Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
E135: Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore Part 1
4.5k Plays4 years ago
May 5th, 1993 was a tragic day for so many people in West Memphis Arkansas as three eight-year-old boys (Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore) went missing . By the next morning, instead of panic, the town felt palpable fear with the discover that the young second-graders had been brutally and senselessly murdered. By 1994, three local teens were in prison, convicted of the murders; but the story hasn’t ended there. This is part one of our coverage on the case, with a special focus this week on the crime itself as well as the discovery of the bodies and evidence.
Want to create your own podcast but don’t know where to start? Give Zencastr a try. Recording is as easy as clicking “New” and sharing a link with cohosts or guests. Plus you’ll get crisp, clear audio every single time! Simply go to http://zen.ai/coffeeandcasespod0 and enter promo code coffeeandcasespod0 for 30% off your first three months. It’s the only platform Maggie and so trust for recording remotely and we know you’ll love it as much as we do.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
We are excited to announce that this episode is being sponsored by Zencaster, our very own podcast recording platform. Make sure you listen for more information in the middle of the episode and take a look at our show notes to know exactly why we love Zencaster so much and how you yourself can get a discount.
The Crime and Its Impact
00:00:21
Speaker
In 1993, the population of West Memphis, Arkansas was around 28,000 people. Once a bustling small city, the population has steadily declined since then, perhaps because of what occurred on May 5th, 1993. A gruesome discovery in an area known as Robin Hood Hills that will forever be associated with the town itself.
00:00:51
Speaker
and with a growing fear over who might have committed that crime.
Innocence Debate and Celebrity Support
00:00:57
Speaker
The fear related to the crime has continued throughout the last 29 years, despite the fact that less than a year later in 1994, three local teens, Damien Eccles, James Baldwin, and Jesse Miss Kelly were convicted of the crimes and sent to prison.
00:01:18
Speaker
Those who have never heard of the case, now referred to by the nickname given to the three teens accused of the murders, the West Memphis Three, may wonder why the fear would continue, despite the fact that the case was legally closed.
Case Overview and Hosts' Mission
00:01:34
Speaker
It's because many, including celebrity backers like Johnny Depp, Eddie Vedder, and Natalie Maines from the Chicks, formerly the Dixie Chicks, believe that the three convicted teenagers are innocent.
00:01:49
Speaker
And if those convicted didn't commit the crime, someone did. But who? That's an answer many are hoping comes soon, given the new evidentiary hearing in this case that will take place on Thursday, June 23rd of 2022. Will the families finally get closure?
00:02:14
Speaker
Will the guilty parties, whomever they are, finally be held accountable? Will the court of public opinion finally settle? Only time and evidence will tell. This is part one of the story of the murders of eight-year-olds Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore.
00:03:14
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron.
00:03:23
Speaker
We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement. So justice and closure can be brought to these families. With each case, we encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast, because as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee, and listen to what's brewing this week.
Listener Engagement and Community
00:03:51
Speaker
It is your favorite time and mine, Maggie. It's shout out time.
00:03:59
Speaker
And we're starting off good today. We are going to start with our newest five-star written review from this week. And before I read this one, let me say that we have no idea until this week that Apple Podcast doesn't post our reviews for our out-of-country listeners. We did not know that. I was so upset when I figured this out.
00:04:27
Speaker
I want the love from everywhere. Me too, because we talk about other places besides just here. I know. But we are now able to see them, we hope all of them anyway, via emails we get from charitable. Charitable. So that's how we're charitable.
00:04:48
Speaker
It's okay. You all know. But that's how we saw our first five-story review from my all-time favorite place that I still yet have not visited, but it's on the bucket list. It's Canada. Yes. Which is why I get to read this one. Mm-hmm. Only fitting. It was written by Kamakura79 and they said, quote, I started following after the recommendation from True Crimecast.
00:05:14
Speaker
Awesome research done on each case and keeping conversation going on each case. Living in Prince Edward Island, I enjoy Maggie's reaction when Canada is mentioned. Yes! I mean, your excitement is palpable. I really want to live there.
00:05:33
Speaker
Maggie does have the Canada love. We got another five-star written review this week from Jaylin C. who wrote. I'm pretty positive we worked with, if this is correct. I know who this is.
00:05:49
Speaker
And she wrote, quote, I've always enjoyed true crime shows, stories, books and podcasts. I love how most of these cases are not high profile. Allison and Maggie are breathing new life into them with the hopes of finding much needed answers for these grieving families. I listened once, fell in love and became an instant sleuth hound.
00:06:12
Speaker
I know. That review made me so happy. And let's not forget our shout outs on Facebook for this week. Also, thanks to Lori for reaching out about a case. And thank you to Melissa and Emma for recommending us to other people on Facebook. And finally to Alyssa, Jana, and Janine for sending us messages. Well, you all know I can't pronounce names. So if I'm going to pronounce your name, I still love you and I'm sorry.
00:06:38
Speaker
Plus, we got a new Patreon member this week. So shout out to Denise. She wrote on our Patreon shout out form, quote, I found your podcast on a road trip at the end of April and binge listened until I got caught up. Now, I guess I'll have to start all over because I've tried other podcasts and I always end up wishing I was listening to Allison and Maggie.
00:07:05
Speaker
I'm a teacher, mom, wife, so I know what a sacrifice this has got to be for you, and I appreciate it so much. Keep up the amazing work. Oh my God, that was so good. That one gives me right in the feels. Yeah, I'm definitely feeling the love.
00:07:24
Speaker
Thank you to everyone who made this week so much better for Allison and me. If you are like Denise and you have already binged our episodes, make sure you check out our Patreon where you can access bonus episodes and laugh along with us. We are still catching up from when Patreon decided it hated Allison, but we're almost caught up. I think we'll be caught up like in the next couple weeks. So go on over to patreon.com slash coffee and cases to join us over there.
00:07:53
Speaker
All of our current patrons plus any new ones who joined by July 6th will be entered into a drawing where we will choose seven lucky partners in crime to receive a card from us and a limited edition coffee and cases keychain. That's right.
00:08:13
Speaker
So those seven winners will be announced on July 7th. So seven, seven, seven. We're all about the seven winners on seven, seven.
00:08:23
Speaker
Yep, I am super pumped about the drawing and sending some cute stuff to spread the love. Plus, make sure, I mean, write it on your hand so you don't forget it. Make sure you join Maggie and me and our friends at Colts, Crimes, and Cabernet at 9 p.m. Eastern tonight, Thursday, June 2nd,
00:08:48
Speaker
Go to Colt's Crimes and Cabernet's Facebook page where you will see the link to a live discussion because we would love to see you there. And we'll literally be able to interact with you. Yes, which will be fun. And I'm sure we can share the link on our Facebook page. Oh, I did already.
