This week Kristen covers the West Memphis Three.
West Memphis Three (23:49)
If you enjoy the show, please rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts! A little feedback goes a long way :) Thank you!
We launched the official Quiet As It's Kept website where the "True Crime Is My Love Language" mug is now available to purchase!
And don’t forget to follow @quietasitkeptpodcast on IG and let us know what you think of this episode and look at the graphics that D'Janai works so hard on. Also follow @qaikthepodcast on Twitter for updates!
This week Kristen covers the West Memphis Three.
West Memphis Three (23:49)
If you enjoy the show, please rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts! A little feedback goes a long way :) Thank you!
We launched the official Quiet As It's Kept website where the "True Crime Is My Love Language" mug is now available to purchase!
And don’t forget to follow @quietasitkeptpodcast on IG and let us know what you think of this episode and look at the graphics that D'Janai works so hard on. Also follow @qaikthepodcast on Twitter for updates!
hello and welcome back to another episode of.
D'Janai 1:Quiet as it's kept the podcast, the true crime Schmidty podcast, hosted by me DJ.
Kristen 1:and me, Kristin,
D'Janai 1:Hey guys, welcome back. Uh, if you're new, which based on last week's events, there's a good chance you are Um, welcome. Welcome. Uh, so special thanks to Ashley Devonna, Ms. Ashley Devonna, from YouTube. so yeah, apparently she discovered our podcast. In her latest video that she uploaded last week. Um, she said that one of our friends, God bless it. I don't know who that was recommended, recommended our podcast. She found it. She's been listening to it for like a month or so, and she loves it. So that was so nice. Like she gave us a shout out,
Kristen 1:nice. I was on a call, and my phone was face down, so. When I flipped over my phone, I had like 25 messages and like three voice memos from BJ. And I was like, what is going on? Like, Oh no. And so then she was like, look at this YouTube video and I watched it and very, very heartwarming and it just feels, yeah, uh, it feels really good that people actually like rock with us like that because. We really just started this off some just like we like true crime. We want to talk. We want
D'Janai 1:like to
Kristen 1:shit.
D'Janai 1:We want to talk and we need an outlet. This fucking quarantine is driving us crazy. We need a creative outlet. And it's funny that she was mentioning in the video. She was kind of feeling like the COVID blues, which we have all been through and. Our podcast brought her a little joy. So it was so good to hear that, she Highlighted us for her crime and, wine section, um, portion of her YouTube. And so thank you so much, Ashley. I'm pretty sure you're listening. Thank you so, so much, really appreciate the shout out. That was so sweet. everything you said really touched us. And honestly it was encouragement for us to keep pushing, and making sure that black women have a seat at the true crime table, because we deserve to be part of the conversation, not just a footnote and not just the victim, And we've talked to a number of you that have reached out and said that you found us through, Ashley's, Ivana's YouTube video and to y'all, we will have to say thank you so much for giving us a chance. Thank you for listening and supporting. We hope to continue bringing you more episodes in great content. the reason why we started this podcast is because we couldn't find, a podcast that was like this, you know, where we're talking about true crime to black women talking about true crime shooting the shit and it not being such a downer, you know? So, um, Yeah, we appreciate you guys listening. If you are listening and you're enjoying, please, please, please go on Apple podcasts and leave a five-star review for us. five star. cheer
Kristen 1:had an epiphany. I need to go to
D'Janai 1:to Tiffany.
Kristen 1:And I don't need help. I pay my bills on time. Girl, I need to tell you when that verse came out, shout out to Amica, because one thing about her, she had us locked up in middle school. There was no one else, but
D'Janai 1:really did. She really did. She really said a new standard And I appreciate her for that. Um, also prayers up for Nikki Minaj cause she just lost her father. That's so sad.
Kristen 1:like, I felt weird reading it because like TMZ is dead ass wrong. Like she should have been able to tell us that in her own
D'Janai 1:not at
Kristen 1:and my, or not at all. Exactly.
D'Janai 1:process your own grief and pain without it being everybody's business. That's horrible. But, um, defund TMZ,
Kristen 1:okay. This is brought to you by is brought to you by, um, management teams and the
D'Janai 1:the celebrity names.
Kristen 1:have stopped investing in management teams as in PR and handlers and people who. Or go statue up and say, get your ass in the car. We're going home. Um, and I say this because last night or yesterday, right? Was Megan Estonians birthday, uh, Aquarius queen rap, icon. Love her. Y'all know how we feel about Megan.
D'Janai 1:Yes.
Kristen 1:Okay. Uh, but a weird video was released on. And if you haven't seen, I guess like the shade room, Megan and partisan Fontaine have like been flirting flirty over Instagram. If you don't know partisan, he's done a few songs with Cardi. I think he writes Ricardi sometimes, but also like certified. Funny as hell. I definitely am attracted to him, his voice, everything about it. Anyone who,
D'Janai 1:Okay. Just putting it out there.
Kristen 1:I mean, yeah, just let me know.
D'Janai 1:Her dams and her coochie is wide open. Go ahead.
Kristen 1:I didn't say, um, so I guess one of his friends live. It's just his friend recording his face and you can hear a partisan in the background saying, yo, like, what the hell are y'all doing in there? And you can clearly tell that it's Megan responding
D'Janai 1:Oh
Kristen 1:And I guess she has a friend in the bathroom with her and they're like, we're using the bathroom. And he's like, no, like I'm dead ass. Like I'm about to knock this door down. I thought I'll open the door right now.
D'Janai 1:wait. What?
Kristen 1:Yes, they're in a, it looks like a hotel room. I don't even think they're in a house they're in a hotel room. And so the guy is still just like recording, drinking and looking scary, just like looking over his cup. And then all of a sudden you just hear like, uh, and the door opens and Megan's like, what the hell? Like, I don't like that. And you see the guy get up and he goes in the bathroom and he briefly turns the camera and it is Megan. In the bathroom and partisan is saying like, all right, everybody got to get out. And then the live quickly ins, so of course, Twitter screen, grab this, took this and turn it into, uh, he was beating her ass and look at Megan, it's her fault. Like clearly she has a problem with men. She's always getting into fights with men. Somehow the Tory lanes was being brought up. Don't know why. Fuck that nigga. Um, Then someone went down a tangent of like, no, like they were doing Coke in the bathroom. And I was like, what, How do you know that? X? And if she was none of your business whatsoever, I love my SIS. I love Megan so much. I love her energy. I think she's amazing. But I think there comes a point where you have to look around. And say, who am I circle is really for me and has my best interests at heart. And I just feel like sometimes more times than not she's around people who are like not doing the right thing by her, I just don't mind that she keeps getting in these situations where people are speculating about what she's doing. Cause she is a grown ass woman and she can move freely. So it's partly people need to mind their fucking business. And it's also parts of her. I want her to shrink that circle too. I need it beyond say tight, sweetie.
D'Janai 1:I need her to lawyer up. I need NDAs. Okay. If you want to hang out with Megan, you need to sign some paperwork, white man paper work. You need to, you need to sign something because. as great that she wants to have a good time. I mean, she should be able to have a good time and enjoy her self as a young woman, but the people that are around to they, they just not doing right. They just not doing right consistently. And, there's gotta be some kind of barrier to entry because otherwise any old slew footed, dumb ass niggas is going to just come traipsing through being trifling.
Kristen 1:right. Just because it's just because they can use your name to get more views or get more followers or end up on the shade room.
D'Janai 1:Right. And It had to be one of parties, people because. Him being attached to her, first of all, can nobody even spell his name? They don't know if it's paradise. They don't know if it's partisan. Nobody knows his fucking name. So yeah. Him being associated with her.
Kristen 1:That's a,
D'Janai 1:Yeah, exactly. but it's just like, she needs to fuck with niggas who live in lucrative obscurity. Okay. We don't need to know
Kristen 1:Yeah. Or start making people didn't celebrities used to make, like, you can't enter the door with your cell phone, you got to put it in this basket and you get, you can get it when you leave. I maybe we should go back to the olden days. Cause that seemed to work. Okay.
