Viable Suspect: John Mark Byers

[LunaticFringe]

According to the timeline there is no way he should have ever been suspected.

http://www.jivepuppi.com/john_mark_byers_2.html


He did not kill the boys.

 

[LunaticFringe]

I've been looking into JMB's past and good grief! I can only say wow. This mans whole life is suspicious. Is it possible the whole investigation was botched because the authorities believed he really did it? Ordered not to investigate him and pin it on someone else more locally disliked and easier to swallow (so to speak) (kinda like don't ask, don't tell, don't investigate.)

He is nothing short of a criminal.But he didn't kill the boys.No way..no how.

 

[Userid]

According to the timeline there is no way he should have ever been suspected.

http://www.jivepuppi.com/john_mark_byers_2.html


He did not kill the boys.

Please don't take this to be snooty, but I'm somewhat confused here. Is this supposed to strengthen your argument or weaken it? I'm only asking because even the author/creator of that website states that Byers' alibi is "anemic." I guess it's all about how a person perceives this evidence. I see a lot of holes in this timeline, personally.

And before anyone bites my head off, I'm not stating this proves JMB's guilt one way or the other. I'm simply stating that, yes, there are holes in his alibi. There are holes in everyone's alibis in this case.

 

[Justiceseeker35]

I don't think he did either but wondering if he's why the police seemed to stop short their investigation. Why the town seemed so adamant on convicting the WM3 teens then really looking into the others. The corruption really seems to be rampant and the amount of criminal activity is just staggering. And I have to wonder why a 13 year old boy was called into court as a witness. (witness to what?)

 

[Miranda!]

Things I want to address:

Changing clothes. From shorts, flip flops to overalls and boots makes complete sense given the mosquito activity!
Not so sure if such casual wear would have been worn to the oncologist, but maybe.
That he then gives the impression of all but living in those clothes for the next day or so fits with 'normal' behaviour of a grieving father.

Timeline. As already said above - all were only approximations. From +/-10minutes to +/-half and hour or more! No-one was doing a time and motion study, armed with stop watch and clip-board let alone everyone synchronizing their watches that day. One would hope that the police officers all had done that at start of shift and had reliable watches!!

JMB was the only parent to be intensely interrogated by the wmpd, although he was told the other fathers would be treated in the same blunt and direct fashion. They were never interviewed.

The questions when he was in the witness box during the trial was also a whole other scenario. If the prosecution were just going through the motions, believing it was spurious to the case they were making, it is quite understandable that they approached it more sensitively.

West Memphis was a very poor community in an impoverished state. Many citizens most probably found it hard to scrape a living and likely many of them did some work on the black economy. Back then the man was the boss and was expected to be the provider. I would think it pretty likely that many resorted to petty crime at one time or another and also that many 'talked' with their fists when angry.
Even the middle class and so-called 'professional' class had dishonest elements. Police Officers and a Judge are examples we allegedly know of!

Hell, I am sure that there are still households down there where men still think that the woman's role is in the kitchen and who expect to be waited on hand and foot. One of the less attractive aspects of the deep south which are still ingrained in the psyche.

 

[Miranda!]

Forgot to say!

When PL2 was in the making it was thought and hoped that there woyuld be some sort of breakthrough. By the tine it was realised that it was not going to happen they had already gone so far that they ran with it. Hence it was really just a 'filler'. It helped keep the case alive outside of the immediate environs of AR. For good or bad JMB is a natural when on camera as himself. His Baptist background does mean that he sounds as though in 'preacher' mode at times!!

Burke Sauls' comment about how much nicer he is when not discussing the case in front of the cameras says a lot - remembering that he was still a rampant non then!

It is generally understood that he was not happy with the way he was portrayed. However, he has gone on record saying that if it helped to keep the case alive, then he would do it again!

