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. Their trials were recorded by a pair of documentary filmmakers working under contract with HBO. He was a . 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. Supporting the Arkansas Times' independent journalism is more vital than ever. But then the verdicts arrived: Both Baldwin and Echols were found guilty on all counts, just like Misskelley had been six weeks before them. In October, Melissa Byers was arrested once again and charged with aggravated assault, this time for pointing a rifle at carpet layers who refused to work in her home until the floors were cleaned. 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. Daniel Stidham of Paragould is the lawyer for Jessie Misskelley, who was accused, along with Echols and Jason Baldwin, of killing the three West Memphis children. 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. People would drive by and yell at us, Theyre going to burn in hell, Sauls says. There he met with local law enforcement officers and with John Mark Byers, Melissa's husband. One of Kathy Bakkens earliest jobs in Los Angeles allowed her a certain kind of cultural currency: She designed movie posters for an entertainment-advertising company, which meant she got to see films months before they were released. Baldwin remembers the dire circumstances laid out during the call. endobj kill the process running on port 1717 sfdx. <> In February, Netflix released Berlingers Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, a docuseries that looked at the 2013 death of Elisa Lam, a Canadian student who died while vacationing in Los Angeles. Metz could not remember it but thought it started with the letter D. Metz advised that John Mark Byers also told him he thought her death was a drug overdose and that they were going to accuse him of smothering her. 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. how did melissa byers diesigns he still loves his baby mama | The Hobbses are the mother and stepfather of Steve Branch, who was one of three 8-year-old boys found murdered in May last year, in a wooded area near where the family used to live in West Memphis. Although a glass of peach schnapps had been found at her bedside, she had apparently drunk very little, as no alcohol was detected in her system. [SNIP] >, > This announcement really makes me wonder about Byers and the deaths of > his step-family. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. But most of defense lawyers efforts to bring that information before the jury never got out of the judges chambers. 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. A month later, authorities arrested Baldwin, Echols, and Misskelleythree teenagers who lived in trailer parks near West Memphis and had previous run-ins with the law, though nothing rising to the level of murder. On the street, it sells as much as $50 per tablet. The governor of the state of Arkansas who will one day pardon the West Memphis Three is probably in junior high right now, he says. He returned to the Byers' home on March 31st, 1996 to interview Ryan. Byers was convicted of terroristic threatening in the incident. That November, he says, HBO agreed to give an honorariumroughly $5,000to the families on both sides. Byers agreed to the autopsy and signed a form giving consent. The news was devastating beyond just word of his friends suffering. There were a few small bruises on the body, some or all of which may have occurred on the way to and at the hospital. A year later, when the film Paradise Lost was shown on television and then released to theaters, John Mark and Melissa Byers were brought to national attention. how did melissa byers die. He cautions, My client was convicted without evidence. She was not injured and taken into custody, police say. But that was all, and the amounts of neither of those substances exceeded therapeutic levels. I think we were the first internet sleuths, but we were not internet sleuths.. He got what he deserved.. Metz also said that Byers stated "that he did not kill her and that he loved her. We were mainly in it for the aesthetics of filmmaking, but the last scene of Paradise Lost, when Damien is chained up and sent away to death row, that was just heartbreaking and devastating for us, Berlinger says. But he wasn't, and they made him take off those sunglasses. 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. [14] In the statement given by Metz, he said that John Mark told him he thought Melissa had overdosed on a drug. Melissa was the biological mother of Chris Byers and Ryan Clark. Rather, they were fighting for something they believed in. 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. He declared he. Melissa left her husband to live with her parents and had only been living at home for two to three weeks before she passed away. In the joint trial of Baldwin and Echols, which took place separately from Misskelleys, Berlinger and Sinofsky filmed the surreal moments that juries were actually present for: a rundown of the books Echols checked out of the library, a parade of band T-shirts worn by the pair, a copy of a Blue Oyster Cult record found in Damiens girlfriends house that became evidence because of the word cult and song titles like Dont Fear the Reaper. What the cameras couldnt capture, however, was the introduction of physical evidencethe prosecution didnt offer much of that aside from a knife that was never directly linked to the crimes and fabric threads deemed microscopically similar to items found in Baldwins and Echolss homes, an assertion that has been questioned in the years since the trials. When police arrived, Hobbs was taken into custody and charged with assault on his wife and aggravated assault on Hicks, his brother-in-law. He has since been released from the hospital. Melissa was the biological mother of Chris Byers and Ryan Clark. Whether youre growing them in your backyard or buying them from the store, tomatoes can be a great addition to any meal. Byers was not arrested nor was the case against him revealed. No one disputes, however, that the boy with him then reached out the window with a can of Mountain Dew and poured it over the prone boys head, saying, This will wake him up., A highway department employee working nearby heard the altercation and ran over to intervene. He said that he and Melissa spent the afternoon in bed, beginning at 12pm. Cruz Captain lucky/v, This website uses cookies for functionality, analytics and advertising purposes as described in our, Ark. Chances are, if death was from natural causes, it came about by arrythmia,which leaves no traces after death. "She advised he told her a cigarette made a excellent fuse, that you could light it, and due to slow burning, it would give you time to get away. Two of those, which were covered with bandages, were clearly the result of unsuccessful medical attempts at cardiopulmonary resuscitation, as were a couple of fractured ribs. 