''Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three'' is a 2002 true crime book by
Mara Leveritt, about the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old children and the subsequent trials of three teenagers charged with and convicted of the crimes. The names of the three teens convicted - Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley - would come to be known as the
West Memphis Three. Leveritt's book revolves around the central idea that the three teenagers' convictions stemmed from "
Satanic panic
The Satanic panic is a moral panic consisting of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse (SRA, sometimes known as ritual abuse, ritualistic abuse, organized abuse, or sadistic ritual abuse) starting in North America in the 19 ...
" rather than actual evidence. The book also focuses on one of the victim's stepfathers and his possible connection with the murders. All three teenagers convicted were released on August 19, 2011. A
film of the same name was released in 2013.
Synopsis
On May 5, 1993, Christopher Byers, Michael Moore, and Steven Branch went missing from their homes in
West Memphis, Arkansas
West Memphis is the largest city in Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 24,520 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ranking it as the state's 20th largest city. It is part of the Memphis metropolitan area, an ...
. The next day, their bodies were found in the woods near their homes with evidence showing they had been brutally beaten and savagely murdered. In Byers' case the evidence revealed that he had been castrated, and his genitals skinned before he was killed. News of the boys' deaths and the manner in which it happened soon reached the inhabitants of the small community. The rumor then spread that the nature of Byers' death, in particular hinted that the deaths may have been related to a
Satanic ritual.
Weeks after the murders, a local woman, Vicki Hutcheson, brought her eight-year-old son Aaron to see the police. Aaron claimed to have witnessed the kidnapping of his three friends. Vicki volunteered to help the investigation by becoming "involved" with both Jessie and Damien. Hutcheson was a neighbor of Jessie's and coaxed him into setting up a "meeting" with Damien, so Hutcheson and Damien could get to know each other. Vicki would later claim to the police that she had attended an
Esbat
An esbat is a coven meeting or ritual at a time other than one of the Sabbats within Wicca and other Wiccan-influenced forms of contemporary Paganism.
Esbats can span a wide range of purposes from coven business meetings and initiation ceremonie ...
with both men. Years after the trials, Hutcheson would admit that she had lied about attending the Esbat. Over the months that led up to the arrests and trials, her son Aaron would also change his account of what happened numerous times; each time the story became more outrageous and unbelievable.
Eventually, the police brought in Jessie Misskelley for questioning in relation to the murders. Misskelley was 17 and considered to have a mild
intellectual disability
Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability (in the United Kingdom), and formerly mental retardation (in the United States), Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010).Archive is a generalized neurodevelopmental ...
. Despite this, a simple questioning turned into a heated interrogation by West Memphis Police, which resulted in a confession from Misskelley that was almost immediately recanted. Based on this confession and the story told to police by Aaron Hutcheson, Misskelley, Echols, and Baldwin were all arrested and charged with three counts of
Capital Murder
Capital murder refers to a category of murder in some parts of the US for which the perpetrator is eligible for the death penalty. In its original sense, capital murder was a statutory offence of aggravated murder in Great Britain, Northern Irela ...
. Each of the three men encountered issues during the course of the trials, including the inability to have the trial moved away from the Arkansas area, lack of the prosecution's required assistance in the delivery of all intended evidence to the defense, and a judge the author perceived was biased.
Author Mara Leveritt makes numerous comparisons of the Memphis Three trials to the
Salem Witch Trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in Province of Massachusetts Bay, colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Not everyone wh ...
, stating that the three Memphis defendants were convicted based on the "Satanic Craze" the community was surrounded by after the murders. Actual evidence used by the prosecution during the trials included pictures of
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
T-shirts worn by Jason Baldwin and books checked out by Damien Echols at his public library; the prosecutions' cases offered little more than
circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence is evidence that relies on an inference to connect it to a conclusion of fact, such as a fingerprint at the scene of a crime. By contrast, direct evidence supports the truth of an assertion directly, i.e., without need ...
. Eventually, all three defendants were convicted of the murders, with Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley receiving life sentences without parole, and Damien Echols receiving the
death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...
.
Central figures
*
Damien Echols – Portrayed in the media as the group's "ringleader"; a central figure throughout the case, with a lot of attention focused on the prosecution's attempt to vilify him to the point of conviction.
*
Jason Baldwin – Damien's "best friend" and considered by many "guilty by association" for his friendship with Echols. Prosecutors used Jason's
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
T-shirts as evidence that he was involved in "satanic activity" and "the trappings of the occult".
*
Jessie Misskelley
The West Memphis Three are three freed men convicted as teenagers of the 1993 murders of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, United States. Damien Echols was capital punishment, sentenced to death, Jessie Misskelley Jr. to life imprisonment ...
– Friend of both Damien and Jason's; considered mildly mentally disabled, and at the time of his arrest, he had the education level of a fourth grader despite being 17 years old. His confession was the basis for the arrests and convictions of Echols and Baldwin, despite its many critical inconsistencies.
*
John Mark Byers – Christopher Byers' stepfather; was and remains the most outspoken family member of any of the victims. His numerous run-ins with the law including a violent outburst against his former wife and the mysterious death of Christopher's mother. Questions were raised as to his involvement in the murders after he gave a knife to HBO Productions that contained Christopher's blood type in the fold. Byers denied ever using the knife to HBO and police, and recanted his associated statement only after the police informed him that they had found blood on the knife that matched Christopher's. To this day, the West Memphis Police have yet to investigate Byers any further.
*Gary Gitchell – Chief Inspector for West Memphis Police. When asked during a press conference how confident he felt about the case against Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley, based on a scale from "1 to 10," he stated: "An Eleven".
*Judge David Burnett – Judge presiding over the trials; portrayed in the book as stubborn and biased toward the prosecution.
*Ron Lax – Private Investigator who lends his services to Damien Echols and goes on to uncover many details of concern surrounding the arrests and trials.
*Christopher Byers – Murder victim
*Michael Moore – Murder victim
*Steve Branch – Murder victim
Film adaptation
Atom Egoyan
Atom Egoyan (; ; born July 19, 1960) is an Armenian Canadians, Armenian-Canadian filmmaker. One of the most preeminent directors of the Toronto New Wave, he emerged during the 1980s and made his career breakthrough with ''Exotica (film), Exotica ...
directed the 2013 film adaptation, starring
Colin Firth
Colin Andrew Firth (born 10 September 1960) is an English actor and producer. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Colin Firth, several accolades, including an Academy Award, two British Academy Film Awards, BAFTA Aw ...
as Ron Lax and
Reese Witherspoon
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Reese Witherspoon, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Aw ...
as Pamela Hobbs, mother of Steven Branch, which was produced by
Worldview Entertainment. The film premiered at the
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...
and was released in U.S. theaters on May 9, 2014.
References
{{West Memphis Three
2002 non-fiction books
Books about satanic ritual abuse
American non-fiction books
West Memphis Three
Atria Publishing Group books
Non-fiction books adapted into films