History Daily - Saturday Matinee: American Scandal

Episode Date: January 3, 2026

On today’s Saturday Matinee, we unpack one of most horrifying cases of misjustice that our country has seen- when a string of murders are wrongfully pinned on three young men, who later become known as "The West Memphis Three". Link to American Scandal: wondery.com/shows/american-scandal Support the show! Join Into History for ad-free listening and more. History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.

I'm struggling with how to write this intro. I have two objectives, each at odds in terms of tone. One, I want to wish you a happy new year, but two, I also want to introduce you to one of the most horrifying stories of injustice I've covered. I'm finding it tough to pull off smooth segways, so I'm just going to stop trying. Instead, we're going to do this in two parts. Part one. Happy New Year from me and everyone behind the scenes here at History Daily. I want to thank you for listening and making this show part of your daily routine. You know, our world is changing so fast, and not all of it for the better. So it's wonderful to know that there's a constant out there, and I'm glad history daily can be that for you. And I want to make sure you know that I feel the same, knowing you're out there listening every day. So here's to 2026, and may the change that comes sweep away your discomforts, and the things you treasure remain with you always.

All right. Part two. Some of us will remember the satanic panic of the 1980s, a romeathings, a rome. of unsubstantiated claims that secret networks of Satanists were engaging in mass ritual abuse and murder, especially of children. Metal music and role-playing games were targeted as corrupting influences, and thousands of individuals were suspected of horrible crimes. Today, it's all a bit of a joke. Who really thinks Dungeons and Dragons is evil? Who can't see the baseless moral panic behind it all? But for three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, these plainly ridiculous notions became deadly serious,

is when they found themselves blamed for the murder of three other young boys in 1993. Outrageous suspicion, false confession, invented testimony, and a blind pursuit of warped justice led to these teenagers' convictions in an 18-year fight for freedom. On today's Saturday matinee, we're bringing you the first episode in a four-part series on the West Memphis 3 from one of my other podcast's American Scandal. I hope you enjoy. And while you're listening, be sure to search for and follow American Scandal. We put a link in the show notes to make it the video.

easy for you. American scandal uses dramatizations that are based on true events. Some elements, including dialogue, might be invented, but everything is based on historical research. This episode contains descriptions of murder, violence against children, and discussions of suicide. Listener discretion is advised. It's the afternoon of May 6, 1993, in West Memphis, Arkansas, a small town on the border with Tennessee. Police Sergeant Mike Allen swat at the mosquitoes, swarming his neck. Squinting into the sunlight, he looks down at a wide stream that flows lazily along a tree-line gully. Alan has been out all day looking for three missing eight-year-old boys. They've been gone since yesterday evening, and fears are growing for their safety. The search has now taken

officers to a small wooded area near the interstate, known as Robin Hood Hills. It's a popular spot with children who are often seen riding bikes, building forts, and playing games among the trees. But today, the area doesn't seem so innocent, because one of the other officers in the search team gives out a shout and points downstream. There's something black bobbing on the surface, and from this distance, it's hard to tell, but it looks like a shoe. Sergeant Allen is the nearest, and he doesn't hesitate to wait into the water. Splashing over to the object, he grabs it and then realizes with horror that it's attached to the naked body of a small boy. Shocked, Alan calls out to his superior, Detective Bryn Ridge. Oh, no, God.

I found one of them. Alan eases the body to the surface, his breath catching. Yeah, yeah, it's Michael Moore. Ridge splashes over through the water. I'm coming, let me see. Uh-oh, oh, is he tied up? Yeah, looks like with shoelaces or something. Jesus, poor kid.

Ridge looks around the creek. Well, if one of them's there, it's a good bet the others are, too. Yeah. Sergeant Allen nods toward the bank. You know, when I was waiting by the shore just now, I felt something bumped my foot. Might be nothing, but all right, I'll check it out. Was it over here? Yeah, yeah, just a little farther. This water is dark as molasses. I can't see a thing.

