Lying in the open air in near 80-degree temperatures accelerated the decomposition of the bodies. A hair found on one of the ligatures to bind the boys, however, was found to be consistent with the DNA of Hobbs, according to court documents obtained by Oxygen.com. Terry Hobbs USAF Ret. He knew that if he ever got out, hed want to do that in a more organized way. Two of the West Memphis Three's most ardent supporters were director Peter Jackson, best known for The Lord of the Rings films, and his partner Fran Walsh. Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of West Memphis Three murder victim Stevie Branch, has denied any involvement in slayings of Branch and his two friends. Searching obituaries is a great place to start your family tree research. More than 2,500 people attended and the story dominated the local press for days. Hobbs has never wavered in his conviction that justice was served the first time around. Hobbs said, I still believe in my heart that Jessie, Jason, and Damion, 'Feels Like Home:' electrical failure from a light fixture caused December fire that killed 1, Shelby County reporting an increase in drug-related overdoses, largely due to fentanyl, Severe weather threat is over | Prepare for a sunny weekend, Daylight saving time starts soon. March 8, 2021, Terry Hobbs passed away on March 8, 2021 in Boise, Idaho. Echols attorneys got a letter from the custodian of records for the West Memphis police department saying some of the evidence ended up lost, or misplaced, and some destroyed by fire. In her recantation, Hutcheson stated that when she asked Echols directly if he had killed "those three kids," he replied, "No. Hobbs, with the help of an author, put all that journaling intoa book about the 1993 murders of his stepson Stevie Branch, and Branchs friends Michael Moore and Chris Byers. It wasnt hard for him to imagine his teenage self ending up in Echolss situation. 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. Maines won the lawsuit; police have never named Hobbs a suspect or charged him in connection with the killings.). 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. Yet, Judge David Burnett accepted Griffis as an expert. 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.. 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. Its affected a lot of lives, but for some reason it keeps being brought up, said Hobbs. He says his students seem to have a better grasp on the idea of coerced confessions than any of his peers in 1994. How do you measure the legacy of Paradise Lost, which is one of the best reviewed documentaries of all time and considered among the most influential, but whose mission is only partly complete? But they never had any physical evidence that connected us to this crime, Echols said in 2012. Sauls says that the former Black Flag frontman was one of the few big names who dug deep into the evidence, wanting to learn as many details as he could about the case. Echols is an author and mystic living New York with his wife, architect Lorri Davis. Robin Lynn Jones. It was also revealed in 2012 that Hobbs nephew allegedly told his friends, My Uncle Terry murdered those three little boys," and that the killings were a Hobbs family secret, according to, I still believe in my heart that Jessie, Jason, and Damion Echols [sic] are responsible for what happened to our children, Hobbs told Memphis ABC affiliate. Except this was 1996, and home internet was still in its infancy. Misskelley's coerced confession, as contradictory as it seemed to the evidence, was consistent in implicating Echols and Jason Baldwin. To send flowers or plant a tree in memory of Terry Hobbs, visit the Tribute Store. Spotting a small, black tennis shoe in the water, Jones radioed for help. 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. Their main worry was Damien, who was staring down the threat of lethal injection should the appeals fail. Local 24 News EXCLUSIVE: Terry Hobbs on his new memoir on the West Memphis 3. Terry Hobbs, one of the men named in the documents. I said, Im going to send some kids down there., Those kids turned out to be Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, the young documentarians who had recently completed the acclaimed Brothers Keeper, a film chronicling a death and the resulting trial in a small upstate New York village. His net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. TERRY HOBBS OBITUARY Terry Roland Hobbs, 62, of Sweetwater, passed away on Saturday, September 11, 2021. I couldnt not watch it at this point. Misskelley returned to life in West Memphis. He said Boxful of Nightmares is his memoirs unedited. I never foresaw that they would in turn save us.. of Auburndale, FL passed away Monday, August 16, 2021. Armchair detectives of today, I think a lot of them dabble in conspiracy theory, Berlinger says. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. Terry L. Hobbs, 63, of Caldwell, HOBBS, Terry L., passed on March 7,2021 at the age of 63. The knife was thrown into the lake by Baldwin's mother a year before the murders. (Shortly after Villegass acquittal, Baldwin had something of a full-circle moment with his client: He took him to a Metallica show in El Paso, Texas, where they hung out backstage on the invitation of Lars Ulrich.). Hes since parlayed the popularity of the show into a booming podcast network and documentary deal with Oxygen. But they were saying that he was about to die.. Beyond the black-and-white print of the newspaper, there was a movement brewing. People in West Memphis are going to tell their kids stories. The boys were so mutilated, investigators thought the murders were part of some kind of Satanic ritual. And yet Hobbs was not interviewed at all in the months after the crimes. This family in-fighting led to him shooting his brother-in-law. In 2004, Vicki Hutcheson recanted her trial testimony, stating that she had lied on the stand. Share Memories & Support the Family. I kind of enjoy it because now even after I die, people are going to remember me forever. Certain that, under what he felt were ridiculous circumstances, Echols' confidence and, on occasion, flippant attitude during the trial was often misinterpreted as evidence of his coldness toward the victims and their families. I deeply admire that and I thought it was worthy of putting on film.. We were finally winning, he says. Its first season ostensibly focused on the disappearance of a Georgia beauty queen, but it spent nearly as much time digging through the salacious details of the victims love life and dipping into amateur psychology as it did looking at evidence. Critics were effusive in their praise and stunned by the footageparticularly Roger Ebert, who wrote in a four-star review that at the end of the film I was unconvinced of their guilt. The film won Emmy and Peabody awards to go with more than a dozen other nominations. Yes, the West Memphis Three are out of prison, but as long as they are considered guilty in the eyes of the state, the case is closed, meaning no further investigation can occur. Peter Jackson, who would produce a separate documentary about the case titled West of Memphis in 2012, and his partner, Fran Walsh, funded an extensive private investigation and helped hire forensic experts to comb through evidence. This is before considering the 2013 dramatized movie based on the events (and Leveritts book), Stidhams plans to release the book Harvest of Innocence, and how elements of the case made their way into True Detectives third season. Covered in wounds, all three showed signs of having been beaten. This is the true story of the West Memphis Three murders. Defense attorneys also pointed out that Griffis' doctorate was obtained through a notorious diploma mill and had been awarded with Griffis having never attended a single class. With a large population of fundamentalist Christians, the American South was particularly subject to occult paranoia. (Police questioned Byers several times during the investigation, but never considered him a suspect.) In this first confession, Miskelley often agreed to details suggested by the police or attributed to prior statements which he did not make. However, within the first crucial hours after the bodies were discovered, mistakes were made at the crime scene that negatively impacted the investigation. La Mirada, California. The news was devastating beyond just word of his friends suffering. We made a promise early on that we would never pretend to be law enforcement or detectives, Sauls says. Hobbs was Branch's stepfather. 1.0. . Events. Berlinger and Sinofsky expected a similar result to come quickly in the West Memphis Three case. Theyve had several victories, including the case of Daniel Villegas, who was acquitted of capital murder in 2018 after a 25-year legal saga. Years of solitary confinement and the abuse he said he suffered at the hands of prison guards had taken its toll. Among them was a disoriented, muddy, and bleeding African-American man who stumbled into a West Memphis Bojangles restaurant men's room less than a mile from the crime scene. 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. On 04/08/2021 Terry Hobbs was filed as a Bankruptcy - Chapter 13 lawsuit. McCaughey says her sister is very upset. No charges have been brought against Jacoby, and he has never been named a suspect by the West Memphis Police Department. Its evidence that Damien Echols attorneys wanted to do new DNA testing on. Berlinger and Sinofsky began to take notice. During the final year of the two-year span, from July 2021 to July 2022, California lost about 211,000 people, according to data from the state Department of Finance. every single person in my class was either . Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. The following day revealed the unthinkable, when the bloodied and bruised bodies of the three boys were found submerged in a muddy creek in a wooded area called Robin Hood Hills. They saw this movie and they felt like, I have to do something.. The governor of the state of Arkansas who will one day pardon the West Memphis Three is probably in junior high right now, he says. October 14, 2017: #26 on the JazzWeek chart! Cinemorgue Wiki. Mojo jumped up, Baldwin recalls. The concept of citizen investigations intrigues Berlinger just as much as it did in the 1990s, though today hes often more concerned with the moral implications. They were released after prosecutors agreed to an Alford plea, in which the men maintained their innocence but pleaded guilty. (WMC) - Not a single piece of evidence ever connected the West Memphis Three, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, to the 1993 murders of Steve Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore. The great irony of the 18-year quest to free the West Memphis Three is that it didnt begin as a crusade. He said, J.B., youre going home, man, youre going home.. Due to marital problems stemming from Stevies death, the couple divorced in 2004, reported CNN. The pair abruptly fled to Oceanside, Calif., four days after the murders. And then there was the public pressure: In August 2010, Vedder and Maines headlined yet another benefit concert, this one in Little Rock. Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers were best friends. The second postulated that they had been slain by one or more strangers. I think I introduced my dad to it because that was not his normal genre., Three Metallica songsOrion, Welcome Home (Sanitarium), and Call of Ktuluwould play throughout the documentary. None of the initial trio behind WM3.orgnor their friend Lisa Fancher, who later became a key part of the efforthad ever considered themselves an activist to that point. Earlier this year, he told Action News 5 he welcomes new DNA testing. The second is by looking at it as an act of passion and perseverance. This is not a smoking-gun-type case.. None of the three believed that, but Echolss healthand the possibility that even if he survived, he would still be on death row should the fight for retrials failmade it an imperative. Echols tweeted, New technology and evidence in science would now allow us to test DNA in amounts so small that it would have been previously impossible. Baldwin remembers grabbing a Mountain Dew and a burrito and sitting down, still unaware of what he was about to watch. Unfortunately, for three teen outsiders, the West Memphis Police Department chose to focus on the cult angle to the detriment of their efforts to investigate the other two, more likely scenarios. The districts current prosecuting attorney, Keith Chrestman, did not respond to requests for comment for this article, but his predecessor Scott Ellington, whose office negotiated the deals, told The New York Times in 2011 that while new trials would have likely resulted in acquittals, We dont think that there is anybody else. The Moore family has been outspoken about the end result, vehemently protesting the 2012 Oscar nomination for the third Paradise Lost installment. Terry Roland Hobbs, 62, of Sweetwater, passed away on Saturday, September 11, 2021. Pam Hobbs divorced Terry Hobbs in 2004 and has reversed her position on the West Memphis Three's guilt. Echols is correct. Who Killed The Forgotten West Memphis Three? 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. Even today, years after his name was cleared and authorities ruled Lams death accidental, Morbid still receives threats. Terry Hobbs says he is a church member, a father, and working man and in no way a killer. In 1996, a screener for Paradise Lost passed her desk. Even without a smoking gun, the circumstantial evidence was enough for a conviction in a place like Crittenden County, Arkansas. Hobbs says his book is 25 years in the making, adding it is called Boxful of Nightmares for a reason. He was 56. Quality. 