Help us deliver the latest daily reporting and analysis on news, politics, culture and food in Arkansas. There he met with local law enforcement officers and with John Mark Byers, Melissa's husband. In addition, they seized six types of medication that had been prescribed for Melissa Byers. Christopher Byers was born to Melissa DeFir and Ricky Murray. endobj Hicks was hospitalized in critical condition. The level of corruption in the American justice system is glaring and sickening.. Byers accepted those terms, but has not made the required payments. Mojo, however, was considerably more fired up, believing the same thing many of Paradise Losts viewers did: that the movie showed an incredible miscarriage of justice, one that would surely be fixed. Debates still occur regularly onlinethe West Memphis Three subreddit is fairly active for one on a 28-year-old caseand podcasts have looked at the crime from all angles. The sheer mountain moving amount of money it cost to prove the obvious innocence of Jessie, Jason, and Damien still staggers me. Mojo jumped up, Baldwin recalls. 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. John Mark Byers, the stepfather of one of the children killed in the West Memphis Three case, has died. Mike Houston of the Police Department said police who went to the house pieced together the following of what had transpired: Pamela Hobbs said that earlier in the day, her husband Terry had beaten her with his fists. 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. Injuries sustained from the impact of a telekinetically thrown car, Crushed by a telekinetically thrown metal door, Succumb or die instantly to gunshot wounds, Burned in their crib after a shelling was ordered on their home, Injuries sustained after a shelling was ordered on their home, Repeatedly smashed against the ground and ripped in half, Killed due to their hive mind connection to the demodogs. Two murdered boys' stepfathers now face charges. In 1992 he petitioned to have the charge dismissed and the record of his conviction expunged a petition that was granted. By staying on this subject for the next couple of decades, they gave these men a chance and really decades of freedom afterward. "), Also, the guy I think was Byers said that the last time he saw his son, he was giving him a beating because the son had been riding his bicycle in the street or something like that. Since moving to Cherokee Village in 1994, the couple had had frequent run-ins with police. The evolution of how the teens were perceivedon behalf of both the filmmakers and even part of the defense teamis captured on camera early as Stidham and his colleagues began to consider whether Misskelleys confession had been coerced. (Associate Medical Examiner), and Williarm Sturner, M.D. And then there was the public pressure: In August 2010, Vedder and Maines headlined yet another benefit concert, this one in Little Rock. When Alex Sinofsky is asked about his fathers work on the film, he recalls the frequent trips and long hours spent editing film on a Steenbeck he kept in the house. A spiritual successor to Errol Morriss The Thin Blue Line, and a forerunner of more recent documentaries like Making a Murderer, the film stands today as the most affecting examination of one of the most studied legal cases in U.S. historyone that put heavy metal lyrics and black T-shirts on trial and helped lay the groundwork for the current thinking around false confessions. 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.. As of "The Piggyback", 825+ characters are known to have died throughout the show's run. Their trials were recorded by a pair of documentary filmmakers working under contract with HBO. 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. Byers said he called Norm Metz and asked him to call an ambulance. He said he left the home around 3pm when Ryan and his girlfriend were at the home. [17] A later interview with a woman identified as "Fern" revealed that Mandy was Byers' girlfriend. Byers asked Metz to come over and see if she had a pulse. )When NO evidence is held up against SOME evidence, most investigations would follow the trail of SOME evidence.Remember, too that the primary evidence that most of us armchair jurors have convicted OJ on is blood evidence (there's also a family connection, which is very common, and a history of domestic abuse).The three teens, however, were ONLY "creepy. ~~~~~ kind assistance of FindaGrave volunteer Carolyne Powles Darrell 49377409 ~~~~~Inscription: Melissa Byers 10 Aug 1837-6 Mar 1920; Also buried there: Thomas Byers d. 3 Jun 1887 88y 2m 15d; Mary Byers wf of Thomas d. 16 Nov 1878 75y 8m 24d. In an interview, the child told police her father had been acting weird and indicated he had been drinking when he picked her up from school on Nov. 28. [SNIP] >, > This announcement really makes me wonder about Byers and the deaths of > his step-family. He said, J.B., youre going home, man, youre going home.. Nico has put together an impressive list of tomato varieties for 2021. 