Knowing that the police were already focusing on Damien Echols, Hutcheson asked her neighbor, Jessie Misskelley Jr., about the brooding teen and his occult connection. The documentarians found me in one of the worst things a person could go through, Baldwin says. For the next two hours and 29 minutes, the two inmates sat in near silence watching Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, the landmark documentary released on HBO 25 years ago this week that captured the trials of Baldwin, Jessie Misskelley Jr., and Damien Echols, the three teenagers convicted in 1994 of the crimes that ripped through the small, working-class community of West Memphis, Arkansas. Theyve had several victories, including the case of Daniel Villegas, who was acquitted of capital murder in 2018 after a 25-year legal saga. Share Memories & Support the Family. Also, law enforcement chose not to focus on the victims' families as the starting point of the investigation as is the norm. The Alford plea is a seldom-invoked and somewhat confusing legal maneuver, but the basics are fairly straightforward. He was an actor, known for Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988), Fast Food (1989) and In the Heat of the Night (1988). All of those factors combined to create a tipping point, says Leveritt. In an email to The Ringer, Rollins stressed that inaction was not an option., Myself and the many people I worked with did what we could to help bring attention to the case and generate much needed financial aid, he wrote. Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelly and Jason Baldwin were originally convicted of the killings and released from prison in 2011 after making a deal with prosecutors. I never foresaw that they would in turn save us.. In 1996, a screener for Paradise Lost passed her desk. The evolution of how the teens were perceivedon behalf of both the filmmakers and even part of the defense teamis captured on camera early as Stidham and his colleagues began to consider whether Misskelleys confession had been coerced. They didnt even think he would physically survive through December, Baldwin says. Terry Hobbs is absolutely terrible. (Echolswho is in better health today, though his eyesight has degenerated and he has premature arthritis from his time in solitary confinementin particular has maintained a relatively public life, through the five books hes published, performing magic for Patreon subscribers, and making TV appearances to discuss other cases he sees as similar to his.) The only possible culprits were 18-year-old Damien Echols, a poor teen with an interest in the occult and a record of mental illness, his friend Jason Baldwin, a quiet kid whose talent for art tended toward dark subjects, and Jessie Misskelley, a 17-year-old misfit with an IQ of 73. The knife was thrown into the lake by Baldwin's mother a year before the murders. To send flowers or plant a tree in memory of Terry Hobbs, visit the Tribute Store. Its no surprise the juries found the prosecutions narrative compelling, Leveritt says: For them, the image of killer satanists headbanging to Metallica was more than plausible. Unfortunately, for three teen outsiders, the West Memphis Police Department chose to focus on the cult angle to the detriment of their efforts to investigate the other two, more likely scenarios. . How do you measure the legacy of Paradise Lost, which is one of the best reviewed documentaries of all time and considered among the most influential, but whose mission is only partly complete? Case Details. My first thought is, I hope this dude isnt trying to pull me into some type of escape, Baldwin says nearly a quarter-century later. Im seeing the things I experienced, but not through my own point of view. One of the keys to understanding the West Memphis Three murders is the phenomenon known as the Satanic Panic. The first being that boys were killed by someone they knew. After 18 years in prison, the West Memphis Three were finally free, but not exonerated. (WMC) - Not a single piece of evidence ever connected the West Memphis Three, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, to the 1993 murders of Steve Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore. And the seemingly endless stream of threats against them and the frequent clashes with Mark Byers did nothing to dissuade them. Main Page; Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Misskelley, who reportedly had an IQ of 72, changed his story several times, and only a small part of his statements was recorded. They couldnt have been cooler, recalls Berlinger, who would go on to direct the 2004 documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster alongside Bruce Sinofsky. Pam Hobbs divorced Terry Hobbs in 2004 and has reversed her position on the West Memphis Three's guilt. La Verne, California. I had a big box. People in West Memphis are going to tell their kids stories. As the 