00:09:09
Speaker
So yeah, ahead of the game. So be there, be square. That's right.
The Disappearance and Search Efforts
00:09:14
Speaker
Now, Maggie and Sleuthhounds, we are about to go on a roller coaster of a ride with this case. I have actually never heard of this case. Oh. I mean, like, I've heard about it, but I don't know anything about it. Yeah, I think it's one of those cases where those who know about it are obsessed with it, and they are, you know, they're just like,
00:09:38
Speaker
I don't know, consuming every single detail and kind of trying to fit it into their brain. But those who have never heard about it, people are like, what? It's like never hearing of John Benne Ramsey to have never heard of the West Memphis story. But I'm with you. I knew of the case, but I had not.
00:09:59
Speaker
delved into it. Over the last what month, maybe? Yeah. I have been researching this case. I'm no exaggeration. I have read at least 2000 pages of research and that's not hyperbole. I mean, I have read
00:10:20
Speaker
court documents after court document, I've read books, I've read articles, I've watched documentaries, I've, yeah, I have, I've let this consume me. So when I say we are going on a roller coaster of a ride, this is a very intense roller coaster with lots of twists that have been going on for the past 29 years.
00:10:48
Speaker
So that is why there's a lot to cover. This is also likely the most controversial case that we have covered on the show. So going in, I did want to clarify that Maggie and I are not forensic experts. We are not lawyers. We are not law enforcement.
00:11:13
Speaker
We will do our best to cover the case and present it as honestly as possible and to explore each theory's possibility, as well as to point out the flaws in each of those same theories once we get to the theories. But because the case is so convoluted, it will take more than one episode to do the case justice, though I promise you the journey will be worth it.
00:11:44
Speaker
Right, because we have some exclusive stuff coming. We do. We do. But I mean this wholeheartedly when I say due to the graphic nature of so many of the details in this case, listener discretion is advised and I mean it.
00:12:08
Speaker
Also, due to the timely, because we have the court hearing coming up in three weeks, and the controversial nature of this case, while Maggie, I do want you to comment on the case, especially in this episode, as we progress through the details of the crime.
00:12:30
Speaker
Once we get to the theories portion, which will come in our next episode, I'm going to ask Maggie that you comment, but that I am not going to ask you to make an ultimate judgment in the matter. Just because it's so controversial, I don't want us to get death threats.
00:12:53
Speaker
Right. We don't want to die. No. So ultimately, which theory you believe Sleuthhounds is most plausible is one that we are going to completely leave up to you as the listener. So with that said,
00:13:10
Speaker
Let's begin. May 5th, 1993, the adults in West Memphis, Arkansas, were likely still trying to wrap their heads around what happened just weeks before in Waco, Texas during the standoff between law enforcement and David Koresh and the Branch Davidians. Do you remember that? No, you wouldn't remember that. Yeah, I was three. Yeah.
00:13:37
Speaker
I remember we were staying in a hotel with rooms that looked like teepees. I remember watching this on television in that teepee hotel room.
00:13:56
Speaker
So the adults in West Memphis were likely still thinking about that because that was a pretty big deal, right, in an event that stood out. Or the adults might have already been mourning the end of the television show. Cheers.
00:14:13
Speaker
Oh, yeah, which was set to air its 271st episode, the final one for the long standing show just a few weeks later. But for the kids, school was in session as normal. And
00:14:28
Speaker
the kids, so often unfazed by what is going on in the world around them, were likely already daydreaming about hanging out with and riding bikes with friends until the street lights came on after school that evening. Yes. Because that's what kids think about. At least it seems that was true for three local Weaver Elementary second graders, eight-year-olds Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore.
00:14:58
Speaker
Stevie's mom, Pam Hobbs, had gone to get her son from school, but it wasn't long after she got home that Stevie's friend Michael rode his bike to their house to ask if Stevie could go out and they could ride their bikes together.
00:15:16
Speaker
At first, Pam said no. It was already after three and she had to go to work at Catfish Island in less than two hours. And they had a routine. Her husband, Terry Hobbs, he would be home soon from his job with the Memphis Ice Cream Company. They would have dinner as a family, Pam, Terry, Stevie, and their four year old daughter, Amanda.
00:15:44
Speaker
And then they would all ride in the family car to drop Pam off at work by five. Then the trio of Terry, Stevie, and Amanda would go home, hang out for a little bit, and then would be back to pick Pam up at 9 p.m. when her shift was over before coming back, getting some rest, and beginning the whole routine again the following day. Okay. You following me so far?
00:16:11
Speaker
Yes. So we have mom. She works. Is this a restaurant? I'm assuming. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Dad works for the ice cream company. They take mom to work after dinner. And I will say Terry is Stevie's stepfather. Okay. But Amanda's biological father. All right. So stepdad works at the ice cream company. They all eat dinner together after dinner. They take mom to work and then they pick her up, go to bed and repeat the routine.
00:16:40
Speaker
Yes. Got it. But so this is why Pam, you know, when he's asking to go ride bikes at three o'clock, she knows, okay, well, we still have to have dinner and we have to leave by five.
Discovery and Investigation Challenges
00:16:52
Speaker
Right? Because she has to be at work.
00:16:53
Speaker
So that's why at first she said no, but Stevie and Michael were persistent. They begged and begged and begged and then wouldn't stop until Pam finally said, fine, go ride, but be back for dinner before I leave for work.
00:17:18
Speaker
Oh, that's such typical eight-year-olds begging parents to give in. Oh, I know. Like, let's just keep asking until they say yes. So excited that they could play. The boys ran outside to their bikes. And almost like what Pam felt was nearly immediately, but just a few minutes later, there was a knock at the door.
00:17:42
Speaker
And when Pam answered, she saw another of Stevie's friends, Christopher Byers.
00:17:49
Speaker
He asked if Stevie could come out and play, and Pam let him know, oh my gosh, you just missed Stevie and Michael. They went out for a bike ride. She remembers that Christopher came by, it was around 4.15, because her four-year-old daughter Amanda was watching The Muppet Baby. I love that show. Yes, well, so did Christopher. So when Christopher saw it on, remember he's eight, he asked if he could come in and watch it for a little bit.
00:18:19
Speaker
because he loved it that much. Yeah, because it was the best. Yeah, it was. So he watched the show for about 15 minutes until it ended, and then Christopher left. Soon after, Terry Hobbs got home from work, remember Memphis Ice Cream Company, and seeing Amanda watching television, but not seeing Stevie anywhere, he asked Pam where Stevie was, because remember, they have a routine.
00:18:47
Speaker
Pam let him know that he was out riding his bike, but she told him, you know, I told Stevie to be home by dinner. However, dinnertime came and there was no sign of Stevie.
