I deeply admire that and I thought it was worthy of putting on film.. Titled West of Memphis, the film, directed by Amy J. Berg, presents an overview of the West Memphis Three's 18 years in prison, the revelation of new evidence, and explores the possibility of an alternate suspect. TSGT Terry Lee Hobbs, USAF, ret. There are no events scheduled. Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of Branch who was under suspicion but never charged, said he welcomes new DNA testing. A statement he made to the producers of Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills did little to help his public image. Sheila Nevins, the HBO exec who pushed for Berlinger and Sinofsky to make that initial trip to Arkansas, is most proud of the companys willingness to let her finance three documentaries over 18 years without knowing where they would go. Its like ripping a Band-Aid off a wound. "I'd like to see this put to rest. Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of West Memphis Three murder victim Stevie Branch, has denied any involvement in slayings of Branch and his two friends. The boys were so mutilated, investigators thought the murders were part of some kind of Satanic ritual. ", According to Devil's Knot, a week after the discovery of the bodies, Detective Don Bray interviewed Vicki Hutcheson, a truckstop employee. Over the course of the initial investigation, a number of alternate suspects and scenarios came to light that were largely ignored or otherwise dismissed by authorities. This is the true story of the West Memphis Three murders. However, in 2010, a series of rapidly unfolding developments turned the tide for Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley. Although Griffis' testimony was dramatic, it showed only a tenuous grasp of occult knowledge much of it, including a reference to a cult called "Crytos," was simply made up. McCaughey says her sister is very upset. Unaware of what was to come, Allen explained that he just wanted to ask him some questions. The Alford plea is a seldom-invoked and somewhat confusing legal maneuver, but the basics are fairly straightforward. The first film gave rise to a movement devoted to reopening the investigation in hopes of exonerating, and ultimately freeing, Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols, and Jessie Misskelley. This is a brand new website dedicated to the internationally famous musician, Terry Gibbs. Support came from unlikely corners: a classroom of kids who held a cookie sale that raised $30, local bands in Chicago who held a benefit show and sent $150. According to Dan Stidham, the attorney for Misskelley, that money became essential for the cash-strapped defense teams, who needed to pay for expert witnesses and other expenses. "They said close to the crime scene because at one time I did walk near where they had found the kids with Terry Hobbs But I didn't wear hats back then, my hair could have blown around anywhere, Jacoby told Memphis NBC affiliate WMC-TV in 2013. We made a promise early on that we would never pretend to be law enforcement or detectives, Sauls says. It just needed a catalyst. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. Heavy metal music, role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, and horror movies were regarded as gateways to evil. Family and friends are welcome to leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with the family. Now, evidence from the case of the West Memphis Three is either missing or destroyed. . By 2005, Rollins himself had raised $100,000 for the cause. Wherever it was screened, Berlinger says, it was followed by intense Q&As from audience members who couldnt believe what theyd just watched. Their bikes were found by a pipe nearby. That type of support made observers question the verdicts perhaps more so than any rock star who shouted Echolss name into a mic because of an HBO documentary. There also were issues with other details he provided, including how the victims were bound and whether the boys were raped. At approximately 1:30 p.m., Steve Jones, a juvenile parole officer from Crittenden County, peered over the steep bank of a water-filled ditch in the woods near the Blue Beacon truck wash. In June 1996, Paradise Lost debuted on HBO, bringing the story of the West Memphis Three to TV sets and showing the power of the camera in the courtroom. At the suggestion of the police, Hutcheson hid microphones in her home and borrowed occult books from the library to inspire Echols' interest. Another hair found near the crime scene on a tree stump was found to be consistent with the DNA of Hobbs friend, David Jacoby, according to court documents obtained by Oxygen.com. Hold for Elkhart County. And the seemingly endless stream of threats against them and the frequent clashes with Mark Byers did nothing to dissuade them. I wouldn't do something like that. By getting to the story quickly, the directors were able to document the post-arrest