20th century turned to the 21st, the movement seemed to be picking up steam. Among those active in the cause were singer Eddie Vedder of the band Pearl Jam, the country music trio The Dixie Chicks, punk rock icon and poet Henry Rollins, and actor Johnny Depp. The Messed Up Truth About The West Memphis Three Murders, citing the discovery of her son's favorite pocket knife, One of the prosecution's key pieces of evidence linking Jason Baldwin, With their 2007 request for a new trial rejected, Baldwin is the co-founder of the legal advocacy organization Proclaim Justice. In the minds of many, the bizarre nature of the Robin Hood Hills murders could only have been committed by one of Satan's minions. the only grade you receive is from quizzes, exams, and the final. It was also revealed in 2012 that Hobbs nephew allegedly told his friends, My Uncle Terry murdered those three little boys," and that the killings were a Hobbs family secret, according to WMC-TV. In 1996, HBO released the documentary film Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. Terry Hobbs Memphis 32, 14-Jun, Superior Funeral Home-Hollywood. Certain that, under what he felt were ridiculous circumstances, Echols' confidence and, on occasion, flippant attitude during the trial was often misinterpreted as evidence of his coldness toward the victims and their families. Hobbs said, I still believe in my heart that Jessie, Jason, and Damion Echols are responsible for what happened to our children., He added, You look at what happened and then you wonder, what if this did not happen, where would our boys be today? I think I introduced my dad to it because that was not his normal genre., Three Metallica songsOrion, Welcome Home (Sanitarium), and Call of Ktuluwould play throughout the documentary. (2 weeks at #1, on for 19 weeks!) No charges have been brought against Jacoby, and he has never been named a suspect by the West Memphis Police Department. At approximately 1:30 p.m., Steve Jones, a juvenile parole officer from Crittenden County, peered over the steep bank of a water-filled ditch in the woods near the Blue Beacon truck wash. Hobbs described what it was like the day the three walked free. In the Bible Belt, the Satanic Panic took hold with a vengeance. Berlinger also concedes Revelations had some ethical problems, chiefly because it raised the possibility that Mark Byers committed the killings. Over the years there has been lots of speculation and finger pointing as to who was responsible. Iwould journal something and put it in the box, said Hobbs. This is not a smoking-gun-type case.. The idea, Berlinger says, was to tell a story of disaffected youthabout kids killing kids., There was no reason not to believe the press, Berlinger says. It has happened to a lot of people that just dont have the spotlight of a documentary, he says. He retired from the US Air Force, and he was the Deputy Supervisor for Polk County Supervisor of Elections. Update: I was totally wrong. More than 25 years after the murders of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis,a new book gives a first-person account of what was happening behind the sce More than 25 years after the murders of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis,a new book gives a first-person account of what was happening behind the scenes. She says she is too because they believe they are hearing different stories. 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. '", In 1999, a more mature Echols explained the comment. Well theres been a lot of things that happened over the years. She has since expressed her belief that her ex-husband was involved in the murders,citing the discovery of her son's favorite pocket knife in Terry Hobbs' belongings. Wading into the murky water, Allen unknowingly dislodged the pale, grotesquely arched form of Micheal Moore. The second postulated that they had been slain by one or more strangers. As detailed by The Hollywood Reporter in 2011, Jackson and Walsh helped fund key investigations for the West Memphis Three's defense during the last seven years of their incarceration. West Memphis 3 / Terry Hobbs 2022 Update New Scott 94.5K subscribers Subscribe 241 Share 20K views 8 months ago https://www.crimeonline.com/2022/05/. Much of Cecil Hotel focuses on the amateur investigators who turned coincidences into conspiracy theories, ultimately accusing an innocent person of her death. None of the three believed that, but Echolss healthand the possibility that even if he survived, he would still be on death row should the fight for retrials failmade it an imperative. So much progress had been made in the fight for new trials, most notably a November 2010 Arkansas Supreme Court ruling that ordered a hearing on new DNA analysis and other evidence not considered in 1994. Terry Roland Hobbs <p>Terry Roland Hobbs, 62, of Sweetwater, passed away on Saturday, September 11, 2021.