Show Notes
On May 5, 1993, in West Memphis, Arkansas, three eight-year-old boys—Christopher Byers, Stevie Branch, and Michael Moore—did what kids do on a beautiful spring afternoon: they went to school, came home, and headed out to play. They never returned.
What started as an ordinary Wednesday in the tight-knit Holiday Gardens neighborhood turned into one of the most haunting and divisive true crime cases in American history. The next day, the boys were found murdered in a drainage ditch, their bodies bound and left in water. Three local teenagers—Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley—were arrested, tried, and convicted. But decades later, many believe they were wrongfully convicted, and the real killer(s) have never been brought to justice.
In the premiere episode of Crooked Tree, criminologist and victim advocate Kristin Rich and her research partner, geologist and victim advocate Paul Day, take listeners back to the very beginning. Told from the victims’ perspective, this episode reconstructs the final hours of Christopher, Stevie, and Michael through the eyes of their families. You’ll hear how the boys spent their last afternoon—riding bikes, watching Muppet Babies, singing and dancing, and simply being kids on a perfect spring day.
Kristen and Paul, who have spent over nine years deeply immersed in the case files, evidence, and witness statements—and have been formally asked by two of the victims’ families to advocate on their behalf—bring fresh eyes and a victim-centered approach to this tragic story. They don’t shy away from the tough questions: Why didn’t Stevie come home at 4:30? Where were the boys heading at 6:30 when they were last seen riding north? And how did three well-tracked kids simply vanish from a dense neighborhood full of eyes and ears?
Whether you’re new to the West Memphis Three case or have followed it for years, Crooked Tree offers new perspectives, deep dives into the evidence, and a commitment to the victims and their families that sets it apart.
"This is the case that keeps me up at night. The one that has broken my heart over and over again. The one I want to see resolved." — Kristin Rich
Join Kristin and Paul as they search for answers, honor the memory of three innocent boys, and fight for justice that has been denied for over 30 years. New episodes drop regularly.
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If you have information about the murders of Christopher Byers, Stevie Branch, or Michael Moore, please reach out to the podcast.
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."