In the hours and days after the bodies of Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers are recovered, West Memphis investigators begin receiving tips steeped in the era’s widespread fears of satanic ritual abuse. A call from a Texas Child Protective Services worker about alleged ritualistic killings in Gilmer, TX sets an early tone. Lieutenant James Sudbury and juvenile officer Steve Jones quickly zero in on Damien Echols, interviewing the teenager at his family’s trailer on May 7 based on their shared belief that the crime shows “overtones of a cult sacrifice."

By Mother’s Day, May 9, the focus intensifies. Drug Task Force officers follow up on rumors of devil worship at Lakeshore Trailer Park, interview Damien, his pregnant girlfriend Domini Teer, and best friend Jason Baldwin, and administer a pointed questionnaire crafted by Sudbury. A contemporaneous tip from neighbor Narlene Hollingsworth places Damien and Domini near the service road by the Blue Beacon looking dirty—directly contradicting their alibis—and draws in additional names from the local “cult cops,” Jerry Driver and Steve Jones.

This episode traces how the occult theory rapidly takes root in the investigation, examines the content and context of those early interviews and questionnaires, and raises the questions still hanging over the case: What was the Covenant of the Divine Light? Who was LG Hollingsworth, and how was he connected? What really happened on the service road the night the boys disappeared? And how did Damien Echols move from alternative teenager to primary person of interest in less than 72 hours?

In this gripping Q&A installment of Crooked Tree: A West Memphis 3 Podcast, West Memphis Three researchers and victim advocates Kristin Rich and Paul Day confront listener questions that cut straight to the heart of the case—and the shadows still lingering over the 1993 murders of Christopher Byers, Stevie Branch, and Michael Moore.

They open by addressing accusations of bias, revealing how their close ties to the Byers and Branch families formed only after years of independent, evidence-driven research—and why those relationships change nothing about the facts they’re presenting. From there, the episode descends into the unresolved details that continue to haunt the investigation: Did the victims’ parents or the search teams even know the unnamed creek existed before the bodies were found? What really happened to Stevie’s stolen bicycle, and why was he so fiercely protective of the new one? Where exactly were the boys’ bikes recovered in the murky waters of Ten Mile Bayou—and what do the missing tracks in the Discovery Woods suggest?

Kristin and Paul dig into one of the investigation’s most glaring failures: the near-total failure to thoroughly interrogate the families in those critical first days. They examine the Cub Scout leader who had regular contact with the boys, the polygraphs that cleared some while raising questions about others, and the mysterious cloth material recovered from Michael Moore’s hand—evidence whose true origin remains murky.

The conversation turns darker still with a detailed look at the offender profile of someone capable of the dismemberment injury inflicted on one of the boys. Drawing on studies of sexual sadists, body-disposal methods, and multi-offender crimes, the hosts explore what the violence—and what was not done to the other two children—may reveal about the killer’s motives, experience, and whether this was the work of one person or more.

Along the way they address non-public crime scene materials, the reliability of the polygraphs administered by Bill Durham, a widely circulated (and thoroughly debunked) serial-killer theory, the partial print recovered early in the case, and the origin of the podcast’s haunting theme music. They also clarify their strong working relationship with the current West Memphis Police Department—separate from the investigative failures of 1993.

No spoilers are held back this time. Every question is answered. And the episode ends with a chilling preview of what’s coming next: the first deep dive into how Damien Echols and two other teenagers were pulled into the investigation—and how that fateful focus began.

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The search for answers continues.

In this episode of Crooked Tree: A West Memphis 3 Podcast, forensic geologist and victim advocate Paul Day and criminologist and victim advocate Kristin Rich pull back the curtain on the law-enforcement climate surrounding the murders of Christopher Byers, Stevie Branch, and Michael Moore.

Why did West Memphis Police Inspector Gary Gitchell decline substantial help from the Arkansas State Police—even as three children lay dead and the department reached out to the FBI? The hosts examine the West Memphis–Crittenden County Drug Task Force, its high-profile seizures of cash, vehicles, and guns, and the cloud of investigations that hung over it in early 1993. Through contemporary newspaper reporting, they document allegations of confiscated property diverted for personal use, unaccounted cash, weapons handed out far beyond the evidence locker, and the subsequent state and federal probes that followed key officers for years.

Names that surface repeatedly in the boys’ case—James Sudbury, Tony Miller, Shane Griffin, and others—also appear in these drug-unit controversies. The episode traces how those parallel scandals, personnel changes, and later criminal cases (including firings, indictments, and other serious misconduct) raise hard questions about integrity, priorities, and culture inside the agencies investigating the murders. Paul and Kristin are careful to distinguish individual failings from the trauma many officers carried, while underscoring why these issues matter to understanding the investigation itself.