period and two trials that followed in painstaking detail. Sheriff's deputies in Calhoun County say Terry Hobbs was reported missing on Saturday, April 20, 2019. weaving supposedly anti-Christian and occult messages into their songs, he discovered her while Googling cold cases, funded an extensive private investigation, a November 2010 Arkansas Supreme Court ruling, biggest allies in the years before his 2020 death, acquitted of capital murder in 2018 after a 25-year legal saga. After hours of questioning, a frustrated Morgan blurted out that he had been hospitalized for drug and alcohol abuse and might have committed the murders. For Rollins, it was a moral imperative: Id find myself up at 3:30 a.m. thinking about Damien. Over the years there has been lots of speculation and finger pointing as to who was responsible. 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. In an email to The Ringer, Rollins stressed that inaction was not an option., Myself and the many people I worked with did what we could to help bring attention to the case and generate much needed financial aid, he wrote. With the guards blessings, Mojo led Baldwin to Varners visitation room, where everything had been put away aside from two chairs set up in front of a cart holding a small TV and a VCR. 2011 Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (Documentary) Self - Stepfather of Stevie Branch. As part of the deal, they cannot file wrongful-conviction lawsuits, which both Berlinger and Baldwin say couldve cost the state tens of millions of dollars. As recounted in Mara Leveritt's book, Devil's Knot, a thorough search of Robin Hood Hills directed by Chief Inspector Gary W. Gitchell of the West Memphis Police Department commenced early on the morning of May 6, 1993. Terry Castleman is a data . Misskelley and Echols were 36; Baldwin was 34. Hobbs was Branch's stepfather. 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. Baldwins attorneys even avoided putting him on the witness stand or mounting much of a defense, believing the burden was on the state. It's affected a lot of lives, but for some reason it keeps being brought up," said Hobbs. In 2013, Jackson and Damien Echols produced a fourth documentary about the case. He said Boxful of Nightmares is his memoirs unedited. Here were these guysat best they were neutral. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. He was handed the phone. Baldwin, the youngest member of the trio that had come to be known as the West Memphis Three, was serving a life sentence after being convicted on charges connected to the 1993 killings of three 8-year-old boys. We are sad to announce that on September 11, 2021 we had to say goodbye to Terry Hobbs of Sweetwater, Texas. When it didnt, the praise heaped on Paradise Lost felt hollow. He was just taking in the enormity of the defining event of his life to that point, which had been committed to film and was now playing for him inside the cavernous, auditorium-style visitation room. He could have been me, he told Rolling Stone in 2011. So with less urgency surrounding full exoneration and no documentary cameras rolling, the question 25 years later becomes: Who is paying close enough attention to the case to pick up the fight? What a story it is. Earlier this year, he told Action News 5 he welcomes new DNA testing. In fact, for the better part of 1993, it was nearly impossible to find anyone who believed they were innocent. The documentarians found me in one of the worst things a person could go through, Baldwin says. " (Detective Allen) told me if I knew anything, that there was a $35,000 reward, and if I could help them out, we'd get the money," said Misskelley, as quoted by Mara Leveritt in Devil's Knot. I spoke with one of the jurors, years later after the trials and convictions, and he said he had no doubt that people could throw their lot in with the devil and be commanded to do things that they wouldnt have done otherwisethat they have basically made the deal with the devil, Leveritt says. In the minds of many, the bizarre nature of the Robin Hood Hills murders could only have been committed by one of Satan's minions. He was an actor, known for Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988), Fast Food (1989) and In the Heat of the Night (1988). 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. As the first in a trilogy of Paradise Lost films about the case, the 1996 movie was a stunning example of cinma vrit, as directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky embedded themselves with the prosecution, the defense, and the families of both the slain and the accused to put human faces on a heart-wrenching tragedy, as well as highlight the overblown worries of satanic rituals and murderous cults that proliferated throughout the 1980s and 90s. Misskelley, who had entered the West Memphis police station that morning with hopes of reward money he might use to purchase a new truck for his father found himself instead charged with murder and facing life plus 40 years in prison. Theyve had several victories, including the case of Daniel Villegas, who was acquitted of capital murder in 2018 after a 25-year legal saga. (Police questioned Byers several times during the investigation, but never considered him a suspect.) The killings came at the peak of the so-called Satanic Panic, a time of heightened worries about ritualistic abuse. 