Detective Ridge drops to his knees and crawls a few feet downstream, feeling his way with his hands. All right, got something here. It feels like a stick. Ridge yanks a branch out of the mud, but there's something wrapped around it. Ridge peels it free. It's a kid's shirt. Is this his? There's something else here, too. It looks like a hat. Yeah, that's part of his Cubs Cout uniform. Oh, God, all right. What should we do next?

Look for the others? No, let's get Michael out first. We can't leave him here just floating like that. You okay to grab his legs? Ridge slipped his hands beneath the boy's arms, and together the police officer. officers lift the boy out of the water. All right, nice and gentle. Let's just lay him here on the bank. They lower the boy to the muddy shore, now one chooses lip. What are we going to say to the parents?

Well, let's leave that to the chief, all right? I just can't think of what kind of animal could do this. Yeah, but, you know, for now, let's just find the other two. By the end of the afternoon, three small bodies lie on the shore of the muddy creek. Michael Moore, Stevie Branch, and Christopher Byers were all stripped, stabbed, and mutilated before they were placed in the water. But who did this and why are mysteries to the police officers on the scene? Their search for answers will destroy three other lives and bring the small town of West Memphis down with them. From Wonder You, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is American Scandal. On the night of May 5, 1993, the tiny police department in West Memphis, Arkansas was swamped with distress calls. Three local eight-year-old boys had gone missing,

and no one had a clue where they'd gone. Michael Moore, Stevie Branch, and Christopher Byers were second-grade boys from ordinary blue-collar families. They were best friends, members of a local Cub Scout troop, and as inseparable in life as they would be in death. The savagery of their murders shocked their local community. Located on the eastern edge of Arkansas just across the Mississippi River from Tennessee, West Memphis was the kind of town where everyone seemed to know everyone else, and they all wanted to help find the little boys' killer. But with a lack of hard evidence and limited resources, local police would struggle to resolve the case, and as pressure mounted, they would cast around for clues with increasing desperation, beginning to entertain any

theory, no matter how wild were unsubstantiated. Misled by local gossip, false evidence, and their own preconceptions, investigators would zero in on three teenagers as their primary suspects. There was little evidence tying them to the crime, but that didn't seem to matter. Someone had to pay for what had been done to the murdered boys, and three unpopular outsiders seem like the perfect culprits. This is episode one. The Devil comes to West Memphis. It's May 6, 1993 at the police station in West Memphis, Arkansas. Chief of Detective's Gary Gitchell holds up in a

his office. It's been several hours since the bodies of Michael Moore, Stevie Branch, and Christopher Byers were found in a stream near the interstate on the outskirts of town, and Gitchell has barely had a moment to think since. He strokes his thick mustache. He's been on the force more than 10 years, but he's never dealt with a case like this before. Things like this just don't happen in West Memphis. As Gitchell considers his next move, the telephone on his desk rings, jolting him out of his days. Yeah, Gitchell. Hey, Chief, this is Jim Tucker. Governor, what can I do for you, sir? Well, we just got word about what happened to those three boys. Awful, awful tragedy. I'll be talking to the families individually, of course, but I wanted to let you know that your entire

town has my deepest condolences. You're all in my prayers. Well, thank you, sir. I appreciate that. We're doing everything we can to catch the person who did this. Sure you are. You have any leads? Well, it's early days, and we're still waiting on the autops. reports, but with the lack of blood on the scene, we're guessing that maybe they were just placed in this stream rather than killed there. Well, please know that you have my full support. I was thinking of sending down the state police to give you a hand, actually. Hmm.

Now, I see, sir. They might have a little more experience handling cases like this. You don't get too many murders down there in West Memphis. Well, I appreciate the offer, sir, and I'll be sure to let you know if we need any state help. But for the time being, I think we got things handled on her own down here. Well, Chief Gitchell, this is. It's a major story. I understand that, sir.

And reporters from all over the country are going to be knocking on your door. I just, I want to make sure you're ready. We're ready. We can handle it, Governor. Because we can't afford any mistakes for the family's sake. They deserve justice. Yes, sir, and we're going to give it to them. All right, but, you know, I feel a lot better if you made use of all the resources at your disposal. And we feel strongly about solving this on our own terms.

