Guilty of capital murder. Their accused ringleader sent to death row. Im in solitary confinement 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He deserves to be tortured and punished for the rest of his life for murdering three 8yearold children it was a crime almost too horrible to imagine. Three teens worshiping satan, murdering three 8yearold boys. That happened right here back in 1993. Two of the teens got life in prison. A third was judged to be so evil that he was sentenced to die. But after spending 18 years behind bars a dramatic new development. The socalled west memphis three were abruptly granted their freedom. Something that would have been very hard to believe when i first met one of them on death row in 2010. Between the rain and the overcast skies it looks really bleak out here. Nothing around but farmlands and small towns probably for the last 20 miles. Penitentiary area. Beware of hitchhikers. That suggests that people might actually escape from this place. But this prison is the supermax of arkansas. The worst of the worst go to this prison. And at the time of his conviction no one was considered worse than Damien Echols. Judged as the leader of a grotesque and senseless murder spree, a jury of his peers sent him here to be executed. But that happened 17 years earlier. When i first met the once cocky and defiant teenager who horrified and enraged thousands of people, he was pushing 40. Hi. Escorted to our interview, handcuffed and shackled, the Damien Echols i see appears frail, lonely and eager to tell his story. You know, people are going to be watching you throughout this interview, and theyre going to be judging you. Right. How do you think theyre going to judge you . I dont know. Youre either innocent and a terrible victim of a Justice System gone wrong or youre a terrible, coldblooded killer of children. I think youll probably have people who think both. With prison officials listening to our every word, im allowed to talk to damien for almost two hours. Through a thick glass window, i listen as this obviously intelligent and articulate man describes why he believes the Justice System failed him. And why theres still one question he never gets used to hearing. Ill just ask you the question. Did you kill those boys . West memphis, arkansas, 1993. A small town, blue collar, steeped in religion, crisscrossed with truck traffic and interstates. Just across the mississippi from graceland and beale street in memphis, tennessee. Its a quiet place most people drive past. But it was home for three 8yearold boys named Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore. They were best buddies. Christopher started coming in to be friends, im going to say, about a month or so before they passed away. But it was always stevie and Michael Moore. On may 5th, 1993, the three boys went to school, came home and went out to play. Stevie branchs mother, pam hobbs, remembers it like it was yesterday. We wasnt home probably five or ten minutes when Michael Moore came over and asked if stevie could come and go ride bikes with him. And i was telling him, i said, not today, son, im getting ready for work and im cooking and all that, and he and michael just kept begging and begging, please, let me go. So like a lot of parents do, i gave in and i said okay. Do you remember the last thing stevie said to you . I love you, mama. And rode off and just as happy as he could be. Steve branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore were all last seen right here on this street. And they were doing what 8yearold boys would normally do. They were playing, having fun, and riding their bikes back in that direction toward where the woods used to be. But that was the last time they were seen alive. And no one is sure what happened next. They never came home. Families and neighbors searched frantically through the night as pam hobbs feared the worst. You had to be just beside yourself. Oh, i was. I was going hysterical. My heart was in my stomach, and i knew the worst had taken place. Three little boys missing in west memphis, arkansas. Their families frantically searching a wooded area near their homes. Pam hobbs and her husband, terry, among them. But pam held little hope for her son, Stevie Branch. I told terry, i said, hes dead. I said, ill never see him alive again, and i was crying. And he said, no, pam, dont say that. Its going to be all right. Were going to find him. Terry hobbs was right. They did find stevie. But pam was right, too. Shed never see her son alive again. A shoe. Two bikes. And Stevie Branch with his two friends, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore. The boys were nude and bound with their own shoelaces. I run up there and one look at my exhusband and i knew it was stevie. And i hit the ground screaming, god, no. Almost immediately, word spread that these murders were the work of the devil. That was the first thing that everybody started saying, that it was a ritualistic killing, satanic killing. I overheard people saying that theyd been trying to let the police know theres been groups of teenagers out there practicing satanic rituals and things like that. Satanic killing . An idea not so farfetched for the time. This is a community steeped in religion. A church is never far