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. According to Griffis, black hair, black T-shirts, and black jeans were signs that a kid was in league with the devil. Funeral Home Services for Terry are being provi. She has since expressed her belief that her ex-husband was involved in the murders, citing the discovery of her son's favorite pocket knife in Terry Hobbs' belongings. During the final year of the two-year span, from July 2021 to July 2022, California lost about 211,000 people, according to data from the state Department of Finance. On the surface, 18-year-old Damien Echols, an intelligent, but psychologically troubled teen with interests in Wicca and extreme music, fit the profile. It'll be sort of like I'm the West Memphis boogeyman. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. Here's when clocks will 'spring forward' in 2023. La Mirada, California. Polygraph tests revealed deception in the answers of both men in regard to the crimes. 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. They had a daughter together, Amanda Hobbs, who was 4 years old at the time of her brothers death. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! But Berlinger also believes that the sequel is important for documenting the power of citizen activism. The idea of the average citizen becoming embroiled in a criminal investigation isnt far-fetched in 2021, decades removed from the launch of WM3.org. (Its worth noting that despite the issues raised by Lindseys work, the first season of Up and Vanished renewed interest in the case, which ultimately led to arrests, albeit of people that Lindsey hadnt previously covered on the podcast.). The level of corruption in the American justice system is glaring and sickening.. I dont know if they were questioning it, but they werent mistreating me and telling me that what I was telling them wasnt true., While Berlinger admits that he and Sinofsky may have tilted pro-prosecution in the early days of filming, that quickly changed after witnessing how the cases came together and spending time with the three teens during pretrial jailhouse interviewsparticularly Baldwin, who Berlinger describes as sweet and studious.. Auburndale, FL - TSGT Terry Lee Hobbs, USAF, ret. Leave a sympathy message to the family in the guestbook on this memorial page of Terry Hobbs to show support. She has since expressed her belief that her ex-husband was involved in the murders,citing the discovery of her son's favorite pocket knife in Terry Hobbs' belongings. The following day revealed the unthinkable, when the bloodied and bruised bodies of the three boys were found submerged in a muddy creek in a wooded area called Robin Hood Hills. To authorities working in West Memphisa largely Southern Baptist communitysatanic activity seemed to be the most likely cause for the killings, in part because the boys bodies were bound and appeared to have been mutilated. At the request of West Memphis authorities, the two were picked up and questioned by Oceanside police. Case Details. During the trials of Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols, Griffis drew tenuous links between circumstantial evidence, such as the killings taking place near the date of the pagan festival of Beltane. I still believe in my heart that Jessie, Jason, and Damion Echols [sic] are responsible for what happened to our children, Hobbs told Memphis ABC affiliate WATN in June 2019. 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. That the slain boys were each 8 years-old was important because eight was a "witch's number." He had been expecting a visitation, but was instead led to the prison chapel office, where inmates were typically brought only if someone close to them had died. As the movement to free the West Memphis Three gained traction, a number of celebrities joined the cause, bringing the case under more scrutiny. 