Anyone interested in the "West Memphis Three" case?

[southlandshari]

Forgive me if there is already a thread on this (and please direct me there, if so!).

I was marginally interested in true crime for a couple of years, mostly from Lifetime movies and a couple of used books passed my way, but the HBO documentary "Paradise Lost" totally rocked my world when my husband and I saw it shortly after it came out in the mid-90's. We were living in the Arkansas region and work-related travel OFTEN took me along the I-40/I-55 corridor that runs very close to the site where the three bodies were discovered.

I'm interested in talking to others with an interest in this case. And for those who don't know about it, I STRONGLY recommend renting "Paradise Lost" (parts I and II); reading "Devil's Knot" by Mara Leveritt (and, to a lesser degree, "Blood of Innocents" by...well, by someone else. I'm too lazy to go look at the book for the author; it was worth reading if you are really into the case, but not as good as Leveritt's book).

Mara Leveritt also wrote an outstanding book called "The Boys on the Tracks" about another unbelievable true crime case in Arkansas. True crime bookworms out there should add this to your list if you haven't read it already!

[XanaDUer]

1. Me.

The Boys on the Tracks, however, is some bunch of right wingers who claim Clinton killed the two young men because they stumbled across his alleged cocaine underground in Arkansas.

As for the WM3, they have a website:

http://www.wm3.org/

They (I believe) have totally gotten hosed!

Devil's Knot was very good and very disturbing.

[southlandshari]

2. Hmmm..

I read "The Boys on the Tracks" slightly differently. It definitely wasn't kind to Clinton or his gubenatorial administration at the time (particularly the medical examiner). But I didn't finish the book with the feeling that it was Clinton's drug ring, per se. Perhaps he looked the other way on some things (not something I applaud), particularly when it came to his brother, but I didn't think this was a corrupt system he put in place or that the drug running started after he took office.

I really, really like Bill Clinton. I still believe he was a great president for a lot of reasons, easily the best of my adult lifetime. But I am afraid I've come to believe that no one comes to that level of political power without some real and unfortunate compromise. I guess I chalked the BOTT story (which I believe) up in that awful category.

I have a lot of respect for Mara Leveritt as a journalist. She has great tenacity, clarity and dedication to genuine and honest research. She doesn't seem the type to be taken in by anyone pedaling political bullshit as truth. And she wrote both books.

One other thing I'd add is that the FBI (and Justice Department in general) and CIA both worked to curtail or limit the investigation into the two boys' deaths. And the national administration at the time was REPUBLICAN.

What do you think?

[XanaDUer]

3. I'm sorry I should have clarified

I believe it was Jerry Falwell (I will have to check on this) who was using this horrible tradegy of these two young boys' deaths to promote his anti-Clinton agenda, using the parents' grief in a most cynical and shameful way.

I believe the video was called, "The Clinton Chronicles" about the big pile of bodies the Clintons left in their wake, Vince Foster, et al.

No, I don't believe Clinton was behind these murders. The boys *may* have run across some type of drug running late at night and the perps may have known that they boys could have ID'd them, hence drugging them and putting them on the tracks. Or, was one boy already dead on the tracks? I cannot remember-maybe I should re-read it.

As for the WM3, that is a travesty.

[southlandshari]

4. "The Clinton Chronicles"

is definitely a piece of right-wing crapola, and if I'm not mistaken, Leveritt mentions it in her book fairly briefly as part of the story but not in a particularly positive light. It is a great example of right-wing vultures preying on victims for their own nefarious purposes. The guy who bankrolled that (or who helped) was the same guy (Cliff Jones? something like that) who engineered most of the inquiries into Clinton's sex life throughout his presidency.

It is a travesty that the far right-wing has tried to co-opt the horrible truth about TBOTT to trash Clinton.

That said (and thanks for your response!), let's get back to The West Memphis Three. I've got some questions if you have followed the case closely, particularly when it comes to the death of Melissa Byers and what Ryan Byers (her older son) may or may not know about the whole affair. Also interested in what you thought about the (way too short) part of "Devil's Knot" regarding Christopher Morgan, the kid who abruptly moved to California after the murders, at one time confessed to being involved, and then when called back to Arkansas to testify, took the Fifth Amendment.

I need to go back to the wm3 website, haven't browsed for a while.

[XanaDUer]

5. The angle of this case that interests me is the

so-called "satanic panic" that helped to play into the community's and cops' belief that the wm3 committed the crime.

I think I should re-read that book-is there some stepfather of the victim who was a real shady character?

I seem to remember somethign about that, and wondering wth the cops just let him walk around like that without really questioning him closely. Was it because he was an police informant?

I really need to re-read that case.

I remember the Arkansas boys' deaths because Unsolved Mysteries reenacted the crime.

[southlandshari]

6. Yes to all your questions above

And his name was John Mark Byers. I wouldn't even know where to begin to list all of the suspicious issues surrounding Byers. Maybe I can find a list somewhere - I'll be back to post on this soon!

Suffice it to say there was FAR more evidence that Byers could have been involved (including physical evidence in a bite mark on one of the boys, but oops! All of a sudden, Byers had a dentist yank all his teeth out) than that offered in the pitiful case against the three who were convicted of the crime.