</p> <p>Terry was born on September 11, 1959 in Sweetwater, to Jack Harvey and Marjorie Hobbs .Terry graduated from Sweetwater High School in 1977. Terry Hobbs was born on November 25, 1969 in Columbus, Georgia, USA. They were released after prosecutors agreed to an Alford plea, in which the men maintained their innocence but pleaded guilty. But on the subject of Paradise Lost, he speaks emphatically: He understands how important the movies were in helping him, Echols, and Misskelley walk free 10 years ago this August. According to Devil's Knot author Mara Leveritt, the investigation of the murders was divided along three lines. Filming the activists work seemed like the best place for Berlinger and Sinofsky to turn their attention; what better way to show the continued plight of the West Memphis Three than to show regular people dedicating their free time to fighting for them? (WJHG) By Nikki Sheaks Published: Jul. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of West Memphis Three murder victim Stevie Branch, has denied any involvement in slayings of Branch and his two friends. Peter Jackson, who would produce a separate documentary about the case titled West of Memphis in 2012, and his partner, Fran Walsh, funded an extensive private investigation and helped hire forensic experts to comb through evidence. The level of corruption in the American justice system is glaring and sickening.. Well, perhaps not nobody. 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. As rumors of a Satanic sacrifice swept the community, the minds of many in West Memphis were already made up. In her recantation, Hutcheson stated that when she asked Echols directly if he had killed "those three kids," he replied, "No. Terry Castleman is a data . Yes, the West Memphis Three are out of prison, but as long as they are considered guilty in the eyes of the state, the case is closed, meaning no further investigation can occur. So the minute youre done, you just want to know more. Local 24 News EXCLUSIVE: Terry Hobbs on his new memoir on the West Memphis 3. But they never had any physical evidence that connected us to this crime, Echols said in 2012. The next to be found was Stevie Branch, quickly followed by Christopher Byers. They began attending appeal hearings and visiting Baldwin, Echols, and Misskelley in prison. Hes since parlayed the popularity of the show into a booming podcast network and documentary deal with Oxygen. The footage included raw jailhouse interviews with the defendants, strategy sessions held by legal teams on both sides, and extended monologues from Mark Byers, the tall, goateed stepfather of one of the victims, who spoke as though he were reciting the Book of Revelation and who, at one point in Paradise Lost, fired a handgun at a pumpkin while reciting the names of the accused. Wherever it was screened, Berlinger says, it was followed by intense Q&As from audience members who couldnt believe what theyd just watched. Bakken and Sauls say they tried to avoid offering theories about the case publicly, opting instead to try to work through official channels. Bray asked her if she knew about rumored cult activity in the community. There also were issues with other details he provided, including how the victims were bound and whether the boys were raped. By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. 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 prosecutor would later say, There was a lack of physical evidence to tie anyone or anything to the crime scene, while the lead investigatorthe same one who told the press the case was an 11 out of 10would concede, Youve got a lot of circumstantial evidence is what youve got. Rather, they were fighting for something they believed in. All three had been submerged face down in the mud, stripped naked, and bound with their shoelaces. Quickly, however, he realized Berlinger and Sinofsky were taking a different approach. Baldwin is the co-founder of the legal advocacy organization Proclaim Justice. In August 2011, Jason Baldwin was pulled from his prison cell under confusing circumstances once again. According to Griffis, black hair, black T-shirts, and black jeans were signs that a kid was in league with the devil. He also lost the defamation case because of his violent past. To authorities working in West Memphisa largely Southern Baptist communitysatanic activity seemed to be the most likely cause for the killings, in part because the boys bodies were bound and appeared to have been mutilated. (Shortly after Villegass acquittal, Baldwin had something of a full-circle moment with his client: He took him to a Metallica show in El Paso, Texas, where they hung out backstage on the invitation of Lars Ulrich.). The bodies of Branch, Byers, and Moore were found in a drainage ditch in West Memphis May 6 . The test results showed that no genetic material on the crime scene evidence was a match to Echols, Baldwin or Misskelley, reported the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The final scene Berlinger and Sinofsky filmed may have been the piece that stuck with viewers the most: the image of Baldwin and Echols being led out of the courthouse in handcuffs and bulletproof vests, now property of the state. A year after the DNA results were released, Hobbs sued Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines for defamation, claiming she implied he was a murderer on the bands website and at a 2007 rally, according to The New York Times. Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. "The reason I made the West Memphis boogeyman comment during the first film was because I was making light of the situation," Echols says in Paradise Lost 2: Revelations. 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. In fact, for the better part of 1993, it was nearly impossible to find anyone who believed they were innocent. Due to marital problems stemming from Stevies death, the couple divorced in 2004, reported CNN. We were finally winning, he says. You still dont really know what happened to these kids. He says that while he was in the supermax prison in Varner, he would write letters trying to drum up support for not just himself, but also for other inmates he believed were wrongfully convicted. But Berlinger also believes that the sequel is important for documenting the power of citizen activism. Auburndale, FL - TSGT Terry Lee Hobbs, USAF, ret. weaving supposedly anti-Christian and occult messages into their songs, he discovered her while Googling cold cases, funded an extensive private investigation, a November 2010 Arkansas Supreme Court ruling, biggest allies in the years before his 2020 death, acquitted of capital murder in 2018 after a 25-year legal saga. The governor of the state of Arkansas who will one day pardon the West Memphis Three is probably in junior high right now, he says. The Latest CD: 92 YEARS YOUNG: JAMMIN' AT THE GIBBS HOUSE. However, in 2010, a series of rapidly unfolding developments turned the tide for Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley. Mike Allen arrived on the scene. But they were saying that he was about to die.. With a large population of fundamentalist Christians, the American South was particularly subject to occult paranoia. But they werent just voices in the growing choir calling for the West Memphis Threes releasethey were leading the movement. We were mainly in it for the aesthetics of filmmaking, but the last scene of Paradise Lost, when Damien is chained up and sent away to death row, that was just heartbreaking and devastating for us, Berlinger says. Here were these guysat best they were neutral. Like Misskelley in the first trial, Baldwin received a life sentence. In 2009, three witnesses filed affidavits claiming they saw Hobbs with the murdered boys the night they disappeared, contradicting Hobbs previous statements to police, according to CNN. Classmates at Weaver Elementary School, the three were active in their Cub Scout troop and responsible enough to be trusted to roam their neighborhood without supervision. She also stated that beyond the single meeting at her trailer, she had no further contact with Echols. The third put forth the unusual theory that the killings were committed as a cult ritual. Terry Hobbs was born in 1958 and grew up in Northern Arkansas. He began his career in the. Boxful of Nightmares is the personal memoirs of Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of one of the children murdered. Misskelley, who had entered the West Memphis police station that morning with hopes of reward money he might use to purchase a new truck for his father found himself instead charged with murder and facing life plus 40 years in prison. Inconsistencies in Terry Hobbs' alibi, as well as revelations about subsequent violent acts, have also led many to believe that he may be the actual killer. Blood and urine samples from both men were collected and sent to the West Memphis Police Department. . Today, Berlinger calls Revelations the weakest of the three films in the trilogyadvocacy in search of a story as opposed to the in-the-moment, on-the-ground approach of the first Paradise Lost and the in-depth exploration of new evidence in 2011s Purgatory. After ending his first marriage, he wed Pamela Hicks Branch in 1986, when her son Stevie was almost 2 years old. None of the initial trio behind WM3.orgnor their friend Lisa Fancher, who later became a key part of the efforthad ever considered themselves an activist to that point. 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. When the case was given the option for DNA evidence, everyone but Terry Hobbs said yes. Filing Date : When it didnt, the praise heaped on Paradise Lost felt hollow. The trio assumed that the convictions had already been overturned by the time Bakken received the screenerthis was a modern-day witch hunt, they thought, and surely the state of Arkansas had already corrected the course. He was 56. I wouldn't do something like that. Stating that she would ask around, Hutcheson agreed to "play detective.". 