D'Janai 1:We need Dave Chappelle show rules, phones, phones in the cubby, put your fucking phone in the cubby. Um, get Pat down for wires and all types of shit, because you're not going to come up in here, starting shit, and then recording shit. So you can end up on the shade room.
Kristen 1:Very messy boots. I don't like it, but we love you, Megan. Period. That'll never
D'Janai 1:best for you. Um, yeah. This week's episode is also brought to you by pandering. Um, it seems like it was just a pandering ass week, uh, between Justin Timberlake's sad ass. Sorry, ass. what? 15 years too late apology grew up, pack
Kristen 1:Amir,
D'Janai 1:not care.
Kristen 1:at this point
D'Janai 1:What were we supposed to do with that? Did he apologize to Janet also?
Kristen 1:Okay. Yeah. GNA in Brittany in, in both in the apology.
D'Janai 1:I'm through with him, um, He discussed me. So I don't, I don't give a fuck about his apology. Brittany's not hearing it. I'm not hearing it. We grow, we don't care, bitch retire. Okay. Just go away because you've done enough damage. You apologizing to women years and years, too late. You should have come forward a long time ago and, uh, take responsibility for. Your foolishness. So don't care then fucking be Simone the other day. Was it yesterday? If y'all haven't seen it, this clown bitch. She going to come on. First of all, BB Simone said the girls aren't hearing me. So let me talk to the niggas. The hot girls.
Kristen 1:riddance does not that I was ever in the beast Simone stand fan club ever in my life.
D'Janai 1:When I tell you, I didn't even know she had a platform because from the first time I opened, one of her videos, all I heard was a fucking Foghorn. I said, this is, this girl is not for me loud. Like SpongeBob's. Alarm clock loud. That's all. I am just, I'm not opening it. So every, I would never open her videos.
Kristen 1:Um, I'm scrolling through Twitter. I'm like, this is not for me. This is for somebody who maybe can't hear well. So I just, so I just keep scrolling and then it wasn't until she tried to sell the girls Madlibs and try to call it self-care
D'Janai 1:then
Kristen 1:Hmm. Hmm. I didn't even know that she was doing anything besides being allowed on the internet, but she got, in trouble for that. And I guess nobody has been buying, from her. So, she was like, I got to switch gears.
D'Janai 1:I got to pivot. She had to flip the script and now. Yesterday, she's talking about, Oh, um, if you are, if you're a woman you can't be like, I want my man to have a job and money and good sets and you ain't got that. And I'm like, I mean, she's not wrong, but
Kristen 1:he's not wrong at all, but it's not the messenger who should be saying that shit whatsoever.
D'Janai 1:burst off she just talking to the women. It'd be one thing if she was talking about like, she's like anybody, no one should expect to have something like be dating someone and,
Kristen 1:there. Shit's not together. That's the bare minimum requirement of like a healthy relationship to people who shit is together to be together. Like it's not rocket science, like
D'Janai 1:It's not no, but this is all people do. This is all people do on Twitter all day long, have conversations about relationships and I'm like, aren't you tired.
Kristen 1:Right.
D'Janai 1:You're not I'm tired. Like$200 days. And if it's you and his mom
Kristen 1:sitting at the head of the table.
D'Janai 1:the front seat. Why, what. What do y'all get from this? Like what, I don't understand. We just waste so much time talking about. What are you supposed to do? And what are you supposed to have? And,
Kristen 1:and not enough, like what works
D'Janai 1:yeah, right. A relationship is a two-way street. It's an a and B conversation. why are we in it? We didn't ask to be, here talk to your partner, talk to them. Stop looking for everybody to weigh in and also stop comparing your relationship again, a relationship which y'all are acting like a relationship is an asset. It is a literally a bond between two people, but y'all way y'all parade that shit around. Like it's a fucking Gucci bag.
Kristen 1:Right. A Birkin, honey. You can't tell them name. I a bark it
D'Janai 1:Their partner and their relationship is an accessory. It's part of it's. Everybody's weird. Y'all need to stop doing that shit and also stop comparing your relationship and your pockets to other people. Well, wait, before I even get on that, I just want to say this about the B B someones comment. So many niggas came through so many men were like re tweeting the fuck out of that.
Kristen 1:it. Loved it
D'Janai 1:Then it was, they were like, yeah, like they, what she, Oh yeah, this is how y'all females. Excuse me. This is a one female that got her head on her shoulders, She's the one who's thinking, right? No, she's definitely pandering to the, the fuck boy agenda. And I do not like it. I mean, it obviously works because half of these things don't have two brain cells to rub together, to come figure out why all of a sudden. She switched gears like this and she's pandering to them just to, to
Kristen 1:hello. Right. Women read through that shit. So quick. So quick.
D'Janai 1:just, just because we stopped buying the color of books and the Madlibs and the crossword puzzles about
Kristen 1:Right? There's also just a lot more talented comedians than her. No disrespect,
D'Janai 1:that mean? Because Jess hilarious is also on, on wall and out and
Kristen 1:But like, I've just never heard videos have never resonated with me. I've never really, I don't know.
D'Janai 1:I mean, I couldn't even tell you if they resonated because my ears pop. As soon as I see her. My shit shut off every time I see her face, but I did watch that dumb ass video with them, coconuts looking like they were her knees. I thought that was our knees. I was like, girl, before you step to us and say anything about what I should be requiring, I require that you put some lotion on the motherfucking knees, but there was some coconuts.
Kristen 1:It was, it was.
D'Janai 1:wasn't good enough. But on that note, Y'alls that might have other people's relationships that might have everybody's pockets. When you play the game of comparison, you're going to lose every time. People, people were up set that a rich man took his rich girlfriend on a rich ass date Valentine's day. Michael B. Jordan. Is dating Laurie Harvey. I feel like it's honestly, I don't know if I believe them,
Kristen 1:know, I don't know. you know, sometimes these Hollywood relationships, uh, Our setups to, to benefit both parties. Definitely. She's the hottest thing out right now. he has been labeled someone who doesn't lie. Black woman was never seen dating black women.
D'Janai 1:Is that what it was? I thought black women stopped fucking with him because his nudes leaked and he had a sheet.
Kristen 1:I do not recall that, but I have not seen his, I don't know
D'Janai 1:even call it that
Kristen 1:it was, it was on mini corn dog. it was, Oh it was on, he had a short stack baby. Look, I don't remember. I mean, I don't, I didn't paint a picture of it in my mind. I wanted to forget, but it was at the time he was like, like the hottest thing walking. And then we saw his little Dingle dangle and he was like, Ooh.
D'Janai 1:I thought he was just trying to get some street cred, like see, I, I pulled Lori Harvey. It's a setup, but niggas was real life, man, that, that he went to an aquarium and, you know, there were Rose pedals everywhere.
Kristen 1:She loves turtles. He had turtles everywhere and it was a very nice thing that a man within his tax bracket is able to do without. Also, it's not like people acting like he was in the fucking aquarium with a handful of a Rose is doing it himself to do this, everything, everything you saw on Valentine's day, because it wasn't planning that they've got a planner and was like, do something this is what, yeah, this is what I showed up. Set it up. The checks cleared. It was a beautiful set up. But yeah, people were like, see it's it's the little things. And one guy was like, nigga, that is not little. It's not little and Oh, you know what, what I saw all day on Valentine's day. See if he wanted to, he could not with his salary. No, he could not. no, he could not, no.
D'Janai 1:not
Kristen 1:he can get you a bouquet from Kroger and take you to a nice dinner and maybe, you know, buy you some shoes or buy you a bag or something, and that's about it.
D'Janai 1:If you want to see the turtles he can go to PetSmart is still open. Okay. He can get you a little tank, get you a little turtle. That's that is what an average man the average person can do for you on Valentine's day, please. But people be going fully broke. For Valentine's day for birthdays. When I see it's somebody's birthday and it's like, Oh, it's his birthday. So I went all out and it's three pairs of Jordans and a PS five
Kristen 1:And a Montclair jacket bitch. What.
D'Janai 1:Gucci draws. I'm like, hold on. First off. I'm not buying nobody. No Gucci, George, just so they can put some BMX tracks in them. Fucking Gucci y'all niggas can't even wipe clean. Your ass is properly. You're not getting no Gucci.
