Paradise Lost - The Child Murders at Robin Hood Woods

[professorpan]

I wonder how many people here have seen this HBO documentary?<br><br>It's the story of three teenaged kids who were unjustly imprisoned for the murders of three children in rural Arkansas. The three (now known as the "West Memphis Three") were picked up by the cops because they were quirky outsiders, listened to heavy metal, and one of them with the unfortunate name of Damian had an interest in the occult.<br><br>The prosecutors called in an "occult expert" who essentially branded anyone who wore black, listened to heavy metal, and read Stephen King as a Satanist (which would have made half of my high school devil worshippers). He received his professional degree through a mail order college, but he helped convince the jury that the accused were part of a murderous satanic cult. The entire town was swept up in what was, in this case, a very blatant "satanic panic."<br><br>The movie is a very dramatic lesson in why we should always seek to remain objective when it comes to alleged ritual activity and check our presuppositions at the door.<br><br>I think anyone who studies ritual and cult abuse should watch this film (and it's sequel) as a cautionary tale. In the case of the three kids still behind bars, "satanic panic" is very real and has cost them their freedom.<br><br>A thorough accounting of the details of the case and the current status of the 3 can be found here:<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.wm3.org/">www.wm3.org/</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>

[paradoxicalpariah]

Both the original and the sequel were fascinating and disturbing. Very well done documentaries. I am convinced the three convicted of the crime are innocent. What's sad is that this cartoon version of satanic cult abuse/killing that is in the popular imagination lead to these boys sitting in prison for a crime they did not commit, while the "real thing" goes unscathed.<br><br>Just as a sidenote, his name "Damian" was not unfortunate, he chose it. What is unfortunate are the locals who assume that means he's sold his soul to the devil or other nonsense.<br><br>The step-father of one of the murdered boys, John Mark Byers I believe is his name, is an obvious loon, a liar, and a likely candidate for who killed those boys. His staged return to the dump site (it's pretty obviously not the murder site, though the prosecution claimed it was) in the sequel is even more shocking than his visit in the original. <p></p><i></i>

[professorpan]

Thanks for the correction about Damian's name -- I should have been more clear that I meant it was unfortunate for him that his chosen name is linked in the public imagination with devil-children.<br><br>And yes, Byers is a real loon. There are some strange synchroncities in the film (maybe intentional, maybe not), such as when Byer and his wife visit the grave of his murdered son and the shadow from a Christmas tree ornament appears on his forehead -- looking very much like a pentagram. <br><br>I'm not convinced he did it, although it's certainly a possibility as his mental illness, history of violent behavior, religious mania, combined with his son's behavior problems, make him a prime suspect.<br><br>Both films are gripping, that's for sure. <p></p><i></i>

[sunny]

The children had bite marks. Shortly after hearing that the killer could be identified from these injuries, Byers had all his teeth pulled and was fitted with dentures. This is glaring evidence of complicity, and when I learned of it in pt. 2 of the doc. I wondered why this was not followed up by authorities. I am not so naive any more. <p></p><i></i>

[paradoxicalpariah]

I actually developed a theory that may be completely off the wall, but it's a theory nonetheless. The independent investigators indicate that the crime appeared to be a crime of violent anger and also had a sexual component. If I remember right, the Byers boy was the only one with mutilation of his genitals. All of that in conjunction with Byers' bizarre behavior, the bite marks on Christopher, Byers' lies about his teeth, etc, made me come up with a scenario.<br><br>The boys were of an age when it is somewhat common to begin sexually experimenting with other boys, i.e., an "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" sort of thing. Most experts agree this is a phase and is typically harmless behavior. Consider the possibility that this kind of thing was happening, and Byers, who was out looking for Christopher, happened upon it. Here is a guy with a violent background, an unstable personality, etc. One can only imagine his attitudes toward perceived homosexuality. I can totally see him freaking out and violently assaulting the boys in this scenario. After possibly accidentally killing one or more of them, and mutilating Christopher's genitals as an act of punishment for "gay behavior" he would feel forced to kill the survivors to silence them, then dump their bodies.<br><br>Perhaps I'm wrongly accusing an innocent man and I have a sick imagination. But somehow while watching those docs that is the scenario that kept floating up in my mind.<br><br>Whatever the case, the deaths of the three boys is a horrible tragedy and the imprisonment of the "west memphis three" compounds that tragedy. <p></p><i></i>

[professorpan]

paradoxicalpariah, I have wondered about the same scenario, which makes perfect sense.<br><br>Byer's insistence on playing up his rage is at times perversely comical, as when he creates fake graves for the WM3, lights them on fire, and curses them with theatrical vehemence. "I'll send your souls to HELL!"<br><br>He has the air of someone who is constantly fighting against the shadowy aspects of his own personality. <p></p><i></i>

