Another West Memphis Three documentary to air
A new series on Investigation Discovery will focus on one of the more highprofile murder cases in the Greater Memphis area — the “West Memphis Three.”
The series, titled “THE WEST MEMPHIS THREE: AN ID MURDER MYSTERY” will join an already lengthy list of docuseries, full-length dramatized films, books, and songs dedicated to the exploration of the still unsolved murders of three young boys in West Memphis, Arkansas.
“Our hope is that this installment of the ID Murder Mystery franchise gives an inside look into the widespread panic, celebrity activism and shocking trials that lead to the surprising conclusion of the West Memphis Three,” said a Discovery Inc. spokesperson.
The 1993 murders of boys in West Memphis — Steve Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore — captivated a local and national audience as the brutal details of their deaths unfolded.
All three victims had been stripped naked, hog-tied, beaten severely, and left to die in a muddy, shallow creek that led to a drainage ditch in the Robin Hood Hills community in West Memphis, according to the Commercial Appeal archives.
Facing intense public scrutiny to solve the homicides, the West Memphis police fingered three teenagers — Damion Echols, Jessie Misskelley, and Jason Baldwin — as the primary suspects.
A Jonesboro, Arkansas, jury sided with prosecutors and found all three defendants guilty of capital murder.
In the years following the crime, flimsy evidence used in the trial faced multiple, years-long bouts of intense scrutiny from legal experts, media, and celebrities such as Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and Natalie Maines of The Dixie Chicks.
The Investigation Discovery documentary promises to explore the wave of celebrity activism around the West Memphis Three case, as well as the “satanic panic” that overtook the small town of West Memphis spurred by individuals who believed the homicides were “cult-like” in nature.
The series also promises interviews from one of the defendants, Jason Baldwin, who will walk viewers through his first-hand account of the trial, imprisonment, and subsequent release of all three suspects after they entered Alford pleas in 2011.
The series will premier on April 5, on the Investigation Discovery channel, followed by a release of a digital-only series titled, THE WEST MEMPHIS THREE: THE MISSING PIECES on the channels website.