 

[Mrs G Norris]

You have to look at the Paradise Lost films as what they are, defence strategies. PL2 was a great example of the SODDI defence, and the creation of 'reasonable doubt' .. yes JMB has a shady past, it doesn't make him the murderer of these boys and the filmmakers know this, what they are saying is 'is it possible?', 'is it just as possible as the accused?', 'did the police do a thorough enough investigation' etc .. it's the same strategy used in the Casey Anthony case by Jose Baez.

 

[Compassionate Reader]

I think that the most important point here is that the police actually interrogated JMB. Even in 2004, TWH was given "softball" questions, never really interrogated as JMB was. So, IMO, to consider him a "viable suspect" at this stage of the game is a little like a dog chasing his tail. Although it might be entertaining to some (not me), it gets nowhere!

 

[TroyinTX]

Just wondering if anyone has ever checked out the theory presented on this site:

http://www.midsouthjustice.com/Home.htm

They seem to do a pretty good job of backing up their theories with facts. They state that five men killed the three boys including TH, JMB and Bojangles, who they theorize was shot by one of the other murderers as he attempted to run away. Not sure what I think of it, but definitely an interesting read.

 

[Ausgirl]

"entertaining to some"? Really? ....


What I find amazing is that anyone would wish to minimise JMB's horrific history of violence against family members and neighbours, and children. Let alone his entanglement with the police...

Also, why is a bloody knife with blood consistent with a victim's blood type disregarded as potential evidence, SANS being 100% cleared by DNA testing (whatever happened to that knife, btw?), when a knife found in a lake with no blood on it, and another found in a box with no blood on it, considered (by various factions) hard proof indeed?

Why are JMB's visibly changing stories about the knife, about his timeline, etc, NOT reason to look at him as potentially having reason to lie, when other suspects are seen as being profoundly suspicious when making similar 'mistakes' over important details....


Again, I'm not saying he's my favourite suspect. But it's blowing me away how he's being whitewashed now there's a new lead suspect on the block. Who's a really good suspect, I might add, hence me making him his own Viable Suspect thread.

I have a couple of others of the kind to post as well, sooner or later.

 

[danzn16]

I think that the most important point here is that the police actually interrogated JMB. Even in 2004, TWH was given "softball" questions, never really interrogated as JMB was. So, IMO, to consider him a "viable suspect" at this stage of the game is a little like a dog chasing his tail. Although it might be entertaining to some (not me), it gets nowhere!

If the police force there was even 20% competent then maybe I would believe he could be a rule out. But they have thoroughly botched every single thing having to do with this case. Not saying I believe without a doubt he is guilty but he has done very shady things and is a very viable suspect IMO.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[shadoworder]

I think he saw the writing on the wall, and realized when their was a retrial, they would win big, and go free. And that would leave him once again as the main suspect. It's one thing to claim it's only because of some biased documentaries, but if they had won their retrial, that excuse would not hold up. So it makes sense that he would make peace with the WM3, and start to blame Hobbs. Anything and everything to keep the heat off himself. I personally still think he had something to do with it.

 

[carillion]

One thing bothers me about JMB. I think it was in paradise lost 2 that they showed a clip of him where he said something about anyone helping them to RECOVER their missing children. Not find them, but recover. I dunno, that just kinda sticks in my head. It bugs me a bit.

 

[shadoworder]

One thing bothers me about JMB. I think it was in paradise lost 2 that they showed a clip of him where he said something about anyone helping them to RECOVER their missing children. Not find them, but recover. I dunno, that just kinda sticks in my head. It bugs me a bit.

He also told the police on May 5th, that he was worried because Christopher had not come home, but his wife Melissa told the detectives that christopher had stayed out late on previous occasions. So why did he lie, and why was he so worried this particular time? Also in PL#2, when he visits the grave of his wife and kid, and he starts crying.. didn't it just seem fake to you?

 

[Miranda!]

One thing bothers me about JMB. I think it was in paradise lost 2 that they showed a clip of him where he said something about anyone helping them to RECOVER their missing children. Not find them, but recover. I dunno, that just kinda sticks in my head. It bugs me a bit.

