But it wasnt in the ways its directors had hoped. So the minute youre done, you just want to know more. By the end of Paradise Lost, you cant believe they were found guilty, Bakken says. Despite the best efforts of the police, dozens of volunteers, a search-and-rescue team, and a helicopter dispatched from nearby Memphis, Tenn., searchers came up empty handed. For Rollins, it was a moral imperative: Id find myself up at 3:30 a.m. thinking about Damien. Jessie took a polygraph. You need corroborating evidence.. Quickly, however, he realized Berlinger and Sinofsky were taking a different approach. In 1996, a screener for Paradise Lost passed her desk. They saw the same thing you did. I don't entirely think Hobbs did it, but I . Creator Payne Lindsey, a filmmaker with no previous experience investigating crimes, had no connection to the victim before he discovered her while Googling cold cases in hopes of finding his own version of runaway successes like Serial and Making a Murderer. Show more Show more What's next for West. When the case was given the option for DNA evidence, everyone but Terry Hobbs said yes. Now, he was being asked to consider something that he never dreamed he would: accepting a plea deal that would set the West Memphis Three free, but require them to give up their quest for exoneration. At that time, I was a little naive that what you read in the paper must have some truth to it, and all the press reports coming out of Arkansas were saying that this was like a slam dunk, an open-and-shut case with a confession that was printed in the newspaper.. In 2004, Vicki Hutcheson recanted her trial testimony, stating that she had lied on the stand. 2 Other details that have come to light include that many wounds on the slain children, originally attributed to human bites and/or a serrated blade, were the result of animals feeding on the bodies. After ending his first marriage, he wed Pamela Hicks Branch in 1986, when her son Stevie was almost 2 years old. Like everyone else who was familiar with the case, they wanted to know who committed the crimes, but their main goal was advocacy, not using the opportunity to play investigators. Over two decades after the murders, what really happened to Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore on the evening of May 5, 1993, remains a mystery. 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 quarter-century later, what does the documentary tell us about citizen activism, the criminal justice system, and the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and 90s? Further down, it includes names such as Rick Dior, a sound mixer who worked on Apollo 13 and Dirty Dancing, and Bob Richman, a three-time Emmy-nominated cinematographer whose rsum also includes renowned docs like An Inconvenient Truth and Waiting for Superman. The bodies had been removed from the water and placed on the adjacent embankment, possibly disturbing physical evidence or otherwise contaminating the scene. But its closing moments point to how the filmmakers felt: that a horrific tragedy had just been compounded by a monumental miscarriage of justice. I didn't even comprehend that the situation could get this serious that it can go this far. That included Mojo, who came calling around 2 a.m. that day trying to coax him out of his cell. Terry was born on September 11, 1959 in Sweetwater, to Jack Harvey and Marjorie Hobbs. 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. That there were three victims was a link to the biblical number of the beast. November 03, 2021 November 4, 2021 . 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? They werent telling me I was lying, even if they may have been saying that in their minds. 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. Berlinger says that after months of filming, the parents of one of the victims raised the issue of payment. Covered in wounds, all three showed signs of having been beaten. Main Page; Heavy metal music, role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, and horror movies were regarded as gateways to evil. there are no assignments to cushion your grade, so either pass or fail. In West Memphis, Hobbs worked as an ice cream delivery man and Hicks worked at a restaurant. He says his dad and Berlinger werent seeking notorietydocumentaries certainly werent a means to get rich or famous in those days. In November, Judge David Burnett, who had presided over the trial, was elected to the state senate. During Misskelley's trial, Hutcheson testified that she had attended an "an occult Satanic meeting" she referred to as an "esbat." Mojo had a different idea of what might get the man he affectionately called J.B. out of prison. By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Share Memories & Support the Family. It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Terry Lee Hobbs of Auburndale, Florida, born in Winter Haven, Florida, who passed away on August 16, 2021, at the age of 56, leaving to mourn family and friends. She says she is too because they believe they are hearing different stories. Case Details. In February, Netflix released Berlingers Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, a docuseries that looked at the 2013 death of Elisa Lam, a Canadian student who died while vacationing in Los Angeles. He was handed the phone. He retired from the US Air Force, and he was the Deputy Supervisor for Polk County Supervisor of Elections. Terry Hobbs passed away in Nampa, Idaho. Now a judgewho coincidentally works part time in the courtroom where Misskelley was convictedStidham spends time speaking to law students about the judicial system. 