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. Terry was born on September 11, 1959 in Sweetwater, to Jack Harvey and Marjorie. "Everyone has a story and this just happens to be mine," said Hobbs. Critics were effusive in their praise and stunned by the footageparticularly Roger Ebert, who wrote in a four-star review that at the end of the film I was unconvinced of their guilt. The film won Emmy and Peabody awards to go with more than a dozen other nominations. Terry L. Hobbs, 63, of Caldwell, HOBBS, Terry L., passed on March 7,2021 at the age of 63. Berlinger says that he counts Errol Morriss The Thin Blue Line as one of his greatest influences, not just for the innovations Morris brought to the documentary genre, but also because it helped free Randall Dale Adams from a sentence for the murder of a Texas police officer that he did not commit. The idea of killer teens in the Christian South, not any greater sense of purpose, was mainly what intrigued Sheila Nevins, then the head of HBOs documentary division, when she spotted a story about the case on the inside pages of The New York Times. Spotting a small, black tennis shoe in the water, Jones radioed for help. I don't know if the other 2 did, but even if they did polygraphs aren't admissible in court. A native of Winter Haven, born December 21, 1964, Terry has been a lifelong resident of Auburndale. Jessie took a polygraph. He says that while he was in the supermax prison in Varner, he would write letters trying to drum up support for not just himself, but also for other inmates he believed were wrongfully convicted. Berlinger and Sinofsky expected a similar result to come quickly in the West Memphis Three case. On the evening of May 5, 1993, 8-year-olds Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore went missing in West Memphis, Arkansas. They saw this movie and they felt like, I have to do something.. Michelle McNamara helped crack the Golden State Killer case by poring over thousands of pages of case files while working on her book Ill Be Gone in the Dark, which was published two years after her 2016 death, while Chris Lambert and his podcast Your Own Backyard were highlighted by authorities after two arrests in April in connection with the 1996 disappearance of Cal Poly student Kristin Smart. Much of Cecil Hotel focuses on the amateur investigators who turned coincidences into conspiracy theories, ultimately accusing an innocent person of her death. Jesse was gonna take it anyway. I kind of enjoy it because now even after I die, people are going to remember me forever. And then there was the public pressure: In August 2010, Vedder and Maines headlined yet another benefit concert, this one in Little Rock. According to Devil's Knot author Mara Leveritt, the investigation of the murders was divided along three lines. So much progress had been made in the fight for new trials, most notably a November 2010 Arkansas Supreme Court ruling that ordered a hearing on new DNA analysis and other evidence not considered in 1994. Investigators never found any evidence that tied him, Jason Baldwin, or Jessie Misskelley to the murders of the boys, Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers. They asked to see a cut, and they immediately said, Not only are we going to let you use all that music, but were not going to charge you anything for it., Metallica would be the first celebrities to throw their support behind the West Memphis Three, but they were far from the last. Baldwin, who had been coached by his lawyers to avoid speaking to the press, says money was the only reason he agreed to the added pressure of appearing in the documentary, especially when everyone else in a position of authority seemed adversarial toward him. He is from USA. Cinemorgue Wiki. He said, J.B., youre going home, man, youre going home.. Terry Roland Hobbs <p>Terry Roland Hobbs, 62, of Sweetwater, passed away on Saturday, September 11, 2021.</p> <p>Terry was born on September 11, 1959 in Sweetwater, to Jack Harvey and Marjorie Hobbs .Terry graduated from Sweetwater High School in 1977. Feigning a romantic interest in Echols, she asked Misskelley to arrange a meeting. Blood and urine samples from both men were collected and sent to the West Memphis Police Department. With the area secured, Detective Bryn Ridge volunteered to search the ditch. . Terry Hobbs (1969 - 2019) Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers (Nightmare Vacation II) (1988) [Rob Darrinco]: Stabbed and hanged (after gaging), off-screen by Pamela Springsteen in Walter Gotell's office; his body is shown afterwards when Carol Martin Vines discovers him. The nonprofits work hasnt always been easyfundraising is hard, and because hes a convicted felon, hes unable to visit clients in prison or discuss pleasbut its been essential for him as he strives to live the words by 14th-century Persian poet Hafez that he keeps as an email signature: The small man builds cages for everyone he knows / While the sage, who has to duck his head when the moon is low / Keeps dropping keys all night long for the beautiful rowdy prisoners. Baldwin says hes learned that justice isnt a computer programthat you can input all the evidence and testimony and still get the wrong results. Sauls says that the former Black Flag frontman was one of the few big names who dug deep into the evidence, wanting to learn as many details as he could about the case. Echols' disdain for authority, penchant for black clothes, and propensity to make shocking statements didn't help his plight. When the case was given the option for DNA evidence, everyone but Terry Hobbs said yes. October 14, 2017: #26 on the JazzWeek chart! It was clear that Paradise Lost was resonating. 