Have you watched the HBO documentaries (Paradise Lost I and II)? I'm much more of a reader when it comes to true crime, but these films (especially the first) were really unforgettable.

I've read "Devil's Knot" several times - there is so much research (and so many footnotes) that it took several readings to catch all of the details Leveritt uncovered.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

24. And he was a suspect in Melissa Byers' suspicious death...

which happened not too long after her son's death. I believe that John Mark Byers did all four murderers. No one will ever convince me otherwise. Thanks for the book referrals. My favorite section at Barnes and Noble is True Crime. I just found this group, and I'm really excited!
Duckie

[southlandshari]

25. Welcome home, Duckie!

:hi:

[johnnie]

7. I have heard of it

I haven't looked into it too much, but I am going to read about it now.
http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/memphis/index_1.html?sect=7

[johnnie]

8. Wow

I just read the story on this case. I have to see if I can find the programs you mention.
It seems pretty obvious that three people are doing time in prison for something they didn't do. The descriptions of what happened to those poor boys is a haunting thing to read and get in your mind. I can't imagine what they went thru and what their families are going thru.
It will be interesting to see if they ever get back to this case and find out who really did it. I hope when they do that they are forced to make a public apology to these three guys that are sitting in prison right now.
I will now have to read more on this one.

[southlandshari]

9. You'll get hooked

This is an incredible story - and a terrible tragedy for both the victims of the crime and the victims of a justice system run amok. Visit this website for comprehensive info on the case and all the media (documentaries, books, etc...) that it has generated:

http://www.wm3.org/

[Blue_In_AK]

10. I really believe those boys are innocent.

I spent hours on the WM3 web site after I first saw the Paradise Lost movies. This case is a real travesty.

[southlandshari]

11. I agree - do you have any personal theories?

I believe Mark Byers was indeed involved, but probably not alone. I still think there was something to these two young men (Christopher Morgan and someone else who at one time admitted involvement and later pleaded the fifth at the Baldwin/Echols trial (or maybe it was one of the appeals)).

I even think that the black, bloody guy in the Bojangles restaurant could have somehow been involved, but in my gut I think it all goes back to Byers.

[Blue_In_AK]

12. Oh, Byers definitely...

Everything about him is suspicious. The false teeth especially.

[Chovexani]

13. Very much so

As a matter of fact there's a lounge thread that pointed me to this group (hi guys! :hi:).

I've followed this case closely ever since I first heard about it and as a Pagan and a Goth, it never ceases to scare the shit out of me. There but for the grace of whoever go I, and all that.

I've been saying all along that batshit crazy stepfather did it. I know there was a lot of criticism of Paradise Lost 2 because some people thought it portrayed him in an unfair light, but I thought he was suspect from the very beginning. The crazy was always there, it just came through more strongly in the second one.

[XanaDUer]

14. Really!?

Which Lounge thread? Can you find it?


If not, don't worry, but it's good to see our rep is spreading. :hi: and welcome!

[johnnie]

15. Oh..that was me :)

Lol, I happened to mention us in a thread about the West Memphis 3. Gotta spread the news some way. :)

[southlandshari]

18. Thanks!

For spreading the word on this great discussion forum - I wasn't a founding member, but found my way here not long after it was started, and love the discussion here. Now my true crime fetish doesn't have to be a secret, guilty pleasure - I really love this group!

[XanaDUer]

19. Good work!

...

[southlandshari]

16. Welcome to the group!

And I want you to know that as a white, privileged, Deep South-born and bred, mainstream Christian, this case officially scares the shit out of me, too! You and I and all the rest of the thinking people in this country have a lot more in common than it may appear to those who would divide and conquer us!

JMByers is involved in this case, I know it in my gut. I just hope the truth comes to light before Echols is executed and in time for all three of the accused to get out of prison and rebuild their lives.

[johnnie]

17. Welcome Chovexani

I hope you have some good conversation with us here.
:hi:

[mitchum]

20. JOHN MARK BYERS DID IT!

The "outrage" of that posturing, grandstanding, murderous redneck fools no one who is familiar with the facts of the case. Apparently, that sonofabitch is now working the gospel circuit. No surprise there.

The convictions of the WM3 is a travesty of justice.

[XanaDUer]

21. He's on the gospel circuit now?

Wow. Big surprise.

I wonder if he has dentures now?

[Zuni]

22. I read a book about it

one of the worst miscarriages of justice I have ever heard of

[RevolutionStartsNow]

23. Steve Earle wrote this song for the WM3...

It's called "The Truth"

In the blue of the evenin' when the sun is low
There's a shadow that creeps across my cell block floor
And it comes to remind me what I'm in here for

No, I'm not admittin' that I done the crime
I'm only gettin' down to doin' time
And the passin' of days is no concern of mine

There's a guard on the second shift comes on at three
And he's always about a half inch off of me
Like he needs to keep remindin' me that I'm not free

God forgive him 'cause he doesn't see
He's no less a prisoner 'cause he holds a key
And God forbid he turn his back on me

For every wall you build around your fear
A thousand darker things are born in here
And they're fed on contempt for all that you hold dear

The truth is it doesn't matter what you do
'Til you gaze in that mirror with an eye that's true
And admit that what scares you is the me in you