Episode 32: Prologue to "Where the Monsters Go," giving a quick synopsis of the case investigation

https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Black-Against-Memphis-Killers-ebook/dp/B06XVT2976/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=blood+on+black&qid=1559059428&s=gateway&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.com/Where-Monsters-Go-Against-Memphis-ebook/dp/B06XVNXCJV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=XNLYB8QUIQ7F&keywords=where+the+monsters+go&qid=1559059470&s=gateway&sprefix=where+the+monsters+go%2Caps%2C167&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.com/Case-Against-West-Memphis-Killers-ebook/dp/B07C7C4DCH/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=gary+meece&qid=1559059536&s=gateway&sr=8-3 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0753HJZ1P/?ie=UTF8&keywords=gary%20meece&qid=1559059573&ref_=sr_1_6&s=gateway&sr=8-6 https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Black-Against-Memphis-Killers-ebook/dp/B06XVT2976/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=gary+meece&qid=1559059573&s=gateway&sr=8-2   Prologue   There is the myth of the West Memphis 3 -- innocent teenagers railroaded by malicious police and prosecutors into murder convictions because of the way they dressed and the music they listened to, there being no evidence against them except the prejudices of Southern white Christians. And then there is the reality --- three criminally inclined young thugs involved in occultism who gleefully tortured three 8-year-old boys and then brought the justice system down upon them based on multiple factors, including a series of confessions, failed lie detector tests, failed alibis, eyewitness sightings and a history of violence.  The second volume in this series, following "Blood on Black," continues to examine the evidence against Jessie Misskelley Jr., Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols in the murders of Christopher Byers,  Michael Moore and Stevie Branch on May 5, 1993.     Misskelley, Baldwin and Echols met up that afternoon just outside Lakeshore Estates Trailer Park,  according to the multiple confessions of Misskelley. Echols and Baldwin were drinking beer. Misskelley had a bottle of whiskey jammed down into his pants.  Misskelley had been told the plan was to go to West Memphis and beat up some boys.  They walked about two miles into woods known as Robin Hood or Robin Hood Hills, just behind the Blue Beacon truck wash located on one of the network of service roads in West Memphis, Ark.,  where east-west Interstate 40 and north-south Interstate 55 briefly merged.   Echols knew the woods well, having lived in the nearby Mayfair Apartments, frequently walking through the area as a shortcut between his home in West Memphis and his friends in the trailer parks and having been spotted in the woods recently by an acquaintance.   Michael, Stevie and Christopher Byers, all second graders at Weaver Elementary School,  lived south of the woods and,  like other children in the area, visited the woods frequently to play. That afternoon they were spotted heading toward Robin Hood around 6,  close to the time their killers entered from the north.   When Echols heard the children approaching, he began making sounds to lure them in, while Misskelley and Baldwin hid.  Then, according to the confessions of Misskelley, and indicated by the blood patterns at the scene and other evidence, the teens jumped the 8-year-olds, beat them viciously, stripped them of their clothes, mutilated Stevie's face, castrated Christopher,  sexually molested them, hogtied them and dumped them in a muddy ditch, where Michael and Stevie drowned. Christopher already had bled out from his wounds.  Misskelley quickly left the scene, which was scrupulously cleaned up.  Echols was spotted walking along the service road near the crime scene later that evening in muddy clothes.   After frantic parents sparked an extensive search for the missing children, their bodies were discovered the next afternoon by law enforcement officers. Tales of strange rituals held in the woods by mysterious strangers spread quickly among the crowd gathered near the crime scene.  As detectives and other officers gathered information and talked to witnesses or potential suspects, Echols quickly drew the scrutiny of officers.  Besides