Category: Uncategorized
Arts In the Park 2019
Book Buzz
The edges of the box were soft and worn from handling. It looked like it would have fallen apart, except for the layers and layers of packing tape stretched across the top. I laid the box knife on the table. Despite the heavy August air, my arms had goosebumps. Terry sat across from me, gazing at the pool or perhaps, staring off into the woods behind the house. I couldn’t really tell.
“Is that all of them?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, ‘cept for maybe a couple. Pam took some of them when she left and I ain’t got them back.” He ground out the remainder of his cigarette in the flower pot turned ash tray beside him.
“Why don’t you start from the beginning and tell me, in your own words, about that day?” With pen in hand, I settled in to hear a story I knew well, but that I had never heard him tell me.
Terry began talking. For some time, I furiously took notes in an abbreviated shorthand, but as he got into the story, I quit writing and just listened and watched. Occasionally writing down a question to ask later.
Follow #TerryHobbs #WM3
West Memphis Three Facts
West Memphis Three Facts Facebook Page
This page serves to dispel all the myths, lies, and misrepresentations surrounding the West Memphis Three case. For a complete summary of the case go to:
www.westmemphisthreefacts.com
Terry Hobbs DID NOT Do It
There are several Facebook pages and websites where people continue to harass me and make unfounded accusations. Here is one page that finally has it right.
TERRY HOBBS DID NOT DO IT
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.
O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.
My Family
Remember….
© Dawn Jensen
As I walk through life,
I look at all I have done.
I had wandered aimlessly,
And wondered what I have become.
I have been through so much,
It is amazing I made it through.
The lessons I have learned
I am shocked I pulled through.
The times I wondered
What life was all about.
The trials experienced in life,
Can make all the good come out.
We try to make it day by day.
Remembering what we were taught.
Just remember some time to pray,
It is important,
We need it every day.
Life can be short.
Unexpected at that.
We try to take its punches,
Just hoping it won’t break our back.
Remember who you are,
Who you want to become.
Everything will fall into place,
When the time comes.
Don’t forget I love you’s,
Every chance you get.
The time maybe short,
There is no time to regret.
Life can be exciting,
As we all have found out.
Eventful, even busy
There is no time to be left out.
Remember who you are,
And Who you want to become.
The time can be short
Don’t leave things undone.
Remember your families,
They are the only ones you’ve got.
To carry you in times of need
They can not be bought.
Remember they love you,
Either here or there.
They will always be with us.
Help for things to bear.
West Memphis Three Murders – My Story
West Memphis Three Murders — My Story
A Question of DNA
The below article was copied and pasted in its entirety from The WM3 Revelations page
A Question of DNA
The narrative goes as this: Three men claiming to be wrongfully convicted have DNA tests run on the evidence in their case. The evidence doesn’t match to any of the them, but a single hair matched to a step-father of one of the victims is located. So this must mean these men are innocent? Not true, the answer is surprisingly not as simple as it would seem, and far more complicated. Despite that it has been all too often claimed that the DNA testings proved them innocent, it didn’t actually exclude them.
The natural question one may ask is, how it is that it didn’t exclude them? To answer this question, it first must be understood the situation at the crime scene, and how evidence was collected. The bodies had been submerged in the water, destroying precious DNA and blood evidence that may have been located at the scene. A possible semen stain which had been located on the pants of one victim, was more or less ruined from being in the water over night. This would make it much harder to find any physical evidence, as the submersion of the bodies, naturally washed away evidence.
Next one must consider how the bodies were recovered.
When the victims were recovered, the police had to enter the ditch where the bodies were located, and rifle around in the water, digging out clothing, as well as touching the bodies. This cross contaminated them, introducing hair and fibers to the scene which hadn’t previously been there before, which is surprisingly all too common in criminal investigations.
In the book “Bodies We’ve Buried” by Jarrett Hallcox and Amy Welch, it’s remarked upon, some of the items investigators accidentally introduce to the scene. One of which is even cigarette butts.
“…as much as 30 percent of all cigarette butts found at crime scenes are not left by the perpatrator, as one might assume, but by someone who actually processed the scene. It’s a little disconcerting to think that so much time and money is wasted on a potential suspect, only to find out that “suspect” is the chief officer.”
The book also states the following…
“If you ask any CSI what the biggest problem they face in the field is, they will almost always say crime scene contamination. Contamination of the scene can not only mislead the investigation, it can also be a defense attorney’s dream come true.”
One can see from the photos that they were up to their waist at times.
The clothing would then be collected and set on the nearby ditch bank picking up anything that may have been there as well.
Here one can actually see items floating around in the water unrelated to the crime, further contaminating evidence.
There had been garbage and debris through-out. A simple fact was that there had been hair and fibers at the scene which may not have been from the killer(s).