Kristen 1:your butt cheeks in the shower. So we got to start there for us. literally literally glued together. Please, please, please. Don't come to me asking about no Gucci drawers, as long as long as your butt cheeks are cemented. Shut. Right, right. It's a sad state, a cement block of poop. Go. Our go rolls, honey. Gross.
D'Janai 1:I'm going to get you up a day. That's what I'm going to.
Kristen 1:did some Cottonelle, whites
D'Janai 1:Yes.
Kristen 1:Uh,
D'Janai 1:is our favorite topic. Christmas is all we talk about. We love talking about cleaning your assets because it's always you all, all those men had so much to say agreeing with be Simone. uh, judging having something to say about what Michael B. Jordan is doing with his woman. On Valentine's day. Those are the ones with them, but cheeks,
Kristen 1:let me
D'Janai 1:gorilla glue. Oh, gorilla, gorilla glue,
Kristen 1:Oh yeah.
D'Janai 1:Kristen, we got a loud and wrong. Come on now.
Kristen 1:Uh, yes. I said it last week that I thought miss Tessa, Kiki Ana should. Just shave it off. I saw no light at the end of the tunnel and you know, my sister flew to LA. And I'm sure she listened to the podcast and he said, you know what, Christian, fuck you. Because look at me now. She salvaged that hair mamas. Okay. So Tesco's shout out to you. Um, I also heard that she like donated some of her money, which is really great. I know I came on too hard last week, Tesco, but. I was, it was mainly frustration over the topic trending for like 78 days. So nothing against you, I'm really happy for you and,
D'Janai 1:Yep. Upward. Also, social media is mental illness because I saw somebody else do exact first. I saw two people, a man glued a cup to his mouth. Cause he was like, I think this gorilla glue shit ain't real. He did that. Had to go to the emergency room, then somebody else. With purple hair. Yes. Yes. I don't know their pronouns, but they were trying to comb through their hair and was not able to get through. I'm just like, see What happens when you do clown honoree and for what? the angle and be no, uh,
Kristen 1:go fund me is for y'all.
D'Janai 1:right,
Kristen 1:Because now we've been seen now you should know better. And now doing it to be like, get laughs or retweets that's on you, but no, I'm really. Yeah. Now
D'Janai 1:right?
Kristen 1:empathy whatsoever.
D'Janai 1:I think the moral of the story is you don't have to do everything you see on the phone. You don't have to do everything you see on the damn
Kristen 1:Yep.
D'Janai 1:Mind your own pockets, mind your own relationship. Um, mind your own staff,
Kristen 1:Hmm, that's a word. Write that down. That mine, mine, your own pockets. Mine, your own relationships. Mine, your own scalp
D'Janai 1:right? Um, I think that's everything. by the way, y'all, if you don't care for these ramblings and for our, pretend sponsors, although after the amount of listeners that we got, we might get some real sponsors soon But, um, yeah, if y'all, don't, y'all, don't want to care for our nonsense. You can always skip this part and you can go straight to the story by going to the chapters, you can get straight to the meat and potatoes. That's your business. Um, but this week, Krispy Kreme donuts has a story for us. So I'm going to sit back and relax because this story I've never heard before, I don't really know shit about it. So.
Kristen 1:Um, y'all guys I'm real nerv. Was, uh, this story was extremely polarizing when it came out. It is still polarizing. There have been numerous documentaries. There is actually, I think, two movie adaptations and so lots of content to work with. So I'm going to give you guys the meat and potatoes, and I'm not going to cover everything in this story. It's entirety. It would be two hours.
Kristen 2:Okay. Y'all gathered around, because we are headed to a little town in Arkansas called West Memphis. And if that town already rings a bell, it's because you've probably heard this story. But I want to set y'all up with another image of three little boys. And they are all eight years old. They all live in the same neighborhood or around the same neighborhood. And they're all best friends. So the first little boy is Christopher buyers and he is the son of Melissa defer and Ricky Marie. So Melissa and Ricky would end up getting divorced when Chris was four years old and she quickly married a man named John Mark Byers, who would go on to adopt Chris, which is why his last name is buyers. And he would live at home with his stepbrother named Sean, who was 13. And again, eight years old, still very young at heart. His mom has said in interviews, you know, he was a little boy who still believed in Santa and the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy.
D'Janai 2:Wow. I hope so. He's eight.
Kristen 2:a exactly,
D'Janai 2:Well, we're not breaking that spirit.
Kristen 2:how exactly of how young and innocent he was next. We have Steve branch and he is the son of Steven and Pamela Branch. Which Steven and Pamela, again, they would later get divorced a while. Steve was actually still really young. So his mom Pamela would go on to remarry a man by the name of Terry Hobbs. And he had a half sister. Named Amanda. So Steve or sometimes referred to as Stevie. he was an honor student and from all accounts was a really happy little boy, loved being outside and loved playing with his friends. And my last, uh, little boy, I'm gonna introduce you all to is a kid by the name of Michael Moore. He is the son of Todd and Dana Moore. He lives with his parents, uh, not divorced, not divorced, lives with his parents. Yeah, because you know, we had two divorces and now Michael's Michael's parents were good. Yes. He had a nine-year-old sister named Don and Michael was a boy scout and he absolutely loved it. He was considered like the leader of this trio, but they were always together. Always playing, always riding bikes around People run, the neighbors would actually say that he would oftentimes wear his uniform around town even when they didn't have a boy scout meeting. He just loved that uniform. Yeah. Yeah. I get it. I was a brownie. Um,
D'Janai 2:Uh,
Kristen 2:yeah, a brownie girl Scouts, baby. Get,
D'Janai 2:um, I grew up in New York, so there was no girl Scouts. Near me. So, what's a brownie is that that's a girl scout
Kristen 2:It's like there's levels. Like when you're like in one age group, you're a Daisy. And then the next age, age group is a brownie. Then there's another age group called something, but I stopped at brownies and I was like, I think 10,
D'Janai 2:okay, but what we all brownies. Cause I would be like, I'm not letting y'all y'all call me a brownie. I won't be the only brownie in here.
Kristen 2:brownies. It wasn't just specific to me. Okay. Everyone was caught up. Brownie girl Scouts was a lot of fun and you got back ages, you could sew them on your vest. And short breads go so hard. Anyway, it neatly, so again, I told you guys we're in West Memphis, Memphis, Memphis, Arkansas. So we're on May 5th, 1993. The boys had left on their bikes to go play around the neighborhood and West Memphis. This was after school. So this was really common for them to go and play until it was time to come in, so They know when it's time to come home for sure. But it's around 7:00 PM and. No one has heard from the boys. And so the West Memphis police department receives a call from John Mark Byers, who is the stepfather of Christopher. And he's saying, Hey, my boy, like he went out with his two friends. He hasn't come back yet. Something doesn't John uh, and his wife, Melissa had told a patrol officer that they had last seen. Christopher about five 30 while they were working in the yard. And within 90 minutes of that call, at 7:00 PM, they would receive two more calls from two other sets of worried parents who were the parents of mine and Steve. So Dana Moore, of Michael. Since she saw her son again, riding on his bikes with his two friends around six o'clock, which makes sense if the last time John and Melissa saw Christopher around five 30. So the timeline is hiking out, but she said he never made it back for dinner
D'Janai 2:But this was, so you said this is all these phone calls start happening around seven, seven 30. seven. o'clock so just 30 minutes later, she looks outside. He's not outside.
Kristen 2:And so then Pamela who was the Mom of Stevie branch the detectives get in contact with her and she's like, I haven't seen him since he got home from school, he left, he went to go hang with his friends. He would usually be back by now. So at this point, the police are canvassing and they're asking neighbors, have you seen the boys? And the neighbors were saying, yeah, we saw them playing near the woods. and these woods were called Robin hood Hills. So at this point, This is a very small town news travels fast. So news of these three missing boys leads to an all out search in this four acre area of woods called Robinhood Hills near the interstate where it wasn't just like a secret hideout for them to play. Like all the kids used to play back there So as they were searching and canvassing, nothing turned up at least that night.
