Show Notes
In this deep-dive episode, Kristin Rich and Paul Day—victim advocates for two of the families—break down the critical hours between the boys leaving school and their disappearance on May 5, 1993. Using original West Memphis Police Department door-to-door canvassing notes, neighborhood interviews, tips, newspaper articles, and compiled timelines, they reconstruct where Christopher Byers, Michael Moore, and Stevie Branch were playing that afternoon.
The hosts walk listeners through a detailed, chronological timeline of verified and probable sightings, complete with a custom map (posted in their Facebook group and on X) showing key locations in the Holiday Gardens neighborhood, cut-throughs, and the path toward Robin Hood Hills. They analyze who saw the boys (and when), when the three were together versus separated, Michael’s solo playtime, Stevie’s mysterious window around 4–5 PM, and the final confirmed movements near Devil’s Den just before 6:30 PM.
Paul and Kristin discuss authentic sightings from neighbors who knew the boys by name, evaluate doubtful or conflicting reports, and highlight lingering questions—like how and why the boys regrouped at 5:50 PM. They also share tips on how to follow along with the actual police notes (PDF available in their groups) and the officers’ handwritten observations.
Whether you’re new to the case or a longtime researcher, this episode is essential armchair criminology—packed with primary source details that help map the final afternoon of the victims’ lives.
Perfect for true crime fans who love timelines, maps, and granular neighborhood canvass analysis.
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."