Getting that kind of creative validation was exciting, but we were also extremely frustrated that it didnt move from the entertainment page of the newspaper to the editorial page, Berlinger says. Nobody was saying, This is an outrageous case that needs to be looked into.. They saw the same thing you did. We have never seen this, Bullying of referees leads to entire student section being thrown out of Iowa game, Burger King brings back fan-favorite sandwich but not for long. As of "The Piggyback", 825+ characters are known to have died throughout the show's run. He told Mark he was going to call EMS., When Metz returned to the room, Witt wrote, Ryan was trying to help John Mark put some pants on Melissa, and he asked John Mark if Melissa was dead. The state police investigation had just ended, their information had been turned over to West Memphis police, and they were expecting Byers to be arrested when the boys triple murder occurred. Both wrists bore multiple, well-healed, linear scars. Melissa was the biological mother of Chris Byers and Ryan Clark. The drug is a potent opiate. They described Byers, whom no one knew, as dirty, with a blonde beard and sunglasses, 230-250 pounds, wearing like a flag shirt with blue jeans, 35-40 years old, with brownish-black hair. They also gave a description of his vehicle. They continued to drive around until evening when they went to Ryan's grandfather's house.[4]. He had always maintained he didnt commit the crimes, and outside the Varner Units walls, a growing chorus of activists and legal observers were arguing that same thing on his behalf. Metz advised that Byers told him it could be bought for $50 on the street. Sauls says that the former Black Flag frontman was one of the few big names who dug deep into the evidence, wanting to learn as many details as he could about the case. Even today, years after his name was cleared and authorities ruled Lams death accidental, Morbid still receives threats. "[25], Mandy concluded her statement by discussing how Byers told her that he burned down Brenda Atwood's trailer. When it didnt, the praise heaped on Paradise Lost felt hollow. Ryan had been living with his biological father for the past six months. Asked if the discovery of an illegal drug in the body of a possible homicide victim was not a finding worth listing, Clark affirmed that, There may be room for some further investigation as to how she obtained the drug. As for the needle marks in the bodys arms, feet, and groin, Clark said, In the pathologists opinion, all those wounds were probably done at the hospital.. Metz advised he checked for a pulse, lifted her eyelids, and looked at her eyes. That was more than the people deciding the case were able to hearthe presiding judge made the expert give most of his testimony without the jury in the courtroom because he questioned its relevance. It s not between you, its between them. And, Rose added, he does admit to saying that, too., The boys did back off, in part because Byers was holding what appeared to be a gun. He was just taking in the enormity of the defining event of his life to that point, which had been committed to film and was now playing for him inside the cavernous, auditorium-style visitation room. When he entered the house, Griffin wrote, he found Byers ex-wife on the floor and Byers brandishing an electric shock device known as a Power Zapper. The murder charge was filed after the child told a school counselor on Nov. 29, 2017, that she saw her mothers body in the basement of the familys home in the 2400 block of College Avenue. [16], When Waser returned to the Byers' home he was informed that Ryan Clark still had not returned. Not everyone believes that the West Memphis Three are innocent of the killings of Michael Moore, Stevie Branch, and Christopher Byers. He said, J.B., youre going home, man, youre going home.. Rollins not only gave interviews to keep the effort alive in the press, he organized a string of benefit shows and released an album featuring Iggy Pop and Chuck D, with proceeds going to the defense. The news came just one day after Jerry Lee Lewis fell victim to similar rumors. When Rose questioned Byers later, he confirmed that he did hold a gun at his side throughout the incident, but, Rose said, He told me, At no time did I intimidate or threaten any of those kids., Rose said, I asked him, You dont think that just having a gun in your hands under those circumstances was intimidating and threatening? He said, No.'. He went to watch television with Amanda and then he said they went into his bedroom to listen to music. John Mark called to Ryan twice. Join the ranks of the 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts who know that the Arkansas Times is the go-to source for tough, determined, and feisty journalism that holds the powerful accountable. <>/Metadata 79 0 R/ViewerPreferences 80 0 R>> In September, Melissa Byers was charged with disorderly conduct after a neighbor reported that Melissa had threatened to kill her family. WWE legend Melissa Coates has died at the age of 50 after undergoing a leg amputation last year to stop her arteries being blocked by blood clots, leaving her former colleagues from around the wrestling world to voice their shock. 