Adding to this, anything from the home of the victims had additionally been introduced to the crime scene. Hair and fibers from their home environment could have been stuck to their clothing that day, further complicating the matter.
Now according to Lisa Sakevicius in her courtroom testimony, Stevie Branch was tied with two different shoe laces.
20 Q. On Exhibit 81 — if you would refer to that exhibit.
21 A. That is from Steve Branch.
22 Q. What were your findings as to the knots on Exhibit 81?
23 A. Examination of the ligatures revealed a black shoestring on
24 the right side tied in three half hitches with an extra loop
25 around the leg to a single half hitch with a figure eight around
1509
1 the right wrist. The left side consisted of a white shoestring
2 tied in three half hitches around the wrist to three half
3 hitches around the leg.
4 Q. So on the left side on the wrist you had three half
5 hitches?
6 A. Correct.
7 Q. And on the ankle you had three half hitches?
8 A. Correct.
9 Q. On the right side on the leg you had three half hitches
10 with what?
11 A. An extra loop around the right leg.
12 Q. On the wrist you had?
13 A. A figure eight.
14 Q. With one half hitch. Is that right?
15 A. Yes, sir.
Now, the hair connected to Terry was located on a shoe lace used to bind Michael Moore, but as seen by the above testimony, Stevie was tied up with two different laces. This means that the lace used to bind Michael could have been Stevie’s. All this means then, is that the DNA test only proves that Terry Hobbs had been in the same home as Stevie, since he was his Step-Dad. It doesn’t actually connect him to the crime. And even if it were Michael’s shoe lace it would still be the same, since both boys were best friends, and often played in each other’s houses. All that can be really said about the hair is that it’s secondary transfer, and was like brought to the scene by the victims.
Next it should be considered that DNA was a new thing at the time, and evidence wasn’t collected as well back 1993 as it would be today. Even in this age of CSI expectations when it comes to evidence, it can still be difficult to find the offender’s DNA. A prime example would be the Noura Jackson case. Jackson, had murdered her mother in 2005. At the scene despite blood being everywhere and the fact that Noura cut herself during the crime, not a single speck of her blood or DNA was located that could prove she killed her mother. There was DNA found, but it didn’t match Noura. There was also a hair, which again didn’t seem to match Noura. There was also no blood in Noura’s car. She had seemingly lucked out and left no real physical evidence to tie her to the crime. What ended up proving that she was the killer, was the fact that she was caught on surveillance tape buying first aid products to treat a fresh cut on her hand which was even bleeding in the video.
http://murderpedia.org/female.J/j/jackson-noura.htm
So, even today, DNA can be tough to link to a criminal.
For years there was confusion over the DNA results in the Boston Strangler case, with a recent DNA test proving that Albert DeSalvo was the Strangler, where as a past DNA test concluded he wasn’t the Strangler.
Quote from an article.
“The discrepancy between the 2001 results and today’s announced match might come down to the different samples analyzed by the different labs. “What [the 2013 investigators] have are slides from the crime scene that have semen on them, presumably from the perpetrator,” says Foran, whereas his team examined samples taken from Sullivan’s exhumed corpse. “One thing that confuses me is why they didn’t test those 15 years ago, because they could have. And we certainly did ask for them back then.” Add that to the long, long list of questions about the Boston Strangler case that might never get answered.”
Now over the years the defense team had tried to claim that a hair found at the crime scene from a black man was proof that their clients were innocent. They coupled this together with a siting of a black man at a Bojangles restaurant. This was a black homeless man who had blood on him and used the women’s restroom on the night of the murder. The man seemed disoriented and washed up in the bathroom, before leaving.
When this suspect failed, they tried to blame one of the step-parents. First they accused John Mark Byers, the Step-Father of Christopher Byers. Years later during a bitter divorce Pam Hicks, the wife of Terry Hobbs would accuse him of having molested their daughter in order to win custody of her. When that failed she tried to claim that Hobbs was the real killer of her son. The defense team soon seized on this, and pointed out how they had a hair that matched to him at the crime scene. In truth however there was countless hairs, probably several from family members of the victims. DNA testing couldn’t even match some items at the scene to the victims, despite that they had to have been the source of some of the evidence.
