What do you think about the West Memphis Three?

[IzzyBlanche]

Which father? He's had several both biological and through marriage.

I don't know, but what does it matter?

Edited: Honest question, not intended to be snarky.

 

[glamourkitty1922]

Innocent of murder. I think this was just another example of Satanic Panic

 

[branmuffin]

I don't know, but what does it matter?

Edited: Honest question, not intended to be snarky.

It matters a lot. He's had several stepfathers at different points in his life and had varied relationships with them.

 

[branmuffin]

Here's a declaration from one of the stepfather's DE had in his life. Echols is the once who formally adopted Damien. I think he was a fairly young boy at the time and lived with Echols until his mother divorced him. Based on the information in this declaration it sounds to me that DE had some issue that was left undiagnosed for a very long time. He sounds like he had a horrible childhood. Not because his parents were mean or violent towards him but because there were so many kids - half siblings, full siblings from various relationships his mother had and like what happens in many families that struggle economically combined with parents with low or no education he was left to fend for himself.

Declaration of Andy Jack Echols

 

[IzzyBlanche]

Here's a declaration from one of the stepfather's DE had in his life. Echols is the once who formally adopted Damien. I think he was a fairly young boy at the time and lived with Echols until his mother divorced him. Based on the information in this declaration it sounds to me that DE had some issue that was left undiagnosed for a very long time. He sounds like he had a horrible childhood. Not because his parents were mean or violent towards him but because there were so many kids - half siblings, full siblings from various relationships his mother had and like what happens in many families that struggle economically combined with parents with low or no education he was left to fend for himself.

Declaration of Andy Jack Echols

Thank you for posting this. I notice he doesn't mention that Michelle accused him of sexual abuse, that Pam thought she was lying, and that Damien held him in low regard because he believed Michelle was telling the truth.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

It's laughable to me that in Paradise Lost 2, the murderer was clearly John Mark Byers.

Then in episode 3, the murderer was clearly Terry Hobbs.

I don't think any of these movies were made to try to find the truth, but instead to distort the truth and thereby continue to profit off the unimaginable suffering of three young boys.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

It matters a lot. He's had several stepfathers at different points in his life and had varied relationships with them.

From what I've read I believe it was his bio father, but it might have been his adopted father. I can't say for sure.

Either way, I don't understand why it matters which father he threatened. The problem is whoever it was, he threatened them.

 

[branmuffin]

Thank you for posting this. I notice he doesn't mention that Michelle accused him of sexual abuse, that Pam thought she was lying, and that Damien held him in low regard because he believed Michelle was telling the truth.

I think that Michael Hutchison, aka Damien Echols, changed his name to Damien because he was reading the novel The Exorcist. I think it would be the type of novel that would make a huge impact on an impressionable youth who probably never felt he had his own identity being one of numerous children in a couple of blended families where you became anonymous. The name Damien was the name of the priest in the Exorcist who was a Jesuit having a crisis of faith, he was not a devil or demon. I think the name Damien is associated with the devil because of another novel and movie (The Omen) about a young boy who was the devil incarnate.

Here's another website that mentions a very convoluted situation where a young girl told a teacher that Michelle, Damien's sister told her that Damien and a boy called Mike Elinburg murdered the three boys. It was a screw up from the getgo when even the police officers investigating the case misidentified Damien Echols as Mike Elinburg. The whole hysteria surrounding the killings and the belief even by investigating LE that otherworldly evil was responsible for the killings really affected how the story was presented as a lurid sex killings by devil worshippers which whet the appetite of the public domain. I think it was terrible police work, imo.

...:::Murders In West Memphis:::...

 

[IzzyBlanche]

I think that Michael Hutchison, aka Damien Echols, changed his name to Damien because he was reading the novel The Exorcist. I think it would be the type of novel that would make a huge impact on an impressionable youth who probably never felt he had his own identity being one of numerous children in a couple of blended families where you became anonymous. The name Damien was the name of the priest in the Exorcist who was a Jesuit having a crisis of faith, he was not a devil or demon. I think the name Damien is associated with the devil because of another novel and movie (The Omen) about a young boy who was the devil incarnate.

Here's another website that mentions a very convoluted situation where a young girl told a teacher that Michelle, Damien's sister told her that Damien and a boy called Mike Elinburg murdered the three boys. It was a screw up from the getgo when even the police officers investigating the case misidentified Damien Echols as Mike Elinburg. The whole hysteria surrounding the killings and the belief even by investigating LE that otherworldly evil was responsible for the killings really affected how the story was presented as a lurid sex killings by devil worshippers which whet the appetite of the public domain. I think it was terrible police work, imo.

...:::Murders In West Memphis:::...

Might you have a source for "the belief even by investigating LE that otherworldly evil was responsible for the killings"?

Also do you have any response to what I wrote in the post you quoted, to wit: Michelle accused him of sexual abuse, that Pam thought she was lying, and that Damien held him in low regard because he believed Michelle was telling the truth?

 

[IzzyBlanche]

It's pretty clear to me that DE had a horrific childhood.

And I also think he and the other two are guilty.

Jessie Misskelley confessed over and over and over. One confession that he recanted, I could possibly accept as coerced.

But he also confessed to a prosecutor and to his own lawyer and in another situation even after his own lawyer begged him not to.

I stress that I too used to think they were innocent, until I stopped relying on what the documentaries said and started reading actual documents relating to the case.

