Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. It was so emotionally taxing to watch and go through it again, he says. Share Memories & Support the Family. Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers were best friends. 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. While thats cooled from the days of concerts in the shadows of the Arkansas Supreme Court building, the documentaries still live on HBO Max, where they pull in new viewers to this day. I spoke with one of the jurors, years later after the trials and convictions, and he said he had no doubt that people could throw their lot in with the devil and be commanded to do things that they wouldnt have done otherwisethat they have basically made the deal with the devil, Leveritt says. Hes since parlayed the popularity of the show into a booming podcast network and documentary deal with Oxygen. Few celebrities at the time did as much as Henry Rollins, however. Paradise Lost is a narration-free documentary filmed with a journalistic remove. 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. However, within the first crucial hours after the bodies were discovered, mistakes were made at the crime scene that negatively impacted the investigation. Berlinger says that he counts Errol Morriss The Thin Blue Line as one of his greatest influences, not just for the innovations Morris brought to the documentary genre, but also because it helped free Randall Dale Adams from a sentence for the murder of a Texas police officer that he did not commit. The third put forth the unusual theory that the killings were committed as a cult ritual. 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 CNN. So when I saw this tiny little article in the Times, I wasnt about to free anybody that was guilty. 2011 Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (Documentary) Self - Stepfather of Stevie Branch. Misskelley told Hutcheson that he really didn't know much about Echols other than that he was "a weird person." 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. Replacing Burnett was Circuit Court Judge David Laser. 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. Under order of the Arkansas Supreme Court, there were to be new evidentiary hearings in the case. As for Paradise Lost, it was the inciting incident in the two-decade chain of events that led to the release of the West Memphis Three. In 1994, the FBI said there was scant evidence that violent satanic crimes had ever occurred in America outside of a few isolated incidents, but that was long after TV hosts like Geraldo, Sally Jessy Raphael, and Oprah had spread moral hysteria about musicians weaving supposedly anti-Christian and occult messages into their songs, and long after wrongful convictions were handed down in the infamous McMartin Preschool sexual assault trials. I don't entirely think Hobbs did it, but I . La Mirada, California. Lying in the open air in near 80-degree temperatures accelerated the decomposition of the bodies. The final scene Berlinger and Sinofsky filmed may have been the piece that stuck with viewers the most: the image of Baldwin and Echols being led out of the courthouse in handcuffs and bulletproof vests, now property of the state. The idea of killer teens in the Christian South, not any greater sense of purpose, was mainly what intrigued Sheila Nevins, then the head of HBOs documentary division, when she spotted a story about the case on the inside pages of The New York Times. And that makes him hopeful that exoneration is on the horizon. Griffis also found the devil in nearly every number associated with the crime. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! In the years since the trial, John Mark Byers, adoptive father of Christopher Byers, and Pamela Hobbs, mother of Stevie Branch, became vocal supporters of the West Memphis Three. Its something that Baldwin couldnt envision when he first agreed to let the documentarians interview him in jail in exchange for an honorarium, or even when Mojo played that VHS tape for him in 1997. https://t.co/dXOtQkmjee. Case Number : 2:21-BK-21177. Covered in wounds, all three showed signs of having been beaten. He died on April 4, 2019 in Panama City Beach, Florida, USA. 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 WATN in June 2019. (Maines briefly became a part of the story when Terry Hobbs, stepfather of another . The idea, Berlinger says, was to tell a story of disaffected youthabout kids killing kids., There was no reason not to believe the press, Berlinger says. doesn't know how to teach the material and you will end up teaching yourself everything. Terry Hobbs passed away in Nampa, Idaho. By the end of Paradise Lost, you cant believe they were found guilty, Bakken says. Murders In West Memphis::: He just didnt know it would take another 14 years to happen. 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. It ranges from Mark Byers, the crusading stepfather who became one of the West Memphis Threes biggest allies in the years before his 2020 death, to famed FBI criminal profiler (and Mindhunter inspiration) John E. Douglas. By staying on this subject for the next couple of decades, they gave these men a chance and really decades of freedom afterward. 