As for Paradise Lost, it was the inciting incident in the two-decade chain of events that led to the release of the West Memphis Three. It had been a long fight to clear their names, and the odds seemed better than ever. They were releasedfrom prison in 2011 on whats called an Alford plea, after new forensic evidence was presented as part of the case. Investigators kept minimal notes and omitted pertinent details including criminal records. He was an actor, known for Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988), Fast Food (1989) and In the Heat of the Night (1988). Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelly and Jason Baldwin were originally convicted of the killings and released from prison in 2011 after making a deal with prosecutors. Its headlined by not only the films directors, but also Sheila Nevins, its executive producer and winner of 32 individual Emmy awards, more than any other person in history. It was also revealed in 2012 that Hobbs nephew allegedly told his friends, My Uncle Terry murdered those three little boys," and that the killings were a Hobbs family secret, according to WMC-TV. June 29 Terry Hobbs, 34, 1718 Spyglass Lane, Mishawaka, booked on a warrant from Elkhart County. the only grade you receive is from quizzes, exams, and the final. At the suggestion of the police, Hutcheson hid microphones in her home and borrowed occult books from the library to inspire Echols' interest. Their advocates believe the Alford pleas represent their own form of injustice, but correcting that is a less pressing issue than the early battlesthe men are free and have been able to mostly live their lives in the years since their release. 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. With the area secured, Detective Bryn Ridge volunteered to search the ditch. According to Griffis, black hair, black T-shirts, and black jeans were signs that a kid was in league with the devil. It'll be sort of like I'm the West Memphis boogeyman. Now a judgewho coincidentally works part time in the courtroom where Misskelley was convictedStidham spends time speaking to law students about the judicial system. In her recantation, Hutcheson stated that when she asked Echols directly if he had killed "those three kids," he replied, "No. Berlinger contrasts this with the approach taken by Bakken, Sauls, and Co., who considered the truth sacrosanct and avoided rumor and innuendo in part because similar speculation helped convict the West Memphis Three. When it didnt, the praise heaped on Paradise Lost felt hollow. Mara Leveritt, a journalist who followed the case throughout the 1990s and wrote the 2002 book Devils Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three, calls the strain of Christianity that runs through the region very literal and says that even her children faced harassment as teenagers for playing Dungeons & Dragons and listening to Ozzy Osbourne. doesn't know how to teach the material and you will end up teaching yourself everything. Hobbs, with the help of an author, put all that journaling intoa book about the 1993 murders of his stepson Stevie Branch, and Branchs friends Michael Moore and Chris Byers. Paradise Lost also led to a famous citizen-activist campaign championing the release of the three teens that caught on at the dawn of the Internet Age and would eventually pull in Eddie Vedder, Henry Rollins, and a whos who of the rich and famous. It was clear that Paradise Lost was resonating. In August 2011, Jason Baldwin was pulled from his prison cell under confusing circumstances once again. The pair abruptly fled to Oceanside, Calif., four days after the murders. There have also been several high-profile incidents of laypeople reinvestigating decades-old cold cases in more rigorous, journalistic ways and helping bring them to a resolution. But none of that support has been able to fully exonerate the trio, something theyre still fighting for. In 1996, HBO released the documentary film Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. On Aug. 11, 2011, the West Memphis Three entered the courtroom for the final time. They saw this movie and they felt like, I have to do something.. Dec 13th, 2021. He was 56. Terry Castleman is a data . Two of the West Memphis Three's most ardent supporters were director Peter Jackson, best known for The Lord of the Rings films, and his partner Fran Walsh. Berlinger says that he counts Errol Morriss The Thin Blue Line as one of his greatest influences, not just for the innovations Morris brought to the documentary genre, but also because it helped free Randall Dale Adams from a sentence for the murder of a Texas police officer that he did not commit. This is the true story of the West Memphis Three murders. After ending his first marriage, he wed Pamela Hicks Branch in 1986, when her son Stevie was almost 2 years old. Terry was born on September 11, 1959 in Sweetwater, to Jack Harvey and Marjorie Hobbs .Terry graduated from Sweetwater High School in 1977. 