There's a lot of good reasons to eyeball this guy, and I'd like to use this space to collect all the info out there on him. What would be awesome is if we could all just for a short time put away all our pet theories and really look at this guy as a good suspect.
Like many other viable suspects, he wasn't investigated very thoroughly, and with his history of rampant pedophilia, his listing as a 'violent' offender, and the shaky (and changing..) nature of his alibi, his familiarity and links with the area (West Memphis born and bred), his self-insertion into the investigation, his apparently uncanny early knowledge of the crime scene, his many suspect verbal slip-ups..
Well. For these reasons, among others, I do think he's one of the better candidates for having committed this crime.
I totally understand that for some members here, there can BE no alternate suspects. I do understand and respect that -- so in turn, perhaps those members could see fit to respect my desire to examine alternates, and keep the utter derailing of the thread to a minimum, please.
Martin's certainly not the only suspect I feel warrants closer examination, just to be clear.
To start with, I'd like to address the issue of his alibi, as this is the thing which seems to exonerate him. But then, there's this:
There are problems with James Martin's timeline for that evening.
In his police statement and echoed above he said at five to six pm Barbara had called him to tell him about the missing children. This timing is impossible, even the parents did not know about the three being missing together until after 8 pm.
He also claims to have seen a news story on television that night about the three missing children and he discussed it with his wife, Darlene, before going to work at the Flash Market on Broadway for a shift that began at 10 pm. (He had another job at W.B. Davis Electrical Supplies in Memphis, nearby Melissa Byers employment.)
Problems with Martin's timeline overlap with problems with his alibi. In his West Memphis police interview and notes he described his day's activities as this: He went to Shelby Farms (a park in Eastern Memphis) the afternoon of the fifth. He talked to Barbara McAfferty about the missing children as mentioned above around five to six pm. He was home with his wife and went to work at the Flash Market at 10 pm.
Recently, he has given an altered version of his timeline. He says he slept until 2:40 pm (he had worked the night shift the night before). "I didn't work at W.B. [Davis Electric] that week, and my two girls [daughters of Darlene Conner] went to a school in west memphis, and my wife and I picked them up, and that was around 3:30pm, as always we went to a restraunt (johnnie's or something, right off I-55/40 near the service road to wal-mart^ one of west memphis' main drags ^ Lots of contractors eat there) and I'd say by 5pm we were on our way home, now from 6 to 8 she called cause it was at least an hour maybe more when we were home.... and my wife made a comment that we were just out that way, and we don't recall seeing anyone walking the service road or anything, now that was 5pm or so......"
Remarkably, he now claims to have taken his ten year old stepdaughter to work with him for the overnight shift -- on a school night. And there is the matter of picking up his ten and twelve year old stepdaughters from Maddux Elementary in West Memphis, placing him just east of the missing children's homes that afternoon.
A more detailed and conflicting alibi came from Barbara McAfferty. Instead of saying she was on the phone with him talking about the missing children, she says she went to his house after six pm and stayed until about sunset. Recently, James Martin completely dismissed this alibi, calling it absurd. Not only did it not happen that night, he says the incident never happened.
Martin's alibi, as related above, is that he was with his wife. The West Memphis Police included only a brief note regarding this. "I talked to Darlene Kinard Martin in front of the the [sic] Detective Division. She stated that Kenny was with her on Wednesday evening the 5th of May until he went to work late that night. -- Det. B Ridge." There are no notes of any further interview with Darlene Martin.
http://www.jivepuppi.com/jivepuppi_jkm.html
Well, wow.
I'm unwell this week, and painkillers are making me a little foggy and a little weary, so if anyone can help me out with where exactly that place is that Martin says he went to eat, in relation to the crime scene.. I will be most grateful.
I am taking special note of the various links to W. Memphis Martin has, and how familiar he might be with the area in general, and in particular the crime scene.
Just in this small bit of info, I feel like there's some very obvious red flags.
Next, I am linking his statement to police -- BE WARNED, there's obscene language and material!
I will only link it as a whole, but will be picking parts out of it to examine that aren't too terrible to post but still offer further reason for Martin to be considered a good and viable suspect.
That'll be my next post, though, as I'd like to make some notes first. =)
In the meantime, if anyone has links to info that is NOT Martin's police statements (where he offers them tips on pedo behaviour, etc), I'd be very pleased to see that info.
