls, and Pashley decided to make full use of the budding technological revolution. Case Details. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. Few celebrities at the time did as much as Henry Rollins, however. Make a life-giving gesture And then there was the public pressure: In August 2010, Vedder and Maines headlined yet another benefit concert, this one in Little Rock. Filming the activists work seemed like the best place for Berlinger and Sinofsky to turn their attention; what better way to show the continued plight of the West Memphis Three than to show regular people dedicating their free time to fighting for them? La Verne, California. The consequences of that online campaign were ruinous: The person they targeted, a Mexican metal musician who worked under the name Morbid, was harassed into hiding. He graduated from Sweetwater High School in 1977. The final scene Berlinger and Sinofsky filmed may have been the piece that stuck with viewers the most: the image of Baldwin and Echols being led out of the courthouse in handcuffs and bulletproof vests, now property of the state. Also, law enforcement chose not to focus on the victims' families as the starting point of the investigation as is the norm. Berlinger and Sinofsky expected a similar result to come quickly in the West Memphis Three case. The sneaker ligatures in which Terry Hobbs' DNA was found in," Soury said .
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