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. After roughly 18 months of editing, Paradise Lost debuted at Sundance in January 1996 before heading out to other festivals. Wading into the murky water, Allen unknowingly dislodged the pale, grotesquely arched form of Micheal Moore. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. Armchair detectives of today, I think a lot of them dabble in conspiracy theory, Berlinger says. The IMDb credits page for the first Paradise Lost is modest, but impressive. Terry Hobbs - Sweetwater, Texas , Cate Spencer and Trent Funeral Home " (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. A statement he made to the producers of Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills did little to help his public image. 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. 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. Echols tweeted, New technology and evidence in science would now allow us to test DNA in amounts so small that it would have been previously impossible. Published by The Commercial Appeal from Jun. 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. Hobbs denied seeing the boys that night and questioned why eyewitness evidence surfaced 16 years later. They were released after prosecutors agreed to an Alford plea, in which the men maintained their innocence but pleaded guilty. It was so emotionally taxing to watch and go through it again, he says. Terry Hobbs passed away in Nampa, Idaho. March 8, 2021, Terry Hobbs passed away on March 8, 2021 in Boise, Idaho. 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. Now, I see they can. He is from USA. The judge ruled that Hobbs could not establish actual malice, and ordered Hobbs to pay Maines legal fees amounting to more than $17,000, according to the Associated Press. Even without a smoking gun, the circumstantial evidence was enough for a conviction in a place like Crittenden County, Arkansas. It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Terry Lee Hobbs of Auburndale, Florida, born in Winter Haven, Florida, who passed away on August 16, 2021, at the age of 56, leaving to mourn family and friends. Debates still occur regularly onlinethe West Memphis Three subreddit is fairly active for one on a 28-year-old caseand podcasts have looked at the crime from all angles. He says his students seem to have a better grasp on the idea of coerced confessions than any of his peers in 1994. 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. (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.). 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. 21, 2021 at 1:51 PM PDT CALHOUN COUNTY, Fla.. In 2007, new DNA and physical evidence arose that seemed to further distance the West Memphis Three from the murders. Terry Hobbs Obituary (1988 - 2021) - Memphis, TN - Legacy.com After ending his first marriage, he wed Pamela Hicks Branch in 1986, when her son Stevie was almost 2 years old. That came partially through the exposure they got through this film., But perhaps the best measure of Paradise Losts impact is the work being done by Baldwin today. The third put forth the unusual theory that the killings were committed as a cult ritual. 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. By 2005, Rollins himself had raised $100,000 for the cause. But its closing moments point to how the filmmakers felt: that a horrific tragedy had just been compounded by a monumental miscarriage of justice. People in West Memphis are going to tell their kids stories. In fact, for the better part of 1993, it was nearly impossible to find anyone who believed they were innocent. 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. Despite an offer of a reduced sentence, Misskelley ultimately recanted his statements and refused to testify against Echols and Baldwin. To date, no DNA evidence from the crime scene can be linked to Damien Echols, Baldwin, or Jessie Misskelley. 1.0. . Once there got to be this global pressure, and there was a big concert here with really big-name musicians within a mile of our Supreme Court building, things started suddenly to change, she says. Im seeing the things I experienced, but not through my own point of view. That was more than the people deciding the case were able to hearthe presiding judge made the expert give most of his testimony without the jury in the courtroom because he questioned its relevance. What a story it is. Terry Hobbs USAF Ret. He said Boxful of Nightmares is his memoirs unedited. Id like to see this put to rest. He just didnt know it would take another 14 years to happen. 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. Like everyone else who was familiar with the case, they wanted to know who committed the crimes, but their main goal was advocacy, not using the opportunity to play investigators. every single person in my class was either . The whole point of the web sleuths presented in the Cecil Hotel is that you cannot assume something is truthful just because circumstantially it seems interesting. And that is why Echols has attorneys who want to use a new DNA test called M-Vac, a wet vacuum system that can find more DNA than older tests. Case Details Parties . There also were issues with other details he provided, including how the victims were bound and whether the boys were raped. At the request of West Memphis authorities, the two were picked up and questioned by Oceanside police. West Memphis 3 / Terry Hobbs 2022 Update - YouTube They werent telling me I was lying, even if they may have been saying that in their minds. A source said the evidence was transferred to shipping containers where there was a fire, and some of the evidence was destroyed. Terry Roland Hobbs (1959-2021) - Find a Grave Memorial 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. I just checked again and HE IS STILL MISSING. Timeline Of The West Memphis Three Victims, Motivations For Investigating The West Memphis Case. The Messed Up Truth About The West Memphis Three Murders, citing the discovery of her son's favorite pocket knife, One of the prosecution's key pieces of evidence linking Jason Baldwin, With their 2007 request for a new trial rejected, Baldwin is the co-founder of the legal advocacy organization Proclaim Justice. Some believe the West Memphis Three are guilty to this day, and others, including some victims family members, point to their innocence and maintain the real perpetrator is still at large. He also lost the defamation case because of his violent past. Mike Allen arrived on the scene. That's not the same Terry Hobbs. But Echolss situation changed Baldwins thinking. Family and friends are welcome to leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with the family. 