Like many other viable suspects, he wasn't investigated very thoroughly, and with his history of rampant pedophilia, his listing as a 'violent' offender, and the shaky (and changing..) nature of his alibi, his familiarity and links with the area (West Memphis born and bred), his self-insertion into the investigation, his apparently uncanny early knowledge of the crime scene, his many suspect verbal slip-ups..
Well. For these reasons, among others, I do think he's one of the better candidates for having committed this crime.
I totally understand that for some members here, there can BE no alternate suspects. I do understand and respect that -- so in turn, perhaps those members could see fit to respect my desire to examine alternates, and keep the utter derailing of the thread to a minimum, please.
Martin's certainly not the only suspect I feel warrants closer examination, just to be clear.
To start with, I'd like to address the issue of his alibi, as this is the thing which seems to exonerate him. But then, there's this:
There are problems with James Martin's timeline for that evening.
In his police statement and echoed above he said at five to six pm Barbara had called him to tell him about the missing children. This timing is impossible, even the parents did not know about the three being missing together until after 8 pm.
He also claims to have seen a news story on television that night about the three missing children and he discussed it with his wife, Darlene, before going to work at the Flash Market on Broadway for a shift that began at 10 pm. (He had another job at W.B. Davis Electrical Supplies in Memphis, nearby Melissa Byers employment.)
Problems with Martin's timeline overlap with problems with his alibi. In his West Memphis police interview and notes he described his day's activities as this: He went to Shelby Farms (a park in Eastern Memphis) the afternoon of the fifth. He talked to Barbara McAfferty about the missing children as mentioned above around five to six pm. He was home with his wife and went to work at the Flash Market at 10 pm.
Recently, he has given an altered version of his timeline. He says he slept until 2:40 pm (he had worked the night shift the night before). "I didn't work at W.B. [Davis Electric] that week, and my two girls [daughters of Darlene Conner] went to a school in west memphis, and my wife and I picked them up, and that was around 3:30pm, as always we went to a restraunt (johnnie's or something, right off I-55/40 near the service road to wal-mart^ one of west memphis' main drags ^ Lots of contractors eat there) and I'd say by 5pm we were on our way home, now from 6 to 8 she called cause it was at least an hour maybe more when we were home.... and my wife made a comment that we were just out that way, and we don't recall seeing anyone walking the service road or anything, now that was 5pm or so......"
Remarkably, he now claims to have taken his ten year old stepdaughter to work with him for the overnight shift -- on a school night. And there is the matter of picking up his ten and twelve year old stepdaughters from Maddux Elementary in West Memphis, placing him just east of the missing children's homes that afternoon.
A more detailed and conflicting alibi came from Barbara McAfferty. Instead of saying she was on the phone with him talking about the missing children, she says she went to his house after six pm and stayed until about sunset. Recently, James Martin completely dismissed this alibi, calling it absurd. Not only did it not happen that night, he says the incident never happened.
Martin's alibi, as related above, is that he was with his wife. The West Memphis Police included only a brief note regarding this. "I talked to Darlene Kinard Martin in front of the the [sic] Detective Division. She stated that Kenny was with her on Wednesday evening the 5th of May until he went to work late that night. -- Det. B Ridge." There are no notes of any further interview with Darlene Martin.
http://www.jivepuppi.com/jivepuppi_jkm.html
Well, wow.
I'm unwell this week, and painkillers are making me a little foggy and a little weary, so if anyone can help me out with where exactly that place is that Martin says he went to eat, in relation to the crime scene.. I will be most grateful.
I am taking special note of the various links to W. Memphis Martin has, and how familiar he might be with the area in general, and in particular the crime scene.
Just in this small bit of info, I feel like there's some very obvious red flags.
Next, I am linking his statement to police -- BE WARNED, there's obscene language and material!
I will only link it as a whole, but will be picking parts out of it to examine that aren't too terrible to post but still offer further reason for Martin to be considered a good and viable suspect.
That'll be my next post, though, as I'd like to make some notes first. =)
In the meantime, if anyone has links to info that is NOT Martin's police statements (where he offers them tips on pedo behaviour, etc), I'd be very pleased to see that info.