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. Melissa Byers. He advised that when the EMTs got to the residence, Mark kept telling them, Theyve got to bring her back. Metz advised that Ryan kept mumbling something and he did not seem coherent. He says his students seem to have a better grasp on the idea of coerced confessions than any of his peers in 1994. When he entered the house, Griffin wrote, he found Byers ex-wife on the floor and Byers brandishing an electric shock device known as a Power Zapper. Melissa Byers was born on January 16, 1956. "[27], The coroner report noted that John Mark Byers stated he had intercourse with Melissa around 3pm on March 29th, 1996. It was a call about Damien Echolshe wasnt dead, but his wife, Lorri Davis, feared he might be soon. 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. Byers surfaced periodically in the extensive coverage of the case, once supplying a knife to makers of an HBO documentary that was found to have blood from his adopted son on it. Some of the boys in the group said that Byers told them, Youd better not mess with me. The 19 Unnamed Hawkins Residents melted by the Mind Flayer stems from the newspaper article about the Starcourt Mall's fire seen in ". This is not a smoking-gun-type case.. A tattoo of a heart and scroll were present on her right upper back, with the name Christopher written in the scroll. <> The legal troubles of Terry Hobbs and John Mark Byers. The murders shocked West Memphis, but weeks passed without an assailant or assailants being found. He's in disguise!" When Rose reached the scene, he questioned the boys involved, none of whom, he said, hes had any trouble with before. Melissa Byers' death has been a crushing blow to people who knew her through Healing House, a live-in, addiction-recovery program in Kansas City's Old Northeast. Mark Byers also faces charges as the result of an episode July 11 in Hardy. She assists in the drafting of all estate planning documents and works with clients to ensure we have the proper information to include in their documents. It was almost like an out-of-body experience., When the credits rolled shortly after the unforgettable final scene, which shows a now-convicted Baldwin and Echols leaving the courtroom in handcuffs and entering a police cruiser as Metallica plays, Baldwin sat stunned. There is some dispute then about how the pocket knife got into Byers passengers hand, but no one disputes that one did or that it belonged to Mark Byers. Pretty large generalization (and assumption) there. When Witt received the report, it offered no indication that Byers death might be connected to illegal drug activity. Melissa DeFir Byers was born on January 15, 1996. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. A trial is scheduled for next March. Metz checked for a pulse and told Byers to perform CPR. Ha had been beaten badly enough that he lost consciousness and later had to be hospitalized. They didnt even think he would physically survive through December, Baldwin says. how did melissa byers die. Misskelley, who reportedly had an IQ of 72, changed his story several times, and only a small part of his statements was recorded. The brother-in-law, Dennis DeFir, brought Ryan back to the home the day after Melissa died. Why wasn't he questioned about several other inconsistencies and "coincidences" surrounding his step-son's murder? She alleged that he told her how he had put gasoline all around the trailer and then used a cigarette as a fuse. It is documented that the morning after his arrest, Shelby County authorities placed Byers in federal custody, in the hands of U.S. marshals. The problem is we have sent this knife off and had it examined and it has the blood type of Christophers on it., Byers responded, Well, Gary, I dont have any idea how it could be on there.. Byers also said that Ryan had spent the night at John Mark's brother-in-law's house. Accueil; Solution; Tarif; PRO; Mon compte; France; Accueil; Solution; Tarif; PRO; Mon compte Melissa was worried about an upcoming trial involving a robbery of $20,000 worth of goods and property. In April of this year, shortly after the trials at which three West Memphis teen-agers were convicted of the killings, the Byerses moved to Cherokee Village, a quiet community of about 4,000, close to the Missouri border. In an interview, the child told police her father had been acting weird and indicated he had been drinking when he picked her up from school on Nov. 28. Getting that kind of creative validation was exciting, but we were also extremely frustrated that it didnt move from the entertainment page of the newspaper to the editorial page, Berlinger says. 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. He advised that John Mark advised no, and Ryan had a funny, eery [sic] look on his face. As of "The Piggyback", 825+ characters are known to have died throughout the show's run. 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. and talk normal, but then all of a sudden, he would get arrogant again, advising me that he was the father and he was going to take the kids. Nor was the Dilaudid mentioned on the page listing the medical examiners findings. 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. 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