D'Janai 2:Right. And also it's interesting that they were able to start like doing a certain cause most times when we do these stories, they're like, Hmm, three days maybe like we have to give it some time. They don't just start. Like they hit the ground running that same night. So I'm like, that probably speaks to the time one, but also speaks to how small and close knit the town is.
Kristen 2:Yeah. So next day it's May 6th. And the West Memphis police department would start early. So at 8:00 AM, they're up there scouring all over West Memphis. And they're primarily focusing on the Robinhood Hills area. They're thinking at this point, maybe they got lost in the woods and didn't know how to find their way back. For all accounts, they're just scared and probably cold and just waiting for someone to come and find them. So they searched for hours at this point and they still find nothing, not a bicycle, not a piece of clothing, no tracks, no sign of the boys. Same day, May 6th, around one 45, a parole officer who was helping with the search and rescue team he sees a little black shoe floating in a muddy Creek in the Robin hood Hills area. And he sees this little black shoe and it's heading towards a drainage canal in Robin hood Hills. And as the investigators follow the canal, follow the, you know, down to the drainage ditch. They would discover the lifeless bodies of Christopher, Steve, and Michael. and. It was a very gruesome scene. So these boys had been stripped naked. They were hogtied with their own shoelaces, their right ankles, tied to their right wrist behind their backs and the same with their left arms and legs, their clothing, nothing was found in the Creek and smothered clothing looked like it had been like twisted around sticks, almost like, you know, like how. I hate to say this, but, you know, and Winnie the Pooh when like he would like,
D'Janai 2:Yeah. Yeah.
Kristen 2:in Shrek when he gets that mosquito ness and he, yeah, that's what it looked like, like wrapped around like that. And those were thrown into a muddy ditch ban, and majority of all the clothes were turned inside out, which was weird to the police department. And also two pairs of the boy's underwear were actually never recovered. So they found one pair, but two of the pairs they never found. On Christopher buyer's body, his, his body had been mutilated. he had been castrated, his, his penis had. Been skimmed and his scrotum had been mutilated
D'Janai 2:no, no, no, no. Not at all. The eight year old boy,
Kristen 2:but just to his body, there were other marks and such on, uh, Stevie and Michael, but Christopher's body looked like it had been absolutely absolutely eviscerated.
D'Janai 2:What the fuck.
Kristen 2:I know a baby, So of course they perform autopsies. The forensic pathologist, Frank J Peretti said that buyer's died of multiple injuries wall Stevie and Michael died of multiple injuries plus drowning.
D'Janai 2:So when they say injuries, what were they like? Were they choked where they stabbed? Like how, I'm sorry to be so graphic, but like how.
Kristen 2:yes. So hog time drowning and attack. So the police had initially suspected that the boys had been raped because they did find trace amounts of sperm. DNA were found on one pair of the pants, found at the scene. Uh, But the results of Christopher's wounds show that the knife attack, he was stabbed. The other two boys were stopped as well. And then more than likely he was castrated by the murderer post mortem, okay. So another thing that popped out was that some of the injuries they couldn't tell if it had been done by the murderer or done possibly by animal predation but more than likely all the injuries were sustained from
D'Janai 2:Right. That part, I don't know much about this story, but I've seen, like, I've heard that part. And to me, I mean, what are the w uh, the wa cause they were in the water. So what y'all got Paranas and y'all mud water. No,
Kristen 2:Yeah. Yeah. In a ditch. So like, Uh, ditches in that high rising. So halfway in halfway, not halfway submerged, halfway, not just a weird,
D'Janai 2:Right. If there's any animals that are in the water at that point, that like are gonna, what animals y'all got that are going to eat on a little boy. Like that doesn't make any sense to me. y'all ain't got no sharks or Paranas so it seems like it was consistent with what I like the murderer who, or I don't know.
Kristen 2:Right. Another thing that stuck out with the crime scene was that very, very little, if any blood was actually found at the crime scene. So the police kept saying like, the boys were assaulted and killed here, but as different critics and FBI analysts are looking at it, they they're saying. With their stab wounds with there's no way that the assault happened at the Creek. They had to have been brought here, either dragged here or brought here, but they were assaulted at a different location So. Very very quickly after. I mean, the day of after the bodies were found at Robinhood Hills, obviously rumors begin circulating. And one of the most prominent rumors was that these killings might have been the work of devil worshipers. Now want to put in a perspective that West Memphis, Arkansas was like the Bible belt of the South. These people get up every Sunday. They go to church, they believe in the Lord. There's not a whole lot of room for different. So it's a very small conservative Southern town and nothing like this had ever happened before. So of course, when you see three innocent, eight year old boys who were hogtied, possibly raped and stabbed like
D'Janai 2:But people's first thing is to like, this is the work of the devil. This is Lucifer himself
Kristen 2:And so, chief inspector Getchell, who was on the case, he didn't actually like put a rest to these rumors. He actually told the reporters that, you know, his department was investigating all possible options and that these murders were connected with coal activity. Mind you, they just discovered these bodies. Today.
D'Janai 2:So what other. Cults. I feel like if there was a cult this is not step one for a cult. This is you build to this. This is like diabolical. If there was a cold involved at all, like y'all would have been known about it. So and question, I be getting ahead of myself, but had anything like this happened since like, did anything similar happened? Did it happen again?
Kristen 2:no, not before and not since
D'Janai 2:so then that's telling
Kristen 2:very telling. So this has been argued by a lot of people who are. Professional. Well, I mean, they're professionals they're with the police department, but I think the magnitude of this case was a little bit too much for that small local police department to deal with because a lot of the protocols that they went, how they went about, it was just absolutely wrong. You cannot automatically come out and say, it's connected to call activity. Maybe you haven't even pulled these children
D'Janai 2:right,
Kristen 2:don't know what this could be. Right. And so it didn't help that the West Memphis police actually assigned the case. Number two 93 dash zero five dash zero six six six.
D'Janai 2:Oh, Jesus.
Kristen 2:Now y'all are playing games in everyone's faces. Okay.
D'Janai 2:you did that shit on purpose.
Kristen 2:So obviously the next question is who done it?
D'Janai 2:Right.
Kristen 2:These seem, this seemed like a very personal up close type of murder who done it. So the town is in a frenzy and of course, They are thinking that this was done by double worshipers and a Colt and they zero in on a few individuals. So first individual is a kid by the name of Damien Echols. He's 17 years old. He's a local teen who has a very troubled past. He has a long history of psychiatric problems. He has been subjected to major depression. He writes very dark poems. He dresses in mostly black. He had long hair yet attached to, and he was self-described as a Wiccan.
D'Janai 2:Oh, okay.
Kristen 2:Yes. He also had been admitted to psychiatric hospitals because of his mental health. One, he was admitted and one in 1992, when he was staying with his mother in Oregon and he actually had, this is, this took place in 93. So the previous fall, before 93, he had moved back to Arkansas. And he got into some trouble for like a burglary and was at a juvenile detention center before being transferred to another psychiatric hospital in little rock, Arkansas and supposedly had bit an attempted to suck the blood from the arm of another detainee within the juvenile detention center. which I cannot find if this was hearsay or actually confirmed because another, supposedly a social worker came out who was assigned to his case and said that he had said to them that he was the next Charles Manson Manson or Ted Bundy. And so, again, first of all, That is illegal to do as a social worker. You can not talk about your cases or your patients like that one too. I don't know if people were just playing it up because for the mere fact that he had been in a psychiatric hospital.
D'Janai 2:he was biting people.
Kristen 2:Yeah. It's 1993. So the mental health conversation was not as prominent as it was
D'Janai 2:Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. But also, so wait, hold on. So he was in juvie and he saw arm and he said chop, and, but I'm wondering, were they in a fight? Cause I'll bite anybody. If I'm in a fight, I'll do it. I got it.
Kristen 2:It just says he bit a fellow detainee and was trying to suck the blood
D'Janai 2:I'm just curious how they know about the blood part.
Kristen 2:that's what I'm saying. I think this is like, you know, rumor mills get started in towns.
D'Janai 2:And honestly, if I was in juvie, I would say whatever the fuck I need to say to keep anybody from fucking with me. So yeah. I'm biting people and yeah, I'm a vampire and I'm crazy. And don't try to come up on me because I'll eat you. You don't want to mess with somebody who's crazy. So he, he could have just been spinning lies to protect himself, but.