6iE8vD2q%Q.B[.e(bJ R)Pku.~5YU>A(ZZqA:t5$y+FGpMv!. Twelve weeks later, in July 1992, Byers was arrested by sheriffs deputies in Memphis. (Associate Medical Examiner), and Williarm Sturner, M.D. Melissa was worried about an upcoming trial involving a robbery of $20,000 worth of goods and property. The results suggest that Melissa had not been using hydrocodone for an extended length of time; otherwise, the drug would have been in her blood and her liver. Byers stated that Melissa preferred to take Dilaudid. The following year, three West Memphis teen-agers were convicted for the killings in a pair of sensational trials, which hinged on allegations of Satanism. At the same time Byers was informing for the police during late 1992 and early 1993 he was also being investigated by the Arkansas State Police for what they concluded was a scam involving a shipment of Rolex watches. Hes subdued when discussing the facts of the case, but he comes alive while recounting his work with the Jaycees while in prison, or buying Metallicas Black Album when it came out in 1991. % He was sentenced to a year in jail, with nine months suspended, and ordered to pay half of the injured boys medical bills. While police had focused on Echols and Baldwin in the intervening weeks because of their reputation, the arrests came largely because of a confession by Misskelley, which was leaked to the largest newspaper in the area, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, and ran under the banner headline Teen describes cult torture of boys. At a press conference shortly after the arrests, the lead investigator was asked how confident he felt about the case on a scale of 1-10. Two of those, which were covered with bandages, were clearly the result of unsuccessful medical attempts at cardiopulmonary resuscitation, as were a couple of fractured ribs. Sgt. A large number of people here feel the three teens convicted for the 'Paradise Lost' murders were wrongly convicted because of skimpy evidence and the fact that the teens were thought of as 'creepy'. 1 0 obj It was nude and lying on the stretcher where she had died. [28] The coroner noted that rigor was not present, but checked "yes" on lividity. As a reader of the Arkansas Times, you know were dedicated to bringing you tough, determined, and feisty journalism that holds the powerful accountable. When he was released in 2011, he met John Hardin, who worked with the West Memphis Three support group Arkansas Take Action, and the two bonded over a desire to do for others what had just been done for Baldwin. In the joint trial of Baldwin and Echols, which took place separately from Misskelleys, Berlinger and Sinofsky filmed the surreal moments that juries were actually present for: a rundown of the books Echols checked out of the library, a parade of band T-shirts worn by the pair, a copy of a Blue Oyster Cult record found in Damiens girlfriends house that became evidence because of the word cult and song titles like Dont Fear the Reaper. What the cameras couldnt capture, however, was the introduction of physical evidencethe prosecution didnt offer much of that aside from a knife that was never directly linked to the crimes and fabric threads deemed microscopically similar to items found in Baldwins and Echolss homes, an assertion that has been questioned in the years since the trials. Its gone from a controversial legal theory to an accepted phenomenon. While thats cooled from the days of concerts in the shadows of the Arkansas Supreme Court building, the documentaries still live on HBO Max, where they pull in new viewers to this day. He declared he. Waser described the subsequent events as follows: "After signing the request he apparently passed out and fell towards the counter. And then there was the public pressure: In August 2010, Vedder and Maines headlined yet another benefit concert, this one in Little Rock. Police followed a trail of blood drops throughout the house and into the basement. endobj A spiritual successor to Errol Morriss The Thin Blue Line, and a forerunner of more recent documentaries like Making a Murderer, the film stands today as the most affecting examination of one of the most studied legal cases in U.S. historyone that put heavy metal lyrics and black T-shirts on trial and helped lay the groundwork for the current thinking around false confessions. The idea of the average citizen becoming embroiled in a criminal investigation isnt far-fetched in 2021, decades removed from the launch of WM3.org. <> The right thoracic puncture mark and the right wrist puncture mark were both covered by Band-Aids. But they were saying that he was about to die.. When they searched online, they found little to no information about the case. Melissa Byers