 

[Crunchy Riff]

In this world who knows,but I think they are innocent,and the fact they were singled out by looks alone is disturbing.

At that age I personally would have been singled out,as the only shirts I wore were death metal t shirts.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

In this world who knows,but I think they are innocent,and the fact they were singled out by looks alone is disturbing.

At that age I personally would have been singled out,as the only shirts I wore were death metal t shirts.

But they weren't singled out by looks alone. If you have evidence that confirms that, I will gladly eat crow.

 

[branmuffin]

Might you have a source for "the belief even by investigating LE that otherworldly evil was responsible for the killings"?

Also do you have any response to what I wrote in the post you quoted, to wit: Michelle accused him of sexual abuse, that Pam thought she was lying, and that Damien held him in low regard because he believed Michelle was telling the truth?

I have read numerous articles where the overarching theory of many individuals is that it was believed that DE was a satanist because he wore all black, he wrote weird poetry, he listened to heavy metal, he stated he practiced black magic, etc. When you keep reading reports that keep stating those things, whether accurate or not, they become baked into the narrative of DE. LE are not immune to those statements and beliefs. As a matter of fact, I believe that many LE officers who grew up in evangelical homes temper their law enforcement processes with a little black magic of their own. To wit: writing reports that continue to mention the satanist aspects of the killings even though there is really no evidence whatsoever at the crime scene. I am not alone in thinking along these lines.

https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1060&context=cj_fac

It’s Time to Revisit the Satanic Panic (Published 2021)

As the United States shifted with the anxieties of the 1980s, baseless conspiracy theories about satanic cults committing mass abuse spread around the country.

www.nytimes.com

As far as the claims of SA by Michelle, I haven't read anything about that. I don't know if she is referring to her biological father or her adoptive father or even subsequent step father after Echols. Who is Michelle referring to? Her mother divorced both husbands and took her daughter and Damien with her when she left Hutchison. I believe she divorced her third husband, too.

 

[herb4]

It's laughable to me that in Paradise Lost 2, the murderer was clearly John Mark Byers.

Then in episode 3, the murderer was clearly Terry Hobbs.

I don't think any of these movies were made to try to find the truth, but instead to distort the truth and thereby continue to profit off the unimaginable suffering of three young boys.

Byers was actually a good suspect and well worth looking at. So is Terry Hobbs for that matter

Also: "Damien" is a character from The Omen, not the Exorcist like Izzy said.

And that long list of mental health concerns Izzy posted is all well and good but none of it is evidence of having committed this crime. It's evidence of a mentally ill teenager but none of that is relevant to this case.

<modsnip - referenced post was snipped>

 

[CuriousWhiskers]

As someone who previously believed that they were innocent, I now believe that there is more information supporting their guilt (primarily DE), which has already been discussed in this thread. I don't think that there was enough for a conviction, however. This case is so sad. Whoever did this should be rotting in prison, and they are not. I enjoyed Pat Brown's assessment of the case on Youtube. All MOO. Rest in peace, boys.

 

[branmuffin]

Might you have a source for "the belief even by investigating LE that otherworldly evil was responsible for the killings"?

Also do you have any response to what I wrote in the post you quoted, to wit: Michelle accused him of sexual abuse, that Pam thought she was lying, and that Damien held him in low regard because he believed Michelle was telling the truth?

I can't provide information that I haven't seen. I think that DE was a perfect patsy for the murders. He obviously had mental health issues but so do about 18% of the American public and those 57 million plus have not been murdering children, drink blood or espousing Wiccan views. When people have a tendency to believe the worst about individuals with mental health difficulties it bleeds into every segment of the social order of a country. It bleeds into LE, the justice system, the school system, religious organizations, the prison system where the percentage of inmates in jails hovers around 44 percent and around 20 percent in federal prisons. Undiagnosed individuals have a much rougher go with it and I can see how someone like DE, who was poor, and marginalized suffering from an undisclosed mental illness could take on the persona of someone who was a mystic, an other worldly person who supposedly liked to drink blood. It was a persona that could scare the hell out of people so they would leave him alone. Even John Douglas, the pre-eminent forensic analyst thought they'd been railroaded. Ironically, people can believe a statement without evidence in one case but believe a charge without evidence in another.

To me, when it comes to Damien Echols, I believe he's a pathological liar. He lies about everything. But he lied long before he was charged with murder. Most of lies seem to be fabricated to paint himself as a dangerous person, kind of like certain insect species that have warning coloration to keep predators at bay.

 

[airportwoman]

But we're not supposed to put people in prison for crimes they didn't commit, regardless of what else they may have done. Put them away for THOSE things instead.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

All three of them were convicted. I'm as cynical as the next person, but I don't believe juries convict based on nothing.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

Echols obtained his release following the presentation of DNA evidence casting doubt on his original conviction.

Snipped for focus

I realize I'm late to the party here and this has probably been addressed, but this is just incorrect.

Echols obtained his release due to all three taking the Alford plea. His release was not in any way based on DNA evidence.

 

[SnowCujo]

Innocent, in my opinion. The trial was a satanic panic farce. I didn't come to that conclusion from watching a few documentaries, but almost 2 years spent obsessing over this case until I forced myself to let it go. The real question is who really killed those boys. It drives me mad that we still don't know with any certainty. This is the case I most want to see solved. Terry Hobbs is clearly the strongest suspect but I doubt he'll ever face justice. I think about those 3 boys a lot to this day.