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.. Terry Hobbs is absolutely terrible. 1.0. . The consequences of that online campaign were ruinous: The person they targeted, a Mexican metal musician who worked under the name Morbid, was harassed into hiding. Sinofsky family connection aside, Berlinger says this was an important part of the film: The prosecutors had put heavy metal lyrics and Baldwins and Echolss Metallica fandom on trial as much as the teens themselves. On August 19, 2011, all three accepted the deal and were immediately released from prison. Echols, who prosecutors argued was the ringleader, was sentenced to death. In 1994, the FBI said there was scant evidence that violent satanic crimes had ever occurred in America outside of a few isolated incidents, but that was long after TV hosts like Geraldo, Sally Jessy Raphael, and Oprah had spread moral hysteria about musicians weaving supposedly anti-Christian and occult messages into their songs, and long after wrongful convictions were handed down in the infamous McMartin Preschool sexual assault trials. I had a big box. I never foresaw that they would in turn save us.. June 29 Terry Hobbs, 34, 1718 Spyglass Lane, Mishawaka, booked on a warrant from Elkhart County. The next to be found was Stevie Branch, quickly followed by Christopher Byers. Hobbs denied the accusation, saying that his family does have secrets, but none of them have to do with murder. Im not the judge. Almost 30 years ago, three eight-year-old West Memphis boys were found murdered and three teenagers were charged in the murders. 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. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. 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. In 1994, Dr. Dale W. Griffis was a retired police officer who had embarked on a second career as a self-styled consultant on occult and cult-related crime. Who Killed The Forgotten West Memphis Three? The cult part of the Commercial Appeals headline signaled how the case would be defined by both the media and prosecutors. Hobbs denied seeing the boys that night and questioned why eyewitness evidence surfaced 16 years later. Now, he was being asked to consider something that he never dreamed he would: accepting a plea deal that would set the West Memphis Three free, but require them to give up their quest for exoneration. It was so emotionally taxing to watch and go through it again, he says. In West Memphis, Hobbs worked as an ice cream delivery man and Hicks worked at a restaurant. Making his way through the muck on his hands and knees, Ridge soon discovered clothing twisted around sticks and thrust into the ditch's bottom. We have estimated Terry Hobbs's net worth , money, salary, income, and assets. In 2004, Vicki Hutcheson recanted her trial testimony, stating that she had lied on the stand. Terry Hobbs passed away in Nampa, Idaho. West Memphis is pretty much like a second Salem," Echols stated in the 1996 documentary Paradise Lost: The Murders at Robin Hood Hills. But its closing moments point to how the filmmakers felt: that a horrific tragedy had just been compounded by a monumental miscarriage of justice. Self. For the next two hours and 29 minutes, the two inmates sat in near silence watching Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, the landmark documentary released on HBO 25 years ago this week that captured the trials of Baldwin, Jessie Misskelley Jr., and Damien Echols, the three teenagers convicted in 1994 of the crimes that ripped through the small, working-class community of West Memphis, Arkansas. Updated: 9:42 AM CDT June 11, 2019. Example video title will go here for this video. (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. The bodies of Branch, Byers, and Moore were found in a drainage ditch in West Memphis May 6 . Inconsistencies in Terry Hobbs' alibi, as well as revelations about subsequent violent acts, have also led many to believe that he may be the actual killer. They were releasedfrom prison in 2011 on whats called an Alford plea, after new forensic evidence was presented as part of the case. He began his career in the plumbing business at a very young age, workingfor his . This family in-fighting led to him shooting his brother-in-law. Among those active in the cause were singer Eddie Vedder of the band Pearl Jam, the country music trio The Dixie Chicks, punk rock icon and poet Henry Rollins, and actor Johnny Depp. So when I saw this tiny little article in the Times, I wasnt about to free anybody that was guilty. But none of that support has been able to fully exonerate the trio, something theyre still fighting for. To date, no DNA evidence from the crime scene can be linked to Damien Echols, Baldwin, or Jessie Misskelley. 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.
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