Devils Knot

"Devil's Knot" by Mara Leveritt tells the story of three eight-year- old boys that were murdered. The murders took place on May 5, 1993 in West Memphis, Arkansas. That night, at 8 p.m. police received a phone call from John Mark Byers, who the first parent to report a child missing. This child was Christopher Byers and was eight years old. At 9:24 p.m., they received another phone call from Dana Moore. Dana Moore lived on Barton Street, directly across from the Byers. She reported that her eight-year-old son, Michael Moore, was missing. He was last seen riding his bicycle with his friends Christopher Byers and Stevie Branch. Next, an officer was sent to a restaurant. There, Pamela Hobbs reported that her son Stevie Edward Branch was missing, he was also eight years old. The officers that had taken the reports searched Robin Hood woods, but only for a short time.

The next morning Chief Inspector Gary W Gitchell organized a search. Law enforcement officers and volunteers helped search the woods, but by noon most had left since nothing had turned up. But at about 1:30 p.m. a juvenile officer of Crittenden County, Steve Jones, saw something on the water that led to the primary ditch. It was a boy's laceless shoe. After the discovery, Sergeant Allen entered the water and released a naked body. This was the body of Michael Moore. He had suffered wounds and was tied in an unusual way with shoelaces; the right ankle was tied to his right wrist and his left wrist to his left ankle. Later on, Detective Ridge entered the water and searched by crawling along the stream. He found Michael's clothes and cap along with two more pairs of laceless shoes. All of the clothing that was on the victims was then recovered. Ridge next pulled out Stevie Branch's body. His body was also naked, beaten, and tied in the same manner. Not too long after, Ridge found a third body. This was the body of Christopher Byers, also naked, beaten, and tied. Detectives were stunned when they discovered that he had also been castrated. Twenty minutes later, two bicycles were found. There was an absence of blood in the site, as if nothing had occurred.

Word of the discovered bodies spread quickly and many were relating the murders to Satanism. The police looked at three possibilities. The first was that they were killed by someone they knew and the second theory was that they were killed by a stranger. Lastly, that they were murdered by members of a gang or cult, what Gitchell had believed from the start. There was even some talk in the county before the murders had occurred that there was some kind of satanic, cult-related activities going on. After the murders those beliefs intensified. Jerry Driver was the county's chief juvenile officer who kept track of kids that had gotten in trouble with the police. He was one of the people who were certain there were satanic activities occurring in the county. He was seen by the police as an expert on the occult. He even warned people that something terrible was sure to happen sooner or later. When Driver first heard of the murders, he immediately thought of Damien Echols. Driver came to know Echols about a year before the murders when Echols had gotten in trouble with the law. He had heard that Damien and his girlfriend wanted to have a baby and sacrifice the child after she gave birth. He also read some of Damien's poems and came to the conclusion that he had some interest in the occult. Driver was convinced that Damien was the leader of a satanic cult. Not only did he think Damien was the source of this cult activity, but he also thought he was bringing other kids in the county into the occult. After the murders, Driver strongly believed Damien was involved. Driver also viewed Damien's close friends, his best friend Jason Baldwin and his girlfriend Domini Teer, as suspects. He shared his opinion with his assistant and Detective Don Bray. They were all suspicious of Damien and his best friend, Jason. Driver even made a list of eight teenagers and told Bray that one or more of those kids on the list would be charged with the murders. Damien, Jason, and Domini were all on that list. Driver gave that list to Lieutenant Sudbury. There were also reports to the police of satanic activities in Robin Hood and that convinced Sudbury and juvenile officer Jones to interview the teenagers. On May 8, 1993 they were questioned on where they were on May 5, 1993. On May 10, 1993 Damien was asked to come to the police station for further questioning. He was questioned but denied being involved in the murders. Still, Damien and Jason came to be prime suspects.

Victoria Hutcheson was a woman who lived in the neighborhood and was interviewed by Detective Bray. She said she did not know anything about an occult, but not too long after she called Bray and told him some kids might have information about a cult in the neighborhood and that she was going to investigate. She first focused on Jessie Misskelly Jr. The teenager often babysat for her children. His name was also on the list that Driver had written. Jessie knew Damien and Jason, but was not close to them. Hutcheson wanted to use Jessie as a way to meet Damien. By now, many people in the neighborhood knew the police were very interested in Damien. Hutcheson met with Damien and later told police that he had driven her and Jesse to an "esbat," which was a gathering of witches. Hutcheson discussed Jessie with the police, but said she could not say whether he was involved or not. It was now June and Detective Mike Allen went to Jessie's trailer and asked if he would go down to the police station with him.

Jessie arrived at the station and Detective Gitchell started the interrogation. Jessie told them that he was not involved in the murders and that he did not know had murdered the three boys. He also denied being part of a satanic cult. The detectives kept questioning Jessie, but Jessie kept denying any involvement in the murders. They gave him a polygraph test and told him he had not passed

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