body was there, wrapped in carpeting, plastic, sheets and clothing, court records said. Only her urine was abnormal. Melissa Gilbert recently became the latest celebrity to fall prey to an online death hoax. "[27], The coroner report noted that John Mark Byers stated he had intercourse with Melissa around 3pm on March 29th, 1996. But he wasn't, and they made him take off those sunglasses. On the street, it sells as much as $50 per tablet. He kept asking me, What is your opinion? He said, I think they ought to have fought it out, dont you?, I said, No, I dont. I said, Im going to send some kids down there., Those kids turned out to be Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, the young documentarians who had recently completed the acclaimed Brothers Keeper, a film chronicling a death and the resulting trial in a small upstate New York village. Im seeing the things I experienced, but not through my own point of view. It noted that she had been 68 inches tall and weighed 211 pounds. I don' think in Beyers' case it's the "creepy" factor as much as it is the evidence against him which wasn't looked at with more interest by the court. She died at . He was a . Waser wrote, "They went to bed, spent time talking, had intercorse (intercourse) and went to sleep, at approximately 2:30PM they went to sleep". They were asked to call the Sheriff's Department if Ryan showed up at their house. That same large number of people here feel that Mark Beyers is guilty of the 'Paradise Lost' murders because of skimpy evidence and the fact that he is thought of as 'creepy'. But the feud between neighbors is minor compared to two other incidents, both of which have resulted in the filing of charges against the couple. When we were driving in the car a lot, wed play a lot of the Metallica album Master of Puppets, says Alex Sinofsky, who became a doctor instead of getting behind the camera himself. I agree. The Byers family has been part of the news in Arkansas since the morning of May 6, 1993, when the bodies of three 8-year-old boysSteven Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byerswere found in a drainage ditch in a wooded area near the West Memphis subdivision where they lived. The two boys who had exchanged words, reportedly over a girl, now found themselves in a vicious fight, with Byers companion using the folded knife in his hand as what the boys called a fist pack. The two met with Byers' neighbor, Metz, who expressed concern over Byers' step-son, Ryan Clark, as he had not returned to the residence after reportedly leaving abruptly while Melissa was being worked on. In 1994, the FBI said there was scant evidence that violent satanic crimes had ever occurred in America outside of a few isolated incidents, but that was long after TV hosts like Geraldo, Sally Jessy Raphael, and Oprah had spread moral hysteria about musicians weaving supposedly anti-Christian and occult messages into their songs, and long after wrongful convictions were handed down in the infamous McMartin Preschool sexual assault trials. By staying on this subject for the next couple of decades, they gave these men a chance and really decades of freedom afterward. [21], In November of 1997, a confidential informant known as "James" told Investigator Stan Witt that he believed Byers had been giving Melissa pills the entire day when she died on March 29th, 1996. Misskelley, who reportedly had an IQ of 72, changed his story several times, and only a small part of his statements was recorded. [34], The final cause of death for Melissa was listed as "undetermined". The nonprofits work hasnt always been easyfundraising is hard, and because hes a convicted felon, hes unable to visit clients in prison or discuss pleasbut its been essential for him as he strives to live the words by 14th-century Persian poet Hafez that he keeps as an email signature: The small man builds cages for everyone he knows / While the sage, who has to duck his head when the moon is low / Keeps dropping keys all night long for the beautiful rowdy prisoners. Baldwin says hes learned that justice isnt a computer programthat you can input all the evidence and testimony and still get the wrong results. The Paradise Lost cameras captured not only the defenses discussions, but the full testimony, in Misskelleys trial, of an expert on coerced confessions. Donna and John Kingsbury, who live next-door to the house where the Byerses moved, have sought a restraining order against their new neighbors, alleging that Mark Byers whipped their 5-year-old son with the metal end of a swatter, that shots have been fired at their house, and that Melissa Byers threatened them, saying, Wel1 put you in a hole you cant get out of, and I lost my Christopher. Even without a smoking gun, the circumstantial evidence was enough for a conviction in a place like Crittenden County, Arkansas. "[15], Metz took Byers back to his home, but the two men were advised that no one was to enter the residence during the search. Byers was