Abomination: Devil Worship and Deception in the West Memphis Three Murders (10 page)

On June 8th, 1992, Dr. Lewis F. Bracy drafted a Psychological Report on Echols. Based on his findings:

...a schizoid orientation is suggested, with feelings of emptiness and depressed outlook on life...He appears somewhat frightened, intimidated, and sees the world as a threatening place...He answered in a positive direction some of the following statements: “Someone has it in for me.” “Evil spirits possess me at times.” “I have had strange and peculiar thoughts.” Responses such as these may suggest the possibility of a thought disorder in this individual.
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Reports by physicians and caseworkers during Echols’s June 1992 institutionalization at Charter Hospital described Echols as very depressed. They described him as having a sullen demeanor, self-imposed isolation and “flat, monotone, glassy look.” Echols confirmed his “suicidal ideation” at the detention center, stating “that he thought several times about wrapping the sheet from his bed around his neck and “trying to hang myself.”
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Staff also expressed concern about Echols’s paranoia. One doctor wrote, “His affect is inappropriate. He has trouble making eye contact. He is quite paranoid.” Elsewhere a nurse wrote, “Verbalized concern that there is surveillance cameras behind his mirror & under his desk in his room — cautioned peer that staff are constantly watching them.”
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While interred, he began writing in a journal, meditating on his stay in the mental institution:

I’m writing in my journal today. I don’t really have anything to say. I’m just writing to take up space. I just really hate people. They’ll think the earth rotates around them. They all just have overinflated egos. They need to just shut the hell up and die a slow, horrible, painful death.
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On June 12, caseworker Tina Deaton described a conversation with Damien’s mother, Pam Echols.

[Mother] was most concerned about son “not learning to deal with anger and rages.” [Mother] mentioned her belief that son may be responding to outside stimulation. Voiced fear “son may be crazy.”
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June 21st, 1992

Charter Hospital of Little Rock

There was a conversation that concerned staff at the detention center. Reportedly, Damien and his girlfriend were going to have a baby and then sacrifice the child. Damien denied this type of behavior. There was also a question about his involvement with Satanism. Damien, however, indicated that he was not involved with Satanism, but witchcraft. Supposedly, Damien chased a younger child with an ax and attempted to set a house on fire. He denied this behavior...Damien admits to a history of violence. He said prior to admission he did attempt to enucleate a peer’s eye at school. He was suspended subsequently from school. He was suspended on seven different occasions during the school year. He related that he was suspended on one occasion, because he set a fire in his science classroom and also would walk off on campus on several occasions. He was disruptive to the school environment. He was also disrespectful to teachers. He has been accused of terroristic threatening.

Staff was quite concerned as they noticed that he was meditating in his room in a bizarre and unusual fashion. He also drew numerous pictures of witchcraft type symbols. He also wrote some very unusual poems.
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He was discharged from the psychiatric unit on June 25th, 1992, with a prescription for imipramine, a medication that would help his manic-depression. Still on probation, he was given permission to live with his father near Portland, Oregon.

An Oregon social worker’s Intake Summary report on Damien and family dated August 17, 1992, similarly noted Jerry Driver’s belief that “Damien and several others of his associates are involved in a satanic cult” and that “Damien and his girlfriend were planning to have a child, so that they could offer it as a sacrifice to Satan.” The social worker added, “Damien denies any involvement in satanic cult or beliefs in Satanism. He expressed considerable displeasure with Mr. Driver in making such assertions.”
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The Oregon social worker’s report also reports Driver’s assertion that “the authorities in Arkansas suspect that Damien’s parents are involved in this satanic belief system,” which is worth noting.

Echols obtained a 40 hour a week job at the gas station where his father worked, but he could not abide by the structured regimen. A huge fight erupted between father and son on the evening of September 2nd. Afraid for their lives, the family took Damien to St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center in Portland, Oregon for observation.

September 1st, 1992

Social Work Note

St. Vincent Hospital

17 yr. old male brought to ER by mother & natural father because [patient] has been increasing depressed & has been making statements daily that he was going to kill himself or others. Mom states Damien is on probation for terroristic threatening & breaking & entering. Dad says that Damien has been sniffing gasoline & that at dinner table tonight he talks about drinking a bottle of bleach & that it would be over soon. [Patient] told sister that he would be killing himself in the next 3 days. [Patient] has made threats to kill himself by hanging w/bed sheet or tying socks together & told grandmother today that he would cut his mother’s throat.
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September 2nd, 1992

Medical Record Report

Dr. Milan Sosnovec

He apparently has had thoughts of harming himself by his report to the family members, even though he denies that. He has talked about drinking lye or some type of bleach that would kill himself, he has also apparently told his sister that he won’t be around much longer. The parents are concerned that he is also into Satanism or Devil worship. He apparently has a number of items that relates to this...

… The patient denies suicidal or homicidal ideation at this time, however, in talking with family members, they state that he made it quite clear that he had thoughts of harming other people, i.e. was going to cut the throat of his mother and has said so in the past and also apparently made some verbal threats to his father here at St. Vincent Hospital even...