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. One of the prosecution's key pieces of evidence linking Jason Baldwin to the crime a survival knife with a serrated edge recovered from a lake behind his home has also come under scrutiny. 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. The second postulated that they had been slain by one or more strangers. People have come out of the woodwork and said this and this and people have done things and a lot of them are wrong, said Hobbs. Baldwin and Misskelley were sentenced to life without parole while Echols received the death penalty. Updated: 9:42 AM CDT June 11, 2019. Berlinger and Sinofsky expected a similar result to come quickly in the West Memphis Three case. The attorneys representing Echols and Baldwin believed that the juries wouldnt accept the prosecutions versions of eventsthat they were too fantastical and tied to second-hand informationand that without conclusive proof, their clients would walk. Mara Leveritt, a journalist who followed the case throughout the 1990s and wrote the 2002 book Devils Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three, calls the strain of Christianity that runs through the region very literal and says that even her children faced harassment as teenagers for playing Dungeons & Dragons and listening to Ozzy Osbourne. Sinofsky family connection aside, Berlinger says this was an important part of the film: The prosecutors had put heavy metal lyrics and Baldwins and Echolss Metallica fandom on trial as much as the teens themselves. Terry was born on September 11, 1959 in Sweetwater, to Jack Harvey and Marjorie. Robin Lynn Jones. During the trials of Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols, Griffis drew tenuous links between circumstantial evidence, such as the killings taking place near the date of the pagan festival of Beltane. Websleuths, an online forum for discussions about unsolved homicides and missing-person cases, has more than 100,000 members, and internet vigilantes have used social media and other online breadcrumbs to help track down actual criminals, such as the Canadian murderer and subject of the documentary Dont F*ck With Cats, Luka Magnotta. 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. every single person in my class was either . Misskelley told Hutcheson that he really didn't know much about Echols other than that he was "a weird person." Some believe the West Memphis Three are guilty to this day, and others, including some victims family members, point to their innocence and maintain the real perpetrator is still at large. 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. Echols is an author and mystic living New York with his wife, architect Lorri Davis. In 2007, new DNA and physical evidence arose that seemed to further distance the West Memphis Three from the murders. 25, 2021. Terry. The pair abruptly fled to Oceanside, Calif., four days after the murders. Paradise Lost also led to a famous citizen-activist campaign championing the release of the three teens that caught on at the dawn of the Internet Age and would eventually pull in Eddie Vedder, Henry Rollins, and a whos who of the rich and famous. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! But for every Your Own Backyard or Ill Be Gone in the Dark that has applied journalistic rigor to their research in the past two decades, theres an Up and Vanished, which has been at the center of ethical debates since the podcast debuted in 2016. It's affected a lot of lives, but for some reason it keeps being brought up," said Hobbs. However, under pressure, leading questions, and scare tactics, Misskelley wove a contradictory story that first placed him at the crime scene as an eyewitness to the murders and then as an active participant. Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers were best friends. The next to be found was Stevie Branch, quickly followed by Christopher Byers. 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. Leave a sympathy message to the family in the guestbook on this memorial page of Terry Hobbs to show support. Evidence in West Memphis Three case missing or destroyed, Judge sets bond for 76-year-old woman accused of killing terminally ill husband, Woman accused of driving into home, killing former pro basketball player Galen Young granted diversion, DA Mulroy says he doubts any drag shows will violate Tennessees new drag bill, MPD finds alleged chop shop operating in plain sight, Congressman Cohen announces $1 million grant for Memphis YMCA, Red hot Memphis womens basketball ready to make a run in AAC Tournament. His net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. No knives and not weapons were used," says Jo Lynn McCaughey. However, within the first crucial hours after the bodies were discovered, mistakes were made at the crime scene that negatively impacted the investigation. It'll be sort of like I'm the West Memphis boogeyman. Dec 13th, 2021. June 29 Terry Hobbs, 34, 1718 Spyglass Lane, Mishawaka, booked on a warrant from Elkhart County. 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.