Note: The original version of this synopsis was written during Jessie Misskelley’s trial in 1994. At that time Dan Stidham did not have the assistance of a forensic scientist or a criminal profiler.  Mr. Stidham has written new notes to update his case synopsis for our web site in order to address newly discovered evidence and findings, to answer questions relating to his client Jessie Misskelley and to point out the important information that the jury was not permitted to see or hear. The new portions of the synopsis are shown in italics and were added by Mr. Stidham on June 27, 1999.

A. Poor investigation of crime scene

1. Crime Scene not properly secured resulting in loss of potential evidence.

a. After discovery of first body, the crime scene was literally trampled, especially the creek bed.

b. Bodies were removed from the water too quickly, prior to the arrival of coroner (who was almost two hours late in arriving at crime scene) and placed on ditch bank in the sun destroying invaluable evidence regarding time of death, i.e. body temperature, rigor mortis, etc. (creek bed should have been drained leaving bodies where they were, thereby preserving potential valuable evidence).

c. Coroner's investigation was extremely substandard which led to the destruction of valuable evidence and ultimate misunderstanding of evidence by police.

d. Police did not keep the facts of the crime scene confidential, especially the injuries to the bodies. Rumors of sexual mutilation were reported in the news media and widely circulated throughout West Memphis as evidenced by the officers notes from interrogating potential suspects about what they had heard about the murders. 

B. Legitimate facts from crime scene

1. Bodies found nude, bound with own shoe strings in "hog-tie" fashion;

2. All bodies had substantial injuries to head, with one body (C. Byers) having been sexually mutilated, the testicles removed and the head of the penis removed with the shaft intact but having been "skinned". The testicles and head of the penis were not recovered; (Medical examiner testified in Echols/Baldwin trial that whoever did the mutilation had some knowledge of anatomy and was quite meticulous. The mutilation would have taken quite some time to perform even under laboratory conditions, and almost impossible to do in the water, in the dark, with thousands of mosquitoes swarming. Bodies had no insect bites.)

Update: After consulting with forensic experts in 1997 and 1998, it was learned that Dr. Perretti's testimony at the EcholslBaldwin trial was not exactly accurate. The sexual mutilation of the victim Byers was anything but meticulous. In fact, it was quite crude The testicles and part of the penis were literally ripped off the victim. In addition, the entire genital area of the victim Byers was covered in gouge-like wounds indicative of rage and/or punishment of this particular victim that was not present in the other victims. This has given us tremendous insight into the possible offender(s). For more specific information see Brent Turvey's Criminal Profile of this crime.

In addition, after consulting with a forensic entomologist, it was learned that some of the wounds to the bodies could be the result of post mortem feeding on the bodies by insects or crayfish and not wounds inflicted by the offender(s). The entomologist, along with Mr. Turvey, also gave us interesting insight on the time of death of the victims which makes the times put forth by Misskelley in his so-called confession virtually impossible.

Mr. Turvey, in examining the autopsy photographs of the victim, Branch, discovered what he believed could be a human bite mark. Upon his advise, we consulted a forensic odontologist who testified that the semi-circled mark above the victim's right eye was a human bite mark. Dental impressions were taken of the three convicted defendants, Echols, Baldwin & Misskelley, and they each were occluded as the source of the bite mark on the victim Branch.

3. Most of the boys' clothes were found in the water with the bodies. The clothes were mostly inside out, not torn. The pants were still zipped, but inside out. Two of the boys underwear briefs were not recovered; (Experts say that serial killers often keep the underwear and body parts of their victims as trophies).

Update: Brent Turvey's investigation and criminal profile reveals that the offender(s) in this case most likely knew the victims and were from the area where the victims lived. Nothing in the facts of the case suggest that a serial type killer was responsible for this crime.

4. Two human hairs were found on the bodies, one Caucasian, one Negroid in origin; (Hairs cannot be conclusively matched. Comparisons are done to exclude suspects.) One hair was "microscopically similar" to Echols, but it was also similar to another suspect and one of the victims' father, and as such, has no real evidentiary value. What does have evidentiary value, however, is the Negroid hair, in so much as the teenagers convicted are all Caucasian. In addition, Mr. Bojangles was a black male.

5. Several clothing fibers were found on the bodies; (Fibers, like hair, cannot be matched, only labeled microscopically similar or dissimilar. One fiber was similar to Jason's mother's housecoat, but it was also similar to one of the victims mother's sweaters.)