A clear-eyed look at the institutional backdrop of one of the most scrutinized cases in true-crime history.

In the chaotic days after the bodies of three eight-year-old boys were discovered in West Memphis, the police—facing few solid leads—turned to the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit in Quantico for an offender profile. They sent a case summary and victimology reports, hoping for scientific direction. What they received instead was generic interview guidance. No profile ever came.

In this episode of Crooked Tree, victim advocates Paul Day and Kristin Rich examine the only truly unbiased profile ever produced in the West Memphis Three case: the public analysis offered by Memphis psychologist Dr. L.D. Hutt Jr. before any arrests were made. Drawing solely on publicly available facts, Hutt described a young white male familiar with the neighborhood who likely knew at least one of the victims—an assessment that aligns closely with national statistics on juvenile homicides.

Paul and Kristin break down the incomplete and sometimes inaccurate information forwarded to the FBI, the detailed victimology reports that humanize Michael Moore, Christopher Byers, and Steve Branch, and the broader science of behavioral analysis—including organized versus disorganized offenders and the dangers of confirmation bias. They also revisit the grim 1993 peak in child murders and the consistent pattern that most young victims are killed by someone they know.

This is the episode that peels back the early investigative decisions and shows how an independent expert, free of the case’s later pressures, read the evidence in real time. Essential listening for anyone seeking a clear-eyed look at the profiling that never guided the original investigation—and the one that still stands apart.

In this episode of Crooked Tree: A West Memphis 3 Podcast, hosts Kristin Rich and Paul Day pick up the trail from Dawn Moore and Kim Williams’ May 8, 1993 interviews with the West Memphis Police Department. The girls described three teenagers emerging from Devil’s Den who offered Dawn a “shot,” then later entering a house on Wilson Street—identified as the home of 13-year-old Carlos Seals at 808 Wilson.

Kristin and Paul examine how police zeroed in on Seals and his friends—Billy Sanderson, Kent Lynn, Jason White, and Samantha Gardner—through door-to-door notes and the girls’ account. Interviews on May 8 and 9 by Lieutenant James Sudbury initially paint a straightforward picture: the group helped search for Christopher Byers on the afternoon of May 5 but claimed they stayed out of Robin Hood Hills that day. By the next day’s questioning, a different story emerges. The teens say they had entered the woods via Devil’s Den on Sunday, May 2. During that trip, Kent broke a knife while cutting vines and left it behind. Details accumulate—Jason and Carlos leave first, the others reach the pipeline and Turtle Hill, and Billy reports seeing (and briefly speaking with) two older white males. Police recover the broken knife roughly 75–150 yards from the crime scene. A subsequent report clears Seals and the group pending further developments, though the knife is later rushed to the lab ahead of trial.

The hosts weigh the accounts against independent corroboration (including Thelma Turner’s observation of teens matching their description with a large knife near Goodwin on May 2), note the absence of any follow-up on the “shot” offer that so alarmed Dawn and Kim, and highlight gaps around Bobby Posey’s door-to-door claims. The episode then turns to other neighborhood leads: interviews with Jeff Holliday and Clint Garner about a suspicious white van that followed them weeks earlier near McAuley Circle, multiple additional white-van reports, and the list of vans the department compiled and checked.

Packed with primary documents, timelines, and careful analysis of what the police pursued—and what they left unasked—this episode unpacks how a promising lead about teens near Devil’s Den quickly centered on a broken knife, why the group was cleared so swiftly, and the lingering questions that remain.

In the shadowed hours before three young boys vanished into Robin Hood Hills, a critical gap in the West Memphis Three timeline has long gone unfilled… until now.

On this episode of Crooked Tree, West Memphis Three researchers Paul Day and Kristin Rich dive deep into the missing thirty minutes between 5:15 and 5:45 p.m. on May 5, 1993. Drawing on overlooked door-to-door notes and police interviews, they track Stevie Branch and Michael Moore as they ride their bikes near Wilson and Holiday, then head toward the woods.

The most chilling detail emerges from the accounts of Kim Williams and Dawn Moore: as the two boys enter the ditch leading into Devil’s Den, three older teens—one white male and two Black males—are seen coming out. Near the fire hydrant at the edge of Devil’s Den, one of them offers Dawn a “shot.”

Paul and Kristin also uncover strange gaps in the police record—including a bizarre “555” case-number anomaly on Todd Moore’s statement, the only document in the entire file that breaks from the infamous 666 designation—and reconstruct a clearer timeline of the boys’ final free hours, revealing how the official missing-persons report may have been off by half an hour.

Who were those three teenagers exiting Devil’s Den… and what else is still hidden in the shadows of the investigation?