[Ted the dog]

<br><br>"The step-father of one of the murdered boys, John Mark Byers I believe is his name, is an obvious loon, a liar, and a likely candidate for who killed those boys. His staged return to the dump site (it's pretty obviously not the murder site, though the prosecution claimed it was) in the sequel is even more shocking than his visit in the original. "<br><br><br>yeah, I've seen both of the docs...that stood out to me too. <br><br>hmmm...was it the teenage, black clad heavy metal "vampires"?<br><br>or was it the bat shit crazy psycho stepfather of one of the victims that had already been arrested (or was it just "warned"?) for taking two children into the woods and forcing one of them to fight the other one at gun point?<br><br><br><br><br>and like you said, the bite marks.....isn't that pretty solid evidence?<br><br>I also seem to remember something about dried blood on a knife that belonged to the stepfather...and that dried blood matching up, DNA-wise. I think he claimed he had skinned a deer with it. <p></p><i></i>

[professorpan]

Byer gave the knife to the HBO producers, which was bizarre. The DNA evidence was inconclusive, though Byer contradicted his own initial testimony.<br><br>He also passed a lie detector test -- although with the amount of drugs (legal) he was taking, including alprazolam, that doesn't surprise me.<br><br>It's a fascinating case of a modern witchhunt. <p></p><i></i>

[Sepka]

It's interesting that despite the prosecution's obvious fascination with occult motives, they seem to have completely overlooked the fact that Chris Byers was born on St. John's Eve.<br><br>-Sepka the Space Weasel <p></p><i></i>

[pugzleyca3]

Did one of these boy's mothers die? I could have sworn Melissa Byers died in her sleep or something? And she was on medication of something and it was semi-blamed on that? I followed this when the first documentary came out. I don't remember if I saw both of them or not. And I read the book, but it's been awhile. <br><br>I remembered the teeth, that really stuck out at me. You'd think that everyone involved would have a dental impression requested from them by the police for the process of elimination of suspects. They'd do it if they had fingerprints. <br><br>Also, I seem to remember a graveside birthday party for the Byer's son. <br><br>There are many bizarre aspects to that case. <p></p><i></i>

[professorpan]

Yep, Byer's wife died, but the coroner's report was never released, so the cause of her death remains "inconclusive." Byers told police that she had substance abuse issues, including heroin use earlier in their marriage. <p></p><i></i>

[Sepka]

As luck would have it, it seems that Mark Byers is an ezboard user:<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://p210.ezboard.com/fwestmemphisthreediscussionfrm16.showMessageRange?topicID=717.topic&start=21&stop=40">p210.ezboard.com/fwestmem...21&stop=40</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Look for the posts by Kizzah Myaz.<br><br>-Sepka the Space Weasel <p></p><i></i>

[callistobear]

And it’s good to know that all of you in this thread who have condemned the “modern day witchhunt” of the WM3, so readily and blindly accuse Mark Byers based on what you were told in a <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>film</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/laugh.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br>A bit hypocritical dontcha think?<br> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=callistobear>callistobear</A> at: 1/19/06 5:04 am<br></i>

[Quentin Quire]

Have you seen Paradise Lost, Callistobear?<br><br>Have you read the posts above where people put forth their 'theories' on his possible guilt? That's right - theories.<br><br>As far as I can see no one has hauled him up in court on the basis of false confession and interrogation, found them guilty and placed them on death row. That's a 'modern day witch hunt'.<br><br>After seeing both films and reading about the case I would consider Byers to be a very strong suspect - if not the prime suspect. But then - I'm just a civilian and not a law enforcement officer. But in the WM3 case I think most average joes could have done a better job of finding the culprit than the police involved.<br><br>It's not a witchhunt to analyze the facts of the case based on documentary evidence and discuss personal theories.<br> <p></p><i></i>

[callistobear]

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>It's not a witchhunt to analyze the facts of the case based on documentary evidence and discuss personal theories.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br>Facts of the case? I'm sorry it looked to me they were analysing the behaviour of a man who was grief stricken, ill, on medication, who was the subject of editing, direction and manipulation of the producers of a film. <br><br>Producers that have clearly stated that they had an agenda in making those films.<br><br>I haven't seen any "facts of the case" in any of the posts in this thread. I've seen:<br><br>"John Mark Byers I believe is his name, is an obvious loon, a liar, and a likely candidate for who killed those boys."<br><br>Apparently this person has not read any case documents whatsoever, they don't even know if that's his real name! <br>So what I've gleaned is that it's OK to judge someone based on a biased media representation, but not OK to judge based on clothes, books, musical tastes. <br><br>Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight....gotcha. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START ;) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/wink.gif ALT=";)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>