Kristen 2:Right. So another one of Damien's really close friends was a, another 17 year old by the name of Jason Baldwin. They had bought an over their same taste in music. They loved punk rock as well as like fiction. They also definitely had a distaste for the Bible belt, cookie cutter, conservative nature of West Memphis. Basically like your RAR XD kids probably had tales and shit and then like big pants and just different. Like they like people in Arkansas. I never seen no shit like this.
D'Janai 2:right there were in black.
Kristen 2:Right. Eyeliner listening to like Nirvana. They're like what the hell? Grudge complete grunge. Yeah. Jason had also been arrested for vandalism and shoplifting. And it said that he was known to have some, like somewhat of a temper. He would oftentimes get into fights at school, which again, could I, it sounds like nothing more than teenage angst and like, fuck the world. And I can't wait till I can get out of this town and never come back type of
D'Janai 2:Right.
Kristen 2:teenage, you know, whatever. So another. Person involved in the story is a guy by the name of Jesse Ms. Kelly. And he was just an acquaintance of Damien and Jason. They were not necessarily close with him at all. Uh, kind of like a, hi, hi, how you doing? But he also kind of had to him, but he
D'Janai 2:too.
Kristen 2:he's a teenager too. Yeah. They're all 17. And Jesse actually had dropped out of high school at this point. And he had a very, very low IQ. The streets were saying it was at 76 Childs.
D'Janai 2:Oh, wait. It's two points better than Deborah from last week, but I'm not great.
Kristen 2:not great. Which will come into play a little bit later. So the police were already looking at these three boys just because of their troubled paths in history.
D'Janai 2:well, what I mean, just at this point, I don't know any, I don't know much, but it just, like you said, it just sounds very like teenage angst. See, it doesn't sound like these, like they got in trouble for petty crimes robbery. To me, that's not giving like murderer. but also it's interesting that there's three of them and there's three victims.
Kristen 2:Right. Which is kind of the whaling about the police were following. If they're double worshipers, did they all have to pick one person to sack a sacrifice so that they need these three little boys isolated like this,
D'Janai 2:Yeah. when you're telling me that, like the beginning, I was like, Oh, it's probably some like sick fuck, but I'm like, you know what? I don't think it would just be a job for just one person. I know that. So, because I'm just going to get on while he's grabbing my friend, I'm on my bike, I'm going home and I'm telling on you. So cause you can't grab all three. We to whoop your ass. All three of us is going to wriggle away. Exactly.
Kristen 2:At the same time though, the police were looking at two other West Memphis teenagers named Chris Morgan and Brian Hollin. And the reason they were looking at them was one. They both had previous drug offenses too. They left together for Oceanside, California, just four days after the bodies were discovered. And Chris actually knew these boys. He had an ice cream truck route that was, that went through their neighborhoods. So he had interacted with these boys before.
D'Janai 2:so he was the jolly alley man.
Kristen 2:Yeah, Mr. Ice cream.
D'Janai 2:I don't. Okay. I think he's guilty. What's his name? I don't even need to know anything. Just the fact that he's an ice cream, man. I'm like he did it
Kristen 2:Right. Right. So. They were kind of, I guess the West Memphis police were like, I guess had issued warrants, but they didn't catch up with them in Oceanside, California until May 17th. And they asked them both to take polygraph exams. The California police actually administered them. And the examiners reported that both of them in, they ended indicated deception when they denied involvement in the murders. And with further questioning Chris Morgan. Had he said, you know, I have a long history of drug and alcohol abuse and I'm prone to black-outs and memory lapses. So, you know, I might've killed the victims, but quickly pussy pop backwards and was like, no, no, no, like I'm just saying I black out. I don't mean like I killed him
D'Janai 2:Wow.
Kristen 2:so the California police department was like, Hmm, you said it though. You said it,
D'Janai 2:Why? And why would you say that? Why, why he's answering a question that they, they didn't even ask. He's like, yeah. I'm prone to black. I drink a lot. I'm prone to blackouts. Cut out water. Maybe what, uh, you know, kill these kids, but
Kristen 2:Right. And so the California police department did what they were supposed to do. They collected blood and urine samples. They send them back to the West Memphis police department. They said, Hey, not in our jurisdiction, but here you go. But there is actually no indication that the West Memphis police department investigated Chris Morgan or Brian Holland as suspects after their arrest in California. Chris's statement. That he recanted would later be debated in trial, but it was eventually barred from admission as evidence. And so they just simply kind of fade into oblivion as actual suspects.
D'Janai 2:so you mean to tell me this man had access to a ice cream truck that could easily attract little boys or anybody and say like, Hey, we've got, I've got some ice cream, I've got some free ice cream for you guys. Get, you know, go ahead and, and get in my van. Grab them. Now you have them contained. So you could, you and your friend definitely could do whatever evil that was done to these boys. And they said, nah, that's not good enough. they have the access to a car. They have acts like access to these little boys. And the boys know them. So they would feel even more comfortable. They'll be like, what stranger danger. This is the jolly alley, man. That's crazy.
Kristen 2:but this rig is even weirder because on the evening of May 5th, around eight 42, there were workers in the local Bojangles restaurant, which was about a mile away from the Robin hood Hills crime scene.
D'Janai 2:What the fuck is Bojangles. It sounds racist. What is that?
Kristen 2:They have phenomenal Cajun filet biscuits. They're so good. It's like a North Carolina chain, but I think it's more up in like the upper Southern States. Well, Georgia has them too, but
D'Janai 2:Hmm. I don't like the name like that.
Kristen 2:Okay. All right. All right. So the Bojangles workers reported that a black male. Came into the restaurant and he seemed to mentally like disoriented out of his mind and he would end up going into the ladies restroom and they could visibly see that the man was bleeding. He had smudged on the walls some blood as well. And so officer Regina Meeks, she responds to the call from the Bojangles restaurant manager. And she does it actually go inside because the restaurant we interested, well, the man left, like we could, we weren't about to like, do a citizen's arrest. Like he's he looks disoriented like he left. So she just pulls up through the drive-through window and takes his statement. And the police simply never. Go in the restroom. They never go inside the restaurant.
D'Janai 2:I want to give them awards for worst cops in America, in American history. What the fuck we in to get on now, baby? Because why wouldn't you at least go take a look at the bathroom? And also it's like, okay. They, they said he was bleeding or they shot he was bleeding or he was just covered in someone's blood.
Kristen 2:blood. They saw blood and they're either he's waiting or someone else's, but something's not right. And so the Bo Jangles manager, clearly the next day, he, the bodies were found of the victims. And so he's like something doesn't sit right in my spirit. And I feel like whatever happened last night has something to do with this. So he. Again, reports the incident to police officers who finally come inside the next day and inspect the ladies room. And the manager ends up giving the officers a pair of sunglasses that he was like, Hey, we went in after he left, these were in there. Here you go. And the manager was smart and he didn't like clean up the blood that was left on some of the walls and the tiles of the restroom, which is kind of gross.
D'Janai 2:Oh my God. Imagine you're like, Oh, let me pop into the, this Bojangles' bathroom real quick. And it looks like a murder, if it's a woman's about that, I'd be like, girl, your period was everywhere. I definitely would have been like, Oh, this girl was bleeding all over the place.
Kristen 2:All over the place. Right. So, uh, the police would take blood samples and police, detective Brian Ridge testified that he simply just lost those blood scrapings.
D'Janai 2:Oh my God. No at this point, the police they're in on it, because how can you be this negligent in this stupid
Kristen 2:right. And get this. But they were able to recover a hair sample from the bathroom and the hair identified belonging to the black male was also found. Around one of the victims
D'Janai 2:Wait a minute.
Kristen 2:like, but they never found this man. He has never been seen
D'Janai 2:Well, wait, I have a question. They just didn't follow up on this man. They couldn't find like a DNA match, nothing that's I had no priors. No, no, but that, see, that doesn't even make any sense because how do you go from nothing, nothing at all to that. If he actually did do it, that's a real big jump and also alone. Again, a little boys trying to get to do all this. It had to be like herding cats. So how, how did this one, man?