00:19:01
Speaker
Now, he had gotten into trouble for coming home late before, so when he wasn't home by the time they needed to leave to drop Pam off, Pam and Terry decided, well, let's just go ahead, get Pam to work, you know, and Stevie will probably be home by the time. Oh, yeah, yeah. But he wasn't.
00:19:28
Speaker
So Terry Hobbs and his four-year-old daughter Amanda began driving the streets that Stevie normally frequented on his bike rides, looking for him. When they saw no signs of Stevie, Terry went to his friend and coworker David Jacoby's home because Jacoby's wife, Bobby, often babysat Amanda.
00:19:54
Speaker
So Terry Hobbs left Amanda there with Bobby to watch her and continued searching. Right. I guess thinking I'm sure it would be hard to concentrate and look if you have a four year old, you know, especially if the four year old decides to be rambunctious. And again, this is just a little bit probably after five. Right. Exactly. OK.
00:20:20
Speaker
So while the initial search was happening for the Hobbs family, so too with the Moore family and the Byers family. Because remember, there isn't just one kid who hasn't shown up. Yeah, now there are three. The Moors, according to Dana Moore, which is Michael Moore's mom, she said that the Moors, the whole family had been at home when Michael asked if he could go ride bikes with his friends.
00:20:50
Speaker
Dana Moore, Michael's mom, stated that she allowed him to do so, just telling him to be back home by the time the street lights came on. Which is typical for this time period. Yeah, definitely. Early 90s. And that'd be around, what, like eight o'clock? Something like that.
00:21:09
Speaker
However, Dana Moore also stated that around six when she saw the three boys riding away from her house, she sent her daughter Dawn, who was nine years old at the time, to go find them.
00:21:26
Speaker
and I guess make them come back and play closer. But after not being able to locate them, Dawn came back and told her mom that she couldn't find them. So Dawn and her mother went to the Hobbs residence to look for Michael. The Moores and the Byers residence are near one another, but Pam and Terry Hobbs lived in a different neighborhood.
Exploring Theories and Future Directions
00:21:50
Speaker
Okay. It was a little bit of a distance away. So when Dawn sees the boys right off, I guess Michael Moore's mom is thinking, well, I know he's playing with Stevie. So I wonder if they went over to Stevie's house.
00:22:06
Speaker
to the Hobbs residents. So they go over to the Hobbs residents to look for Michael. Terry Hobbs was there and he let them know what Pam had relayed to him, that Stevie and Michael were riding bikes together and that Christopher had stopped by looking for him. And he told her that he hadn't been able to locate Stevie either. So at this point... So right now, the last time we have seen them, they're in
00:22:33
Speaker
the Moores subdivision, but rotting away from the Moores house. And this is around six. So probably about an hour or so after Terry initially started looking. Right. And you know, at first, Terry is just thinking and Pam, of course, you know, she's not worried at first when she's just going to work.
00:22:56
Speaker
because he'd been late before. But as far as Terry knew at that point, it was just Stevie who hadn't come back. As far as the Moores knew at this point, it was just Michael who hadn't come back. But when Dana Moore and her daughter Dawn go over to Terry Hobbs' house and find out that Stevie hasn't been back either, that's when they know at least those two boys are both missing.
00:23:25
Speaker
Yeah and I think that makes it more worrisome and not just something you could say oh you know he's been late before now that it's two it's a little more real. Right and yet I know I can't decide if as a parent it would make me more worried to know that there were two or if it would be
00:23:47
Speaker
at least a little bit of a relief to know, oh, maybe they. They're just playing. Exactly. Yeah. Like went somewhere together. Because I would think I would feel safer if I had somebody with me. Yeah. So during the same time, the Byers family also start looking for Christopher. Because remember the last we've seen, well,
00:24:15
Speaker
Dana Moore says she saw all three boys running away at six. But before that, the last he was seen, he was watching Muppet Babies. Yeah, that was at four o'clock. Right. So John Mark Byers, who is Christopher's adoptive father,
00:24:33
Speaker
He had actually been with Christopher's biological mother since Christopher was very young. One article said Christopher was four. A different source said Christopher was only two when John Mark Byers married Christopher's mom. But anyway, he had been in Christopher's life for a long time and had also adopted Christopher. He began looking for his son.
00:25:01
Speaker
It actually wasn't until later in the evening that John Mark Byers even knew that his son was also with Stevie and Michael. So here's what happened from his perspective. Earlier in the afternoon, Byers had been waiting for his son Christopher to get home from school because his older son, 13-year-old Ryan, had an appointment at the courthouse at 3.30.
00:25:30
Speaker
His older son, Ryan had witnessed a hit and run and he was being called to testify. Wow. Yeah. So they had to be at the courthouse or they were supposed to be at the courthouse by three thirty. So they're sitting there, John Mark Byers and his son, Ryan, waiting for Christopher to get home from school. When Christopher wasn't there by three forty, John Mark and Ryan had to go ahead and go.
00:26:00
Speaker
And they were nervous about leaving, which is why they waited actually until Ryan was late because Christopher didn't have a key to his house. So I wonder if he showed up and realized the door was locked and that's when he went to the Hobbs house. Well, yes, you're very close.
00:26:21
Speaker
With him being late already, John Mark says, OK, well, I have to get Ryan to court. So he went ahead and left. It was shortly after John Mark and Ryan left that we know Christopher showed up to the Hobbs House and watched Muppet Babies. While Byers was gone, dropping Ryan off at the courthouse and picking his wife, Melissa, up from work.
00:26:47
Speaker
Christopher had come home and we know this. So he had gotten home, I guess, after watching Muppet Babies. He went ahead and went home, but nobody's there because his dad had gone to drop Ryan off and then pick his mom up from work. And, you know, he doesn't have a key. So he's unable to get into the door. So he had actually tried to use a ladder to climb into the kitchen window.
00:27:15
Speaker
Oh, this is a very Maggie thing. Does he break the window? Yes, he was unsuccessful because he didn't make it in, but he did manage to break the window in the process, but still not able to get into the house. So around that time, around 5.20 in the afternoon,
00:27:33
Speaker
Byers arrived home with his wife, Melissa, because he is so mad. Oh, yeah. First of all, he was already mad that Christopher hadn't come home from school. And then as soon as he pulls up to the house, he sees the broken window from where Christopher had tried to get in.
00:27:51
Speaker
And at first he doesn't even see Christopher until he starts looking around the neighborhood and also spotted Christopher riding on his skateboard on his belly down the middle of the street where he could easily have been hit by a car.
00:28:08
Speaker
I feel like that's such a little boy thing though, like I picture a little boy doing that. I'm telling you, I will post pictures of these three boys, but they're precious, sweet faces. Everything that I'm describing, you can picture them like
00:28:25
Speaker
begging to watch or to ride bikes and then Christopher begging to watch Muppet Babies. And then once I show you his face, I'm telling you, you will be able to picture him riding the skateboard down the street. Oh, they are cute. OK, so who's who? So the very first one is Christopher Byers. He's the one riding on a skateboard down the middle of the street on his belly.