away. And it was a time before the goth look or the notion of a romantic teenage vampire became fashionable. And this was a crime so horrendous it was easy to believe it was committed by a monster. When youre hearing all of this, whats going through your mind . Exactly the same thing, that thats what happened. That the devil actually come and got my baby. Everybody was a suspect. I would have thought you did it back then. I mean, anybody i looked at i was mad at. I went into a world of my own, and i hated people. Damien echols tells me he was also in his own world. The three 8yearold boys just beginning, he says, to hear about the three young boys found in west memphis. Tonight investigators found the children beaten to death. Do you remember the first time you heard about this murder . Getting up that morning. I mean, it was everywhere. You couldnt not hear it. It was on every news channel, on every newspaper. They were talking about it on the radio. What were you thinking . To be honest, not a lot. I didnt pay it was something that didnt play a big role in my world. You know . I was it was people i didnt know, a situation i didnt know. He would figure it out very quickly. Police launched a massive search for the killers. He may have not have realized it at first, but damien was the prime suspect. As soon as they found those bodies they were at my house. Damien was 18 years old at the time. Dirt poor and troubled. He had had runins with the law before. What was their demeanor . What were their questions . What did they want to know . At first they were really friendly. They came in and they were asking saying things like maybe you can help us. You know, just listen to what you hear on the street, listen to what people are saying. Tell us anything you hear. Maybe you can help us crack this case. They also took a picture of me, a polaroid picture. And i didnt think anything of it at the time. I found out later that they were taking the picture around town and showing it to different people and already trying to connect me to the crime from that moment. So from the very first day they were treating you like a suspect. Exactly. And you didnt know it . Exactly. Exactly. When was the first time that someone asked you if you had killed those boys . Maybe two or three days later. Police kept their eyes on damien and two other teenage boys his best friend, Jason Baldwin, and another, Jessie Misskelley. There was no physical evidence linking them to the crime scene, but there was something investigators didnt like about them, especially damien. Damien was kind of a smartass, and he and he was a big reader. Mara leveritt is a journalist and author of devils knot the true story of the west memphis three. Shes known damien and his story for years. He would say things to this to jerry driver, the juvenile officer, that played against drivers own concerns about the occult and satanic activity in the area. And damien thought that he knew more because he was reading about these things. The community was terrified. Everyone was talking about an occult killing, witchcraft and devil worship. People were staying inside because they were afraid. And they were keeping their children inside because they were afraid. The reputation of the police as protectors was on the line. They had to get somebody. They were under a lot of pressure to do that. Yes. And all of the authorities there. I mean, thats what we pay our authorities to do, is protect us. Three 8yearold boys murdered. Dumped in a gully. A community, stricken with fear of the unknown and police under the gun. For misfits like damien and his two friends, it was the perfect storm for presumption of guilt. Okay. Lets train like its race day. Whats up ted . I think i forgot to pay a bill. Yep, paid that one. What about your mortgage . Yep, paid that too. Alright were good then. Man i feel like im forgetting something. Eh, its probably nothing. You worry too much ted. Alright, hammer down bank from almost anywhere with the citi mobile app. Citi, with you every step of the way. Female announcer get beautyrest, posturepedic, female announcer even tempurpedic mattress sets, at low clearance prices. Save even more on floor samples, demonstrators, and closeout inventory. The year end Clearance Sale ends sunday at sleep train. Your ticket to a better nights sleep i came from an extremely, you know, dirt poor family. Damien echols grew up here. In marion, arkansas, a mile or two from west memphis. His best friend Jason Baldwin lived nearby. And so did a boy named Jessie Misskelley. Always protect young kids, yeah. Jessie misskelley sr. Is little jessies father. When is the last time you talked to jessie . I met him at his home on a cold, winter day to learn more about his son. Everybody loved him. Little kids called him uncle jessie. 