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. It hurt all over again, he said. 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. In 2004, Vicki Hutcheson recanted her trial testimony, stating that she had lied on the stand. $10,000 reward for new information leading to a missing man - WJHG Hobbs says his book is 25 years in the making, adding it is called Boxful of Nightmares for a reason. A graveside service will be conducted on Wednesday, March 17 at Cloverdale Memorial Park beginning at 11am. 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. 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. And yet Hobbs was not interviewed at all in the months after the crimes. On 04/08/2021 Terry Hobbs was filed as a Bankruptcy - Chapter 13 lawsuit. 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. Defense attorneys also pointed out that Griffis' doctorate was obtained through a notorious diploma mill and had been awarded with Griffis having never attended a single class. 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. As the 20th century turned to the 21st, the movement seemed to be picking up steam. https://t.co/dXOtQkmjee. Knowing that the police were already focusing on Damien Echols, Hutcheson asked her neighbor, Jessie Misskelley Jr., about the brooding teen and his occult connection. Local 24 News EXCLUSIVE: Terry Hobbs on his new memoir on the West In her recantation, Hutcheson stated that when she asked Echols directly if he had killed "those three kids," he replied, "No. The idea, Berlinger says, was to tell a story of disaffected youthabout kids killing kids., There was no reason not to believe the press, Berlinger says. Terry Hobbs - Biography - IMDb And that makes him hopeful that exoneration is on the horizon. The killings came at the peak of the so-called Satanic Panic, a time of heightened worries about ritualistic abuse. Spotting a small, black tennis shoe in the water, Jones radioed for help. When the case was given the option for DNA evidence, everyone but Terry Hobbs said yes. The first being that boys were killed by someone they knew. Misskelley returned to life in West Memphis. If the state of Arkansas has a deep and abiding belief that the West Memphis Three are child murderers and did these terrible crimes, then shame on them for letting them out after 18 and a half years because a bunch of celebrities are whining about it, Berlinger says. Investigators kept minimal notes and omitted pertinent details including criminal records. This article was updated after publication to add more context about the honorariums paid to the families of the victims and the West Memphis Three and also to correct the time frame in which Berlinger and Sinofsky informed HBO about the changing scope of the documentary. No knives and not weapons were used," says Jo Lynn McCaughey. Self. 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. Terry. Luminol tests, which reveal the hidden presence of blood, were not performed at the scene until six days later. We are sad to announce that on September 11, 2021 we had to say goodbye to Terry Hobbs of Sweetwater, Texas. With a large population of fundamentalist Christians, the American South was particularly subject to occult paranoia. Terry Hobbs says he is a church member, a father, and working man and in no way a killer. But then the verdicts arrived: Both Baldwin and Echols were found guilty on all counts, just like Misskelley had been six weeks before them. Damion Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley were convicted of murdering the children in 1994. . And the seemingly endless stream of threats against them and the frequent clashes with Mark Byers did nothing to dissuade them. Cinemorgue Wiki. ", According to Devil's Knot, a week after the discovery of the bodies, Detective Don Bray interviewed Vicki Hutcheson, a truckstop employee. Although Damein Echols had a teenager's typical disdain for authority, he nevertheless trusted that the system would work in his favor. 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. Misskelley told Hutcheson that he really didn't know much about Echols other than that he was "a weird person." Minutes later, Sgt. My first thought is, I hope this dude isnt trying to pull me into some type of escape, Baldwin says nearly a quarter-century later. The boys were so mutilated, investigators thought the murders were part of some kind of Satanic ritual. 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. The only possible culprits were 18-year-old Damien Echols, a poor teen with an interest in the occult and a record of mental illness, his friend Jason Baldwin, a quiet kid whose talent for art tended toward dark subjects, and Jessie Misskelley, a 17-year-old misfit with an IQ of 73. Terry Hobbs | 2:21-BK-21177 | Court Records - UniCourt (At one point, Sauls says, it landed on Yahoos list of the top 100 websites.) In November, Judge David Burnett, who had presided over the trial, was elected to the state senate. Leave your condolences to the family on this memorial page or send flowers to show you care. . But for every Your Own Backyard or Ill Be Gone in the Dark that has applied journalistic rigor to their research in the past two decades, theres an Up and Vanished, which has been at the center of ethical debates since the podcast debuted in 2016. 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. Everybody Id come in contact with was hostile to the truth, Baldwin says. Example video title will go here for this video. Last year, I noticed that Terry went missing. Rollins not only gave interviews to keep the effort alive in the press, he organized a string of benefit shows and released an album featuring Iggy Pop and Chuck D, with proceeds going to the defense. He says his dad and Berlinger werent seeking notorietydocumentaries certainly werent a means to get rich or famous in those days. Well theres been a lot of things that happened over the years. People would drive by and yell at us, Theyre going to burn in hell, Sauls says. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. 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. West Memphis 3 / Terry Hobbs 2022 Update New Scott 94.5K subscribers Subscribe 241 Share 20K views 8 months ago https://www.crimeonline.com/2022/05/. New evidence points to new suspects in West Memphis 3 case - Action News 5 By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. 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. The footage included raw jailhouse interviews with the defendants, strategy sessions held by legal teams on both sides, and extended monologues from Mark Byers, the tall, goateed stepfather of one of the victims, who spoke as though he were reciting the Book of Revelation and who, at one point in Paradise Lost, fired a handgun at a pumpkin while reciting the names of the accused. (Echolswho is in better health today, though his eyesight has degenerated and he has premature arthritis from his time in solitary confinementin particular has maintained a relatively public life, through the five books hes published, performing magic for Patreon subscribers, and making TV appearances to discuss other cases he sees as similar to his.) As detailed by The Hollywood Reporter in 2011, Jackson and Walsh helped fund key investigations for the West Memphis Three's defense during the last seven years of their incarceration. 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. No charges have been brought against Jacoby, and he has never been named a suspect by the West Memphis Police Department. Baldwin and Misskelley were sentenced to life without parole while Echols received the death penalty. On the surface, 18-year-old Damien Echols, an intelligent, but psychologically troubled teen with interests in Wicca and extreme music, fit the profile. He retired from the US Air Force, and he was the Deputy Supervisor for Polk County Supervisor of Elections. 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. Terry Castleman is a data . Under order of the Arkansas Supreme Court, there were to be new evidentiary hearings in the case. Terry Gibbs Terry Hobbs Obituary (1959 - 2021) - Sweetwater, TX - Sweetwater Reporter 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. It had been a long fight to clear their names, and the odds seemed better than ever. 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. In August 2011, Jason Baldwin was pulled from his prison cell under confusing circumstances once again. 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. A theory held is that Terry Hobbs was the one who actually killed the three boys and had pinned it on the Memphis 3 boys. I don't know if the other 2 did, but even if they did polygraphs aren't admissible in court. Well, perhaps not nobody. In 1996, HBO released the documentary film Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. 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 Lee Hobbs (1964-2021) - Find a Grave Memorial Now, evidence from the case of the West Memphis Three is either missing or destroyed. By going into the courtroom and sticking with the case for its entire duration, Berlinger and Sinofsky were able to capture what may have otherwise been lost to time or left out of transcripts. (Police questioned Byers several times during the investigation, but never considered him a suspect.) 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 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper. Paradise Lost is a narration-free documentary filmed with a journalistic remove. Other possible suspects includedBrian Holland and Chris Morgan, two young men from Memphis, Tenn., with a history of drug offenses. 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. She said it was one of the highest-rated pieces they had. They had a daughter together, Amanda Hobbs, who was 4 years old at the time of her brothers death. Nevertheless, Echols made no incriminating statements. Jesse was gonna take it anyway. 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. Family and friends can send flowers and/or light a candle as a loving gesture for their loved one. When the pair got the call from Nevins, they mobilized immediately, landing in Arkansas shortly after the arrests. One person who has come up in the investigation is Terry Hobbs, although police have never named him a suspect or charged him in connection with the case. 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. 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. California exodus continues as population drops by 500,000 - Los He had always maintained he didnt commit the crimes, and outside the Varner Units walls, a growing chorus of activists and legal observers were arguing that same thing on his behalf. The second postulated that they had been slain by one or more strangers. 2011 Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (Documentary) Self - Stepfather of Stevie Branch. 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. A year after the DNA results were released, Hobbs sued Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines for defamation, claiming she implied he was a murderer on the bands website and at a 2007 rally, according to The New York Times. Terry Hobbs Memphis 32, 14-Jun, Superior Funeral Home-Hollywood. Lying in the open air in near 80-degree temperatures accelerated the decomposition of the bodies. 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. "The reason I made the West Memphis boogeyman comment during the first film was because I was making light of the situation," Echols says in Paradise Lost 2: Revelations. 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. 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. Terry Hobbs at Metropolitan Community College: Maple Woods While police had focused on Echols and Baldwin in the intervening weeks because of their reputation, the arrests came largely because of a confession by Misskelley, which was leaked to the largest newspaper in the area, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, and ran under the banner headline Teen describes cult torture of boys. At a press conference shortly after the arrests, the lead investigator was asked how confident he felt about the case on a scale of 1-10.
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