asked if he wanted an autopsy performed. After the murders, restitution was made for the watches, and the matter was never prosecuted. Award-Winning Sun Sugar Cherry Tomatoes: Reliable and Resilient, Perfect for Organic Gardening! They asked, instead, if he had ever used the knife. Emest R. Rose, Hardys chief of police, said that, with only a few exceptions, Byers account of that incident agrees with the accounts provided by other witnesses. While he did that, another state police investigator was questioning a woman who had contacted Cherokee Village police upon hearing that Melissa Byers had been taken to the hospital. Melissa Byers was only 40 years old. (Chief Medical Examiner). Byers got up to get some milk and asked if Melissa wanted anything. He served three years probation. As most people in the area knew, she was the mother of one of three boys who were found murdered in West Memphis in 1993. Byers drove into Hardy accompanied by a teen-aged boy. By the time the Byerses had been in Cherokee Village six months, police had been summoned to their residence at least eight times. Finally, the boy with Byers asked his opponent, Have you had enough? He had. Byers was later charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. [9], Waser's report indicated that two EMTs were performing CPR on Melissa when he arrived. The first and likely simplest gauge is continued interest in the case. Byers agreed to the autopsy and signed a form giving consent. The news was devastating beyond just word of his friends suffering. And without substantial physical evidence, police zeroed in on a pair of teens they knew well: Echols, a self-professed Wiccan who wore all black and read Stephen King, and his best friend Baldwin, who was considered an outsider because of his love of drawing and bands like Metallica. A month later, authorities arrested Baldwin, Echols, and Misskelleythree teenagers who lived in trailer parks near West Memphis and had previous run-ins with the law, though nothing rising to the level of murder. It can slow breathing, heart rate, and brain activity. [18], Efforts to locate Ryan Clark were unsuccessful that evening. They werent connected in any direct way, Bakken says. Melissa Byers was born on 16 January, 1956 in 1956, is an Actor. Maines won the lawsuit; police have never named Hobbs a suspect or charged him in connection with the killings.). She assists in the drafting of all estate planning documents and works with clients to ensure we have the proper information to include in their documents. However, he could not produce any papers showing that he had custody of the kids. He could have been me, he told Rolling Stone in 2011. )When NO evidence is held up against SOME evidence, most investigations would follow the trail of SOME evidence.Remember, too that the primary evidence that most of us armchair jurors have convicted OJ on is blood evidence (there's also a family connection, which is very common, and a history of domestic abuse).The three teens, however, were ONLY "creepy. The level of corruption in the American justice system is glaring and sickening.. However other needle marks were evident. Melissa is the estate planning paralegal at Legacy Law Center. Hicks was hospitalized in critical condition. He told Witt that at a little after 5 p.m. that evening, John Mark Byers had called him on the phone, saying that he could not awaken his wife. kill the process running on port 1717 sfdx. The veteran actress died on November 11, 2014, after a bout with cancer just five days after the sitcom aired her final voice appearance in season 8, episode 8 titled "The Prom Equivalency." Before granting his permission for the search, John Mark Byers had told a deputy sheriff that police would probably find a small amount of marijuana in the house. Chances are, if death was from natural causes, it came about by arrythmia,which leaves no traces after death. The problem facing Sheriff Powell was that no one at the hospital could figure out why. Originally from Willard, Mo., she spent nearly three years reporting in Arkansas and Illinois before returning to Missouri and joining The Star in 2017. Ryan asked if his mother was alright and Byers told him he did not know. Join us in the fight for truth. Christopher, known to family and friends as "Chris" was one of three murder victims in the "Robin Hood Hills Child Murders" case. One of those shows, Truth & Justice With Bob Ruff, became the basis for an Oxygen docuseries last year titled The Forgotten West Memphis Three, which took a closer look at the three victims and tried to shine new light on the evidence. Waser returned to the delinquency of a minor died throughout the show 's run arrested sheriffs! With his biological father for the watches, and they made him take off those.! Street, it came about by arrythmia, which leaves no traces after death was! To the Byers ' home he was about to die, which leaves no traces after.... 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