17 years. Jessies father says he had a good heart but his son struggled in school and he didnt make it past the ninth grade. At the time he was 17 years old. He came from a family that was a big family. He was a rough kid. He was low functioning in school. He had been in special ed from the time he started school. Low functioning. Iq i think at 72 is what hes been measured at. And what does that mean . How does he compare to a normal student . Well, if the normal student is 100, then a 72 in our state, i believe that a 70 is the cutoff for mental retardation legally. And so he was just above that. And he had been in special ed until hed finally dropped out in high school when he was 16, a year earlier than this. Jessie knew Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin but not very well. They lived in a neighborhood close by. What was your world . What was your day like . What was your life like . Poor white trash. I think thats one of the things that made it so easy for them to put this off on us, is because we were expendable. Our lives didnt matter. Whether that was true or not, the police were struggling to solve a crime with very few leads. What kind of pressure are police under at the time . Business was suffering. People were not going out. Life was not going on as normal. And they werent getting crucial information from the state crime lab. Three weeks after the murders a Police Inspector pleaded for answers about the young victims. Time of death. Cause of death. Were the kids sodomized . We need information from the crime lab desperately, the inspector says. Our hands are tied. Police had all these theories, but what did Jessie Misskelley do for them in terms of confirming what they were suspecting . He gave them something they could run with. He gave them something that they could use. Almost exactly one month after the murders, Jessie Misskelley told police he saw what happened in a taperecorded statement. Where did you go . We went up to robin hood. What occurred while you were there . When i was there, i saw damien hit this one boy real bad and then he started screwing him and stuff. Jessie said he watched Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin tie up the 8yearolds, beat them, cut them, and sodomize them. So you saw damien strike chris byers in the head . Right. What did he hit him with . He hit him with his fist. Jessie misskelleys confession gave the police the break they needed so badly. But with that statement he had sealed his own fate and that of Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin. His confession itself was full of contradictions and inconsistencies. But once it was out, almost no one would believe jessie would have admitted to doing something he hadnt done. In this socalled confession he got a lot of the key points wrong. That the evidence could not back up. And the police knew it. And they ran with this confession . And so did the prosecutors. Despite the inconsistencies, jessies statement still seemed so convincing at the time that even his own father briefly believed he was guilty. When they first had him in court, i heard the evidence, you know, and everything. I somehow i thought hed done it. I had never heard you say that about you were sitting in the courtroom. I was sitting in you were hearing what they were saying about it. Yeah. And you actually thought i actually thought he was guilty until i talked to him. That must have been a terrible thing for a father to think. It was. I guarantee you. But things were about to get even worse. For jessie sr. , his son and the other two boys accused in the murders. You still have marks on your wrist from the handcuffs. I have permanent scars on my ankles where theyve put them on so tight that i bleed sometimes. Damien echols bears the marks of a man who spent nearly half his life on arkansass death row. Its kind of hard to sit here and try to have a normal discussion with your family whenever they can look down and see youre bleeding through your socks. But even more painful, he says, is the question hes had to answer for the past 18 years. How often has someone asked you, did you kill those children . Every single time ive done an interview ive been asked that. Damien lives in 24hour lockdown. Hes been convicted of murdering Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore, all 8yearolds, all found naked and bound in a gully on may 6th, 1993. Its hard. Like i said, it doesnt get any easier, and you would think id be used to this by now, but you dont get used to this. And it does continue to get worse as time goes by. But its a question hes had to answer ever since that day in 1993, when 17yearold Jessie Misskelley confessed to witnessing this most heinous of crimes. Damien hollered. Said, hey, the little boys came up there. Then they tied them up, tied their hands up, they started screwing them and stuff, cutting them and stuff. Did you actually rape any of these boys . No. Did you actually kill any of these boys . No. Did you see any of the boys actually killed . Yes. He was a vulnerable kid who was in a High Pressure situation for a very long time. And he started off saying, i dont know anything about it. And by the end of it he had named two other people and himself. The two others . Jason baldwin and Damien Echols. When you heard about this confession, what went through your mind . Well, the very first time i heard about it, they wouldnt even tell me what they were talking about. They brought me into the Police Station and the head cop comes in and he starts saying, you know, we already know you did it. You may as well go ahead and tell us what you did. Jessie, damien and jason were all arrested hours after jessies confession. We all, i think, breathed a sigh of relief that someone