It's our town. So you're telling me no. Well, I'm asking you to give us a chance. sir. All right. I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'll send a few of my guys down there, a few, and just solely to assist, you will still be in charge. Let them give you a hand, do some interviews, but it'll all be your call. How's that sound? Sounds okay, sir. You won't regret it. Well, I better not. Just make sure you catch this monster. Despite Gary Gitchell's show of confidence, his investigators don't have much to go on. They've drained the stream where the bodies were found

and recovered two of the boys' bicycles. But they haven't found any more of their clothing or the murder weapon. If there was anything else in the gully, the dark water seemed to have washed it away. But Gitchell is not deterred. Despite the lack of physical evidence, he's sure his men can still find the killer. It's just going to take some good old-fashioned detective work. So after his conversation with Governor Jim Tucker, Chief of Detective's Gary Gitchell's next move is to reach out to the local people for help.

West Memphis always used to be a close-knit community, a place where people left their front doors unlocked. But that seems to have changed almost overnight. Since news of the murders broke, neighbors have started looking at each other differently. The usual smiles and friendly greetings have been replaced with paranoid stares and whispered gossip. Much of that gossip soon reaches the police. Local residents flood investigators with every stray suspicion that crosses their mind, from the well-meaning to the absurd. But it takes a lot of police hours to tell the good information from the bad,

and the departments lacks procedures only make things worse. Some detectives record their interviews properly. Others make handwritten notes but leave them unsigned and undated, and a few hardly document their work at all. But the chaos goes beyond substandard record-keeping. One tip directs police toward the Blue Beacon Truck Wash, a small business located not far from where the victims were found. Someone reports a suspicious white van in the parking lot, and that sets the

police off investigating every van they seen, no matter what color it is. Soon the media catches on as well, and the truck wash becomes a circus. No useful information about the murderer is ever found, but plenty of time and effort is wasted. And with the mountain of tips yet to deliver a useful lead and detectives still waiting on the autopsy reports, all the police can do is interview the only witnesses they have, the deceased boys' families. They talk to all the parents of the victims, and on the afternoon of May 8th, they called John Mark Byers into the police station. The stepfather of eight-year-old Christopher, he's become the honorary spokesman for the victim's families in the last few days, and he has plenty to tell detectives. Well over six feet tall and stocky, even sitting down,

Byers cuts an intimidating figure. He adjusts his camouflage t-shirt as Chief Gitchell starts asking Buyer some basic questions about himself. Never shy, Byers answers at length. He tells the detective he's 36 years old and self-employed. He's been married before with two kids of his own who live with their mother in Missouri. He hasn't seen them since Christmas. He works as a jeweler, but explains that his job options are limited by a brain tumor. And because of this medical issue, he's on welfare and money is tight. Gitchell nods and jots down notes on a pad. He then turns the conversation to May 5th, the day Christopher and the other boys disappeared. He wants a full account from Byers about where he was and when.

Byers nods and then launches into his story. He's articulate and at times filled with emotion. He says it was a hectic day. That afternoon he had a doctor's appointment and returned home around 3 p.m. when he was supposed to let Christopher into the house after school. But the boy didn't show up on time. Byers figured then that Christopher was just out playing with friends as usual. He was frustrated, but he couldn't wait around.

Christopher's older brother, 13-year-old Ryan, had to give evidence as a witness in a traffic case. So around 4 o'clock, Byers left the house to drive the older brother to court. After that, he drove across the river into Memphis to pick up his wife from work. By the time they were back in West Memphis, it was close to five.

And that's when Byers saw Christopher out in the street playing on his skateboard. He was lying on it face down, rolling back and forth, and laughing with some friends. Seeing this, Byers grew few. He stopped the car, got out, and dragged Christopher off the street. When they got back home, he spanked his steps on two or three times with a belt for playing around in the streets when he should have been home.