00:28:55
Speaker
The middle one is Michael Moore. You can see he's obsessed with Cub Scouts, which is why he wanted to take it off. And that cutie pie over on the right with the like totally 90s background.
00:29:13
Speaker
is Stevie Branch with the spiky blonde hair. So I'm telling you when you see their faces you can picture them doing all of these actions. So even though they look cute to us
00:29:32
Speaker
Christopher's actions were still infuriating to his parents. So Christopher was obviously in trouble and John Mark Byers spanked him with a belt and then made him clean out the carport.
00:29:47
Speaker
while he then left because remember he's so mad because Christopher wasn't there to begin with. But he dropped his wife off at home, spanked Christopher, and then he had to go back to pick Ryan up from court.
00:30:04
Speaker
And so this is like, again, that same time, like 5.30 ish. Yep. 5.30. So Melissa Byers, Christopher's mom, had a phone call that she was taking. However, she could hear Christopher outside in the carport and then she could hear him like a typical kid coming in and then leaving the home several times. Like always coming in and then going out and then coming in and going out.
00:30:34
Speaker
Yeah, my grandma would always be like, you're letting the flies out. Right. So later reports that we don't find out until later, but we now know had Christopher going to visit another one of his friends, Bobby, to tell him to tell Bobby that he had gotten a spanking and that he was running away from home.
00:30:57
Speaker
Yes he was because he was eight and we all did that. That's right. So this was around 5 45 to 6 o'clock. Okay. But we know there's not a lot of time between that and when Dana Moore says she saw them riding away. Mm hmm. But you said they lived close though the buyers and the more they did. They did. When John Mark Byers came home between 6 and 6 30 Christopher was gone.
00:31:26
Speaker
And because we know he met with that friend and told him he was running away, we know that he had at least left home 15 to 30 minutes earlier. Well, when John Mark Byers gets home, Christopher is gone again. He immediately begins driving around looking for Christopher. And I can only imagine he was probably really mad at this point.
00:31:49
Speaker
So I'm sure any parent would be being locked in his room. Yes, they had been searching for about 30 minutes. Now they're starting to get worried because. And I'll give you more details on this in just a minute, while Stevie Branch had a bicycle and Michael Moore had a bicycle, Christopher Byers did not. So they're thinking, well, he couldn't have gone far. Because he doesn't have a bike.
00:32:20
Speaker
When they take a skateboard that some sources said yes and some said no. So I'm not sure. So after they'd been searching about 30 minutes and still couldn't find him, the buyer's family actually spotted a police officer in a nearby parking lot and they stopped to alert them that Christopher was missing. They said, Hey, our kid isn't at home. We can't find him.
00:32:49
Speaker
You know, we need your help. According to John Mark Byers, the officer told him to wait another hour. And if Christopher hadn't shown up by then to call and make an official police report. Well, that's better than telling him to wait 24 hours. I mean, that's true.
00:33:08
Speaker
right before eight o'clock. So John Mark Byers took this man at his word and like right at an hour later, Byers made the call and officer Regina Meeks was at the buyer's home by eight 10 to take the missing persons report. So is the buyer's family the first family to call and report one of the boys missing? They are. Okay.
00:33:34
Speaker
Okay, so remember, Pam is at work. Terry Hobbs says he's driving around frantically looking for Stevie. The Moores said that they told him just to be home by the time the street lights came on, which would be around eight o'clock, but they did kind of start looking around six.
00:33:58
Speaker
but they're still looking around the normal areas. Now, remember I told you a minute ago, the Byers and the Moores lived close to one another. They lived near Weaver Elementary. And it was just as that Officer Meeks was leaving the Byers residence from taking that missing persons report that Dana Moore comes up and she asks John Mark Byers if Christopher is missing.
00:34:29
Speaker
and told him that Michael was also missing and that she had seen the two of them along with Stevie Branch riding off and in what direction she had seen them go. So now they know they're all together. Do we think, I'm sure we'll talk about this later, but do we think that they were running away together and something happened or do we not know any of that?
00:34:57
Speaker
That is one potential theory that we will discuss. That is one theory. OK. But we do not know. Other theories say that Michael Moore had what he told his friend was a clubhouse in a nearby area.
00:35:22
Speaker
And so they could have potentially been going to said clubhouse, though none of Michael Moore's other friends could ever properly locate where this clubhouse was. So we don't even really know if there was one. This is why the story is very confusing once we get into the details. But we do know right now all three are missing and now the police know about all three.
00:35:48
Speaker
Well, the police know about the buyers, Christopher Byers. Oh, I thought that the officer was still there when the mom showed up. No, it was right as she was leaving. Okay. Yep.
00:35:59
Speaker
And right at that time when Dana Moore is telling John Mark Byers that Christopher was actually with Michael and Stevie, another car pulled up to the neighborhood at around 8 30 p.m. This was Terry Hobbs and his friend David Jacobi. Remember he had dropped Amanda off with David Jacobi's wife.
00:36:24
Speaker
Terry Hobbs actually introduced himself to John Mark Byers as Stevie's stepdad. And this was the first time that Terry Hobbs and John Mark Byers had met. So at this moment, now that they're all three together, Dana, you know, she just saw the police officer leave the Byers residence. So she told the men that she was going to go in and call the police to file a missing persons report for Michael as well. Just like the Byers had done for Christopher.
00:36:55
Speaker
Okay. And Shirley Terry does the same then for Stevie. Right. Cause I mean, this is before the age of cell phones. And so he was there, he was present with the buyers and the Moors. So Terry Hobbs has stated in an interview with law enforcement that he told Dana Moore to let the officers know that Stevie Branch was also missing. Okay.
00:37:19
Speaker
So again, like I said, while the children knew each other for the parents, this night was the first time that some of them were actually meeting one another. So once they started looking for the eight year olds in their searching, they kind of stuck with their own friends and family.
00:37:39
Speaker
That makes sense though. Yeah, right. So the Moors were looking, the buyers and their son Ryan, remember he's 13, several of his friends came out to help the buyers look. And then Terry Hobbs and his friend David Jacoby and later Terry Hobbs' father-in-law were also looking for the boys. And at least they had some direction, Maggie, on where to look.
00:38:06
Speaker
because many eyewitnesses had seen the boys that afternoon. Because remember, they were in the streets playing, riding around. Now, there were some problems. Some of the sightings were of only two of the boys. Some of them, like Dana Moores, were of all three of the boys. And at least one of the sightings was of four boys riding and playing together.
