ABSTRACT
In 1993, three 8-year-old boys were found mutilated and murdered in a woodsy area in West Memphis, Arkansas. The police had very few leads due to the lack of physical evidence. It is remarkable that, with the mutilation of three young boys, there was almost no blood at the crime scene. The police narrowed their focus to three teenage boys as suspects: Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley Jr. The major break in the case came when the police interrogated Misskelley, who is mentally disabled. The interrogation lasted for 12 hours and occurred without counsel or parental consent. At the end of the marathon session, Misskelley confessed to the crime and implicated Echols and Baldwin. Although there was no murder weapon and almost no physical evidence, the prosecution and the local media portrayed the teenage boys as depraved devil worshippers because of their preference for black clothes and heavy metal music.