When telling this part of the story, Byers becomes emotional. He says he was only trying to keep Christopher safe to make sure he came straight home from school and didn't run off without permission. Now, of course, he wishes he could take the spanking back. Byers looks down to his shoes. Gitchell gently urges him to continue his story. And taking a deep breath, Byers says that after punishing Christopher, you ordered the boy to clean up the carport to make up for what he did.

Then, at around 5.30, Byers hopped back in his car and left. He had to pick up Ryan from the courthouse. When they got back, they were going out to a restaurant for dinner, but once again Christopher was nowhere to be found. At first, Byers was again angry. But as the family searched the neighborhood, with each passing minute, he became more nervous and afraid. And finally, around 8 p.m., he called the police to report his stepson was missing.

When Byers has finished his story, Gitchell pats him on the shoulder and quietly sends him home. The timeline he gave may be helpful, but the rest of their conversation hasn't yielded any other clues. Interviews with the other family members proved just as uninformative, though to later observers, it will seem that detectives were wary of pushing the grieving parents too hard. The early conversations with them aren't recorded. only minimal notes are made, and none of the relatives are asked to take lie detector tests. By now, almost a week has passed since the murders, and Gitchell is starting to feel concerned. The appeal for information from locals hasn't unearthed anything useful, nor have the interviews with the families.

Making matters worse, Gitchell still doesn't have the autopsy reports. Whether it's a bureaucratic holdup or just plain incompetence, this means he doesn't have an official cause of death for the boys. It's obvious that they were stabbed, but he doesn't have precise. diagrams of the wounds, and he doesn't know if they were sexually assaulted. Given that the boys were found naked, investigators have assumed that there was some sexual element to the crime, but without the scientific reports, they don't know for certain. Things are so disorganized in the investigation that police officers outside of West Memphis start offering help. Detective Donald Bray works in the neighboring town of Marion. In May of 1993,

he's supposed to be investigating a 32-year-old local woman named Vicki Hutchinson. Hutchison. She's under suspicion of overcharging her company's credit card. But during an interview with her, Hutchison happens to mention that her eight-year-old son Aaron knew two of the boys in West Memphis, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers. She tells Detective Bray that the day before they disappeared, Michael and Christopher invited Aaron to go on a bike ride in the woods, not far from where their bodies were found. Sensing that he may have stumbled onto a potential lead in the West Memphis case, Bray changes course. He stops questioning Hutchinson. Hutchison about the credit card and starts asking about the disappearance of the three boys.

He soon learns that her son Aaron apparently saw Michael Moore talking to an unidentified man on the day he vanished. According to Aaron's story, Michael then drove off with a man from the school parking line, just hours before he was reported missing. Detective Bray takes detailed notes of everything Hutchison says, and the longer the interview goes on, the more he believes her young son Aaron might just be the key to solving the case. In May of 1993, Detective Donald Bray of the Marion Police Department is convinced he's found a promising lead in the murder case that has gripped the nation. Eager to pass along this information, he calls Chief Gary Gitchell over in West Memphis.

He tells him all about Vicki Hutchison and what her eight-year-old son Aaron claims he saw on the day of the killings. But to Bray's surprise, Gitchell isn't that receptive. He does bring the Hutchinson's end to make statements, and Aaron repeats his story about Michael Moore going off. with a strange man after school, but detectives already have their hands full dealing with the thousands of other tips they received from the public,

and they don't seem to take Aaron's evidence all that seriously. That's consistent with standard police protocol. Children are notoriously poor witnesses, and Aaron's statements contradict other evidence that suggest Michael came straight home after school. But Detective Don Bray can't shake the feeling that Aaron may know something important. So although it's not his town and not his case,

Bray starts his own unofficial investigation into the murders, and soon he gets another lead. He's at the courthouse in Marion when he bumps into a friend, a man named Jerry Driver. Driver is the county's chief juvenile probation officer. But he's also a self-proclaimed cult expert, and it turns out he has some theories of his own about the murders in West Memphis, and he's eager to tell Detective Bray. Yeah, come on in, Don. Come on. driver leads Bray into his cramped office. He hurriedly hides a plate and wipes some crumbs off his desk.