6. A couple of poor quality footprints were found near the bodies in the mud, one of which was a tennis shoe; (The print was not similar to any found or compared to the convicted teens).

7. No blood at all was found at the scene. Luminol testing done at the crime scene some two weeks after the discovery of the bodies revealed the presence of possible blood at the crime scene in, and on, the ditch bank where the bodies were laid by the police after they were removed from the water. Blood seeped from the bodies unto the soil where the bodies were laid. Luminal testing is not admissible in Court because it is not scientifically reliable; (The medical examiner testified at the Echols/Baldwin trial that it would be impossible for the injuries that were inflicted on those boys to be inflicted without leaving blood at the scene.) No follow up blood test was performed.

Update: Brent Turvey's analysis reveals that most likely the boys were killed elsewhere and that they were dumped at the site where the bodies were recovered. This explains the lack of blood found at the crime scene. See Brent Turvey's profile.

8. No weapons were found at the scene and no artifacts or anything indicating Satanic Activity were present.

Update: Brent Turvey's investigation and proftle reveals that there are no indicators of Satanic activity whatsoever. See Brent Turvey's profile.

C. Police misconceptions regarding crime scene / bodies

1. The Autopsy reports took some time to be produced, and because there were almost no real clues, the police were eager to get the report.

2. MISCONCEPTION: The Autopsy reports revealed that the boys anuses were dilated which seemed to indicate that they had been sodomized, when in fact the dilation was a natural result of the bodies being in the water. Bruising and abrasions of the boys mouths and ears were interpreted by the police as forced oral sex when other explanations were just as plausible.

FACT: The medical examiner testified that there was NO trauma to the boys anuses, something that would virtually have to be present during a sexual assault, especially on a young child. No semen was found in any body cavity of any of the boys at the time of the autopsies.

3. MISCONCEPTION: The police assumed that the time of death had to be between 6:30 p.m. on May 5, 1993, the last time the boys were seen alive, and about 8:30 p.m. when a massive search of the crime scene began.

FACT: Before the Misskelley Trial in Corning, the medical examiner told Misskelley's attorneys that the time of death was impossible to determine because the coroner had done such a poor job in supplying the necessary data. At the Echols/Baldwin trial in Jonesboro, the medical examiner testified that he had done further research and now placed the time of death at between 1:00 and 5:00 a.m. on May 6th, 1993.

Update: See time of death information above.

D. Damien Echols tunnel vision / Satanic Panic

1. The day after the bodies were discovered, the police questioned Damien Echols about the murders. Damien, although highly pressured, professed his innocence and refused to confess to the murders. He even voluntarily gave hair and blood samples to police for comparisons.

2. Police felt that Damien had to be responsible for this crime because of the following:

a. Damien Echols had a bad reputation as being strange and into the occult/Satanism/devil worshipping. The Crittenden County Juvenile Officer, Jerry Driver, was convinced that Damien was involved in the murders based on his past experiences with Damien. Damien told Driver a year before the murders that a cult would be forming in the area and Driver has heard that Damien liked to drink blood. Driver contacted the W. Memphis Police and told them of his belief.

b. The West Memphis Police began receiving tips and suggestions from concerned citizens, psychics and other police organizations, because of the "America Most Wanted" segment that was aired, that if the bodies were sexually mutilated then it was the work of "Satanists" or "Devil Worshippers." There were rumors of Devil Worshippers being in Robin Hood Woods even before the murders.

c. Police, faced with no real clues, and under intense pressure to solve the crime, had a deep rooted belief that Damien was responsible, and being unable to get Damien to confess, began rounding up anyone and everyone who knew Damien Echols.

d. Damien, being foolish, and loving the attention the police and others in West Memphis were giving him, did not deny involvement to his friends. In fact, some kids testified that he bragged about the killings, and took credit for same.

In my opinion, Damien, who by Arkansas standards was really weird in relation to his dress and attitudes, and who would never be the class president or the quarterback of the football team, and who was suffering desperately for attention, liked his newfound status as a celebrity. I don't think Damien ever stopped and considered that he might be arrested based on his own mouth, and there was really no way he could have anticipated Vicky Hutcheson or Jessie's false confession.

NOTE: Two things make me believe this. First, Damien voluntarily gave hair and blood samples to police, not exactly the modus operandi of a guilty person, especially not someone as intelligent as Damien.

