Abomination: Devil Worship and Deception in the West Memphis Three Murders

ABOMINATION

Devil Worship

and Deception

in the

West Memphis

Three

Murders

WILLIAM RAMSEY

Copyright © 2012 William Ramsey

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

ISBN-10: 1479216631

ISBN-13:
978-1479216635

DEDICATION:

To the three children lost to torture and murder; to the long-suffering families and community; to those operating under great deception.

View of Memphis, Tennessee from the westside of the

Mississippi in West Memphis, Arkansas

Μὴ πλανᾶσθε, Θεὸς οὐ μυκτηρίζεται· ὃ γὰρ ἐὰν σπείρῃ ἄνθρωπος, τοῦτο καὶ θερίσει·

Galatians 6.7

υμεις εκ πατρος του διαβολου εστε και τας επιθυμιας του πατρος υμων θελετε ποιειν εκεινος ανθρωποκτονος ην απ αρχης και εν τη αληθεια ουχ εστηκεν οτι ουκ εστιν αληθεια εν αυτω οταν λαλη το ψευδος εκ των ιδιων λαλει οτι ψευστης εστιν και ο πατηρ αυτου

John 8.44

CONTENTS

DISCLAIMER:
THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS IN THIS BOOK ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR, AND THE AUTHOR ONLY. ALL EVIDENCE REFERENCED IN THE BOOK WERE FOUND IN PUBLISHED BOOKS AND ON WEBSITES THAT COMPILED INFORMATION ABOUT THIS CASE. THE AUTHOR IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT OR ANY OTHER INVESTIGATIVE GROUP.

THE OPINIONS ARE SOLELY THOSE OF THE AUTHOR.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My interest in the West Memphis Three case began in 2012 while examining the life and works of occultist Aleister Crowley. While undertaking continuing research into Aleister Crowley and those he influenced, I discovered a video on Youtube in which an exchange takes place between a prosecuting attorney (who I later found out was Brent Davis) of the infamous West Memphis Three case and one of the accused murderers, Damien Echols. Apparently, an enigmatic drawing in two alphabets (one English and one in a secret alphabet unfamiliar to the prosecution) by Echols drew the attention of the prosecutor, who asked why Echols referenced Crowley. I had a vague understanding of the general facts about the West Memphis murders from varied sources through past years, but due to my interest in Crowley and this connection (formerly unknown to me) to the West Memphis crimes, I set out to learn detailed specifics of the murders in early 2012.

I began reading as much material as I could about the West Memphis Three case. I delved into the specifics of the events, the timeline of occurrences and the lives of the accused. I scoured the Internet for information about the case and was pleased to find many superb writers with quality websites which contained the information I needed to better understand the events. After completing a broad, thorough inquiry, I recognized that the West Memphis Three case had captivated a national, even international, audience.

Due to a deficiency of physical evidence and the continued denial of guilt by two of the accused, a veritable legion of websites arose discussing the case and the involvement of the West Memphis Three. I do not claim to have followed this saga in detail for as long as other interested parties. I can say that I have engaged in intense research for about six months prior to the self-publication of this book. During my research, I read and analyzed all the main websites and distilled their positions. I read original, source documents, including the entirety of the available evidence compiled by the police and used by the prosecuting attorneys. The information upon which I based my opinions comes from the following websites:

www.wm3.org

www.freewestMemphis3.org

www.wm3truth.com

www.callahan.8k.com

www.jivepuppi.com

www.commercialappeal.com/west-Memphis-three/

I found articles and podcasts of the following true crime writers extremely helpful:

Trench Reynolds

http://trenchreynolds.me

Blink on Crime

http://blinkoncrime.com/category/west-Memphis-three/

I also read, and reread, the following two books about the case from individuals who followed the case closely and lived close to where the events occurred:

The Blood of Innocents

by Guy Reel, Mark Perrusquia and Bartholomew Sullivan

Devil’s Knot

by Mara Leveritt

Perrusquia and Sullivan wrote for the
Commercial Appeal
newspaper (located in Memphis, Tennessee) across the Mississippi from West Memphis. Leveritt’s excellent first book,
The Boys on the Tracks
, follows the highly suspicious deaths of two boys in 1987 who were found dead on train tracks in Governor Bill Clinton’s Arkansas.