Working through lunch again, Jerry? Oh, always, you know me. But sit, please. So, these murders then? Yeah, you spoken to the folks over in West Memphis? Yeah, Gitchell, yeah, I thought I could help him out, but, man, they're barely keeping their heads above water as far as I can tell. He wasn't that interested.

Well, I'm in the same situation. I reached out to them about the clear satanic aspect of the crimes. They haven't bothered to call me back, though. Wait, Satanic, you think there's some kind of cult involvement? A triple child murder with mutilation and possible sexual assault? Yeah, it's not a normal crime. But I'm not surprised, though. I've been warning about precisely this sort of thing for years.

Yeah, I know you have. I mean, there's a new generation of criminals out here, Don. These kids, they're into some dark stuff. I've seen it. Black Magic, Dungeon the Dragons. Don't get me started on the music they all listen to. Well, you got any names, kids you think might be involved, Well, sure, I can get you a list if you want. That would be a great help, yeah.

Driver pulls a notepad out of a desk drawer, and jots down a series of names. Oh, well, here you go. If I was in charge of the investigation, this is where I'd start. One of these kids may have something to do with him. He slides a list across the table, and Bray reads out the name of the top. Damien Eccles?

Oh, he's the worst. You don't know him? The name's familiar, but no. Well, he's a high school dropout, real troublemaker. You know, he once told me he was a witch. He literally reads books written by Satanists. So if you ask me, if there's a cult at work in West Memphis, then Damien Eccles will be the ringleader.

Ringleader, huh? What does he get up to? Well, he's obviously being careful. Mostly, I just see him as little buddies down at the arcade or standing around the mall. But they'll have a clubhouse or something somewhere around here. If we find that, I reckon we'll bust this case wide open. We'll bust this case. You're not a cop, Jerry.

Well, how much do you know about the occult and Satanism? Do you know the signs we should be looking for? Bray, thanks for a moment. Well, we'll have to do this by the book, right? You understand? Yeah, of course, of course. I'm not talking about doing anything crazy. And if we learn anything, you're going to take it to the right authorities, right?

Bray sits back, a half smile on his face. Yeah, but Gitchell's not going to like it. Well, then he should have listened to us when he had the chance, shouldn't he? I mean, what's more important, protecting the feelings of the West Memphis PD or finding the monsters who did that to those kids. Jerry Driver had suspicions about Damien Eccles ever since they met. Back in 1992, the 17-year-old Eccles was arrested while attempting to elope with his girlfriend, who was two years younger than him.

It was a stormy night, and since neither of them had a car, they tried running away from home on foot. When the rain picked up, the young couple sought shelter in an abandoned mobile home, and that's where local police found them. Eccles was charged with burglary and sexual misconduct, and Jerry Driver was eventually appointed as his probation officer. But Driver took an immediate dislike to Eccles. He wore all black, listened to heavy metal music, and read about the occult in his spare time. So Driver was soon in no doubt that Eccles was a Satanist.

This was not such an unusual accusation to make. For years, the media has been obsessed about a supposed epidemic of demon-worshipping teenagers that was sweeping America. Supported by a cottage industry of self-proclaimed experts, this satanic panic had become a fixture of talk shows in the nightly news. In solemn tones, parents were warned about the slippery slope that inevitably led from black t-shirts and loud music to ritual human sacrifice. For his part, Damien Eccles knew all about driver's suspicions, and being a teenager, he actively played on them to set driver off. Unfortunately for Eccles, his jokes backfired. after shocking Driver one too many times, he was referred to a psychiatric hospital in Little Rock for treatment. But the staff there weren't as concerned as Driver about Eccles' apparent interest in the occult.

But they did note that he had issues with hostility, depression, and suicidal thoughts. After three weeks of treatment, they prescribed him an antidepressant and released him. But as soon as he was out, Eccles began clashing with Driver again, sometimes behaving in a manner that even he couldn't explain. Once he was sitting next to a boy who was bleeding from his arm, and without warning, Eccles grabbed the boy's wrist and started sucking on the blood. Later on, he told someone he planned to kill his own father and eat him. That remark earned him two more weeks than the psychiatric hospital.

