Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills

Woman over radio: Okay.

Woman: Where were these found, guys?

Green one on the left side there,

red one on the right side.

Man over radio: Two thirty-one.

Man #2 over radio: Two thirty-one.

Don't let nobody come up here.

Don't-- nobody in here.

- ( helicopter whirring ) - ( police siren )

Male reporter: The police in West Memphis, Arkansas,

confirmed today that three young boys were brutally murdered.

The bodies of Weaver Elementary School second graders,

Steven Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore,

were pulled from a shallow creek earlier today.

There are rumors that the boys may have been sexually mutilated.

The police say that they do not yet

have any suspects in the case.

The missing 8-year-old boys

were discovered in an area known as Robin Hood Hills,

a secluded patch of woods

behind the Blue Beacon Truck Wash

along Interstate 40 in West Memphis.

Woman: Imagine all the evil that you could think of,

to how someone could be murdered.

And that's how these three children died.

Man: No family should have to go through this.

Unfortunately, it's gonna happen again somewhere.

Another town.

It's gonna happen again, I'm sure.

Lot of bad people out there in the world.

Man #2: I don't know why

these three little boys were murdered.

Did they see something they were not supposed to see?

Did they hear things they were not supposed to hear?

I-- I do not know that. I see no reason.

I-- I see no motive

for why these three little boys were murdered.

Man: Live from KAIT-8 TV,

good neighbors you can turn to

for news, weather, and sports.

Tony Brooks,

Diana Davis,

Terry Wood,

and Dick Clay.

This is KAIT-8 News.

Good evening, I'm Diana Davis.

And I'm Tony Brooks.

In a statement given to the police

and obtained by a Memphis newspaper,

17-year-old Jessie Misskelley

allegedly confesses to watching two other suspects

choke, rape, and sexually mutilate

three West Memphis second-graders.

Jenna Newton reports.

Jenna Newton: According to the published report,

Misskelley told police he watched

18-year-old Damien Echols and 16-year-old Jason Baldwin

brutalize the children with a club and a knife.

The report says Misskelley told police

Echols and Baldwin raped one of the boys

and sexually mutilated another as part

of a cult ritual.

Misskelley is quoted as saying

he did not take part in the rape and mutilation,

but that he helped subdue one victim

who tried to escape.

At a press conference, Inspector Gary Gitchell said

the case against the accused teens is very strong.

Man: Scale of one to 10, how solid do you think the case is?

Eleven.

( all clamoring, applauding )

Newton: It appears satanic worship

may have played a role in the murders.

Since the very beginning of the investigation

people all around West Memphis

have come forward with stories of satanic cults.

Reverend Tommy Stacy's church is down the street

from where the bodies were found.

One year ago, Damien Echols told

the church's youth minister

he had a pact with the devil,

and he was going to hell.

Tommy Stacy: I do know that my youth director

talked to Damien extensively

at the revival that we had,

and he told him that he could not be saved,

that he could not

give his heart to Jesus.

And my youth director

then tried to get him to take a Bible.

And he made the statement

that he could not take a Bible because if he did,

the rest of them would get him.

In West Memphis, Jenna Newton, KAIT-8 Night News.

Christopher never hurt anybody.

He had a gentle, loving, and giving heart.

And they crucified him in those woods.

And they humiliated his little body.

They took his little manhood

before he even knew what it was.

And I hate them for it.

I've never hated anybody in my life.

And I hate these three.

- And the mothers that bore them. - ( tapping table )

I can't imagine...

what was going through Michael's mind.

You know, was he... calling for me?

How long did they leave him there tied up

on that ditch bank before they decided to kill him?

I mean, what were they doing to him?

Was his-- was he conscious or unconscious?

Did he watch the other two boys... get cut?

Moore: He was really being killed by real monsters.

God. On TV!

- Man: Now. - Pam, first of all,

what is-- what are you holding in your hand there--

In my hand, it's Stevie's Boy Scout.

I got it back yesterday.

And I been wearing it around my head like this.

Did he-- did he like scouting?

Oh, he loved it. He loved it, yeah.

He loved it.

Man #2: Do you blame yourself for this?

I have. I have. I've been, uh-- I've--

I have been on a guilt trip about it.

But... it wasn't my fault. I was at work.

Have you contemplated joining Stevie, um...

- Have I thought-- - ...before your natural--

- Would I ever... - Have you thought about suicide?

Have I? Oh.

Uh... suicide?

I've-- I've felt like dying,

but not suicide, you know.

No, not suicide.

Do you feel that the people that did this

- were worshipping, uh-- - Satan? Yes, I do.

Why?

Just look at the freaks.

I mean, just look at them.

They look like punks.

Well, Jessie told me he didn't do it.

Didn't have anything to do with it.

He wasn't there.

- And I believe him. - ( camera clicks )

I think the cops just can't find who done it...

and they gotta put it on somebody.

I wanna tell the whole world my son is innocent

- because I know he is innocent. - ( camera clicks )

- I know where he was... - ( camera clicks )

and I know he's innocent,

and I wanna tell the world, and I want the world to know.

This boy is not capable

of the crime that he has, uh, been arrested for.

I've seen him take a little kitten,

and-- and love it just like you'd love a little baby.

- ( camera clicks ) - It's like a nightmare,

a nightmare that you can't wake up from.

Our son's innocent.

We intend to prove it.

John Mark Byers: "Yea, though I walk through

the valley of the shadow of death,

I shall fear no evil."

And I'm not scared of the devil.

I gotta know who my comforter is.

"Thy rod and Thy staff comfort me."

And I thank you, Lord,

for letting me be able to believe

in that with all my heart.

I hope y'all really believe in your master the Satan,

Sleuthfoot, devil himself,

'cause he's not gonna help you.

He's gonna laugh at you, mock at you, and torture you.

He didn't need your help,

the devil's got all the devils he needs.

The good Lord said Lucifer

and a third of the angels were cast from Heaven.

He didn't need them, but he took their mind,

and he manipulated them.

And they prayed to Satan, and they prayed to the devil.

And they had their satanic worship services out here,

and they had all types of wild homosexual orgies, I've been told.

Crazy things.

To me, this place as I stand is like hell on Earth.

Because I know that three babies were killed

right out here where I stand.

I know my son was castrated,

and possibly laid there on that bank and bled to death.

I know he was choked.

I know one boy's head was beat in beyond recognition.

I know one little boy was skinned

almost like a animal.

Cut, had to shave his head,

had all types of injuries to the head

where they just kept beating,

and pounding on them,

and killing them, and killing them.

It's like they enjoyed it.

They killed them two or three times.

Jessie Misskelley Jr., Jason Baldwin,

Damien Echols, I hope your master the devil