Kristen 2:right.
D'Janai 2:Okay.
Kristen 2:But I want to know that this matching of the hair was found
D'Janai 2:But you know, they sprinkled it.
Kristen 2:Okay. Later down the line. So during this time it's May 7th and the police officers are like, forget about Chris Morgan and his maybe blackout. Forget about this Bojangles' man who we can't find anymore. Who's probably gone or dead in a ditch somewhere now, too. Uh, we're focusing on Damien and Jason and Jesse. Right. And there, you know, the town is saying that they're double worshipers. So on May 7th, two days after the murder again, the police department felt that this case had Colt overtones. And so they believe that Damian was in a Colt, that.
D'Janai 2:name is Damien.
Kristen 2:Damian right. That you know, was just down with murdering children. So they would interview Damien on May 7th and perform a polygraph test and he denied any involvement. Now the polygraph examiner said that Damien's chart indicated deception, but I believe once this case goes to trial, Damian's lawyers can't really find. Proof of that. And again, back then the detective interrogations, it was just like,
D'Janai 2:Right. Cause they would find ways to, to make you like exactly, exactly. And you're nervous cause you know that they're going to do that. So, and for the most part, these polygraph says they're not admissible in court. It's just kind of like Kind of like going through the motions, you just have to do it and see what happens, but it's not, if you pass a polygraph that doesn't, that doesn't make you, it doesn't make or break you. It's not going to get you off the hook, but it's also not going to be like, Oh, that's it. You failed a polygraph test. So I don't even know why they do it anymore.
Kristen 2:Right. So he would come back in on May 9th, two days after the polygraph and have another formal interview. And Damien had mentioned, I guess that one of the victims had wounds to their genitals and the police were like, well, we haven't released that yet. And so they found that very incriminating, which I wouldn't necessarily find that incriminating because it is a small town. And if you do not believe that people were gossiping and sharing what those bodies look like, then you are mistaken.
D'Janai 2:Right. There's 14 people in this town and three of them were putting up the tape and what was it? Four days now?
Kristen 2:four days. Yeah. Since the body had been discovered. Yep. Right. Right. So a month would pass and there was a little progress in the case, they would keep bringing Damien in for questioning and they just did not have anything to stick. So at this point they were like, you know what, we're going to go at Jesse. We know that he's an acquaintance of them. We know he sometimes hangs out with him and he's just weird. And I guess kind of dumb with his IQ.
D'Janai 2:with the two digit. This
Kristen 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just two digits per baby. Right. So Jesse was actually questioned alone. His parents were not present during the interrogation because they have led Jessie's father to believe that, Hey, we're not gonna interrogate him. We just want to. Have an open conversation kind of, you know, like there's really no need for you to be there. So it was, I was like, all right, my son, he doesn't have anything to hide. You can go, they would end up questioning Jesse for about 12 hours.
D'Janai 2:Can I just say this, I guess. The Apple doesn't fall far from the tree. They're both a little slow, right? Because why would you do that? You have a minor child. I don't care if my child could be the most eloquent articulate person on earth, I'm going to, as long as you are a minor, I will be in the room. You're not gonna have the police, you know, shrimp tricking you and saying all types of shit. So incriminating shit that you don't actually mean to say. So that was really. So that's so manipulative and fucked up for them to have done that.
Kristen 2:right. And so out of these whole 12 hours, there was actually only two segments that were recorded and they totaled about 46 minutes. So all the other hours of footage somehow,
D'Janai 2:Nope.
Kristen 2:guess we forgot to click record are bad and Jesse would end up confessing to murdering Stevie Christopher and Michael, and he named that Damian pitch and Jason were
D'Janai 2:can't even spell accomplices.
Kristen 2:baby at all. But after he confessed, he. I guess it clicked for him what he was saying, which there have been a lot of studies that if the police push you hard enough, you'll confess to anything just to get out of that situation. So he confessed and then quickly recanted and was saying, you know, I was coerced. I was scared of the police. I'm here for 12 hours.
D'Janai 2:12 hours. I thought you said two hours, 12 hours.
Kristen 2:12 hours and there was only 46 minutes that were actually recorded. So baby was going through
D'Janai 2:Okay. Right. They were like torturing him at that point. I'd be like, look, I'm hungry. Give me a soda. I'm ready to tell. I don't know. And also what the police like to do is be like, okay, well, you know, just pretend that you are the murderer. What would you have done? How would you have done this based on the evidence? W how would you have done this? And then, so then you start. Walking through it, like, well, I would have done this and I would have done that. And like, Oh, and did you, I mean, I don't know, did I like you start picturing it in your mind because they're my fucking, you, their mind screwing you and it worked New York said you got, you got line screwed by me. And it worked
Kristen 2:So the police said, well, you know what? Round them up. So shortly after Jesse confessed, they would then go on to arrest Damian and Jason and charge them with first degree murder. Although they had very much circumstantial evidence and a very shaky confession from someone who probably had a mental capacity of about a 13 year old notion to Jesse. But that's where we're at. So, Jesse is tried separately from Damien and Jason. So Damien and Jason are tried together. Jessie's tried separately and it was, uh, under the Bruton rule, which States. It's in 1968, United States Supreme court ruling in the court held that a defendant was deprived of his rights under the confrontation clause of a confession by, as co-defendant was introduced in their joint trial, regardless of whether the jury received.
D'Janai 2:Kristen, what the fuck did you just say?
Kristen 2:I don't know, but regardless, uh, his confession can not be used against his co-defendant. So that's why they all had to be trying. Differently and all three of the D all three of them pleaded not guilty. So in Jesse's trial this man named Richard off, she, he was an expert in false confessions. He testified that the very brief recording that you heard from Jessie's interrogation was a classic classic classic example of police coercion. And he stated that. Because Jesse's confessions were also inconsistent within the facts not lining up. It seems as though he was just admitting to get away from the issue when someone has an IQ that low, if you push a new push and you push nine times out of 10, they're going to break or fold under pressure.
D'Janai 2:Right?
Kristen 2:this didn't matter because on February 5th, 1994, uh, Jesse was convicted by a jury of one count of first degree murder and two counts of second degree murder. And he was sentenced to life plus 40 years in prison.
D'Janai 2:Oh shit. Wait, so hold on. So none of the other shit the, the hair from the bleeding black man bleeding, Bojangles that wasn't brought up. And then, and then, um, what's his name from that went to California. That fucking dipped. Yep.
Kristen 2:Morgan and Brian Holland.
D'Janai 2:Chris Morgan and Brian Holland. They completely irrelevant. Just nothing. And they just believed everything. This is a simple one, right? Wow.
Kristen 2:so three weeks later, Damian and Jace would have their trial. And of course the prosecution is saying, you know, these young men committed murder. And they, they called a man by the name of Dale w Griffis Griffis, who was unaccredited, graduate of the Columbia Pacific university, who was an expert in Colts to testify that these murders were a common say tanning ritual and. That's really all the jury needed. Because on March 19th, 1994, Damian and Jason were also found guilty on three counts of murder and they sit in Damien to death in Jason to life in prison.
D'Janai 2:Wait, why? Why different?
Kristen 2:Yeah, because of Damien's knowledge of the genital mutilation, they were basically saying that Damien. Was the rapist of the little boys?
D'Janai 2:But they didn't find any
Kristen 2:No,
D'Janai 2:all.
Kristen 2:the only thing they had to go on was that the boys had, like, I don't want to say this, but like a protruding, but whole which
D'Janai 2:that happens when you die. Exactly. Your butt hole inside out when you die.
Kristen 2:Yes. Exactly. And even Damien's defense team said, listen, Damien only knew about this genital mutilation because it was on TV. Y'all were openly talking about it. So you can't base that. Well, he knew, like he just blurted it out when y'all were releasing details to the public, that one should have never been released to the
D'Janai 2:Exactly. They compromise this entire investigations. Ridiculous. And there was no DNA, no fingerprints, no DNA on the bikes, on the boy,
Kristen 2:from either of these three
D'Janai 2:So all this evidence is circumstantial as fuck.