By the time he got out, though, in late September 1992, Eccles was only a few weeks from turning 18, and when he became a legal adult, he ceased to be driver's responsibility. But in the six months since then, driver has to be a driver. has not forgotten Nichols, and now Driver thinks he may have crossed the line in the most horrific way imaginable, which is why Driver was so eager to help Detective Don Bray in his unofficial investigation into the West Memphis murders. In his office at the Marion Courthouse, Driver explains what he knows to Detective Don Bray in more detail. He says he's been gathering information

for months, and excitedly grabbing a book, he flips to a page of photographs saying that they're examples of satanic graffiti, tapping one image of a pentagram. Driver insists that there's a similar design spray painted on a bridge right there in Marion. Next, he shows Bray a well-thumbed pamphlet on the links between Satanism and crime. It was given to him by a consultant he spoke with the previous year. His seminars on ritual sacrifice and the occult have been eye-opening, and there's evidence of similar activity locally. Driver is sure he's found a small altar made of sticks and stones

and what looks to him like the mutilated remains of dead animals. Of course, Driver acknowledges that some people will say this is all just teenage mischief, a joke and bad taste, pranks that have gone too far. Maybe that's true for some of the kids caught up in this, but from everything Driver has learned about Damien Eccles, he doesn't think he's messing around. In fact, the more of drivers looked into it, the more certain he is. The devil is at work in West Memphis.

That means the stakes are higher than ever. Not only is a triple murderer at large, The souls of the town's young people hang in the balance. Clearly, someone has to do something, and if the West Memphis police won't wake up and take this threat seriously, then Driver and Bray will have to handle things on their room. What they really need, though, is someone who can infiltrate the ranks of this cult and gather more evidence, someone who isn't an official member of law enforcement and won't

be suspected. And that's when Detective Bray mentions Vicki Hutchison. During their interview, she offered to assist the murder investigation in any way she could, and perhaps she can help them now. Driver smiles because she sounds perfect. Leaning across the desk, he shakes Bray's hand. There may be an evil in West Memphis that's eating the town from inside out, but together, Driver and Bray are going to destroy it. By the middle of 1993, Damien Eccles is suspect number one for the unofficial investigation headed by probation officer Jerry Driver and Detective Donald Bray. But they are not the only ones with suspicions about Eccles.

West Memphis, there are rumors swirling about his possible involvement in the murders. Even the parents of the victims agree that the culprits have to be Satanists, and all that gossip only hardens Driver and Bray's belief that they're onto something. They just need some evidence. And that's where Vicki Hutchison comes in. With Detective Bray's encouragement, she decides she's going to be the one to bring Eccles down. Though she's not a police officer and has no undercover training of any kind, she volunteers to infiltrate Eccles a lot. She volunteers to infiltrate Eccles a alleged cult. She thinks she already has a way in. There's a 17-year-old who lives down the street and often babysits for her. Little Jesse, Miss Kelly, is apparently on good terms with Eccles.

He's been held back several grades, and he's got a reputation around West Memphis for his short temper and violent outbursts. But Hutchison has found that if she's nice to Miss Kelly, he's nice enough back. So when she asks Ms. Kelly to introduce her to Eccles, he's happy to oblige, and soon the 32-year-old Hutchison has a date lined up with the teenage Eccles. Hutchison quickly fixes her flame-red hair in the mirror before opening the door. Standing on the step is Damien Eccles. As usual, he's dressed in all black. Hutchison smiles. Hey there. Hi. Come on in. Hutchison pretends not to notice Eccles' trembling hands as she leads him down the hall.

I love your hair, by the way. Oh, thanks. I think it suits you. Here, sit down. Eccles perches on the edge of the couch and tucks his hands under his legs. Hutchison heads to the adjoining kitchen. Can I get you anything to drink? I'll take a beer. All I have is soda. Yeah, that's fine. Here you go.

