Show Notes
In this sixth episode of Crooked Tree, Kristin Rich and Paul Day dive even deeper into the chaotic day the bodies of Michael Moore, Christopher Byers, and Stevie Branch were discovered in the unnamed creek. What began as a missing persons case instantly transformed into a high-profile triple homicide when West Memphis PD assigned the ominous case number 93-05-0666. The hosts examine the crime scene in detail: the mysterious “slicked-off bank,” footprints, a fingerprint left by someone standing in the Unnamed Creek, unusual sticks (one with a shirt wrapped around it), the children’s clothing, and the striking absence of blood at the scene. They discuss critical evidence that was collected—and the frustrating items that weren’t, including sticks, a floating glass bottle, and more.
Kristin and Paul also cover the immediate police response: rapid ACIC broadcasts with sensitive (and sometimes inaccurate) details, appeals for help on transients and hitchhikers, early rumors of devil worship in Robin Hood Hills, and the media frenzy that exploded almost instantly. From neighborhood tips and the bloody man at Bojangles to the pressure mounting on investigators, this episode captures the frenzied first hours and days as the case captured national attention.
A gripping look at how a small-town investigation spiraled into one of the most infamous cases of the 1990s. New listeners and longtime followers alike will find fresh insights and thought-provoking questions.
Tune in for “Case No. 666.”
More from Crooked Tree: A West Memphis 3 Podcast
In this Q&A episode of Crooked Tree: A West Memphis 3 Podcast, victim advocates and researchers Paul Day and Kristin Rich dig into detailed listener questions drawn from the case files surrounding the May 1993 murders of Christopher Byers, Stevie Branch, and Michael Moore.
On May 10, 1993—the day that never ends—Damien Echols leaves a grueling interrogation with Detectives Ridge and Sudbury and walks straight into a polygraph with Detective Bill Durham. What follows is a tense, unrecorded session of pretest questions, ten carefully crafted polygraph queries, and a high-pressure post-test interview that would haunt the West Memphis Three case for decades.
In this pivotal episode of Crooked Tree, forensic geologist and victim advocate Paul Day and criminologist and victim advocate Kristin Rich take a meticulous, slow-crawl look at one of the most consequential moments in the West Memphis Three investigation: the May 10, 1993, interview of Damien Echols at the West Memphis Police Department.
In this episode of Crooked Tree, hosts Kristin Rich and Paul Day turn their focus to Murray Farris, an 18-year-old West Memphis resident whose name appears on Jerry Driver’s list of possible occult-linked individuals. On the evening of May 9, 1993—hours after Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin were questioned—Farris walks into the West Memphis Police Department.
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."