JMB has no control over the fact that the camera 'likes' him. Much as it does a few people, Marilyn Munroe being one. OK guys wanted her and women wanted to be like her. JMB does not pluck heart strings but he def. grabs both attention and emotional responses.

Next point, the footage in PL2 that you refer to is most likely news tv cover from back then, (sorry, but the idea of watching PL2 again does not appeal). JMB had no front of camera experience back then, further more he was trying very hard to get 'Search and Rescue' involved on the evening they went missing. 'Search and Rescue'; 'Recover'; 'Retrieve'; They are all 'finding' words. If two people use slightly different words such as to raise flags as to a degree of culpability then things are pretty sorry and no wonder some juries misunderstand and return wrongful convictions.

Fine if it 'bugs' you. Many things bug me, but not enough to post in a debate arguing a point that someone is a viable suspect.

A good investigation has a load of possible suspects and slowly, by dint of hard work, whittle it down. That never happened in this case. Ausgirl has opted to approach things going suspect by suspect, in isolation. Also only using the resources generally available to all that has already been 'sanitised' by the wmpd. Women kill kids too.

These are real people here and it is not some sort of 'who dun it' game. Maybe posters could be asked to list, with a percentage of possibility, who they think is a killer. I would like to suggest that folk filter what they say by imagining meeting that person, face to face, in public and thinking how they would feel if they had got it wrong.

This is not an attack of you Carillion, just a general vent. Your post was just the proverbial straw - others have posted bails of the stuff... So much hatred oozes out of some posts that it is obvious they are emotion driven rather than logically arrived at. BTW Welcome.

 

[Userid]

JMB has no control over the fact that the camera 'likes' him. Much as it does a few people, Marilyn Munroe being one. OK guys wanted her and women wanted to be like her. JMB does not pluck heart strings but he def. grabs both attention and emotional responses.

Next point, the footage in PL2 that you refer to is most likely news tv cover from back then, (sorry, but the idea of watching PL2 again does not appeal). JMB had no front of camera experience back then, further more he was trying very hard to get 'Search and Rescue' involved on the evening they went missing. 'Search and Rescue'; 'Recover'; 'Retrieve'; They are all 'finding' words. If two people use slightly different words such as to raise flags as to a degree of culpability then things are pretty sorry and no wonder some juries misunderstand and return wrongful convictions.

Fine if it 'bugs' you. Many things bug me, but not enough to post in a debate arguing a point that someone is a viable suspect.

A good investigation has a load of possible suspects and slowly, by dint of hard work, whittle it down. That never happened in this case. Ausgirl has opted to approach things going suspect by suspect, in isolation. Also only using the resources generally available to all that has already been 'sanitised' by the wmpd. Women kill kids too.

These are real people here and it is not some sort of 'who dun it' game. Maybe posters could be asked to list, with a percentage of possibility, who they think is a killer. I would like to suggest that folk filter what they say by imagining meeting that person, face to face, in public and thinking how they would feel if they had got it wrong.

This is not an attack of you Carillion, just a general vent. Your post was just the proverbial straw - others have posted bails of the stuff... So much hatred oozes out of some posts that it is obvious they are emotion driven rather than logically arrived at. BTW Welcome.

I've seen you "vent" about this subject on multiple occasions now. Is it just because people are suspecting a person (JMB) that you already believe innocent, or are you just vehemently against any person being raised as a suspect, in general, at all?

I don't know what you're expecting. You're on a WM3 discussion board. From the looks of it, this isn't the only board you've belonged to -- and you've been around for a long time. You've discussed many facets of this case yourself, freely, without being chastised -- as you have now resorted to doing to others.

It seems to me you have no problem proclaiming certain "insinuations" about TWH, and freely bringing up his checkered past (as you do in that thread), but you have a problem here with people bringing up JMB's checkered past....

All due respect, the chastising just seems somewhat hypocritical and, quite frankly, unnecessary. If you disagree that JMB should be considered a suspect, fine -- but don't try to scold others for what everyone is and has been hypothesizing in this case, simply because you disagree.