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. the only grade you receive is from quizzes, exams, and the final. Its headlined by not only the films directors, but also Sheila Nevins, its executive producer and winner of 32 individual Emmy awards, more than any other person in history. Branded the, What has never been definitively answered, however, is who committed the 1993 murders, and , Due to marital problems stemming from Stevies death, the couple divorced in 2004, reported, The test results showed that no genetic material on the crime scene evidence was a match to Echols, Baldwin or Misskelley, reported the, The West Memphis Police Department interviewed Hobbs, who was dismissive of the findings, claiming the hair could have been picked up during a visit to his home since the victim "played with our little boy regularly," according to the, "They said close to the crime scene because at one time I did walk near where they had found the kids with Terry Hobbs But I didn't wear hats back then, my hair could have blown around anywhere, Jacoby told Memphis NBC affiliate, A year after the DNA results were released, Hobbs sued Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines for defamation, claiming she implied he was a murderer on the bands website and at a 2007 rally, according to, In 2009, three witnesses filed affidavits claiming they saw Hobbs with the murdered boys the night they disappeared, contradicting Hobbs previous statements to police, according to. Their bikes were found by a pipe nearby. A native of Winter Haven, born December 21, 1964, Terry . He was an actor, known for Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988), Fast Food (1989) and In the Heat of the Night (1988). William Holford Griffiths. 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. TSGT Terry Lee Hobbs, USAF, ret. At the request of West Memphis authorities, the two were picked up and questioned by Oceanside police. But it wasnt in the ways its directors had hoped. All of them were convicted after Misskelley confessed to helping Echols and Baldwin with the murders, which he later recanted. I'm not stupid." Terry Hobbs was born on November 25, 1969 in Columbus, Georgia, USA. Everybody Id come in contact with was hostile to the truth, Baldwin says. Show more Show more What's next for West. But most notably, his initial timeline of events didnt match what was known about the crimes, and every time he offered a detail that diverged from the accepted chronology, the interrogating officers seemed to steer him back in the direction of the official version. He could have been me, he told Rolling Stone in 2011. In May of that year, police discovered the bodies of Michael Moore, Stevie Branch, and Christopher Byers in the Robin Hood Hills, a small wooded area near the I-40/I-55 exchange. Terry Hobbs Memphis 32, 14-Jun, Superior Funeral Home-Hollywood. To this day, it is still unclear who is responsible for the killings. Best selling books such as Lawrence Pazder's Michelle Remembers and disgraced evangelical comedian Mike Warnke's The Satan Seller fueled the madness with tales of ritual abuse and human sacrifice. Mike Allen arrived on the scene. Luminol tests, which reveal the hidden presence of blood, were not performed at the scene until six days later. In West Memphis, Hobbs worked as an ice cream delivery man and Hicks worked at a restaurant. Feigning a romantic interest in Echols, she asked Misskelley to arrange a meeting. doesn't know how to teach the material and you will end up teaching yourself everything. So much progress had been made in the fight for new trials, most notably a November 2010 Arkansas Supreme Court ruling that ordered a hearing on new DNA analysis and other evidence not considered in 1994. Auburndale, FL - TSGT Terry Lee Hobbs, USAF, ret. Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of Branch who was under suspicion but never charged, said he welcomes new DNA testing. Produced and directed by filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, the film and its two sequels, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations and Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, gave audiences a unique and detailed look into the case, the accused, and the families of victims. Leave your condolences to the family on this memorial page or send flowers to show you care. After new DNA evidence was discovered, the West Memphis Three were released from prison in August 2011 by agreeing to an Alford plea, which allowed him to proclaim their innocence while admitting the prosecution had enough evidence to convict him. Hold for Elkhart County. The arrest, trial, and conviction of the three young men known as the West Memphis Three came under national scrutiny as details of the case became public. Explore. Hobbs denied seeing the boys that night and questioned why eyewitness evidence surfaced 16 years later. Almost 30 years ago, three eight-year-old West Memphis boys were found murdered and three teenagers were charged in the murders. . As part of the deal, they cannot file wrongful-conviction lawsuits, which both Berlinger and Baldwin say couldve cost the state tens of millions of dollars. A native of Winter Haven, born December 21, 1964, Terry has been a lifelong resident of Auburndale. Investigators kept minimal notes and omitted pertinent details including criminal records. In August 2011, Jason Baldwin was pulled from his prison cell under confusing circumstances once again. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. . The bodies had been removed from the water and placed on the adjacent embankment, possibly disturbing physical evidence or otherwise contaminating the scene. She says she is too because they believe they are hearing different stories. 25, 2021. Although Griffis' testimony was dramatic, it showed only a tenuous grasp of occult knowledge much of it, including a reference to a cult called "Crytos," was simply made up. Baldwin, the youngest member of the trio that had come to be known as the West Memphis Three, was serving a life sentence after being convicted on charges connected to the 1993 killings of three 8-year-old boys. Case Number &colon; 2:21-BK-21177. I didnt want to stop with us being that close. No explanation has yet been given as to why such a seemingly important lead was dropped. On Aug. 11, 2011, the West Memphis Three entered the courtroom for the final time. It was almost like an out-of-body experience., When the credits rolled shortly after the unforgettable final scene, which shows a now-convicted Baldwin and Echols leaving the courtroom in handcuffs and entering a police cruiser as Metallica plays, Baldwin sat stunned. (Echolswho is in better health today, though his eyesight has degenerated and he has premature arthritis from his time in solitary confinementin particular has maintained a relatively public life, through the five books hes published, performing magic for Patreon subscribers, and making TV appearances to discuss other cases he sees as similar to his.) Other possible suspects includedBrian Holland and Chris Morgan, two young men from Memphis, Tenn., with a history of drug offenses. She said it was one of the highest-rated pieces they had. After ending his first marriage, he wed Pamela Hicks Branch in 1986, when her son Stevie was almost 2 years old. Because I was thinking, if you haven't done anything, then they can't prove you did something you haven't actually done. And the seemingly endless stream of threats against them and the frequent clashes with Mark Byers did nothing to dissuade them. The bodies of Branch, Byers, and Moore were found in a drainage ditch in West Memphis May 6 . (WJHG) By Nikki Sheaks Published: Jul. Although the Alford Plea set the West Memphis Three free, they are, at least in the eyes of the law, guilty, and therefore, the state of Arkansas is under no obligation to continue investigating the crimes at this time. "People probably think I'm in Satanism because what they don't understand they try to destroy or ridicule. Reaching its apex in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Satanic Panic was a wave of paranoia rooted in the belief that Satanic cults intent on corrupting the souls of the young had infiltrated American society. When the case was given the option for DNA evidence, everyone but Terry Hobbs said yes. This case was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Courts, Tennessee Western Bankruptcy. 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. 2 I don't know if the other 2 did, but even if they did polygraphs aren't admissible in court. Although she was unable to recall the exact location or anyone who attended the alleged meeting, she claimed a drunken Echols confessed to the murders. Share Memories & Support the Family. We are sad to announce that on September 11, 2021 we had to say goodbye to Terry Hobbs of Sweetwater, Texas. Jason Baldwin had no idea what was happening when a fellow inmate at the supermax prison in Varner, Arkansas, woke him up early one morning in 1997. The level of corruption in the American justice system is glaring and sickening.. The next to be found was Stevie Branch, quickly followed by Christopher Byers. The obituary was featured in Idaho Press Tribune on March 13, 2021. Damion Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley were convicted of murdering the children in 1994. So the minute youre done, you just want to know more. The first film gave rise to a movement devoted to reopening the investigation in hopes of exonerating, and ultimately freeing, Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols, and Jessie Misskelley. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! They were found nude and hogtied in a creek in a wooded area in West Memphis. Replacing Burnett was Circuit Court Judge David Laser. . He was 56. Then youd try to find it, and it didnt exist, because when we went out to discussion groups, no one knew about the case yet., After learning that the teens were still in prison, Bakken, Sauls, and Pashley decided to make full use of the budding technological revolution.