The diligent work of the aforementioned journalists and writers in compiling the voluminous information on the West Memphis Three case not only provided me with an outstanding understanding of particulars, but also laid the groundwork upon which I have added a significant amount of information about the occult. I am thankful and indebted to the work of these journalists and writers, and hope that the following information is useful to the public in understanding what really happened in this murder case.

William Ramsey

Author of
Prophet of Evil: Aleister Crowley, 9/11 and the New World Order.

12/1/12

1. Introduction

The City of West Memphis, Arkansas, located across the Mississippi River from the bustling city of Memphis Tennessee, teemed with activity on Wednesday evening, May 5th, 1993. Tired parents were returning from a long day of work, and children eked out the last few minutes of play before nightfall. One group of second graders---Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and James Michael Moore---met for one last jaunt in the early evening. The boys frequently enjoyed riding their bicycles and adventuring in undeveloped properties near their middle class neighborhood. One such property, referred to locally as Robin Hood Hills, attracted their attention and they decided they wanted to ride their bikes through the trails that crossed the property.

Unfortunately, the three eight year olds innocent journey would intersect at the crossroads with three local teenagers well known to local law enforcement---Damien Wayne Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. The convergence of the two groups would set in motion a scene of unimaginable torture and brutality, resulting in the death of the three eight year olds and to the arrest of Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley. The ferocity of the crime and the ages of the victims propelled the case to national attention. After the trial and conviction of the three teenagers in 1994, Baldwin and Misskelley received life imprisonment. Echols was sentenced to death.

In 1996, filmmakers from HBO that were sympathetic to the guilty teens distributed
Paradise Lost
, a documentary which, in my opinion, omitted and distorted many of the details uncovered by police investigators. Two additional documentary films about the subject by HBO followed. The information in the three films outraged a portion of the public who viewed the criminal trial and resultant convictions and sentencing as a miscarriage of justice. Due to the perceived injustice meted out to the teenagers by a corrupt legal system as portrayed in
Paradise Lost
, the convicted teenagers gained the sympathy of the public. Outrage, frustration, and a desire for the exoneration of the three perpetrators started slowly, and with the growth of the internet, social media and by word of mouth, the case fascinated national and international observers. The West Memphis Three drew the support of well-known and wealthy celebrities, and consequently, financial donations swelled to build an enormous legal fund that allowed access to one of the best legal teams available in the United States to appeal the convictions.

Considering all the evidence and backgrounds of the people involved, I could easily write a book over a thousand pages in length. That is not my objective. My objective is to confirm that the perpetrators, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. were found guilty at law, not once, but twice. I will also attempt to assemble all salient evidence in an easily followed, progressive timeline and provide an understanding of the environment where the crimes occurred, based upon the written information compiled by the police before and during the two trials. The intent of the book is not to impart a detailed description of the prosecution and the defenses’ legal maneuverings or to provide a granular detailing of the procedural missteps of the authorities but rather confirm the guilt at law of the West Memphis Three. A basic timeline at the end of the book is available for your review.

A significant amount of information and evidence, including interviews, pictures and court documents are readily available online for an interested reader to review. Fortunately, to my knowledge, most of the original case documents exist. I have added visual evidence and pictures liberally to provide additional contextual information. I organized the book in timeline fashion for easier discernment and to show how information about the case developed over time. I kept poor grammar and the regional dialect in the police and court transcripts to provide a more correct sense of the West Memphis regional and sociological environment.

The questions I asked myself were simple: What are the actual facts? Who said what? Where and when did they say them? Under what conditions? Time moves forward; people forget; careers change; individuals relocate; testimonies change; witnesses refuse to testify, opinions variegate. As years pass, information can be seen from a new standpoint. This is why I focused on all the information available prior to the arrest to achieve an opinionated conclusion on their culpability. After analyzing the core investigative materials and the evidence collected at the time of the event in 1993, an entirely different view of the case develops than what is generally believed by the public.