Hutchison sits down next to Eccles. She can sense his anxiety. Hey, take it easy. I won't bite. Why don't you tell me about yourself? Well, I'm sure you've heard plenty already. What do you mean by that? I know people talk about me.

Hutchison plays dumb, while Eccles picks at the label on his soda bottle. You know, they say I worship demons and stuff like that. They don't understand, though. I'm a Wiccan. A Wiccan? What's that? You're not interested in that? No, I am.

Well, it's actually an ancient religion. People don't know. They call us witches, but that's not really true. It's more about nature and the moon and the triple goddess. No, you don't understand. No, no, tell me more. So, like, can you do, like, magic? I've tried to cast some spells to banish negative energy.

Well, I wouldn't think the devil would help with something like that. The devil? Well, isn't he the one who makes the magic work? No, Wicked doesn't really have anything to do with the devil. I mean, there's white magic and black magic. You're talking about black magic, and I don't touch that stuff. Wiccans only use white magic, imbued with good intentions. Huh?

So a Wiccan wouldn't have anything to do with, like, those murders then? No, absolutely not. Eccles looks at the floor. Look, ever since those kids were found, people have been looking at me differently. Feels like everyone thinks I did it. Well, I don't. That's good. I mean it. Out of everyone in West Memphis, why would it be you?

handsome young guy was so much going for him. Eccles looks up from his soda with an odd half-smile in his face. Well, haven't you heard? It's because I'm evil. Vicki Hutchison's first date with Damien Eccles only lasts around 15 minutes. But Hutchison is determined it won't be the last. Over the coming week, she strings Eccles along, feigning romantic interest in him to extract information about his supposed satanic beliefs. And throughout her undercover operation, Hutchison checks in regularly with Detective Donald Bray

of the Marion Police Department, and within a few days, Hutchison tells him that Damien Eccles has invited her to an espat, something Hutchison characterizes as a gathering of witches. Hearing this, Bray warns her that going to something like that could be dangerous. Eccles is suspected of being a cult leader, who's responsible for the murder of three children, after all. But Hutchison doesn't back down. She tells Bray that she doesn't care about her safety, only about catching the killer. And when she next reports in, she tells Bray an extraordinary story. According to Hutchison, on May 19, 1993, Eccles and Jesse Miss Kelly picked her up in a red Ford escort in the middle of the night. Then all three of them drove out to the middle of the woods

following a dirt road that led to a field, North of Marion. She didn't recognize the area, but she could hear some kind of body of water rushing in the distance. It was dark, but Hutchison said she counted 10 young people in the field, their arms and faces painted black. These witches called each other names like spider and snake, and soon she recounted they began taking off their clothes. It looked to Hutchison like some sort of satanic orgy was about to begin, and at that point she demanded that Eccles take her home.

Detective Bray writes down everything. There are several small details about Hutchinson's story that don't add out, though. For example, Eccles doesn't have a car or even a driver's license, but Bray ignores those inconsistencies, and as soon as he's done talking with Hutchinson, Bray decides what he's learned about Damien Eccles is too important to keep to himself. So Bray calls up the West Memphis Police Department again, and this time, Gary Gitchell listens. Gitchell's detectives have already spoken to Eccles. Just a few days after the murders, he was asked a series of questions that were put to every potential suspect.

He then agreed to come to the station to make a statement and give heron blood samples. Eccles' mother also backed up his alibi. So while the detectives had some suspicions about Eccles, they were hearing the same rumors as everyone else, there wasn't enough evidence to arrest him. Now, though, it's been several weeks since the murders, and the pressure on the police is mounting.

So Gitchell leaps on what Don Bray tells him. And on May 27th, he and two other detectives drive to Marion and question Vicki Hutchison in Bray's office. There she repeats her story about Damon Eccles and the S-bat. Sitting beside her, Bray adds extra details from interviews he says he's conducted with Hutchison's eight-year-old son, Aaron. Aaron apparently now claims that he often went to the Robin Hood Hills with the murdered boys, and together they saw a group of men chanting and singing songs about the devil. At this point, the West Memphis detectives seemed to abandon all their earlier doubts about the young Aaron's credibility as a witness.