00:38:33
Speaker
but there were a total of 35 sightings. Some of which were verified and some of which were not. But the one consistency is that several witnesses had seen the boys near an area or headed toward an area called Robin Hood Hills, also sometimes called Robin Hood Woods.
00:38:58
Speaker
Dana Moore, Michael's mom, said that she saw all three of them remember around 6 p.m. She saw Stevie on his bike with Christopher riding on the back of it, because remember Christopher doesn't have a bike. And she saw Michael riding his bike and they were headed toward Robin Hood Hills. Did they know someone there or were they just out and about riding?
00:39:27
Speaker
a story behind Robin Hood Hill that I'll get to in a second. That's when Dana says she sent Dawn to try to find the boys to tell them to come home. And after those sightings around six to six thirty, there was only one more credible sighting of them together at around seven o'clock, again near Robin Hood Hills. After that, no one else had seen the boys.
00:39:58
Speaker
Allison and I find it hard to record together these days with everything going on in our lives. That's why we began looking for a recording platform that would allow us to record the same quality, crisp audio that we could have in person. Allison made it her mission to find the best platform for doing just that, and that's when she discovered Zencaster.
00:40:18
Speaker
Zencaster is what Maggie and I use each week to record our episodes and it is extremely easy to use, even if you've never used a recording platform before. You don't have to download a thing. I go to the website zencaster.com, create a session for which you can record audio, video, or both, and then email Maggie the link. She clicks it and that's it. We're ready to hit the record button and start.
00:40:44
Speaker
So even when you have guests who aren't tech savvy, all they have to do is click the link to join the recording. Zencaster is an all-in-one podcast production suite that gives you studio quality audio and video without needing to have any technological background knowledge.
00:40:58
Speaker
And once you've finished recording, the magic of Zencaster continues, as everything that you have just created is securely backed up on the cloud, so no more lost files. You get a transcript generated from your recording, and you have quality material to work with in post-production. I honestly could not brag about Zencaster enough.
00:41:20
Speaker
If you're thinking about creating your own podcast, but worry how your co-host or someone you'd like to interview is in another city, worry no more. We want you to have the same easy experience as we do. If you go to zen.ai slash coffee and cases, pod zero and in our promo code, coffee and cases, pod zero, all one word, you'll get 30% off your first three months. That's zen.ai slash coffee and cases, pod zero. It's time to share.
00:41:47
Speaker
and easily record your story. Robin Hood Hills Maggie was not exactly the place you would want your second grader playing alone. See to me it sounds like a very uppity subdivision area. It does sound that way and Robin Hood was a good guy. Right. This area
00:42:11
Speaker
was not known to be so good, especially if the rumors about the place carried any truth to them.
00:42:19
Speaker
Robin Hood Hills was the place of rumored satanic cult actors. Yes, of animal sacrifice, of orgies. Oh, okay. Yes, and at the very least, it was a place not extremely remote, but wooded enough for teenagers to hide to smoke pot or to partake in other illicit drug use.
00:42:45
Speaker
Okay, yeah, so not where you want your eight-year-old to go hang out. Right, even in its most mild form of association. Yes, not where you would want young kids running around.
00:42:56
Speaker
By the time Terry Hobbs and David Jacoby arrived near the Buyers and the More Home, remember it was, I said around 8.30, by the time they spoke and Dana went in to call to file a report and Terry says, hey, let them know that Stevie Branch is missing as well, it was getting close to 9 p.m. And what happens at 9 p.m.? Oh, so he has to go pick up Pam. Yes, he has to go pick up Pam from work at Catfish Island.
00:43:22
Speaker
So Terry picked up Amanda from the Jacobi house and then went by to get his wife. Pam came out as usual with a smile on her face with two pieces of candy ready in her hand. This is what she always brought out. One piece of candy for Amanda and one piece for Stevie. But she only saw one child's face looking back at her. She demanded, Where's Stevie?
00:43:49
Speaker
Terry told her that he hadn't come home yet, but that he and many others were out looking and that they would continue to look for Stevie, right? So he let her know these three boys are together. We're still looking for them. But Pam's mind, Maggie, immediately went to the worst case scenario. She said, he's dead. This is what's going through her head. And sometimes I think like,
00:44:18
Speaker
Parents may be able to sense that kind of thing. I just think when you really love someone, you just have certain feelings about them, if that makes sense. Well, that is the feeling that she had. And she went immediately back into the restaurant to call the police and officially file a missing persons report for Stevie.
00:44:48
Speaker
So then there is the delay kind of, cause Tommy, Terry just told them, Hey, don't forget Stevie. Right. But she actually calls the police and is like, he's missing. Yes.
00:45:00
Speaker
Yes, so the Hobbs family then went home so you know Pam could change clothes and they went back out to search along with the other families. This time they were targeting Robin Hood Hills because remember every report from people, especially the last eyewitness accounts, they're all near that area.
00:45:21
Speaker
Just as John Mark Byers and his 13-year-old son Ryan Byers got there, they saw Terry Hobbs again and David Jacobi. And they stopped to briefly speak with Terry and David. John Mark Byers recalls telling Terry and David that he was going to go look around this apartment complex called the Mayfair Apartments. But Terry said, oh, David and I have already looked that way, and we didn't find anything.
00:45:50
Speaker
When they got to the Robin Hood Hills area, law enforcement was also there. Detective Meeks, remember that's the one who had taken the report at the buyer's house, was just walking out. And she said, now that it was dark, this Robin Hood Hills area, it had two bodies of water in it.
00:46:14
Speaker
Oh, so summertime, you're getting eaten with mosquitoes. Yes. And so now that it was dark, the mosquitoes were swarming around those bodies of water. There was something called the 10 mile bayou that surrounded this large drainage pipe.
00:46:31
Speaker
And then there was another body of water, a canal beyond that. And even though this area was calm during the day with barely any mosquitoes at night, the mosquitoes were so thick that you had to like keep taking shallow breaths to keep from breathing them in. Yeah, they're that thick.
00:46:53
Speaker
So Meeks allegedly relayed to the families that, well, the shift is about to change. There wasn't much that they could do in the dark and that their search efforts would be renewed full force in the morning. But the families continued searching.
00:47:14
Speaker
Yeah, because I would, too. I'd be like, OK, then I would keep looking. Right. Each one took a different part of the woods. This was around 1130 p.m. And by this point, some of Terry Hobbs extended family, his father in law, Jamie Hicks, senior, had also joined them.
00:47:32
Speaker
So Terry Hobbs, his friend and co-worker David Jacobi and Jamie Hicks Sr. took one area of the woods. John Mark Byers and an officer who had stayed behind, Officer Moore, took another area. And John Mark Byers' 13-year-old son, Ryan Byers, set out with several of his friends into a third area searching. That group of teenagers, as they were searching,
00:48:01
Speaker
thought that they heard a rustling in the grass, which kind of freaked them out. And then they heard what to them sounded like a gunshot followed by five large splashes. And of course they're thoroughly creeped out and scared. They came running out of the woods. They ran into John Mark Byers and Officer Moore.