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. Echols' disdain for authority, penchant for black clothes, and propensity to make shocking statements didn't help his plight. A native of Winter Haven, born December 21, 1964, Terry has been a lifelong resident of Auburndale. People would drive by and yell at us, Theyre going to burn in hell, Sauls says. I wouldn't do something like that. Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, defense attorneys working for the West Memphis Three filed multiple appeals on their behalf scrutinizing the lack of physical evidence against them. The second postulated that they had been slain by one or more strangers. While police had focused on Echols and Baldwin in the intervening weeks because of their reputation, the arrests came largely because of a confession by Misskelley, which was leaked to the largest newspaper in the area, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, and ran under the banner headline Teen describes cult torture of boys. At a press conference shortly after the arrests, the lead investigator was asked how confident he felt about the case on a scale of 1-10. Terry Hobbs Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family This family in-fighting led to him shooting his brother-in-law. By going into the courtroom and sticking with the case for its entire duration, Berlinger and Sinofsky were able to capture what may have otherwise been lost to time or left out of transcripts. I just checked again and HE IS STILL MISSING. 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. 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.. 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. There also were issues with other details he provided, including how the victims were bound and whether the boys were raped. Terry. But inside, he was just another prisonerBaldwin didnt know who he could trust. They began attending appeal hearings and visiting Baldwin, Echols, and Misskelley in prison. By getting to the story quickly, the directors were able to document the post-arrest period and two trials that followed in painstaking detail. Family and friends can send flowers and/or light a candle as a loving gesture for their loved one. 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. Stidham, who was just 30 years old and not long out of law school when the court appointed him to be Misskelleys attorney, went in thinking he would negotiate a deal for his client, who had told police that his acquaintances Baldwin and Echols committed the crimes and that he was present and played a role as an accessory. To bolster their assertions that the killings were related to occult activity despite virtually no evidence prosecutors brought in their own so-called expert on cult murders. Except this was 1996, and home internet was still in its infancy. Terry Hobbs Memphis 32, 14-Jun, Superior Funeral Home-Hollywood. The boys were so mutilated, investigators thought the murders were part of some kind of Satanic ritual. (WJHG) By Nikki Sheaks Published: Jul. It was a call about Damien Echolshe wasnt dead, but his wife, Lorri Davis, feared he might be soon. Today, Berlinger calls Revelations the weakest of the three films in the trilogyadvocacy in search of a story as opposed to the in-the-moment, on-the-ground approach of the first Paradise Lost and the in-depth exploration of new evidence in 2011s Purgatory. The cult part of the Commercial Appeals headline signaled how the case would be defined by both the media and prosecutors. 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. Iwould journal something and put it in the box, said Hobbs. By the time she got done watching it, her life was forever changed. New access to evidence thought destroyed in 1993 'West Memphis Three case In 1996, a screener for Paradise Lost passed her desk. By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Stating that she would ask around, Hutcheson agreed to "play detective.". At the request of West Memphis authorities, the two were picked up and questioned by Oceanside police. Terry Gibbs They saw the same thing you did. Blood and urine samples from both men were collected and sent to the West Memphis Police Department. It'll be sort of like I'm the West Memphis boogeyman. As rumors of a Satanic sacrifice swept the community, the minds of many in West Memphis were already made up. Speaking by phone last month, he comes across, in many ways, like the person Berlinger says he encountered in prison in 1994: polite, deferential, soft-spoken. Berlinger and Sinofsky, the latter of whom died in 2015 at age 58, were able to gain incredible and immediate access to seemingly everyone the case had touched: the families of the victims and the accused, the judge, the lead investigator, members of the community. Bakken and Sauls say they tried to avoid offering theories about the case publicly, opting instead to try to work through official channels. Nevertheless, Echols made no incriminating statements. Mike Allen arrived on the scene. Because I was thinking, if you haven't done anything, then they can't prove you did something you haven't actually done. 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 Hobbs was born in 1958 and grew up in Northern Arkansas. Share Memories & Support the Family. The judge ruled that Hobbs could not establish actual malice, and ordered Hobbs to pay Maines legal fees amounting to more than $17,000, according to the Associated Press. Self. You need corroborating evidence.. 