And a few days later, they give Vicki Hutchison a polygraph test, which he passes with flying colors. That seals the deal, and Chief Gitchell decides to move the investigation forward with Damien Eccles as his new prime suspect. But he doesn't decide to make an arrest just yet. He wants to make sure he has something more concrete on Eccles first, and he thinks he knows just how to get it. On the morning of June 3, 1993, Gitchell brings in 17-year-old Jesse Miss Kelly for an interview at the station. Miss Kelly is kept there all day, and by mid-afternoon, he's been answering questions, alone and without a lawyer, for hours.

As Chief Gitchell stares at him across the table, Miss Kelly asks again if he can go home yet, but Gitchell just sighs, promising Miss Kelly that he can go home soon, but first they need to talk about the murders again, and this time Miss Kelly has to tell him the truth. But Miss Kelly can't understand what's going on. He told the detectives the truth when he first arrived, that he was at work on the day those boys were killed, and he had nothing to do with the crime.

But the police didn't seem satisfied with that and asked Ms. Kelly if he'd agreed to take a lie detector test. He said yes, but didn't really know what it involved. Then when the police got the results, they said Miss Kelly's brain had told them that he was lying. So now, Chief Gitchell is asking what clothes the victims were wearing when they died. Altingly, Miss Kelly tells Gitchell what he can remember from a news report he saw on TV. But Gitchell demands more details. Ms. Kelly wants to give the cops what they're

asking for, but he doesn't know how to, and every time he gives an incorrect answer, Gitchell begins his questions all over again. For Miss Kelly, it's like some kind of nightmare, and all he wants to do is go home. It feels like Gitchell is yelling at him, like he's doing something wrong. So eventually, Miss Kelly stops denying anything. He decides playing along is his best chance of ending the interrogation, and starts mindlessly repeating or confirming everything Gitchell says. And it's only at this point, hours after Jesse Miss Kelly first arrived in the station, that the police start recording the interview. Led by the detective's questions, Ms. Kelly proceeds to give them a full confession.

He implicates himself, Damien Eccles, and Echell's 16-year-old best friend Jason Baldwin in the murders of Michael Moore, Stevie Branch, and Christopher Byers. All is part of an evil satanic ritual. But even in the tape confession, Miss Kelly contradicts himself and says a lot of things that can't possibly be true. He claims the victims were tied up with rope, not shoelaces, and he says the murders happened during the day, even though the three boys were at school then, and Miss Kelly himself was at work. But despite these obvious errors, at last Chief Gitchell seems satisfied, and as he switches off the tape recorder and stands up, he offers to get Miss Kelly something to eat.

Miss Kelly is relieved. His ordeal seems to be over. And perhaps now he can finally leave. It's only later that evening that he discovers that he's not going home anytime soon because a judge has been asked to issue warrants for the arrest of Damien Eccles and Jason Baldwin, too. All three young men are about to be charged with murder. From Wondery, this is episode one of our series on the West Memphis 3 for American scandal. In our next episode, Damien Eccles and Jason Baldwin are arrested for murder,

and the local community rallies behind the police as one of the most contentious trials and American history begins. If you'd like to learn more about the West Memphis 3, we recommend the book Devil's Not, the true story of the West Memphis 3 by Mara Leverett and the three-part HBO documentary Paradise Lost. This episode contains reenactments and dramatized details, and while in most cases we can't know exactly what was said, all our dramatizations are based on historical research. American Scandal is hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham for Airship. Audio editing by Mohamed Shazi. Sound design by Gabriel Gould. Music by Thrum. This episode is written in research by Terrell Wells. Fact-checking by Alyssa Jung Perry. Managing producer Emily

Burke. Development by Stephanie Jans. Senior producer Andy Beckerman. Executive producers are William Simpson for Airship and Jenny Lauer Beckman and Marshall Louis for Wondering.