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. At the time of her youngest son's murder in May of 1993, Melissa was married to John Mark Byers. Witt arrived at the hospital about 35 minutes later. Originally from Willard, Mo., she spent nearly three years reporting in Arkansas and Illinois before returning to Missouri and joining The Star in 2017. This story was originally published April 26, 2019, 9:48 PM. But as they did, Rose said, Byers told them to stand back. The boy he was fighting was injured seriously enough to require hospitalization. Kaitlyn Schwers covers breaking news and crime at night for The Kansas City Star. In the joint trial of Baldwin and Echols, which took place separately from Misskelleys, Berlinger and Sinofsky filmed the surreal moments that juries were actually present for: a rundown of the books Echols checked out of the library, a parade of band T-shirts worn by the pair, a copy of a Blue Oyster Cult record found in Damiens girlfriends house that became evidence because of the word cult and song titles like Dont Fear the Reaper. What the cameras couldnt capture, however, was the introduction of physical evidencethe prosecution didnt offer much of that aside from a knife that was never directly linked to the crimes and fabric threads deemed microscopically similar to items found in Baldwins and Echolss homes, an assertion that has been questioned in the years since the trials. Metallica had never licensed a song for a film before, but when they learned about the case, Berlinger says, they made an exception. Kansas City man found guilty of murder in wifes 2017 stabbing death at their home, Daughter finds mothers body in the basement; her father is charged with murder, Man found dead inside house where Kansas City police officers were shot late Tuesday, Three Kansas City police officers shot and injured while executing search warrant, Bald eagles egg breaks in nest, Minnesota photo shows. Buried in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. The documentarians found me in one of the worst things a person could go through, Baldwin says. Instead, he had the crime labs vague conclusion that, because of the lack of definitive anatomic or toxicological findings, the cause and manner of death are left undetermined. According to Clark, the causes of about 4 to 8 percent of deaths that are presented to medical examiners nationally are found to be undetermined. Also, what's this about an older boy? When the pair got the call from Nevins, they mobilized immediately, landing in Arkansas shortly after the arrests. Email: melissa.byers@legacylawmissouri.com Phone Number: (636) 486-2669. [34], The final cause of death for Melissa was listed as "undetermined". All of the documents pertaining to the investigation of Melissa Byers' death may be found here. She said it was one of the highest-rated pieces they had. The deputy signed an agreement stating that, if they did, Byers would not be charged with possession. Metz advised that Byers told him it could be bought for $50 on the street. . Waser described the subsequent events as follows: "After signing the request he apparently passed out and fell towards the counter. Growing up and over a 6 foot trellis and trailing back down to the ground, this plant looks incredibly healthy with no leaf loss anywhere. By the time the Byerses had been in Cherokee Village six months, police had been summoned to their residence at least eight times. Benjamin Byers was taken into custody and was facing charges of second-degree murder, armed criminal action, abandonment of a corpse and endangering the welfare of a child. Melissa Byers was born on January 16, 1956. He said Byers behaved arrogantly, and that the woman was upset and begged him not to leave. Well, perhaps not nobody. The problem is we have sent this knife off and had it examined and it has the blood type of Christophers on it., Byers responded, Well, Gary, I dont have any idea how it could be on there.. Exact sum is $97000000. [31]Other needle puncture wounds were present in the groin area, on the wrists, and the feet. It was born out of genuine admiration for the fact that these guys took the time out of their lives to dedicate, to go down to Arkansas, to build a website, to really step out of their lives, Berlinger says. Christopher Byers, also known as Christopher Murray, was born on June 23rd, 1984. He said, Stay where you are. Donna and John Kingsbury, who live next-door to the house where the Byerses moved, have sought a restraining order against their new neighbors, alleging that Mark Byers whipped their 5-year-old son with the metal end of a swatter, that shots have been fired at their house, and that Melissa Byers threatened them, saying, Wel1 put you in a hole you cant get out of, and I lost my Christopher. No distinct scarred needle tracks were present. He told him the name of the drug. Police admit that the case against the teen-agers was circumstantial, based almost entirely upon a confession from