That the slain boys were each 8 years-old was important because eight was a "witch's number." McCaughey says her sister is very upset. To this day, it is still unclear who is responsible for the killings. Sheriff's deputies in Calhoun County say Terry Hobbs was reported missing on Saturday, April 20, 2019. 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. hangyermoon 2 yr. ago. 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. Funeral Home Services for Terry are being provi. 2 I'm not stupid." One of the prosecution's key pieces of evidence linking Jason Baldwin to the crime a survival knife with a serrated edge recovered from a lake behind his home has also come under scrutiny. But Echolss situation changed Baldwins thinking. Terry Hobbs Net Worth. And then there was the public pressure: In August 2010, Vedder and Maines headlined yet another benefit concert, this one in Little Rock. Hobbs said, I still believe in my heart that Jessie, Jason, and Damion, 'Feels Like Home:' electrical failure from a light fixture caused December fire that killed 1, Shelby County reporting an increase in drug-related overdoses, largely due to fentanyl, Severe weather threat is over | Prepare for a sunny weekend, Daylight saving time starts soon. None of the initial trio behind WM3.orgnor their friend Lisa Fancher, who later became a key part of the efforthad ever considered themselves an activist to that point. But they were saying that he was about to die.. So advocacy and diligence become tantamount, because most people in a similar situation to the one he was in dont have the benefit of filmmakers and musicians fighting on their behalf. More than 2,500 people attended and the story dominated the local press for days. What a story it is. People have come out of the woodwork and said this and this and people have done things and a lot of them are wrong, said Hobbs. Bakken immediately showed her friends Burk Sauls and Grove Pashley, who were both equally gripped by what they had just watched. They saw this movie and they felt like, I have to do something.. 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. 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. Terry Hobbs is absolutely terrible. He said Boxful of Nightmares is his memoirs unedited. The Paradise Lost cameras captured not only the defenses discussions, but the full testimony, in Misskelleys trial, of an expert on coerced confessions. In 2004, Vicki Hutcheson recanted her trial testimony, stating that she had lied on the stand. A benefit album was released in 2000, and the phrase made it into a Dawsons Creek episode when Pacey shouted Free the West Memphis Three over an airport intercom. 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. But they werent just voices in the growing choir calling for the West Memphis Threes releasethey were leading the movement. I had a big box. But further down, in the section for the music department, theres a curious inclusion of a consultant who never worked in film again: Alex Sinofsky, the son of Bruce who was 12 at the time of Paradise Losts release. "Everyone has a story and this just happens to be mine," said Hobbs. I didnt want to stop with us being that close. The bodies of Branch, Byers, and Moore were found in a drainage ditch in West Memphis May 6 . Although she was unable to recall the exact location or anyone who attended the alleged meeting, she claimed a drunken Echols confessed to the murders. He retired from the US Air Force, and he was the Deputy Supervisor for Polk County Supervisor of Elections. Hide Self (6 credits) 2012 48 Hours: Hard Evidence (TV Series) Self. After new DNA evidence was discovered, the West Memphis Three were released from prison in August 2011 by agreeing to an Alford plea, which allowed him to proclaim their innocence while admitting the prosecution had enough evidence to convict him. A source said the evidence was transferred to shipping containers where there was a fire, and some of the evidence was destroyed. In the Bible Belt, the Satanic Panic took hold with a vengeance. 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. Mike Allen arrived on the scene. Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of West Memphis Three murder victim Stevie Branch, has denied any involvement in slayings of Branch and his two friends. Misskelley initially told police that the killings happened during the day; knowing that they actually occurred some time after dusk, the officers corrected him, helping him retrofit his story to the cases few known facts. Beyond the black-and-white print of the newspaper, there was a movement brewing. 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. Yes, the West Memphis Three are out of prison, but as long as they are considered guilty in the eyes of the state, the case is closed, meaning no further investigation can occur. 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. And the seemingly endless stream of threats against them and the frequent clashes with Mark Byers did nothing to dissuade them. 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. Leave your condolences to the family on this memorial page or send flowers to show you care. 