was in custody that was being accused of committing the crimes. Pam hobbs is Stevie Branchs mother. Based on what the police told you, they were 100 certain these were the guilty guys. Uhhuh. And so believing in my Justice System and believing that the police are to protect and serve, i really felt like they had the right ones and i wanted to do something to them. What did you want to do . I wanted to bash their head up against the wall, kick their face in. I was just so angry. If i could have got a hold of them i think i probably could have shredded them with my bare hands. You wanted to kill them. I did. But while jessie may have confessed, he soon took it back and steadfastly refused to testify against jason and damien. Ultimately, jessie was tried separately, and ultimately it would be his own words that would convict him. He hit him with his fist and bruised them up real bad. Then jason turned around and hit steve branch. Okay. And started doing the same thing. Then the other one took off, Michael Moore took off running, so i chased him and grabbed him and hold him. Jessies confession was played for the jury at his trial. They heard Jessie Misskelley say, i saw damien and jason do this and when that one boy escaped i caught him and held him. On february 4th, 1994, Jessie Misskelley was convicted of firstdegree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Damiens and jasons trial was next but the case against them was much weaker. Now, going into the trial of damien and jason, they dont have a confession. They dont have any information, a witness, anybody who says that these boys even knew the victims. Six months after the child murders in west memphis, arkansas, prosecutors had little evidence against jason and damien. They had jessies confession but he wouldnt testify against the other two. They did, however, get a big break right here in this lake behind Jason Baldwins home. There was an announcement by the prosecutor that he had a hunch that there was a knife in this lake. Dennis riordan is damiens attorney. The hunch, however, turned out to be a situation where they had informed the press to be there because they would discover essentially, because were going to discover the knife in this lake. So the state Police Divers come and go in there and very quickly come up holding in profile a serrated knife, which is what the medical examiner said had been used on one of the boys. A damning discovery that made headlines and all but sealed the fates of damien and jason. [ female announcer ] yoplait greek 100. 100 greek. 100 mmm. So mmm, you might not believe its 100 calories. Yoplait greek 100. There are hundreds of reasons to love it. A knife found in a lake, an alleged murder weapon. Rumors of satanic rituals and the words of a convicted killer. All of it adding up to an apparent slamdunk in the case against Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols. Anytime we would go to court, you know, they were always standing along the walkway, when they would lead us into the building, you know, screaming, holding signs, wishing death on me. Damien and jasons trial for the murder of three young boys in west memphis, arkansas, began on february 28th, 1994. Crowds around the courthouses were irate, and they believed that these were three kids who, in some kind of ritual involving satan, had murdered and mutilated three 8year old boys. Mara leveritt wrote the devils knot the true story of the west memphis three. She questioned the strength of the prosecutions case. They had very little to go on and to present to the jury. And so, they made the decision that they were going to say that this was an occult slaying, and thats why it all happened, because these guys were dabbling in the occult, and they brought in an expert witness, they said, name dr. Dale griffith. And he was going to be their expert in the occult. Dennis reardon is damiens attorney. This is man who has a ph. D from a diploma mill in california parading as an expert in this field, when the fbi has looked at this and said this whole satanic thing is utterly unfounded. Griffiths pointed out that the killings took place over a full moon and that practitioners of satanism wore black. I just wore what i liked. The black clothes happened to be what i liked. Listening to heavy metal, wearing black clothing reading stephen king books. None of these are crimes. They thought they were. To them it may not have been a crime burks they were indicators of the type of person who would commit a crime. When you say that im detecting a bit of bitterness. There is a little. I try not to be. But his bitterness was apparent during the trial and it cost him. Damien didnt exactly help himself on the stand, did he . No. Damien was conceited, arrogant. And he fell into something that is very adolescent. When i was a teenager, i really was a smartass. I felt in these people were really stupid enough to look at me in that way, then mess with them, play on their fears. I thought it was funny. Watching you back then you came across, one of the more kind words would be arrogant. I was a kid and scared out of my mind. My strategy for dealing with that fear was to pretend that i wasnt. I dont think there was any way i could have behaved, any way i could have dressed, anything i