00:48:28
Speaker
and told them what they had heard. But John Mark Byers and the officer had also heard the, I'm gonna use air quotes around it, gunshot sound as well. But they thought that it sounded like an engine backfiring. Okay, but that doesn't explain the splashing sounds. That sounds like they're throwing things into the water, people into the water. Right, or something. So we will get to the splashes.
00:48:56
Speaker
But in terms of the engine backfiring, that could have easily come from someone along the road. And this is what I'm saying. This Robin Hood Hills, it is a wooded area. It is a place that would probably be treacherous to
00:49:12
Speaker
try to navigate in the dark because of the bodies of water and different things like that. But it wasn't so far removed from civilization. I mean, you had the Mayfield Apartments not too far away, right? You have a road that's not too far away. So Officer Moore and John Mark Byers are thinking, well, an engine could have backfired from somebody along the road.
00:49:37
Speaker
Or it could have come from a truck that might be at the Blue Beacon truck wash, which was also only a few hundred yards away from the area where the boys were last spotted. So they don't really look into that beyond. Right. Okay. Yeah. They just kind of were like, well, it kind of sounded like an engine backfiring to me.
00:49:59
Speaker
At some point after midnight, the families who were continually coming up empty-handed decided to go home and try their best to sleep what little they could before meeting up again the next day to search alongside law enforcement. Okay. It was the next day
00:50:20
Speaker
when the discovery was made. The search by Crittenden County search and rescue resumed around 8 a.m. on Thursday, May 6th. Law enforcement made a shoulder to shoulder chain through the wooded area, but they spotted nothing initially.
00:50:43
Speaker
Several officers had crossed. Remember how I said there was the 10 mile bayou with the drainage pipe? And then there was another body of water beyond that?
00:50:54
Speaker
So several officers on the morning of the 6th had crossed the drainage pipe in the bayou and had gone on to the other side. It's an area called Turtle Hill Woods, and it's an area that was not searched the night before. Well, at least we believe no one the night before had crossed that pipe because that would have been dangerous to do in the dark.
00:51:20
Speaker
So they are at the second body of water, which is a little canal, and they're searching around that area. And they were just about to leave Maggie. They had gone back and forth so many times and had seen nothing that they were just about to cross the area off of their list, satisfied that they had searched it thoroughly at roughly 1.15 PM.
00:51:46
Speaker
Juvenile parole officer Steve Jones, though other reports say the discovery was made by Detective Mike Allen, spotted a black shoe floating in the muddy murky canal. Oh my god. So I wonder if that was the splash. It, hmm, we'll talk about it when we get to the theories. So law enforcement entered the water.
00:52:13
Speaker
That's when Detective Allen said his foot hit something in the water and up floated the body of Michael Moore. That was around 130. And remember he's the one in the Cub Scout uniform in the picture.
00:52:32
Speaker
Within a short time, law enforcement, Detective Ridge specifically, began a careful search of the water. But Maggie, this water was so murky that he had to lean down and swipe his arms to and fro trying to feel something. You couldn't see anything below the immediate surface. And at first he came to a stick
00:53:00
Speaker
that upon moving to the touch, he's like, well, obviously this isn't a tree growing out of the water, right? If it's moving. So he pulls up the stick and wound around the stick was a young boy's T-shirt that was turned inside out. Then he found more sticks.
00:53:25
Speaker
with more articles of clothing wound around the stick, all turned inside out. So were these sticks completely submerged in the water? They were. So it was as though someone had taken the clothes, wrapped them around the stick, and stuck the stick down in the mud so that the clothes wouldn't float downstream. Within a short time, law enforcement had located the body of all three boys.
00:53:56
Speaker
27 feet downstream from Michael Moore's body, they found the body of Stevie Branch. And five more feet downstream, they found Christopher Byers body. The three boys were all pulled out of the water and put onto the banks of the canal as they were found. All three were found naked.
00:54:23
Speaker
their wrists were tied to their ankles. So right wrist to right ankle, left wrist to left ankle. Their clothing, it seemed, had been removed from them as shown by the fact that all of the clothes were inside out. Are you going to tell me? Can you tell me now or will you tell me later? Were they dead before they were thrown into the water?
00:54:55
Speaker
They were not from what the autopsy shows. There were more obvious injuries on two of the boys. The first body that they found, Michael Moore, the one that was found more upstream, had the least injuries, though he was the only boy with bruising under the ligatures, seeming to indicate that he had fought trying to get out of them.
00:55:25
Speaker
When Stevie was pulled from the water next, it looked as though the left side of his face had been beaten and he had many small cuts on his body, but nothing Maggie compared to Christopher's injuries. In addition to the many small cuts and bruises on his face,
00:55:55
Speaker
It appeared as though Christopher had been castrated. What? His testicles were missing and his penis had been skinned. Oh. While some officers were searching the canal where the bodies were found, simultaneously other officers were manning boats in that 10 mile bayou, dragging it, looking for clues.
00:56:24
Speaker
A brief time after the boys were found, the Bayou boats reported back that they too had found something. Two bikes, which they lay on the draining pipe. One bike, new and bright red, was the bike Stevie's grandfather had just bought for him.
00:56:47
Speaker
And the other bike spray painted several times. The last time green was Michael Moore's bike that had been handed down to him from his sister Dawn. And he had spray painted it to look more like a boy's bike. So chief inspector Gary Gitchell handled the scene.
00:57:06
Speaker
and he actually called for sandbags to be brought in to divert the water so that the area where the boys were found would be further inspected for evidence. That's a good idea. Yes, it was a great idea. In addition to the two bikes and the bodies of the three boys, remember how I said like all the sticks with clothing? They found Michael Moore's blue Boy Scout shirt.
00:57:37
Speaker
and his Cub Scout cap. They found his blue pants as well. They found a white polka dot shirt, a black and white striped shirt, and two pair of blue jeans. So they found all of their shirts and pants. They found a pair of white tennis shoes.
00:57:59
Speaker
a pair of black tennis shoes with purple insides. One of those shoes had laces still threaded through it and a second pair of black tennis shoes. So they also found all the boys shoes, but they found only one sock and one pair of underwear. Hmm. Now notice I mentioned that one shoe still had its laces threaded through.
00:58:29
Speaker
Most of the shoelaces were missing from the shoes, which made sense because remember how I said the boys' wrists and ankles were tied? They had been tied for the most part with the shoelaces from their own shoes.
00:58:49
Speaker
which means that to me, it doesn't seem as though these murders were premeditated. Oh, yeah, because then they would have had their own bonding. Exactly. Right. And how would they have known that these boys were going to be in the woods at that time, unless they made, you know, planned a meeting with them there. But then again, like you said, if it were premeditated, they would have brought their own bindings. So it does seem more of a spontaneous crime.