Kristen 2:Yep. Yep. And so just to get an, a more kind of like red, red flags of this case Jessie's for brew, tourney danced at him, he said, The amount of police, like areas at the crime scene. This case was ruined from the beginning. They, the police had literally walked through the Creek bed. The bodies had actually been removed from the water prior to the coroner arriving.
D'Janai 2:my God.
Kristen 2:so. the coroner wasn't able to, I guess, determine the actual state of rigor mortis. And so they just took the bodies out and allowed the bodies to just decay, like on the Creek bank and to be completely exposed to sunlight, insects, air more, more exposure. And also the police did not end up calling the coroner down to Robin hood Hills until two hours after they had discovered the shoe. And after they had discovered the bodies,
D'Janai 2:What was the holdup?
Kristen 2:you tell me
D'Janai 2:Thank you. They are in there. They're the ones that are the Def double worshipers, I think meetings. And also I'm thinking like a Creek bed. I'm thinking it's muddy. There has to be some shoe prints somewhere.
Kristen 2:Well, Jessie's attorney then was arguing that. There was a small amount of blood found at the crime scene that was never tested. And now, according to other documentaries, supposedly there was no blood that was found at the crime scene, but Jesse's attorney seems to believe that there was, and it was never tested. And the police failed to collect all the necessary samples for a crime like this, for them to just say, well, there's just like, there's little to no DNA with how those boys were killed. possible.
D'Janai 2:no, no, there, they had to be. That's ridiculous. That is ridiculous. And it just seems like they really tried to make them the scapegoat.
Kristen 2:It was, it also came out that the magnitude of this case. Was too big for this police department. So the police records were a mess. They were disorderly, they were not put together. There was some reports that some of the physical evidence was stored in paper sacks that they had sex that they had gotten from a supermarket rather than actually, you know, like the chain of
D'Janai 2:I'm a head out y'all couldn't get cabinets, a folder, nothing. What did they learn? Police work. sax, which is not fan mail. You need to keep this enclosed. the worst cops.
Kristen 2:right. Obviously Davion, Jason and Jesse's attorneys are starting the process for appeals, cause this is just a fucking farce at this point. And so in 2007 DNA collected from the scene from the crime scene was tested. Finally retested, none was found to match DNA from Damien or Jason or Jesse at all. the state at the time was like, you know, we, we stand by our convictions. We think we got it right.
D'Janai 2:Of course, they never
Kristen 2:Right, right. But there was a lot of misconduct that luckily they had attorneys who kept their foot on their necks. So finally, on October 29, 2007 papers were filed in federal court by Damien's defense lawyers seeking a retrial or immediate release from prison, citing that the DNA evidence, Did not match up with Damien whatsoever. But regardless, November four to 2010, the Arkansas Supreme court ordered a lower judge to consider this newly analyzed DNA evidence to help exonerate the three. And the justices also instructed the lower courts to examine claims of misconduct by jurors who sit in, sit Damien to death. And Jesse and Jason to life in prison. Granted some of these jurors were very, very close to the case. Some of these jurors were talking to each other. You can't be doing that as a juror and they probably should have moved this shit out of the damn state trial, because it was just way, way too close to home. So finally, after we some negotiations, August, 1920 11, Damian and Jason and Jesse were actually released from prison as a part of a plea deal. They entered into these unusual Alford plea deals, which this is the legal definition. It's a legal mechanism that allows defendants to plead guilty while still asserting their innocence in cases where defendants can see that prosecutors have sufficient evidence to seek to secure a conviction.
D'Janai 2:I think I heard that. Yeah. So they had enough. So you're saying like, I know you have enough evidence to convict me if you wanted to, but please don't.
Kristen 2:Right. Well though they really didn't have enough evidence that can make them. But I still, I was, I think it's just ass backwards, Arkansas
D'Janai 2:It's the police. So, so not wanting to admit that they, they got the wrong people and that's all it is just like, okay, we weren't fully wrong cause we could, but we're being nice. And we'll let you go because you obviously didn't do anything.
Kristen 2:Right. And so I want to circle it back or kind of rounded out by saying that the families of the three little boys were kind of split down the middle on their opinion of guilt or innocence. Mind you, a lot of time has passed, but in two, in 2000, Christopher buyer's biological father, Rick. He expressed that he had doubts with the guilty verdicts on the West Memphis three saying, you know, it's not adding up. I do not think B's, I don't think these boys did it. And I think we need to be looking elsewhere. A 2007 john Mark Byers, who was the stepfather of Christopher, who was at first, very adamant in his belief that Damian and Jesse and Jason were guilty. Ha he since then has announced, you know, I believe they're innocent. Clearly their DNA is nowhere near this crime scene or on our children I don't think that they did it. There are a few different theories as to who exactly did it, and I will share mine. In a minute, but regardless. This case blew the hell up. There was actually a lot of support from different punk rock artists, as well as other celebrities who have been fighting for years to free the West. Memphis three, as they're often referred to again, I mentioned there are quite a few documentaries on HBO, as well as a movie adaptation, starring the Caucasian queen that is Reese Witherspoon. She knows she, she.
D'Janai 2:Yes. I mean, she is white, but is a white woman. She plays a white woman to it. T she's got it down to a
Kristen 2:Right, right. Uh, so just a little update on the defendants, since his release. Jessie, Ms. Kelly became engaged to his high school girlfriend and enrolled at a community college to train as an auto mechanic. Uh, Jason Baldwin. He moved to Seattle to live with some friends. He is now in a relationship with a woman who he, I guess, printed in prison, like a prison pen pal, uh, and stated that he had plans on enrolling in college to become a lawyer and help wrongfully convicted people. Damien Echols. He ended up marrying a landscape architect named Laurie Davis and he moved to New York city after his release.
D'Janai 2:I was going to say they were minors at the time that the crime was committed. I was surprised that you said that he got put on death row, like normally for minors, they, they still won't do it.
Kristen 2:then. Cause it took
D'Janai 2:time of the murder, I thought it was, I thought, yeah, that's what I thought. I thought that, it's based on how old you were at the time of the crime that that'll
Kristen 2:Does it depend on the state to different laws for that particular case? I mean that particular instance, if it happens, I don't know.
D'Janai 2:Could be all the lawyers, uh, DMS,
Kristen 2:Right. He also decided, no, this is just my last fun fact. He co-wrote lyrics to a song called army reserve on Pearl jam self-titled album in 2006.
D'Janai 2:Okay. Royalties. I see you.
Kristen 2:Yeah. So he's still, I guess, involved in the punk rock scene and he has done a few interviews. But for the most part, it seemed as though he was able to move on with his life. And I guess put it behind him, but very much a bizarre, bizarre story that I still, while researching, I was like, there's still just too many question marks for me to understand what the fuck just happened.
D'Janai 2:Yeah, I, I wasn't sure. What, like I've heard little bits and pieces of this story first off. Great story. Kristin, excellent story. Because I didn't know shit about it. And you, you really did that well, cause I know that it's a lot, most of the time when I see when I've seen it come up on other podcasts, it's like part one, part two, and I'm like, Oh, the add kicks. And I'm like, I don't have the patience for this. So good on you for wrapping that up in, An hour and a half or less, but the part, like I thought that there was going to be something that would have made me think like, Hmm. Maybe it wasn't, but literally nothing you said made me think that it was them. I thought it was going to be like something that's like, Hmm, no, it's everybody, but them I'm thinking it's at this point, I'm feeling like it's the police it's it's Bojangles. It's uh, Cali bound. I'm thinking it's anybody, but
Kristen 2:Anybody else, which I encourage anyone listening. I encourage you to look up this story because I didn't even get into the numerous theories about who actually did this because the, if the murderer is still at large, this case has not been solved. All we know is that Damian and Jesse and Jason did not do it, From all accounts. It doesn't seem as though the West Memphis police is still like actively investigating who did it. It's just kind of like, Oh, I remember that time when
D'Janai 2:We never we've really bunked that up. Yeah.
Kristen 2:sent the wrong people to jail. Damn.
D'Janai 2:For how many years too, because that was between what, like 1994. And
Kristen 2:Yeah. 93, 94 to what? 2020. I don't do that. So.