could have said that would have changed anything going on in that courtroom. I think they were absolutely determined, no matter what, to convict us of this crime. It wasnt just damiens courtroom antics. Remember, prosecutors also had that knife found in the lake behind Jason Baldwins home. But even this bit of evidence cut both ways. I think the knife that was pulled out of the lake is a problem. Because it had no provenance. There was nothing showing that it related directly to this case in any way other than that it was a serrated knife found in a lake near where one of the defendants lived and the crime lab had said there was a serrated knife used. Other than that, there was nothing. But they made a big deal out of that knife in the trial. This knife could have never produced the wounds that were talking about on these bodies. Even the states pathologist described what it would have taken if these wounds had been made by a knife, he said, you know, a practiced surgeon would have had a difficult time doing that. In fact, there is a ready explanation of how this occurred. Its postmortem animal predation. Animal predation. That means it was possibly animals in that gully that had cut and scratched the bodies of the three little boys. On march 18th, 1994, jason and damien were found guilty of killing Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore. We the jury find Damien Echols guilty of capital murder. Getting accused killers off the street was a big, huge relief to people. And then trying them and convicting them just sealed that relief. I feel wonderful at this point. I feel like weve definitely been vindicated in this case. Now my boy can play and go on about his life in heaven the way it is, and ill go on with mine the best i can. What are you going to say to your son . Son, we won. And wait till mama gets up there, and well have a good time when i get there with you. Im glad its over. Jason was sentenced to life in prison. Damien was dealt with even more severely. He was sent to arkansass death row. I was satisfied that they had the right ones in prison, and i was going to go watch damien be injected someday. You wanted to go to damiens execution. Yeah. You wanted to see him injected. You wanted to see him die. Mmhmm. Did you want to say anything to him on that day . I just wanted to look at him and tell him to look into my eyes, i hope you see my son. Hated, reviled, convicted. In the case of west memphis three, justice was served. Or was it . And what does that dna tell us . It tells us that me, jason, jessie, none of our dna was found at the crime scene. Led to the one jobhing you always wanted. At university of phoenix, we believe every education not just ours should be built around the career that you want. Imagine that. Four hours on the slopes. Urs on weights. And two hours doing this stuff. Which leaves me approximately two minutes to get my banking done. So i use the citi mobile app to quickly check my accounts and pay my bills. Which leaves me about five seconds to kick back. That was nice. Bank from almost anywhere with the citi mobile app. Citi, with you every step of the way. My conversation with Damien Echols, a convicted child murderer three times over, was never supposed to happen. Hes supposed to be dead. Sentenced originally to die all the way back on may 5th, 1994. Why are you still alive . Over the years people have paid more and more and more attention to this case. Instead of forgetting about it, the attention paid to it has gradually built up. And i think thats why im still alive. And keeping damiens hope of getting off death row alive is this man. Attorney dennis riordan. I was immediately very reluctant to get involved in a Death Penalty case. Prosecutors generally will not pursue the Death Penalty unless they feel the evidence of guilt is overwhelming, and i was stunned to find out that there was not, in my opinion, a single piece of credible evidence in the death case of this mans guilt. Damien echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, now known as the west memphis three, have all found supporters from all over the world, including celebrities like Actor Johnny Depp and rock musician eddie vedder. Do you know how rare it is for someone on death row to be set free . There are so many things about this case and about my life in general that are against the odds that things like that dont even make me blink anymore. And that support has led to hundreds of thousands of dollars for dna testing of a hair found at the crime scene. And that has led to some startling revelations. The dna evidence proves that there were no sexual assaults. The fronzices forensics proves that as well. The material that does exist, all three defendants are eliminated from it. They couldnt have produced it. And on the other hand, there is evidence consistent with a relative or a Family Member of one of the victims. And its a hair in one of the ligatures which ties up one of the boys, and thats consistent with terry hobbs, who is the stepfather of Stevie Branch, one of the victims. But the hair was found on stevies friend, Michael Moore. While the dna is consistent with terry hobbs, it is far from conclusive. Weve reached out to both terry hobbs and his attorney, ross sampson, and both have declined to