A deep dive into the overlooked minutes—and the unsettling documents—that may help us understand the last afternoon of Stevie, Michael, and Christopher.

In this Q&A episode, West Memphis Three researchers and victim advocates Paul Day and Kristin Rich answer a wide range of listener questions submitted through their Facebook group. From the status of ongoing DNA testing and whether pressure exists to reopen the case, to crime-scene logistics, law-enforcement perceptions of the original investigation, case numbering oddities, overlooked persons of interest, family timelines and alibis, evidence handling, and why certain leads (including those involving Terry Hobbs) received limited early scrutiny—Paul and Kristin tackle the topics listeners are most curious about.

They share insights drawn from case files, discuss how the investigation is viewed today (including its use as a training example of what not to do), clarify common misconceptions, and offer updates while emphasizing patience on pending scientific results. As always, the conversation stays grounded in the documented record and the hosts’ long-term research.

Whether you’re new to the case or a longtime follower, this laid-back yet substantive episode delivers thoughtful answers, context, and a preview of deeper explorations still to come. Join the discussion in the Facebook group and keep your questions coming for future Q&As.

West Memphis suffered a devastating blow five years before the murders of Christopher Byers, Michael Moore, and Stevie Branch. In 1988, the burned bodies of seven-year-old Bianca Tirado and two-year-old Maximilian McCoy were discovered at a dump site. Their mother, Barbara McCoy, and companion Mary Williams were charged with capital murder amid allegations of religious extremism and beliefs that the children were possessed. The case dominated local and national headlines, left the community reeling, and kept talk of cults and the occult fresh in residents’ minds. When the three boys were found in 1993, those same fears resurfaced immediately.

In this episode, Kristin and Paul examine the 1988 double homicide in detail—through contemporary newspaper accounts—and show how it shaped the atmosphere surrounding the West Memphis Three investigation.  They then turn to two unusual newcomers living just steps from Devil’s Den: Sir Mikeal Williams, a Pentecostal minister, and his roommate King David Samuel Beasley. After a suspicious doorstep encounter during neighborhood canvassing, both men were brought in for questioning.

The hosts walk through the police interviews, the men’s alibis (and the gaps in them), the religious symbols and behavior that raised red flags, lab evidence, and why these two figures continued to linger in investigators’ notes long after they were supposedly cleared. 

A look at how prior tragedy, community panic, and non-mainstream faith intersected in the early days of the case.

In this episode, Kristin Rich and Paul Day dive deep into one of the most intriguing and under-examined leads in the West Memphis Three case: the mysterious "Tattooed Man."

On May 5, 1993, Ken Govar picked up a hitchhiker east of Little Rock. The man’s angry demeanor, inconsistent stories, terrifying tattoos (including a bone with dripping blood and a devil on its haunches), and specific request to be dropped off at a Flash Market just 1,600 feet from Devil's Den in West Memphis raised immediate red flags. Govar’s detailed police interview, composite sketches, and sharp observations paint a chilling picture of a man who didn’t add up.

Kristin and Paul break down the timeline, the man’s physical description, his strange behavior, and how close this encounter was to the victims’ last known movements. They also explore a related tip involving a suspicious cab fare to Tennessee and examine the West Memphis Police Department’s handling (and public denials) of these leads.

This episode examines a classic “legend” of the case alongside Bojangles Man—one that raises serious questions about certain transients, missed opportunities, and the sheer number of potential persons of interest around the Robin Hood Hills that afternoon.

A must-listen for anyone following the WM3 case, true crime deep dives, or unsolved mysteries.

Hosts: Kristin Rich & Paul Day – West Memphis 3 researchers and victim advocates.

Available now wherever you listen to podcasts.

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In this episode of Crooked Tree, Kristin and Paul dive deep into the chaotic first days of the West Memphis Police Department’s investigation following the discovery of the three murdered boys. They examine the flurry of tips pouring in and the frantic pursuit of transients, truckers, bicyclists, and odd characters near the crime scene.

From the detailed logs at the Blue Beacon truck wash and the overlooked Union 76 truck stop right by the trails, to the rapid follow-ups on individuals like Carroll Coleman, Gary Chadwick, Paul Champagne, John Connolly/James Barry, Tim Cotten, and several others, this episode lays bare how the early investigation unfolded—full of promising leads, quick clearances, lingering questions, and the heavy reliance on polygraphs and thin alibis in those critical first days.

Kristin and Paul analyze timelines, physical evidence possibilities, investigative gaps, and how the focus began shifting.

If you’ve ever wondered what the police were actually doing before names like Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley dominated the case, this detailed walkthrough of the raw early files is essential listening.