Secondly, Damien told Ron Lax that he wasn't mad at Jessie for giving the false statement to police, because he knew Jessie was slow, and he told Ron that if the cops were as hard on Jessie as they were on him, there was no way Jessie could have withstood the pressure.

E. The Vicky Hutcheson connection

a. Background: Vicky Hutcheson had only lived in West Memphis a short time at the time of the murders. Her son Aaron, was a playmate to the boys who were murdered. Vicky previously lived in Northwest Arkansas and basically fled to West Memphis because she had outstanding warrants for her arrest for hot checks in NW Arkansas. She left her employer in Fayetteville, a lawyer, with the impression that she had a brain tumor and was terminally ill.

b. On the day the bodies were discovered, May 6, 1993, Vicky was in the Marion Police Department for the purpose of taking a polygraph test because some money had come up missing from the cash register at her place of employment in West Memphis. She took Aaron with her, and this angered the Officer who was to conduct her polygraph exam, Don Bray. Don Bray struck up a conversation with Aaron, and Aaron told him that he knew where the missing boys were at "The playhouse." Bray called the WMPD to tell them what Aaron had said, and he was told that the bodies had been found near where Aaron had indicated. (Aaron would later take Police to the scene where the playhouse was supposed to be and no playhouse was found).

c. Aaron would later tell police that he witnessed the murders supposedly seeing men in the woods all dressed up and speaking Spanish, i.e. Devil Worshippers. Each story was dramatically different than the previous version and Aaron finally told police that Mark Byers was there and killed the boys.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Aaron never identified any of the convicted teens until after Jessie's confession, and could not identify Damien or Jason in a photo lineup. This despite knowing Jessie very well because Jessie baby-sat for him. Prosecutors knew they couldn't use this evidence because Aaron had changed his story so often and they knew witnesses placed Aaron far from the crime scene at the time of the murders.

A press leak by a police officer led to a news story about Aaron witnessing the murders and created a media frenzy that severely hampered the three defendants ability to receive a fair trial. In our opinion, Aaron did in fact play in the woods with the victims probably on several occasions, but he was definitely not in the woods on the date of the murders. In an effort to try to help, and at the suggestion of his mother, Aaron probably thinks he was there or dreamed he was. None of his statements accurately reflect facts of the crime scene.

d. Vicky definitely wanted the reward money having stated so publicly before and after the trials. Around June 1, 1993, Vicky was told by the WMPD that they could help her with her legal problems if she would help them get Damien. She agreed to a "wire" of her home and she tried to get Damien to her house to get information out of him. She asked Jessie Misskelley to introduce her to Damien. Jessie's reply was, "I know who he is and I can take you to his house." Jessie, who always tries to help, because that is his nature, obliged and introduced her to Damien, although he didn't know him.

e. Vicky finally got Damien over to her house but he says nothing about the murders on the "wire." The police deny that they have any tapes of the surveillance that are audible. Vicky told us after the trials were over that she had listened to the tapes herself at the WMPD, and that they were quite audible.

f. Vicky tells police on June 2, 1993 that two weeks after the murders she, Damien and Jessie went to an "Esbat" in Turrell, AR, and that Damien drove them there. This coupled with the statement of William Winfred Jones, who told police that he had overheard Damien, in a drunken stupor brag about killing and raping the kids, led police to center their investigation as satanic homicides and on June 3, 1993, police picked up Jessie Misskelley for questioning.

NOTE: William Winfred Jones recanted his statement during the trial of Jessie Misskelley just hours before he was to testify, saying that he made the story up and that he had only heard that Damien had done it.

g. Vicky was never able to lead police to the "Esbat" site or identify anybody else who was present at same.

h. Vicky Hutcheson admitted after the trials were completed that she was so drunk the night of the so called "Esbat" that she woke up in her front yard and could have dreamed the whole "Esbat" thing.

F. False Confession

Background: Jessie Misskelley, Jr. was just four years old when his mother abandoned him, leaving him and his severely retarded brother in the care of Jessie Sr. According to Jessie's family, Jessie's brother was later institutionalized and Jessie Jr. was diagnosed himself as being retarded. Doctor's recommended that Jessie Jr. receive special education and family counseling, but this was never done. Tests conducted at our request after his arrest indicated that Jessie Misskelley, Jr. was operating at