Misskelley, a boy who is borderline mentally retarded. Either email addresses are anonymous for this group or you need the view member email addresses permission to view the original message. Melissa DeFir Byers was born on January 15, 1956. It had been a long fight to clear their names, and the odds seemed better than ever. Christopher Mark Byers. I think we were the first internet sleuths, but we were not internet sleuths.. They procured the domain WM3.org and made a website, updating it with whatever information they could track down. We were finally winning, he says. and talk normal, but then all of a sudden, he would get arrogant again, advising me that he was the father and he was going to take the kids. (Maines briefly became a part of the story when Terry Hobbs, stepfather of another of the victims, sued her for defamation after she wrote a blog post pointing out that physical evidence at the crime scene potentially pointed at him and not the three convicted for the crime. Byers said he was worried because he had asked Ryan to take his girlfriend, Amanda, home and come right back. The legal troubles of Terry Hobbs and John Mark Byers. Ryan gave his statement and said that Melissa's purse, which he said she had left in the backseat of the family car, was at his grandfather's house. The trio assumed that the convictions had already been overturned by the time Bakken received the screenerthis was a modern-day witch hunt, they thought, and surely the state of Arkansas had already corrected the course. The story felt personal for all of them, but especially Sauls: He had grown up in Florida and Georgia as an outcast obsessed with art and reading some of the same books Damien Echols had. Misskelley initially told police that the killings happened during the day; knowing that they actually occurred some time after dusk, the officers corrected him, helping him retrofit his story to the cases few known facts. Metz checked for a pulse and told Byers to perform CPR. He kept asking me, What is your opinion? He said, I think they ought to have fought it out, dont you?, I said, No, I dont. Stidham says he has a hard time sleeping at night, so convinced is he that his client and the boys convicted with him were victims of what one witness for the defense labeled a satanic panic. He is aware of Byers record, and of the further violence erupting in the family of Steve Branch, but Stidham is careful about throwing stones. But they were saying that he was about to die.. He had always maintained he didnt commit the crimes, and outside the Varner Units walls, a growing chorus of activists and legal observers were arguing that same thing on his behalf. I didnt want to stop with us being that close. Could you elaborate on what happened to his stepfamily these past three years?Also, what exactly are the mysterious circumstances of his wife's death? Byers was eight years old, 4 ft. tall, weighed 52 lbs, and had light brown hair. Jackie Hicks, Pamela Hobbs brother, came from the house and confronted Terry Hobbs again. 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. Chances are, if death was from natural causes, it came about by arrythmia,which leaves no traces after death. Bakken and Sauls say they tried to avoid offering theories about the case publicly, opting instead to try to work through official channels. Byers also said that Ryan had spent the night at John Mark's brother-in-law's house. Byers and his companion got back in their car and drove alongside the victim of the fight, who was still lying on the ground. Defense lawyers tried to suggest that family violence may have played a role in the killings, rather than satanic blood-thirst, as was alleged. 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. Benjamin H. Byers was convicted of first-degree murder, armed criminal action and child endangerment in connection to the killing following a trial in March. Rose said that when he told Byers there could be charges, Byers seemed incredulous. Mark Byers also faces charges as the result of an episode July 11 in Hardy. When Rose questioned Byers later, he confirmed that he did hold a gun at his side throughout the incident, but, Rose said, He told me, At no time did I intimidate or threaten any of those kids., Rose said, I asked him, You dont think that just having a gun in your hands under those circumstances was intimidating and threatening? He said, No.'. The plot thickens and takes another crazy twist. Metz could not remember it but thought it started with the letter D. Metz advised that John Mark Byers also told him he thought her death was a drug overdose and that they were going to accuse him of smothering her. Rose called police at Cherokee Village, read them the description, and, he said, they told me who I was looking for. As a result of the incident, the boy whom Byers had driven to the altercation and who had used Byers knife ended up being charged with second-degree battery, a Class-D felony. He lived with his mother, Melissa Byers, and stepfather, John Mark Byers. 