D'Janai 2:I thought it was, uh, 2011 or was it, it was 2011. Yeah. Yeah. So that's a long fucking time
Kristen 2:18 years. I believe it said 18 years in 73 days,
D'Janai 2:wait, hold on. Did any of them Sue the West Memphis? Police, department, I would have sued the paint off the walls.
Kristen 2:let me
D'Janai 2:I would have sued. I would have sued the evidence out the sacks, the paint off the walls that have been nothing left by the time for 17 years of my life, my youth,
Kristen 2:Right.
D'Janai 2:Oh my God. That, so that must've been part of it. Would've been like, okay, look, we'll let you out. Okay. Okay. We did fuck up. Okay. But don't tell nobody, we'll let you out, but you can't Sue us promise pinky pinky up. And he's wearing that. That had to be it because I don't understand why you wouldn't Sue.
Kristen 2:Honestly, this case, may my boobs hurt everything from my head to my boobs, from my arms, because it's just. for some reason, it seems like the police were saying like, Oh, we don't have enough evidence to go off of, but as they start testing everybody and they, mama has some type of DNA connection on these boys, you know, who does it? The three people who actually went to
D'Janai 2:exactly these kids are covered in blood and spit. Test that and leave and leave these 17 year old, weird boys out of it. They have nothing to do with it. Wow. And then couldn't even test the blood and the bullshit. I swear. Donkey of the day, worst police department in the history of its police departments. I mean, and that's kind of like a tall, the Wolf find a worst one, but for them, for, I mean, for, for today, it goes to them because this is really terrible police work. And sometimes we'll cover a story where I'm just like, Why didn't the police just do their job?
Kristen 2:And if y'all want to, like I said, watch this, drama, desertion, or adaptation of this exact story. Devil's not is on Hulu with a subscription any law who guys, I'm really sorry if that made your head hurt. Cause it made my hurting too. But that's the story of the West Memphis? Well, the abbreviated version, because.
D'Janai 2:who has the time? No, that was perfect. That was perfect. Yeah, the, the killer is still is at large. And I would like to know who it was and honestly, why would you do that?
Kristen 2:the thing is in these small towns. Oh, someone in that town knows who fucking did it. And it's an unspoken thing that like, we just don't talk about it. Like rip. To the boys. But someone knows.
D'Janai 2:That's fucked up.
Kristen 2:Rest in peace to Christopher Byers. Rest in peace to Steve Stevie branch and rest in peace to Michael Moore also. Big ups to the innocent Damien Echols, the innocent. Jason Baldwin, any innocent Jessie, Ms. Kelly,
D'Janai 2:Good job, Kristen. that is a good story. I hope I really do hope that this, they find out who did it, on their death bed, somebody's got to like admit something.
Kristen 2:or whoever did it, I'm sure they're being haunted. Cause that's some sick shit
D'Janai 2:It really, really is.
Kristen 2:Not just like drowning, like you clearly tortured these boys in mutilated, one of them, so
D'Janai 2:Yeah. That's so fucked up. And why? Just one of them, like it just, it, none of it makes any sense. Oh, disgusting. Well, I'm prayers down to whoever fucking did that. Prayers down also prayers down to the West Memphis police in the nineties. They probably still suck, but, um, specifically them, prayers all the way down but I'm glad I finally know this story without, having to have done all the research myself. Thank you. Okay. Yeah, let's wrap up. All right. Do you have a so high for this week?
Kristen 2:Oh, we're highlighting.
D'Janai 2:Black shit.
Kristen 2:Yes, black shit. And I'm on that black shit.
D'Janai 2:Oh, you know what. Did you watch Cinderella?
Kristen 2:I did. I did. It was really great. Yes. My son was and Hammerstein. uh, Cinderella with the iconic Whitney. I beat bitches up Houston, the iconic Brandeen.
D'Janai 2:Yeah.
Kristen 2:as well
D'Janai 2:forgot what he was in that.
Kristen 2:yes, I forgot her name, just passed away. She was in Babs. Natalie to sell.
D'Janai 2:is it?
Kristen 2:and gorgeous. Um, so, so talented. but it was really, really great. I forgot how fine. The Prince was his Filipino ass. Oh, he looked, he looked good. He has a great smile, but Uh, it was really great. And it's my favorite version of Cinderella.
D'Janai 2:It's the only version I acknowledge. I haven't watched it yet because it's so near and dear to my heart, I wasn't ready to cry. Also I just felt like it wasn't right to just watch it alone because when I tell you, I knew every line burst off. When I was young, I was Brandy. I had the braids, in the curlers dipped in that hot ass water. So when this movie came out, it was everything to me and I love Whitney Houston. I love Brandy. And, um, that movie breathe life into me at five years old when it came out. Um, y'all, don't do the math. I'm young. So. I'm very excited to watch it. The world is fun. Live zany is and fools who don't believe in sensitive. And don't believe what sensible people say, because these Dafen dude, I don't keep building up impossible hopes, impossible things are happening. So I. Yeah, so clearly I'm obsessed. And I used to know it backwards and forwards. I was always Brandy. I was playing it out in my room, so I can't wait to watch it. So my also high for this week is going to be all the other black hosted true crime podcasts. So I. I think so first off we started this podcast because we were like, okay, where all the black true crime podcasts now a simple Google search probably would have told us they exist, but we could not find them. I used to be like black, true crime podcasts, nothing would come up. So I didn't know that there were so many, but there's so many good ones. There's affirmative murder, which I've so they're true. Crime comedy. It's two guys. And so they, they do the same thing. Like they just tell each other murder stories every week. They're really great. Then there's scam goddess, which, It's hosted by Lacey Moseley, who sh she's, she's busy. She's on like a couple of different podcasts. She's really funny. And she just talks about it's true crime, but it's not like gruesome crimes. It's more about like Scamps basically fraud and all that. So yeah, she makes it really interesting to hear about that then there's crime war, which Candice is like, so her research is so good. She gets into a story. She gets into the nitty gritty and it's very like unbiased. Like she's not like a, she's not shitting on anybody, but. She tells the full story. She gotta get straight to it, right. To the meat and potatoes. Her podcast is really good, crime noir. And then of course there's fruit loops, which I believe was highlighted on my favorite murder. They're yeah, they like specifically as two women, two black women, and they focus on serial killers of color. And so they're very thorough in their research as well. So there's a bunch of them. There's a few more, I think I'm going to highlight, I'm going to make a post on Instagram and highlight a few of them. Like if you guys are looking for more true crime podcasts, but the black hosts or, you know, hosts of color, whatever you want to call it, there are. There are more yeah, w we out here. But I wish somebody would've told me cause I, I did not know. So now I've just come across a few of these and they're really great. So let's, let's all have a seat at the table. well We hope you all enjoyed this episode of quiet as it's kept is episode what? 15,
Kristen 2:15.
D'Janai 2:as always. rate, review, subscribe to get new episodes, please leave us a review, please, please, please leave us a review and please let it be five stores. And if it's not five stars, just, you know, just walk away, just be quiet. We don't care. You know what, if you listen to 30 minutes and you hated it, no skin off your ass or hours. It's fine. And, if you want to follow us on social, we're on Instagram at quiet as it's kept podcast. On Twitter at quake the pod, Q a I K Q a I
Kristen 2:okay.
D'Janai 2:the pod.
Kristen 2:Yes, thank y'all for tuning in. Thank you for listening. Would love to hear some of your theories about who done it. And if you're familiar with the case you know, just what you think happened. We love hearing from you all, in the comments,
D'Janai 2:If there was, if there was anything incriminating that we missed or didn't talk about, or, you know, what, if you did it, just tell us just let us know and we'll keep it between us and the Supreme court promise. So next week we'll be back. we're going to try something different next week in terms of, the episodes. So stay tuned for that. Until then everybody, you know, stay safe, stay healthy, especially Texas. Beyonce said I C and Texas said, I bet. Uh, yeah, please stay warm. Stay safe, stay off the motherfucking roads. Um, I see out here cooking gumbo over candles. So you see that that girl was making a whole chili over a bath and Bodyworks candle. So, y'all pioneers really at this point, but, everybody stay safe and we'll be back next week.
Kristen 2:Biome.