With all this background information laid out, let’s get into the documents pertaining to the DNA. Now this shows the DNA profiles of both the victims and the WM3.
http://callahan.8k.com/images2/writ_exhibits/Exhibit_V_12.jpg
Next you have the document from Bode which demonstrates which items had mixtures. The items are the combined Ligatures from Steve (34AB) and Michael’s penile swab (5D):
Now It tells where on the charts to look for the mixtures. The locus here is D5S818.
http://callahan.8k.com/images2/writ_exhibits/Exhibit_P_12.jpg
From the information show here pertaining to the ligature, the results on that locus are 10,11, and 12. The results are in the fifth column. Now here should only be two numbers, but instead it’s three.
http://callahan.8k.com/images2/writ_exhibits/Exhibit_P_08.jpg
On the swab the numbers are 9,12, and 13. The results are the second column. Again there should only be two numbers.
http://callahan.8k.com/images2/writ_exhibits/Exhibit_P_09.jpg
Now going back to the chart that lists the DNA profiles of all victims and the others tested, on the D5S818 locus you have:
Echols is 11,12
Miskelley is 11,12
Baldwin is 9,9
Moore is 9,13
Branch is 10,12
Byers is 11,12
The ligatures’ results for that locus read 10,11, and 12.
This means for that locus, alleles could be present from Echols, Branch, Misskelley, and/or Byers.
From the same ligature, the results for D3S1358 match only Steve out of the six people.
From the same ligature on the locus D13S317, the results read 8 and 11.
Both Branch and Echols have the same results on their known samples for this locus.
On Micheal’s penile swab, the results for the D5S818 locus are 9,12,13 .
Looking at the chart that lists the DNA profiles of all victims and the WM3 as relates to the D5S818 locus:
Echols is 11,12
Misekelley is 11,12
Baldwin is 9,9
Moore is 9,13
Branch is 10,12
Byers is 11,12
All parties have either a 9, 12, or 13 at this locus, so no one can be excluded.
So, as can be seen, the men were not exactly totally and absolutely cleared of this crime by DNA.
They were also further linked to this crime through DNA located on a necklace belonging to Damien Echols. Blood was found on it that matched to Echols, along with blood from either Stevie Branch or Jason Baldwin. The testing at the time couldn’t say for sure if the blood was Stevie’s or Jason’s, and because of this testing all of the blood samples are used up.
This testing is discussed in this deleted scene from Paradise Lost.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKnGYZfuBBQ
What this all means is that the men convicted of this crime cannot be claimed to be proven innocent through DNA.
News Story by WREG Channel 3 in Memphis, May 10th —
The following article and news cast was published in May by WREG Channel 3 News.
Posted on: 6:49 pm, May 10, 2013, by Sabrina Hall, updated on: 06:12pm, May 12, 2013
To view the video, please click the link below. It will open up in a separate window.
Terry Hobbs Breaks His Silence
(Memphis) It’s a murder mystery that’s captivated America for the last twenty years: the West Memphis Three
All these years later, the country is still divided on who murdered those three little boys in Arkansas in 1993.
Many have theories, including one where Terry Hobbs, the step-father of one of the boys, is the killer. Hobbs hasn’t done a TV interview in years, but agreed to sit down with WREG’s Sabrina Hall to answer some questions.
Terry Hobbs says he is a church member, a father, and working man and in no way a killer.
“Everyone has a story and this just happens to be mine,” said Hobbs.
What a story it is.
It’s one that’s sparked documentaries, a handful of books, even a movie that is about to be released.
“With Hollywood actors,” said Hobbs.
“And who is playing your wife?” asked Hall.
“Reese Witherspoon,” laughed Hobbs. “I am happy about that.”
Hobbs can find humor in a story that’s brought him so much pain over the last twenty years, “There is not a day that goes by, seriously, that you don`t think about it.”
On May 6, 1993, three boys are found hog-tied and murdered in a ditch in West Memphis, Arkansas. One of the 8-year-olds is Hobbs’ stepson, Stevie Branch.
“He would have been a heart breaker if he grew up. Blonde hair, blue eyes,” said Hobbs.
West Memphis police believe the killers to be three teenagers in a satanic cult: Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley. Misskelley even confessed to the crime, a confession Hobbs says he heard because he sat through every day of their trials.
“They are guilty,” said Hobbs. Hobbs says he believes that with all his heart, yet many have a different theory on who killed those boys.
“Terry Wayne Hobbs,” said Mark Byers, a father of one of the victims, in a previous interview. “I don`t know how much clearer I have to make it.”
That theory is the premise of the latest documentary “West of Memphis”.
“In the middle of a knot that had been tightened, there was hair jammed in the middle of that knot,” said a forensic expert in the film.
Forensic experts say DNA evidence ties Hobbs to the crime scene and that neighbors saw him with the boys that night. Hobbs says the hair found could be his, “all those little boys played at our home.” But says the rest of the accusations in the documentary are false.
“So you didn`t even see them that day at all?” asked Hall.
“No,” said Hobbs.
“So why do people say they saw you outside and you were calling them home?” asked Hall.
“Because people can,” said Hobbs. “People can say whatever they want to say. It doesn`t make it true.”
Hobbs says when he got home from work on May 5, 1993, the boys were already out riding their bikes, he never them saw them again. Yet, theories keep coming that point to Hobbs as the man behind the murders.
“This is not a theory of who did this, this is evidence,” said an attorney.