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. He said he and his grandfather looked through it but did not remove anything. I never foresaw that they would in turn save us.. At that point, the boys watching the fight moved in and tried to stop it. 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. Melissa's Death Melissa and John Mark Byers were having problems in their . When police arrived, Hobbs was taken into custody and charged with assault on his wife and aggravated assault on Hicks, his brother-in-law. But those findings did not solve the riddle of Byers death either. <>/ExtGState<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> Pamela Hobbs told police, she called a relative in Blytheville and told him she believed her jaw was broken. As the appeals processes stretched across several years and the buzz of the initial film faded, the directors began looking for ways to keep the story alive. The mother of one of the three boys murdered in West Memphis died, but investigators have yet to figure out how. how did melissa byers die 'We are still working hard to bring you fresh content and good vibes, even in these trying times!' . And here is another: A year and a half ago, it was Jackie Hicks who, as part of a search team scanning West Memphis for the missing children, was the first to discover the bodies of young Steve Branch and his two murdered playmates. Not just because John Mark Byers is so creepy (though he IS), but becausethe Byers boy was the only one who was sexually mutilated, AND Mr. Byerswas the one who reported the boys missing. The IMDb credits page for the first Paradise Lost is modest, but impressive. Once there got to be this global pressure, and there was a big concert here with really big-name musicians within a mile of our Supreme Court building, things started suddenly to change, she says. She died of undetermined causes on March 29, 1996. how did melissa byers die. He cautions, My client was convicted without evidence. Thats one of the reasons Im arresting you.. "[25], Mandy concluded her statement by discussing how Byers told her that he burned down Brenda Atwood's trailer. They werent connected in any direct way, Bakken says. I could not smell any type of intoxicant on his breath, [but] he appeared to have been either on some type of medication or intoxicant [by] the manner in which he was acting.. A Jackson County judge sentenced a 46-year-old Kansas City man to life in prison on Friday for the stabbing death of Melissa Byers, whose body was found by her young daughter in 2017. The two boys who had exchanged words, reportedly over a girl, now found themselves in a vicious fight, with Byers companion using the folded knife in his hand as what the boys called a fist pack. Records of what happened next are vague. Founded 1974, the Arkansas Times is a lively, opinionated source for news, politics & culture in Arkansas. Beyond the black-and-white print of the newspaper, there was a movement brewing. She assists in the drafting of all estate planning documents and works with clients to ensure we have the proper information to include in their documents. Melissa DeFir Byers was born on January 15, 1956. Her body showed no visible signs of trauma. Lambert, the prosecutor, said he entered the plea agreement with Byers because a key witness in the burglary case was a minor whose mother was reluctant to have him testify, making a successful prosecution difficult. At the time of her youngest son's murder in May of 1993, Melissa was married to John Mark Byers. 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. Maybe you need to see what its like to lose a child.. Sgt. As more people learned about the case from Paradise Lost and the work of people like Bakken and Sauls, the phrase Free the West Memphis Three caught on as a slogan for progressive musicians and actors in the 1990s, up there with Save the Rainforest and Free Tibet. Eddie Vedder became an early leading voice, soon followed by the likes of Peter Jackson, Johnny Depp, and Natalie Maines from the band then known as the Dixie Chicks. Melissa was the biological mother of Chris Byers and Ryan Clark. 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. Melissa's return to the home coincided with her son's. It has happened to a lot of people that just dont have the spotlight of a documentary, he says. By the time he arrived on the scene there were several responders: Officer Slayton, Chief of Police Ernie Rose, and Paul Brinkley (ambulance driver). The prosecutor would later say, There was a lack of physical evidence to tie anyone or anything to the crime scene, while the lead investigatorthe same one who told the press the case was an 11 out of 10would concede, Youve got a lot of circumstantial evidence is what youve got. Think they ought to have fought it out, dont you?, I dont daily reporting analysis! Either email addresses are anonymous for this group or you need the view email. 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