My interest in this dark saga arose from my own personal research into the life and influence of the most notorious occultist in recorded history: Aleister Crowley. As I stated earlier in the Acknowledgements, I saw the discussion of Crowley during the trial, and I began to investigate the matter. As I am in the process of compiling materials on people who admire and have been influenced by Crowley (such as the founder of Wicca, Gerald Brousseau Gardner) my interpretation of the West Memphis Three case differs significantly from other journalists and observers. I know that adherence to occult doctrines is a reality in parts of modern America and the world today. My experience with Crowley, coupled with additional research into witchcraft, the occult and its adherents, hopefully will provide an additional insight into a highly charged, oft-confusing subject matter. My hope is to educate the reader about the occult and its influence upon the individuals who committed this crime. Referencing the works of influential magicians and witches abundantly supports my position that occultism and witchcraft influenced the West Memphis events and continues to influence the people involved in this case, primarily Damien Echols.

After detailed research into the case, I am convinced Damien Echols (birth name Michael Wayne Hutchinson) has a thorough understanding of occult doctrines absorbed from personal relationships and exposure to occult writings. He stated repeatedly he is a Wiccan and a member of a named coven, or group. He wrote that he wanted to meet the founder of the Church of Satan, Anton Levay. While in jail after his arrest, he drafted a note that referenced Aleister Crowley. He also familiarized himself with the writings and beliefs of Theosophist H.P. Blavatsky and her book
Isis Unveiled
.
Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft,
written by Gerald Gardner disciple Raymond Buckland, was a resource for Echols and his coven.

Damien Echols dominated the other two convicted teenagers. He is two years older than Jason Baldwin, and better read, taller and more charismatic than Jessie Misskelley. Echols is the central character in the murders. The jury agreed, as he was the only one given a death sentence. I include a detailed analysis of him, past and present, with references to written and visual evidence. While the number of satanic killers is too long to provide a complete delineation, I have included a significant number of similar types of Satanic killings in which to contextualize the West Memphis Three murders. Also, that while rare, there have been instances of cause celebre’ killers, criminals who by their literary achievements garnered the sympathy of celebrities who in turn worked for their release from prison. I have added two examples I know of for reference.

I believe that the readers of this book will recognize striking similarities to other Satanic crimes. While these particular murders may not have had a specific ritual motivation, there is no doubt in my mind that Satanism and the occult significantly influenced the guilty in the commission of the three young boys from West Memphis.

I accessed as much original evidence as possible, and tried to look at the issue from all sides. I included many of the original investigative reports written or transcribed by the West Memphis police and mental health care professionals. These excerpts from actual police and court documents begins in Chapter 3, and continues in a timeline fashion. My intent is to show how information was gathered and evidence unfolded from the day of the murders (May 5th, 1993) to the present. The information garnered often included misspellings and speech patterns particular to West Memphis, Arkansas. While I made a few editorial decisions in the interest of clarity, many of these peculiarities have been included in their original form. All transcriptions are footnoted if the reader wishes to view the original documents online. The transcriptions are indented in a different font to avoid confusion and distinguish the excerpted material from my own writing.

I have thoroughly read the websites of the supporters of the West Memphis Three websites and considered their arguments. The information I present intentionally addresses many of the arguments made by the accused, the guilty and their representatives. In Chapter 15, I address the positions and arguments made publicly by the supporters of the innocence of the West Memphis Three and counter those positions with facts and evidence from the record. One common denominator of the supporters of the convicted teenagers is that they all watched the
Paradise Lost
documentaries and have not taken time to wrestle with any evidentiary or court records. Considering the superheated atmosphere suffusing this case, I consciously avoided any contact with the parties involved and tried to be as objective as possible.

Please realize at the outset of this narrative that defense attorneys are paid to vigorously defend their clients---both in court and out of court. They consciously choose which evidence to emphasize and which to omit based upon how it affects both the public and in-court perception of their case. The experts are paid well to proffer their specific opinions. “He who pays the piper picks the tune.”