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. "I'd like to see this put to rest. (Maines briefly became a part of the story when Terry Hobbs, stepfather of another . 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. He said, J.B., youre going home, man, youre going home.. Armchair detectives of today, I think a lot of them dabble in conspiracy theory, Berlinger says. Terry. The causes most high-profile moment came in 2000, when Trey Parker said the slogan at the MTV Movie Awards while collecting an award for Best Musical Sequence. Additionally, the judge in the original trialswho under Arkansas law presided under the requests for retrials in the years following the convictionshad been elected to the state Senate that December, meaning someone new and possibly more sympathetic would oversee the case. Iwould journal something and put it in the box, said Hobbs. (WMC) - Not a single piece of evidence ever connected the West Memphis Three, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, to the 1993 murders of Steve Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore. But the list of people who have looked at the facts of the case and come away believing Baldwin, Echols, and Misskelley are innocent is long. Leave your condolences to the family on this memorial page or send flowers to show you care. Auburndale, FL - TSGT Terry Lee Hobbs, USAF, ret. They were naked and hog-tied with their own shoelaces, and showed signs of blunt force trauma and mutilation, the latter of which may have been the work of wild animals, reported the, Three teenage boys were arrested for the crimes , Baldwin and Misskelley were sentenced to life without parole while Echols received the death penalty. I went to a Baptist school and I got accused of being a devil worshiper because I was trying to learn how to write hieroglyphics, says Sauls, today a screenwriter and VFX designer. A graveside service will be conducted on Wednesday, March 17 at Cloverdale Memorial Park beginning at 11am. 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. Due to marital problems stemming from Stevies death, the couple divorced in 2004, reported CNN. Today, Berlinger calls Revelations the weakest of the three films in the trilogyadvocacy in search of a story as opposed to the in-the-moment, on-the-ground approach of the first Paradise Lost and the in-depth exploration of new evidence in 2011s Purgatory. He graduated from Sweetwater High School in 1977. As rumors of a Satanic sacrifice swept the community, the minds of many in West Memphis were already made up. Echols, who prosecutors argued was the ringleader, was sentenced to death. Three teenage boys were arrested for the crimes Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. and prosecutors argued they killed the boys as part of a Satanic ritual. After roughly 18 months of editing, Paradise Lost debuted at Sundance in January 1996 before heading out to other festivals. He was an actor, known for Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988), Fast Food (1989) and In the Heat of the Night (1988). Mojo was right. Griffis also knew how to spot a Satanist. Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. Baldwin is the co-founder of the legal advocacy organization Proclaim Justice. Dan Stidham, the original attorney for Misskelley, who would also work on Baldwins and Echols appeals, says he has the answer. The concept of citizen investigations intrigues Berlinger just as much as it did in the 1990s, though today hes often more concerned with the moral implications. Also, law enforcement chose not to focus on the victims' families as the starting point of the investigation as is the norm. Since the West Memphis Three were released, no one else has been charged in the murders of Stevie, Christopher and Michael. Hobbs has never wavered in his conviction that justice was served the first time around. Cinemorgue Wiki. 24 to Jun. Further down, it includes names such as Rick Dior, a sound mixer who worked on Apollo 13 and Dirty Dancing, and Bob Richman, a three-time Emmy-nominated cinematographer whose rsum also includes renowned docs like An Inconvenient Truth and Waiting for Superman. In the years since the trial, John Mark Byers, adoptive father of Christopher Byers, and Pamela Hobbs, mother of Stevie Branch, became vocal supporters of the West Memphis Three. That didn't make sense to me. But Echolss situation changed Baldwins thinking. Its evidence that Damien Echols attorneys wanted to do new DNA testing on. Hobbs says his book is 25 years in the making, adding it is called Boxful of Nightmares for a reason. (Shortly after Villegass acquittal, Baldwin had something of a full-circle moment with his client: He took him to a Metallica show in El Paso, Texas, where they hung out backstage on the invitation of Lars Ulrich.).