00:59:16
Speaker
Now, I said that the boys were, for the most part, tied with shoelaces from their own shoes. And I said, for the most part, for two reasons. First is that, as reported by Bob Ruff in his Truth and Justice podcast series on this case, evidence shows that one of the bindings actually wasn't a shoestring. It was a piece of string.
00:59:47
Speaker
instead of a shoelace. But we still don't know where the string came from. And the second reason I said, for the most part, is because I feel like there would be an automatic assumption that Michael was bound using Michael's shoelaces, Stevie was bound by Stevie's shoelaces, and Christopher was bound by Christopher's. But we know that this is also not true.
01:00:11
Speaker
So if you remember the different pairs of shoes that I said were found. There were two black pairs and one white pair. Exactly. So four black shoelaces and two white ones. But both Christopher's left wrist and Stevie Branch's left wrist were bound by white shoelaces.
01:00:35
Speaker
But each of their right wrists were bound with black laces. So let's say Stevie Branch had the white tennis shoes. Then if he were bound by his own, both of his wrists would be bound with a white shoelace. But it wasn't. Christopher had a white shoelace and a black one. Stevie Branch had a white shoelace and a black one. Michael Moore was the only one with two black, though only one of his was a shoelace.
01:01:05
Speaker
Right. Because one had string. Exactly. As testified at trial was black string. So the one shoe that still had laces intact, the black with the purple interior had belonged to Christopher Byers. So you can see the shoelaces that each one was that was used to tie up each of the boys was not his own shoelaces. At least one of them wasn't.
01:01:30
Speaker
So I know that I'm not supposed to, well I guess that's when we get to theories, but to me this seems...
01:01:41
Speaker
very similar, not similar, because they're very different, but I'm getting the same vibe as the full, my last, or my first full length Patreon episode where I covered the people that were, the Jehovah's Witnesses that were murdered. Lily Lidd murders. Yes. This is kind of giving me the same kind of vibe.
01:02:09
Speaker
Yeah, we will talk and, you know, because they were interested in the occult. Hmm. So we will compare then once we start talking about these theories. OK, so while the scene doesn't say much other than that, this was likely a crime of opportunity because, you know, as I mentioned before, whoever did it hadn't brought their own bindings.
01:02:36
Speaker
It does show me, at least in my mind, this is my hypothesis, that the boys were not stripped and tied up one by one. Because if that had happened, then the boys would likely have been tied up using their own shoelaces. Right. Right. Because if I'm, you know, tying up Michael Moore and I'm doing it one by one, then you'd think I would have used that person's shoelaces to do it.
01:03:06
Speaker
And it makes me think that there definitely had to be more than one person because in my mind that would be like I'm telling Billy Joe to strip and then I'm like tossing her clothes to you and I'm telling the next one to do the same thing and you're like undoing the shoelaces and then just tossing them back to me as you get to them. Yes, I would completely agree with that because it seems to me that
01:03:37
Speaker
Either they're all attacked at once or they were all somehow incapacitated before the shoelaces were removed. And I don't think, in my mind, that just one person could do that. Unfortunately, though, Maggie, evidence that would give us any clear answers is virtually non-existent.
01:04:00
Speaker
But that doesn't mean that nothing was found. So during the investigation, we will explore these in depth in our next episode. One foreign hair was found in the white shoelace, binding Christopher's left ankle. A green polyester fiber was found on the Cub Scout cap. A red rayon fiber was located near the bodies.
01:04:25
Speaker
and blue candle wax was found on Spooky Branch's shirt. Oh, which again kind of points to like some type of ritual. That's what many people think. During the autopsy, even more details came to light concerning the injuries that the boys had sustained in their final hours. And this gets to your question that you asked about whether they were alive when they were put in the water.
01:04:51
Speaker
All three of the boys were found to have multiple skull fractures. Michael Moore had bruises on his face and he actually, they found a string of fabric clenched in his hand. The right side of his skull had fractures, but his cause of death was drowning.
01:05:16
Speaker
Stevie Branch was covered in cuts and bruises, many of which were visible on the left side of his face. And he had bruises and scratches also on his right side as well as elsewhere on his body. The base of his skull was fractured with hemorrhages on both the left and the right side. He also had water in his lungs. Christopher had multiple skull fractures on the left of his head.
01:05:47
Speaker
His cause of death was multiple injuries and drowning. So this means that the boys were still alive when they were put in the water. And then I keep going back to the splashes. I know, I know.
01:06:06
Speaker
And this fact that they were still alive has led many people to wonder if they were first beaten and maybe knocked unconscious, maybe before they were stripped, and then that the killer or killers tied them up after they were stripped, you know, so they couldn't swim when and if they came to, and then they threw them into the water.
01:06:32
Speaker
I really hope that they were just unconscious through. Oh my God, it's so horrible. I know. Of course, this would all, this is what I want you to have in mind. This would all have to be taking place during daylight hours. Many people believe that the crime took place between 6 45 and 8 p.m.
01:07:00
Speaker
Wow. Because right after that everyone's coming into the woods looking for them. They would have seen somebody in the woods or exit the woods. Oh yeah and it's the summertime so it's getting darker later. Yeah and so all of this was remember in an area that is not that far away from housing and from people this area
01:07:25
Speaker
One home was less than a football field away. Oh, so if they just looked out their back door, they could have potentially seen something. Yeah. So either whoever did this was from the area and they knew like, nobody's going to come through here. Nobody's going to see me do this. Or they were in a mindset that they just didn't care. Which is scary. Yes.
01:07:53
Speaker
So part of the problem with this case, Maggie, is that from the get-go, the discovery of the bodies, the beginning investigation was plagued with so many problems. It appeared, because most of the evidence was submerged in water, that it would be hard to identify much of anything by way of DNA or clues, bringing a perpetrator to the crime.
01:08:19
Speaker
investigators said that it appeared as though the banks had been wiped clean of footprints. See, and this is why I could never commit a serious crime because I don't even know, I didn't even know that was a thing that you could do that. Did not even know that. Right. You would think that somehow, I don't know, there'd be swipe marks or something. I don't know. Yeah. The detectives did find on one bank, just one, two footprints.
01:08:49
Speaker
made in the mud, made by what appeared to be tennis shoes, like a left foot and a right foot, that they were able to preserve via plaster casts. Oh, good. And they found what appeared to be a thumbprint in the mud. Now, again, what they found that they have preserved is just what they think is a left and a right foot, which would only show one person.
01:09:20
Speaker
Unfortunately, the bodies themselves, if they held any clue to the perpetrator or perpetrators, were not able to provide many answers. You see the bodies had been, if you remember what I said, pulled from the water and placed on the banks as they were found.