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. WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. West Memphis is in the heart of the Bible Belt: just a two-hour drive from where, legend has it, the devil tuned Robert Johnsons guitar, in a state thats 46 percent evangelical Protestant. He retired from the US Air Force, and he was the Deputy Supervisor for Polk County Supervisor of Elections. 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. Baldwin remembers the dire circumstances laid out during the call. Social media didnt fully exist yet, but the group managed to harness the potential of the nascent information superhighway to bring attention to their cause. The documentarians found me in one of the worst things a person could go through, Baldwin says. 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. Terry Hobbs - Sweetwater, Texas , Cate Spencer and Trent Funeral Home As the 20th century turned to the 21st, the movement seemed to be picking up steam. (Police questioned Byers several times during the investigation, but never considered him a suspect.) Essentially, it allows the accused to assert their innocence while pleading guilty, conceding that the prosecution has an overwhelming amount of evidence to procure a conviction. 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. Since the West Memphis Three were released, no one else has been charged in the murders of Stevie, Christopher and Michael. TSGT Terry Lee Hobbs, USAF, ret. So, how much is Terry Hobbs worth at the age of 50 years old? Even though they said they didnt murder the three boys, they are technically convicted killers. Its evidence that Damien Echols attorneys wanted to do new DNA testing on. We were mainly in it for the aesthetics of filmmaking, but the last scene of Paradise Lost, when Damien is chained up and sent away to death row, that was just heartbreaking and devastating for us, Berlinger says. Terry Hobbs Obituary (1959 - 2021) | Sweetwater, Texas - Echovita Searching obituaries is a great place to start your family tree research. November 03, 2021 November 4, 2021 . March 8, 2021, Terry Hobbs passed away on March 8, 2021 in Boise, Idaho. Terry Hobbs - IMDb 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. 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. 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. They had a daughter together, Amanda Hobbs, who was 4 years old at the time of her brothers death. In 2013, Jackson and Damien Echols produced a fourth documentary about the case. According to Griffis, black hair, black T-shirts, and black jeans were signs that a kid was in league with the devil. As the West Memphis Three languished behind bars for 18 years, thousands of supporters called out for their freedom while others vehemently declared their guilt. weaving supposedly anti-Christian and occult messages into their songs, he discovered her while Googling cold cases, funded an extensive private investigation, a November 2010 Arkansas Supreme Court ruling, biggest allies in the years before his 2020 death, acquitted of capital murder in 2018 after a 25-year legal saga. 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. When they searched online, they found little to no information about the case. In 1996, HBO released the documentary film Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. I kind of enjoy it because now even after I die, people are going to remember me forever. Im not the judge. But it wasnt in the ways its directors had hoped. We made a promise early on that we would never pretend to be law enforcement or detectives, Sauls says. They were released after prosecutors agreed to an Alford plea, in which the men maintained their innocence but pleaded guilty. They saw this movie and they felt like, I have to do something.. Misskelley and Echols were 36; Baldwin was 34. Attorneys present four suspects allegedly involved in the WM3 murders We were finally winning, he says. One of Kathy Bakkens earliest jobs in Los Angeles allowed her a certain kind of cultural currency: She designed movie posters for an entertainment-advertising company, which meant she got to see films months before they were released. They couldnt have been cooler, recalls Berlinger, who would go on to direct the 2004 documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster alongside Bruce Sinofsky. As detailed by The Hollywood Reporter in 2011, Jackson and Walsh helped fund key investigations for the West Memphis Three's defense during the last seven years of their incarceration. The only possible culprits were 18-year-old Damien Echols, a poor teen with an interest in the occult and a record of mental illness, his friend Jason Baldwin, a quiet kid whose talent for art tended toward dark subjects, and Jessie Misskelley, a 17-year-old misfit with an IQ of 73. Metallica had never licensed a song for a film before, but when they learned about the case, Berlinger says, they made an exception. New access to evidence thought destroyed in 1993 'West Memphis - KAIT Misskelley returned to life in West Memphis. (WMC) - Its a case that has captured the nation and certainly the Mid-South. Inconsistencies in Terry Hobbs' alibi, as well as revelations about subsequent violent acts, have also led many to believe that he may be the actual killer.