One of Netflix’s greatest original hits is back this year with new and endearing characters. ‘Eddie Munson’ is one of the favorites of the fourth season of ‘Stranger Things’, who is blamed for the death of ‘Crissy’, ‘Fred’ and ‘Patrick’, fatal victims of the monster ‘Vecna’.
Did you know that your character is based on a real life criminal case? Well, in 1993, in Memphis, Arkansas, a small community was horrified after the disappearance of three children and the subsequent discovery of their lifeless bodies in a lake in the town. The trial of three teenagers, the only suspects that the Police had despite the lack of evidence, was one of the first to be televised and became an infamous case.
At that time, the United States was experiencing a phenomenon that was later known as the ‘satanic panic’, in which in situations of heinous crimes and serial murders, the motivation was attributed to rituals with the devil and to sects. As in the case of the fictional character of ‘Stranger Things’, the suspects in the case were singled out simply for being fans of metal, rock and for their taste in horror stories.
What is known about the crime
Three eight-year-old friends, Christopher Byers, Michael Moore, and Stevie Branch, decided to go out on their bikes one afternoon. As night fell, the parents, seeing that they did not return home, alerted the authorities of a possible disappearance. The next day, local police officers found the three naked bodies in a lake.
Let us begin…
On May 5, 1993, three eight-year-old boys: Stevie Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers mysteriously disappear in the small town of West Memphis, Arkansas. pic.twitter.com/3PPI7RcldH
— iri🍹@ (@kickitjmn) June 8, 2020
The case was especially appalling, since the three had been tied up and Byers’ body had signs of genital mutilation. At the time, the authorities argued that the triple murder had been perpetrated as part of a satanic ritual. and so they decided to investigate the young Damien Echols, who was known at school for his eccentric tastes, in addition to practicing a religion called Wicca.
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From the start, Echols denied knowing the three murdered children or having anything to do with their deaths. However, the police went ahead with their theory that the teenager was the culprit, along with two friends of Echols. During the trial they did not present conclusive evidence of his responsibility and concentrated on circumstantial evidence.
The Prosecutor’s Office argued that due to his depressive history, his fondness for the Metallica band and interest in Stephen King’s horror books, Damien Echols was prone to violent actions and demon worship. After the trial, he was sentenced to death. The other two suspects, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, also received harsh sentences: life in prison without the right to appeal. All three were minors when they were arrested.
What the investigation revealed
West Memphis police presented testimony that the teens had performed a ritual on the night of the victims’ disappearance, which turned into an alleged orgy. Vicki Hutcheson, a witness for the prosecution, assured that she had witnessed the act and that they had sexually abused the children. However, there was no evidence of sexual assault on any of the bodies.
On the other hand, the investigators pressured Jessie Misskelley to confess and her statements were far from the evidence collected by the forensic team. For example, she claimed that the three children had been tied up with industrial rope, but were actually tied with their own shoelaces.
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Almost 15 years later, they found evidence that could be analyzed through technology that did not exist when the crimes were committed. They found hair in one of the shoelace knots belonging to Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of Stevie Branch, one of the victims. They also found hair from a friend of Hobbs, however the man denied having anything to do with the case.
West Memphis Three – You have to see the documentary about three teenagers who in the 90s were tried for a crime they did not commit, the sin of the 3? Listen to Metallica and wear black. pic.twitter.com/koFglFnvOb
— Edu’s (@eduxxx_) July 8, 2020
In addition, Hutcheson, who had assured that she had witnessed a satanic ritual practiced by the suspects, withdrew her testimony and assured that she had been intimidated by the Police on pain of being implicated in the murder of the three infants if she did not blame the adolescents.
The release of three innocent youths
In 1996, ‘HBO’ produced a documentary titled ‘Paradise Lost: The Robin Hood Mountain Child Murders’, detailing the case. In the audiovisual they questioned the validity of the police investigation, since they dismissed other theories by focusing exclusively on adolescents.
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They pointed out that all the evidence used to convict the defendants was purely circumstantial. Due to the popularity of the documentary, they produced two other feature films, and even celebrities such as Johnny Depp and Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder came to the defense of the teenagers accused of murder.
After spending 18 years behind bars, the three young people were released using a legal figure known as the ‘Alford Doctrine’, in which they pleaded guilty according to the evidence presented, but innocent of the criminal act. The Arkansas Supreme Court granted them their release based on this legal argument.
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Unfortunately, the case was never conclusively resolved.
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