It didn't take much...not much at all.
I was twenty years old, preparing to undergo treatment for Hodgkin's Lymphoma and wondering what was going to happen. I had recently moved in with my boyfriend at the time and his family. Due to the whole cancer situation, I wasn't working...my oncologist told me not to, anyway. One evening Boyfriend, his brother Dave and I went into a little video store where we knew the guy behind the counter. We weren't sure what we were going to get. The guy working, I forget his name now, showed us a copy of Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. We'd never heard of it, but he was a cool and intelligent guy so we went with his recommendation.
I couldn't believe what I saw. This was a completely unbiased documentary about three little eight year old boys who were tortured, beaten and mutilated. The film makers included the police footage of their battered little bodies lying in the mud. It was the worst thing I had ever seen. Then the situation got worse. The West Memphis police had nothing on a killer. This little Arkansas town was not prepared for a crime of this magnitude and its population was screaming for justice. Well the police couldn't seem to deliver justice. What they delivered instead was a witch hunt.
Damien Echols was just like I was at that age. He wore black, studied alternative religion and he loved heavy metal. If we had gone to the same high school, we probably would have been hanging out. There are a lot of kids like Damien. The difference about him was not what he looked like or was interested in. The difference was in where he lived. In West Memphis, Arkansas Damien stood out like a sore thumb. The police didn't have anything on him or his best friend Jason Baldwin, so they went to a boy named Jessie Misskelley who knew them. Jessie, with an IQ of 72, was held in police custody for approximately twelve hours and interrogated without a lawyer present. The last 42 minutes of this interrogation was recorded. They called it his "confession". Though heavily laced with inconsistencies, and blatantly coerced in places, this "confession" named Damien Echols as the ringleader and Jason Baldwin as a participant. Unfortunately for Jessie, he also gave the police enough to add him as a participant in what was now being called a Satanic Cult killing.
There is absolutely NO evidence linking these young men to the crime and all evidence pointing in other directions (and there was plenty) was either ignored, lost or destroyed. Still, somehow, all three were found guilty. Jessie Misskelley is serving life +40, Jason Baldwin is serving life without parole, Damien Echols was sentenced to die by lethal injection. They were teenagers when their lives were ripped away from them.
This documentary was the most disturbing thing I had ever seen. I let it go for a while because I was so focused on having to go through cancer treatment. I underwent six months of chemotherapy. I lost my hair and was sick quite a lot. At some point, in the midst of it, I remember waking up in the middle of the night. I had been fast asleep and suddenly there I was, lying still and all I could think about was Damien Echols. I began to sob uncontrollably. I was so angry and so horrified. Three teenagers were convicted on nothing and the killers of three innocent children were running free. It was more than I could stand.
I became obsessed. I didn't know where to look, so I did web searches on Damien's name. Eventually, I came across the Free the West Memphis Three website. There was hope! I studied the case, joined the email discussion group, wrote letters and shared with as many people as I could. Heh...I even got a call from one of the producers of the Montel Williams show. It was pretty exciting to take part in something that mattered so much! I was determined to aid in any way I could to the cause.
A few years later, I found myself in a bad situation and I had to get out. I felt bad having to step away from the case to start my life over but I knew that the WM3 were in good hands and I couldn't be any help to anyone until I found some stability. I checked the site periodically and still told people whenever I thought they'd pay attention. Now, I'm married to a wonderful man and things are much better. I showed him the Paradise Lost documentaries (there are two now) and we are ready to get to work! Even though we are struggling to survive, there are still things we can do. We can't donate money to the defense, but we can TELL people. We can share.
It's been 14 years. These men who were incarcerated as boys are still not free and Damien Echols is running out of time. They've amassed some amazing support over the years, but they need more. Too often people dismiss this case as something tragic that they can't do anything about. You CAN do something, no matter who you are! It didn't take much for me at all. All I did was walk into a video store and someone said, "you should see this". That's all it took. The world has not looked the same since.
Watch Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations. Visit the Free the West Memphis Three support site.
SHARE this story! Write letters, post bulletins and blogs, TELL people!!! It's not too late and there is always need of more. You can also write to Damien, Jason and Jesse in prison. Let them know you believe in them. It means a lot. It really does.
