Hail Satan: Arkansas
The lingering stain of the 1980s Satanic Panic may (or may not) have caused three innocent young men to be imprisoned for over a decade.
Narrator: Good evening and welcome back to Friday Night Crimes. This week, we’re looking into Arkansas’s most controversial case: the West Memphis Three.
In 1994, three teenage boys were tried and convicted for the murders of three 2nd graders. Some claim that the act was done for a satanic ritual, while others imply that the boys were wrongfully convicted. What remains perfectly clear is that three children were horrifically murdered, and it is still unknown who committed the crimes.
The Timeline: 1993–2011
Chronological Events of the Case:
mid-afternoon, May 5, 1993: Steven (Stevie) Branch asked his mother if he could go bike-riding with his two best friends, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore. Pamela Hicks cited this as the last time she saw her son alive.
8:00 PM, May 5, 1993: John Mark Byers, Christopher’s stepfather, reported the boys missing.
May 6, 1993: West Memphis authorities launched a widescale search for the children in an area known as Robin Hood Hills. Witnesses report this as…