01:09:38
Speaker
And the first body, Michael Moore's, was found around 1 30. But the coroner wasn't even called until almost four o'clock. Oh, so they could have already been in the process of
01:09:55
Speaker
major decomposition at this point. That's exactly right. In this afternoon sun, in the heat, which was already palpable, by the time the coroner arrived, fly larva was already in their nostrils and their eyes, and it made it nearly impossible now to confirm what state of rigor mortis they were in. So the coroner is, you know,
01:10:20
Speaker
basically at a loss and trying to deem a specific time of death because the heat had made their bodies decay so quickly. Further plaguing the investigation is the fact that some of the collected evidence was stored in actual grocery store paper bags.
01:10:42
Speaker
So not, you know, there could be any sort of contamination in those bags. And luminal tests that would check for the presence of blood at the scene weren't performed until six days later. Okay, that makes zero sense. And I think it just shows this level of crime was not something that this town was equipped to handle.
01:11:11
Speaker
And it was a really good idea. Oh, I know he had that really good idea with the bags. Yep. Same bags. It was just all downhill from there. Yep. So at this point, not much evidence could lead investigators in a particular direction.
01:11:27
Speaker
But within just a few days of the discovery of the bodies, Chief Inspector Gary Gitchell made a public announcement that they were exploring several possibilities as to the perpetrator and his or her motive, one of which was related to cult activity. And remember those rumors. Because that area. Yep. Yep. To me, though, in the research, I mean, I get we have the blue candle wax.
01:11:55
Speaker
But there wasn't really, other than that, anything in the crime scene or the evidence itself that seems obviously cult related. I just think that was like a major go-to in the early 90s. Yes. But there are some things that I think can be gleaned from the information that we have.
01:12:18
Speaker
So though there are some who would disagree with me, that's okay. I respect your opinion. And I'll discuss all those next week. In my personal opinion, I'm with you Maggie. I don't think that one person could have committed this crime. I think it would have been really hard. Yeah. I feel like
01:12:43
Speaker
if there had only been one person that the other two boys would likely have run once somebody began hurting one of them. I mean, unless they chose to stay and try to fight off the attacker. Or they were tied up, maybe. Yeah, but how does one person tie all three of them up? Tie up three. Right.
01:13:01
Speaker
Without one running away exactly and so even if you know let's say an attacker if the one person starts attacking the first boy Okay, two might stay and try to take down this attacker But once the attacker gets a second one that third boy. I know would try to run away and get help So I'm gonna say we're threatening them like I have a gun. I'll shoot you if you run maybe I
01:13:27
Speaker
It's just, you know, maybe they did try to run and that's why some injuries were worse than others. I mean, maybe, but again, little kids are fast. That's true. You know, so I just don't know if you'd be able to catch up with all of them. Like in my head, unless there were someone else to subdue the others while one was being beaten, I don't, I don't think it's feasible. Hmm.
01:13:54
Speaker
Some people have argued that maybe Michael had tried to run and that's why his body was found so much further upstream. Because remember, Stevie and Christopher's bodies are found only five feet apart. Yeah, Michael's body is 27 feet away from Stevie. Was there like a current there? I mean, there was.
01:14:19
Speaker
but not enough to maybe move that forward. Right. And so that's why some people think, well, maybe Michael tried to run and that's why he was found so far away from the other ones. But even that detail doesn't make much sense to me because why would the killer or killers have then caught him, brought him back to be near the other two, because we know the killer had to have done that because Michael was bound with shoelaces that weren't his own, only to then take Michael's body back upstream to put him in the water.
01:14:49
Speaker
Unless Michael was the last one to die and he ran and the shoelaces were you know already used by that point except those two and that's when he caught him was upstream a little bit. Who had the just regular string? Michael Moore is one who had one shoelace and the string.
01:15:13
Speaker
So it could have been the killer, you know, is in the process of maybe picking up the shoelaces. Michael gets away and he has one in his hand and just has to use something in his pocket or something like that. It could be. There was like several inches between the knot that was around the wrist and the one that was around their ankle, but I just don't know
01:15:40
Speaker
Even if at that point, if he only had one shoestring, you know, tying one wrist to one ankle, I don't think he would have been able to run that far being bound before getting caught. No, I'm saying like the killer would have maybe just had the shoestring in his hand and Michael's running and he catches up with him and uses the one shoestring he had on him. And then realized he didn't have the other shoestring, but he has a string in his pocket. Maybe, maybe that's it.
01:16:10
Speaker
I don't know. I know. And I also feel like in my head, there was more than one attacker because of the skull fractures that happened on both sides of the boy's heads. Like to me, it would make more sense if there was one person and say that person were right handed, right? Because like, if you're right handed, you're probably going to swing a weapon from the left to the right.
01:16:35
Speaker
Yes. Which would injure, if the kid is facing you, the right side of the head or the left side of the kid is kind of running away. So I think it would be interesting to examine whether the blows to their heads came from the front or behind.
01:16:55
Speaker
Because obviously you'd be able to tell that. And if one of them was from the front right and another one from the front left, or if one of them was from the back left and another from the back right, then that to me would seem to indicate that one perpetrator was right handed and another one was left handed. I definitely think there was more than one killer. Do you think it would be feasible to have been committed by only one person?
01:17:23
Speaker
I think it could have been. I think it would have been much more difficult. I'm anxious to see how my opinions change in part two. Yes, once you hear the theories. Next week, we will explore all the evolving stories law enforcement were told.
01:17:44
Speaker
and the theories they explored about who might have committed such a horrendous crime. Everyone from a man seen later that evening covered in blood and mud to a pair of young men who moved across the country right after the murders.
01:18:01
Speaker
to the three local teens who were in 1994 ultimately convicted of the crime and sentenced to either life in prison for two of the teenagers or sentenced to death.
01:18:15
Speaker
the ruling for the teen seen as the leader of the group. Now, you may be thinking, Allison, you cover unsolved cases on your podcast, but you just said that three teenagers were convicted for the murders of Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore less than a year after their murders. This story must be over. Case closed. Oh, sleuthounds, the story and the whirling accusations
01:18:43
Speaker
For so many who we met in this week's episode, we're only just beginning.
01:18:51
Speaker
Again, please like and join our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast to continue the conversation and see images related to this episode. As always, follow us on Twitter, at casescoffee, on Instagram, at coffee cases podcast, or you can always email us suggestions to coffeeandcasespodcastatgmail.com. Please tell your friends about our podcast so more people can be reached to possibly help bring some closure to these families. Don't forget to rate our show and leave us a comment as well. We hope to hear from you soon.
01:19:20
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.
01:19:43
Speaker
The previous episode was created using Zencaster. Use the coupon code linked in our show notes to start podcasting today.