 

[Ausgirl]

Ausgirl has opted to approach things going suspect by suspect, in isolation. Also only using the resources generally available to all that has already been 'sanitised' by the wmpd. Women kill kids too.

I'm sorry, but -- what? Are you complaining that I have not personally posted every iota of information on every suspect, both publically available and otherwise? .

So much hatred oozes out of some posts that it is obvious they are emotion driven rather than logically arrived at. BTW Welcome.

I'm not seeing any hatred-driven posts here. Perhaps I just haven't got my hatred-goggles on today. Will you elaborate?

 

[Justiceseeker35]

JMB is a possible suspect but has he been ruled out entirely? Someone who knew these children, where they played, how to manipulate them and what their weaknesses were killed them. Furthermore someone in a custodial type situation related to one of the children is most likely statistically. That was the only way they could take on three children with confidence. If one child gets away its over.
I don't "hate" the viable suspects per se they don't seem like nice people. A lot of them have some real serious problems based on their history alone.

 

[Miranda!]

So why did he lie, and why was he so worried this particular time? Also in PL#2, when he visits the grave of his wife and kid, and he starts crying.. didn't it just seem fake to you?

How do you know he lied? Not that I can really see any lie per se being told here. Is it not possible that his wife did not worry or involve him on every time that Chris ran a bit late? Especially if it did not impinge on family plans - as it did on this occasion. If one partner has a different perception of an event to the other - does it mean one has to be lying?

I suppose you could try to make a case for search as seen with 'worried' man hanging out with a friend and playing guitar vs. a man, totally unconcerned, trying to get the Search & Rescue people out that evening. But strikes me it would be a bit like rolling a snowball up the side of the Grand Canyon.

Have you ever been filmed at a sensitive moment like that? It may well be 'faked' in that those visits to the grave usually made him cry so the time the cameras are there he tries to replicate what normally happens. Just an idea. Most actors get scripts, read-throughs, rehearsals ad nauseum. Not to mention direction and the chance of re-takes until the light goes. I would tend to think that there will not have been too many demands for re-takes of the grave side scene.




For the record, TWH's 'relaxed' conversation with wmpd was in 2007, rather than 2004, after the EDT alerted the public that he had never actually been interviewed by the police back in 1993.

 

[Miranda!]

JMB is a possible suspect but has he been ruled out entirely?

For some people. including John Douglas and others on the EDT, yes, he has been ruled out.

Someone who knew these children

Yes, but more possible:- either the perp and the boys knew each other OR the perp was someone the boys knew and looked up to . . .

knew where they played

Suggests premeditation. Also throws out the idea of the kids stumbling upon something though.

how to manipulate them

surely any commanding older person? Or more than one perp?

and what their weaknesses were killed them

Not quite sure what this means, aside from vulnerability of youth?

I don't "hate" the viable suspects per se they don't seem like nice people. A lot of them have some real serious problems based on their history alone.

I guess it is how extremely judgmental and broad sweeping quite a few posts seem. I could even assume from some of the posts that the whole little town was pretty well filled with similar dysfunctional, low income, poorly educated people who went OTT in corporal punishment - both of kids and spouses. Along with alcohol and drug abuse or both. Those lucky enough to be further up the educational ladder were just bullies, cheats and as corrupt as hell.

And yet up until this crime and again after, many managed to 'forget' about it, West Memphis was the home town for many where there still is some community spirit and with enduring friendships and happy memories can be created and kept. Despite this, the town will forever be remembered for this ghastly crime and the lack, as things stand at the moment, of any true justice.

For real justice to prevail it matters not if we like, respect or have any positive regard for any of the characters caught up in the mess. Justice is blind and should be available for all.

Maybe my British bent for 'fair play' is just that. Very British and somewhat un-American.

Ausgirl it was your choice to have potentially viable suspects considered in isolation. If only life, in situations like this, were that simple. No man is an Island and it is the group dynamics of all those, some even only remotely involved, that make it all so very hard indeed to untangle.