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. Terry Hobbs passed away in Nampa, Idaho. When we were driving in the car a lot, wed play a lot of the Metallica album Master of Puppets, says Alex Sinofsky, who became a doctor instead of getting behind the camera himself. Since the West Memphis Three were released, no one else has been charged in the murders of Stevie, Christopher and Michael. At the suggestion of the police, Hutcheson hid microphones in her home and borrowed occult books from the library to inspire Echols' interest. The arrest, trial, and conviction of the three young men known as the West Memphis Three came under national scrutiny as details of the case became public. Misskelley's coerced confession, as contradictory as it seemed to the evidence, was consistent in implicating Echols and Jason Baldwin. The districts current prosecuting attorney, Keith Chrestman, did not respond to requests for comment for this article, but his predecessor Scott Ellington, whose office negotiated the deals, told The New York Times in 2011 that while new trials would have likely resulted in acquittals, We dont think that there is anybody else. The Moore family has been outspoken about the end result, vehemently protesting the 2012 Oscar nomination for the third Paradise Lost installment. Its affected a lot of lives, but for some reason it keeps being brought up, said Hobbs. We are sad to announce that on September 11, 2021 we had to say goodbye to Terry Hobbs of Sweetwater, Texas. 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. With the area secured, Detective Bryn Ridge volunteered to search the ditch. He was handed the phone. 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. Almost 30 years ago, three eight-year-old West Memphis boys were found murdered and three teenagers were charged in the murders. 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. 24 to Jun. . Terry Hobbs was born in 1958 and grew up in Northern Arkansas. Who Killed The Forgotten West Memphis Three? One of the keys to understanding the West Memphis Three murders is the phenomenon known as the Satanic Panic. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. 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. They formed the organization Proclaim Justice, a nonprofit that reinvestigates crimes with the hopes of freeing innocent people. Branded the West Memphis Three, the mens case was featured in multiple documentaries, earning them support from an array of high-profile musicians, celebrities and activists. Misskelley told Hutcheson that he really didn't know much about Echols other than that he was "a weird person." (At one point, Sauls says, it landed on Yahoos list of the top 100 websites.) 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. Hes subdued when discussing the facts of the case, but he comes alive while recounting his work with the Jaycees while in prison, or buying Metallicas Black Album when it came out in 1991. In November, Judge David Burnett, who had presided over the trial, was elected to the state senate. Theres no smoking gun. 25, 2021. That's not the same Terry Hobbs. While thats cooled from the days of concerts in the shadows of the Arkansas Supreme Court building, the documentaries still live on HBO Max, where they pull in new viewers to this day. They had a daughter together, Amanda Hobbs, who was 4 years old at the time of her brothers death. . As the 20th century turned to the 21st, the movement seemed to be picking up steam. . As reported by the Arkansas Times, examination of the shoe laces used to bind Michael Moore contained hair "not inconsistent" with that of Stevie Branch's stepfather, Terry Hobbs. 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. La Verne, California. Pam Hobbs divorced Terry Hobbs in 2004 and has reversed her position on the West Memphis Three's guilt. 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. 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. Terry Hobbs, Actor: Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers. (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. 2011 Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (Documentary) Self - Stepfather of Stevie Branch. Over two decades after the murders, what really happened to Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore on the evening of May 5, 1993, remains a mystery. The next to be found was Stevie Branch, quickly followed by Christopher Byers. 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. 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. No knives and not weapons were used," says Jo Lynn McCaughey. The cult part of the Commercial Appeals headline signaled how the case would be defined by both the media and prosecutors. On the morning of June 2, 1993, Jessie Misskelley Jr., a 17-year-old high school drop out with a reported IQ of 73, was taken into custody by Detective Mike Allen. Terry Roland Hobbs, 62, of Sweetwater, passed away on Saturday, September 11, 2021. 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. Family and friends can send flowers and/or light a candle as a loving gesture for their loved one. All three had been submerged face down in the mud, stripped naked, and bound with their shoelaces. 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.. The obituary was featured in Idaho Press Tribune on March 13, 2021. Berlinger says that after months of filming, the parents of one of the victims raised the issue of payment. In 2013, Jackson and Damien Echols produced a fourth documentary about the case. 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. 