speak. But i did sit down with them in 2007, when the dna results were first announced. Is it possible, mr. Hobbs, that that was your hair . Sure. It was his son, steven branch, who was murdered, and hes had to deal with this for the last 15 years. Is there anything that you feel comfortable telling me . You live with this every day. And then to have your friends and neighbors look at you and think, is there Something Else there . Thats that hurts. Terry hobbs has never been named a suspect in this case. And authorities stand by their convictions. But his exwife, pam, stevies mother, doesnt know what to believe anymore. Do you believe that any of those three young men are guilty . At this point, no, i dont. You think three innocent men are behind bars . I do. Do you believe your exhusband could have done that . I dont want to believe that, no. I lived with the man another 14, 15 years after my son and if it came out that he was the one that actually committed this crime, im going to fall face first, i know that. But ill get back up. And thats what scares me about the truth. Was he involved . Pam hobbs may have changed her mind about the west memphis three, but judge David Burnett who initially presided over the case has remained unmoved over any new developments. He denied an evidentiary hearing. He essentially said i dont have to listen to the dna evidence. That all changed, however, on november 4th, 2010, when the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled unanimously that a new hearing be held to determine if the west memphis three deserve a new trial. The Court Ordered that all new evidence, including the dna, must be considered at the hearing. I think judge burnett made some erroneous rulings in the original trial, and i can say that because every member of the Arkansas Supreme Court agreed with our position in challenging his ruling denying an evidentiary hearing on the new evidence. But this is as close as we could get to judge David Burnett. We came here to osceola, arkansas, where he lives and works. We had arranged to speak to him at his home, but he wasnt there when we arrived. We came to his office to find the office closed. We spoke to him on the phone and he says that he is not going to be giving any interviews now unless the prosecutors in the case talk as well. And theyre not talking. The judge says that he believes that there is a circuslike atmosphere around this case and hes tired of being called the bad judge. We also reached out to the West Memphis Police Department and the original detectives on the case, including chief investigator gary gitchell. They all declined to speak with us. These are good kids. In the meantime, Jessie Misskelleys father is hopeful about his sons future. Jessies truck that he used to drive is still under here . Yep. Does he know youre keeping it for him . Yeah. Ill probably have it going by the time he gets out. But ive started on it. Tearing it down. And like jessies dad, damien is hopeful but somewhat fearful at the same time. Because this time the world is watching. This time, you know, youve got people all over the world paying attention to this case now. So stephen king novels and bad teenage poetry arent going to be enough for them to do this again. But at the same time, i guess its i dont know. I guess if youve been hurt by something, there will always be some part of you thats wary of it, scared of it, that never completely trusts it. But one fact remains. Three 8yearold boys are dead. Viciously murdered. Their families devastated to this day. For them, their sons, there are no second chances. That has to be horrifying, to live through Something Like this, to lose your child, and then to come to this belief, that the police got the wrong guys. 18 years later, and i still dont know the truth. I dont feel like i know the truth. Now the west memphis three, Jason Baldwin, Jessie Misskelley jr. , and Damien Echols, are free men. After pleading guilty to first degree murder charges. Its a unique plea where theyre able to go free and proclaim their innocence but at the same time they have to acknowledge the prosecutors had the evidence to convict them. You prosecutors now say its case closed. They believe that they did it. But for those who dont theres that lingering question. If the west memphis three didnt kill those boys, then who did . Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com here in the midwest, several young girls went missing. Some were found murdered. Others were never found at all. Good evening, everyone. Breaking news in a story 360 first brought to national attention, the strange disappearance and mysterious death of an africanamerican father in texas. Also, a judge gets set to hear the case of the reportedly braindead woman whose body is being kept alive against her familys wishes because shes pregnant. And later, whats gotten into Justin Bieber . His arrest today and odd behavior . Dr. Drew pinskys on the case tonight. We begin, though, with breaking news in the death of alfred wright, who vanished last november. His family found his body nearly three weeks later, two weeks after local authorities gave up searching in the exact area where, ultimately, his body was found by his own family. The local sheriff told them there was no sign of foul