Just this March, lawyers for Hobb’s ex-wife, Pam Hicks, and the father of another victim, Mark Byers, paint a more detailed picture: that Hobbs killed the boys with three other men after a day of drinking and smoking pot. Hobbs says the entire story is a complete fabrication.
“There should be a time when you draw the line and you say ‘you don`t cross this line’ and it’s been crossed,” said Hobbs.
Hobbs says he is a victim in the story and has even tried to file lawsuits against those who’ve said otherwise but says, because he’s seen as a public figure, lawyers tell him that he doesn’t have a case. In the end, he says he lives with it, “At some point you’ve got say ‘I got to keep on going. This thing will beat you down if you let it and I chose not to let it control my life.”
Hobbs says his ex-wife knows he is innocent, “She knows better.”
But says Hicks, as well Byers, are wrapped-up in a story that’s turned into an industry, “To me, they`ve all tried to capitalize and they have turned our tragedy into a money making business .”
He says that business, and Hollywood hype, has set the real killers free, “Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley. I believe that with everything inside of me.”
Hobbs says he hopes the three eventually tell the truth one day and apologize, but until then Hobbs says he has to live with the story that many people believe.
“Do you wish you had a different story?” asked Hall.
“Well sure,” said Hobbs. “I am as human as anybody else and I don`t like to be portrayed as a bad person because I am not.”
Hobbs says he has considered contacting the makers of the Devil’s Knot, the movie coming out this year, to find out if they are portraying him as a bad guy. Instead, he’s decided to be surprised like the rest of us.
Reading Grove Renovations Wrapping Up
Reading grove renovations wrapping up
By Gary Meece
news@theeveningtimes.com
5/9/13
There was one bright spot among all the news stories about the 20th anniversary of the deaths of Michael Moore, Christopher Byers and Stevie Branch.
Thanks to a grassroots effort, the “reading grove” at Weaver Elementary School memorializing the three second-graders has been renovated, and 20 yellow rose bushes have been planted around the gazebo there to mark the 20 years since the boys’ murders.
Work was still under way Wednesday morning, after many delays because of rain over the last week, with the final touches expected later in the day.
Earlier Wednesday morning, Weaver Principal Sheila Grissom had $2,791 in donations toward the $2,884 cost of the landscaping. And two envelopes were still unopened in her office.
The first envelope yielded $50 while the second held $31 in cash. “We’re there!” exulted the principal as she pulled out her calculator. With a total of $2,872 donated so far, she said, laughing, “I think we can come up with the other $12.”
That was good news for Mrs. Grissom, who has had an even busier than usual last few weeks as an unaccustomed media presence on a number of TV stations and other media outlets.
Last Sunday marked the 20th anniversary of the murders of the three 8-year-old Cub Scouts in a formerly wooded area nearby. A full-page ad in the Evening Times memorialized the boys, and related stories have continued to play out over television, radio and newspapers.
Prompted by a column and a photo in the Evening Times last month, and spurred on by initial contributions from area residents, the reading grove fund was set up to honor the boys by making improvements to their memorial.
Memphis Realtors Michael and Lesia Ford with Coldwell Banker Heritage Homes organized an effort to repaint the gazebo in brighter colors, repair damaged benches, add trash receptacles and cover exposed nails in the ceiling.
“I am so proud to be from Crittenden County and West Memphis. We read this article in the paper and then we went over there to take a look at the reading grove,” said Michael Ford last week about his involvement. “We decided that this was a project we wanted to be involved in. The outpouring of support really makes me proud to be a part of this community.”
The Weaver Reading Grove, constructed in 1994, includes a gazebo, benches and a memorial stone. The structure continues to be used as a playground shelter.
The work was done by TC Landscaping in conjunction with O’Neal Landscaping of West Memphis. Any additional funds will be used for future Weaver Reading Grove and playground maintenance.
Send donations to:
Weaver Elementary Reading Grove/Playground Fund
1280 East Barton Ave.
West Memphis, AR 72301
For more information contact Sheila Grissom, Weaver Elementary School principal, at sgrissom@wmsd.net or 870-735-7670.
Across town, on Sunday, members of the Moore family, church members and friends gathered for the blessing of a cherry tree that was planted by Michael Moore’s Sunday school class about a week after Michael’s body was found along with the bodies of his two little friends on May 6, 1993.
Members of the Moore family were on hand for the original planting of the tree and for Sunday’s ceremony.
Todd Moore, Michael’s father, has lifelong ties to the church — he was baptized at Holy Cross in 1965. A sign designating the tree as “Michael’s Tree” was donated by Steve Mullen, Safeguard Window and Door and Lovelady Graphics, who did the lettering.
Three local teens were convicted of the murders in 1994 and were freed from prison almost two years ago after pleading guilty.