2011 Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (Documentary) Self - Stepfather of Stevie Branch. Hobbs was Branch's stepfather. Inevitably, the West Memphis Three case always comes up. Branded the West Memphis Three, the mens case was featured in multiple documentaries, earning them support from an array of high-profile musicians, celebrities and activists. It was also revealed in 2012 that Hobbs nephew allegedly told his friends, My Uncle Terry murdered those three little boys," and that the killings were a Hobbs family secret, according to, I still believe in my heart that Jessie, Jason, and Damion Echols [sic] are responsible for what happened to our children, Hobbs told Memphis ABC affiliate. In this first confession, Miskelley often agreed to details suggested by the police or attributed to prior statements which he did not make. Case Number : 2:21-BK-21177. Mojo jumped up, Baldwin recalls. They had a daughter together, Amanda Hobbs, who was 4 years old at the time of her brothers death. But none of that support has been able to fully exonerate the trio, something theyre still fighting for. The pair abruptly fled to Oceanside, Calif., four days after the murders. - The West Memphis 3: Free (2012) . Its evidence that Damien Echols attorneys wanted to do new DNA testing on. If the state of Arkansas has a deep and abiding belief that the West Memphis Three are child murderers and did these terrible crimes, then shame on them for letting them out after 18 and a half years because a bunch of celebrities are whining about it, Berlinger says. All of them were convicted after Misskelley confessed to helping Echols and Baldwin with the murders, which he later recanted. They werent telling me I was lying, even if they may have been saying that in their minds. She has since expressed her belief that her ex-husband was involved in the murders, citing the discovery of her son's favorite pocket knife in Terry Hobbs' belongings. Years of solitary confinement and the abuse he said he suffered at the hands of prison guards had taken its toll. At the request of West Memphis authorities, the two were picked up and questioned by Oceanside police. And yet Hobbs was not interviewed at all in the months after the crimes. Its first season ostensibly focused on the disappearance of a Georgia beauty queen, but it spent nearly as much time digging through the salacious details of the victims love life and dipping into amateur psychology as it did looking at evidence. Terry was born on September 11, 1959 in Sweetwater, to Jack Harvey and Marjorie. Best selling books such as Lawrence Pazder's Michelle Remembers and disgraced evangelical comedian Mike Warnke's The Satan Seller fueled the madness with tales of ritual abuse and human sacrifice. Although Griffis' testimony was dramatic, it showed only a tenuous grasp of occult knowledge much of it, including a reference to a cult called "Crytos," was simply made up. Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of eight-year-old victim Stevie Branch, has been named in documents released in Marian, Arkansas by the attorneys for Pam Hobbs, Stevie's mother. Bakken immediately showed her friends Burk Sauls and Grove Pashley, who were both equally gripped by what they had just watched. In West Memphis, Hobbs worked as an ice cream delivery man and Hicks worked at a restaurant. Misskelley told Hutcheson that he really didn't know much about Echols other than that he was "a weird person." In West Memphis, Hobbs worked as an ice cream delivery man and Hicks worked at a restaurant. Except this was 1996, and home internet was still in its infancy. Replacing Burnett was Circuit Court Judge David Laser. As the first in a trilogy of Paradise Lost films about the case, the 1996 movie was a stunning example of cinma vrit, as directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky embedded themselves with the prosecution, the defense, and the families of both the slain and the accused to put human faces on a heart-wrenching tragedy, as well as highlight the overblown worries of satanic rituals and murderous cults that proliferated throughout the 1980s and 90s. Speaking by phone last month, he comes across, in many ways, like the person Berlinger says he encountered in prison in 1994: polite, deferential, soft-spoken. 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. Armchair detectives of today, I think a lot of them dabble in conspiracy theory, Berlinger says. That's not the same Terry Hobbs. But the list of people who have looked at the facts of the case and come away believing Baldwin, Echols, and Misskelley are innocent is long. He responded proudly, 11.. Baldwin and Misskelley were sentenced to life without parole while Echols received the death penalty.