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. (2 weeks at #1, on for 19 weeks!) Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. The next day, their bodies were found in a nearby canal. 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. In May of that year, police discovered the bodies of Michael Moore, Stevie Branch, and Christopher Byers in the Robin Hood Hills, a small wooded area near the I-40/I-55 exchange. Pam Hobbs divorced Terry Hobbs in 2004 and has reversed her position on the West Memphis Three's guilt. He is from USA. 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. This is not a smoking-gun-type case.. Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers were best friends. A murderer was loose in West Memphis. Case Details Parties . Baldwin remembers grabbing a Mountain Dew and a burrito and sitting down, still unaware of what he was about to watch. Nevertheless, Echols made no incriminating statements. Under order of the Arkansas Supreme Court, there were to be new evidentiary hearings in the case. But it wasnt in the ways its directors had hoped. Inevitably, the West Memphis Three case always comes up. But most notably, his initial timeline of events didnt match what was known about the crimes, and every time he offered a detail that diverged from the accepted chronology, the interrogating officers seemed to steer him back in the direction of the official version. Share Memories & Support the Family. Dan Stidham, the original attorney for Misskelley, who would also work on Baldwins and Echols appeals, says he has the answer. Echols said in 2012, he will never give up his mission to exonerate himself. 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. By the time she got done watching it, her life was forever changed. Berlinger and Sinofsky began to take notice. I don't know if the other 2 did, but even if they did polygraphs aren't admissible in court. With their 2007 request for a new trial rejected, time was running out for the West Memphis Three. The pair abruptly fled to Oceanside, Calif., four days after the murders. The specter of the church looms over Paradise Lost, best represented by an early scene in which Mark Byers leads his congregation in prayer and song. 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? Although the Alford Plea set the West Memphis Three free, they are, at least in the eyes of the law, guilty, and therefore, the state of Arkansas is under no obligation to continue investigating the crimes at this time. He began his career in the plumbing business at a very young age, workingfor his . Find the obituary of Terry Hobbs (1957 - 2021) from Caldwell, ID. The community's worst fears were confirmed. Hobbs said, I still believe in my heart that Jessie, Jason, and Damion Echols are responsible for what happened to our children., He added, You look at what happened and then you wonder, what if this did not happen, where would our boys be today? In fact, for the better part of 1993, it was nearly impossible to find anyone who believed they were innocent. The evolution of how the teens were perceivedon behalf of both the filmmakers and even part of the defense teamis captured on camera early as Stidham and his colleagues began to consider whether Misskelleys confession had been coerced. Thursday, August 19th 2021. Mojo had a different idea of what might get the man he affectionately called J.B. out of prison. People would drive by and yell at us, Theyre going to burn in hell, Sauls says. Blood and urine samples from both men were collected and sent to the West Memphis Police Department. Hobbs denied seeing the boys that night and questioned why eyewitness evidence surfaced 16 years later. West Memphis is in the heart of the Bible Belt: just a two-hour drive from where, legend has it, the devil tuned Robert Johnsons guitar, in a state thats 46 percent evangelical Protestant. A hair found on one of the ligatures to bind the boys, however, was found to be consistent with the DNA of Hobbs, according to court documents obtained by Oxygen.com. (Maines briefly became a part of the story when Terry Hobbs, stepfather of another . October 14, 2017: #26 on the JazzWeek chart! 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. Terry L. Hobbs, 63, of Caldwell, HOBBS, Terry L., passed on March 7,2021 at the age of 63. Terry Hobbs, Todd Moore, and Dana Moore still maintain that Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley murdered their sons. Then youd try to find it, and it didnt exist, because when we went out to discussion groups, no one knew about the case yet., After learning that the teens were still in prison, Bakken, Sauls, and Pashley decided to make full use of the budding technological revolution. So when I saw this tiny little article in the Times, I wasnt about to free anybody that was guilty. every single person in my class was either . the only grade you receive is from quizzes, exams, and the final. He was 56. According to Devil's Knot author Mara Leveritt, the investigation of the murders was divided along three lines. 21, 2021 at 1:51 PM PDT CALHOUN COUNTY, Fla.. Lying in the open air in near 80-degree temperatures accelerated the decomposition of the bodies. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. (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.). of Auburndale, FL passed away Monday, August 16, 2021. A later confession during the trial phase would prove equally problematic. Case Number &colon; 2:21-BK-21177. Example video title will go here for this video. The first being that boys were killed by someone they knew. This family in-fighting led to him shooting his brother-in-law. After ending his first marriage, he wed Pamela Hicks Branch in 1986, when her son Stevie was almost 2 years old. That included Mojo, who came calling around 2 a.m. that day trying to coax him out of his cell. The great irony of the 18-year quest to free the West Memphis Three is that it didnt begin as a crusade. Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, defense attorneys working for the West Memphis Three filed multiple appeals on their behalf scrutinizing the lack of physical evidence against them. It'll be sort of like I'm the West Memphis boogeyman. Echols attorneys got a letter from the custodian of records for the West Memphis police department saying some of the evidence ended up lost, or misplaced, and some destroyed by fire. Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. To date, no DNA evidence from the crime scene can be linked to Damien Echols, Baldwin, or Jessie Misskelley. One of those shows, Truth & Justice With Bob Ruff, became the basis for an Oxygen docuseries last year titled The Forgotten West Memphis Three, which took a closer look at the three victims and tried to shine new light on the evidence. In West Memphis, Hobbs worked as an ice cream delivery man and Hicks worked at a restaurant. - The West Memphis 3: Free (2012) . William Holford Griffiths. He was 56. They even hired experts to examine the case, including a forensic criminal profiler who discovered what appeared to be bite marks on one of the victims that didnt match any of the convicted. But on that early morning in 1997, Jason Baldwin wasnt concerned with Berlinger and Sinofskys craft, or legal precedent, or crusading celebrities. Terry Wayne Hobbs was born on May 21st, 1958. Show more Show more What's next for West. Damion Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley were convicted of murdering the children in 1994. Filming the activists work seemed like the best place for Berlinger and Sinofsky to turn their attention; what better way to show the continued plight of the West Memphis Three than to show regular people dedicating their free time to fighting for them? Its like ripping a Band-Aid off a wound. I didn't even comprehend that the situation could get this serious that it can go this far. And they used that visibility to help raise funds for the defense. 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. At the request of West Memphis authorities, the two were picked up and questioned by Oceanside police. Terry Castleman is a data . 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. 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. By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. They werent telling me I was lying, even if they may have been saying that in their minds. Investigators kept minimal notes and omitted pertinent details including criminal records. I said, Im going to send some kids down there., Those kids turned out to be Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, the young documentarians who had recently completed the acclaimed Brothers Keeper, a film chronicling a death and the resulting trial in a small upstate New York village. Its evidence that Damien Echols attorneys wanted to do new DNA testing on. It ranges from Mark Byers, the crusading stepfather who became one of the West Memphis Threes biggest allies in the years before his 2020 death, to famed FBI criminal profiler (and Mindhunter inspiration) John E. Douglas. Minutes later, Sgt. In 2009, three witnesses filed affidavits claiming they saw Hobbs with the murdered boys the night they disappeared, contradicting Hobbs previous statements to police, according to CNN. On Aug. 11, 2011, the West Memphis Three entered the courtroom for the final time. Terry Hobbs stated both family and co-workers believed he was guilty from day one and continued to believe him guilty after the trial and convictions of the West Memphis Three. Rather, they were fighting for something they believed in. Stidham, who was just 30 years old and not long out of law school when the court appointed him to be Misskelleys attorney, went in thinking he would negotiate a deal for his client, who had told police that his acquaintances Baldwin and Echols committed the crimes and that he was present and played a role as an accessory. With a large population of fundamentalist Christians, the American South was particularly subject to occult paranoia. It just needed a catalyst. Berlinger and Sinofsky expected a similar result to come quickly in the West Memphis Three case. 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. This case was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Courts, Tennessee Western Bankruptcy. 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. Here were these guysat best they were neutral. In a last ditch effort, they entered an Alford Plea, a complex and seldom used legal maneuver that would see them plead guilty while still asserting their innocence. After ending his first marriage, he wed Pamela Hicks Branch in 1986, when her son Stevie was almost 2 years old. Im not the judge. 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.
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