Mother and father state that he apparently has sniffed propane, glue, gasoline and almost any other drug that is possible, but he denies that, especially over the last four months.
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What he screamed at his father at the hospital was “I’ll eat you alive.” Granted a self-administered test by the hospital, he wrote that both his parents were “stupid” and never disciplined him.
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A handwritten note in the Physician’s Progress Report on September 2nd also reported:

Parents visited in alcove @12:30 he stated visit did not go well, he was tearful and would not discuss visit other than to say, “I no longer have parents.” Other staff overheard him begging them to take him home...they refused.
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September 4th, 1992

Medical Record Report

St. Vincent Hospital

There has been considerable conflict between him and his parents through the years regarding his behavior in which he has threatened to harm himself in the context of a host of legal difficulties for which he is accountable to a parole officer in Arkansas. He readily admits to charges of breaking and entering and inappropriate sexual conduct toward others.
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September 4th, 1992

Social Service Assessment

Briefly, Pam stated that she has had difficulty with Damien since he was 10 years old. He always tended to be an angry child and somewhat difficult to manage, particularly through his adolescent years. She is convinced he is into activities, such as witchcraft and is very concerned about the quality of friends that he developed while living in Arkansas. For this reason, she felt coming to Oregon would be a new beginning for him...Because of the circumstances that precipitated the hospitalization and Damien’s threats, particularly towards his father and of course his mother, both parents do not feel that they wish to have him return to their home. They are frightened of him and what he can do, not only to them but to other children that reside in the home.
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January 1st, 1993

Initial Assessment

Admits to feeling “neutral, nothing most of the time.” Admitted to a “history of self mutilation--cutting himself with knives and razors.” Reports that he sleeps most of the day, then goes to his girlfriend’s house. Said that he would “trance out” when by himself and had done that since the 5th grade. “It feels good” he told the clinical social worker, Sherry Dockins. He added that he thinks about life after death. “I want to go where the monsters go.” Admitted to use of alcohol, cocaine, LSD, and marijuana. He admitted again that he was caught with Satanic items and that the authorities think of him as “a Satanic leader.” Repeated his claim that he has been interested in witchcraft for eight years, stating he has tried to steal someone else's energy and influence their minds with witchcraft. He “pretty much hates the human race, and felt that “people were of two classes: wolves and sheep. Wolves eat the sheep.”
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Mrs. Dockins related that Echol’s wore all black and a silver cross and maintained intense eye contact throughout the interview.
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Joe Hutchison, Damien’s father, volunteered that he barely knew his own son. His mother told authorities that she didn’t want him around. St. Vincent released Damien on September 4. The final entry in his Physician’s Progress Report stated:

Because of the circumstances that precipitated the hospitalization and Damien’s threats, particularly towards his father and of course his mother, both parents do not feel that they wish to have him return to their home. They are frightened of him and what he can do, not only to them but to other children that reside in the home (2 others).

Damien does not want to remain in Oregon. He wishes to return to Arkansas.
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Upon his release, Damien asked his parents for permission to return to Arkansas, which his father allowed. However, this would put him in violation of his Arkansas probation. Jerry Driver was notified that Damien was headed back to West Memphis. Upon his arrival, he was arrested and taken into custody and again he was sent back to the Juvenile Detention Center in Jonesboro. Shortly after his arrival at the facility, another young man in the common area scraped his arm, which started bleeding. Damien grabbed the boy’s arm and began to suck the warm blood.

The Director of the Craighead County Juvenile Detention Center, filed a report on the incident:

Approx. three hours after Damien arrived, he was sitting in Rec. area with several other residents. One of the boys had scraped his arm a little, and it was bleeding some. Without warning, Damien grabbed the arm that was bleeding, and began to suck the blood from it. The boys all stated he had been saying he had not taken his medication the night before, and he was about to “go off on them”. Damien was asked why he did this, and he stated “I don’t know.” He also told staff he had threatened to kill his father and eat him. For the safety and well being of other residents, Damien as asked to go to his room. He has been kept there until he was picked up for court. He hasn’t been a problem since, just some very strange actions at times. It is our opinion that Damien needs mental health treatment.
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September 10th, 1992

Psychological Assessment

Jonesboro Detention Center

Reported to the Detention Center authorities, they made the following psychological assessment on September 10th, 1992:

Presently in detention in Jonesboro, picked up for violation of probation, threatened to slit parents throat and eat them alive. Transferred to Crittenden, one of the kids at the detention hall cut his wrists, Damien grabbed his arm and began to the suck the blood, smeared it over his body and said he’s a devil worshipping vampire. Says he’s not a vampire but a witch. He is in isolation and suicide watch.
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The Juvenile authorities determined that Damien required mental health treatment.

September 14th, 1992

Admission Form

Charter Hospital of Little Rock

They ordered him back to Little Rock for a two week stay at the Charter mental health hospital. His case file diagnosed him as psychotic repeatedly in his initial assessment:

Identifying Data
: Damien is a 17 year-old, white male who is in the custody of DHS. He is a court ordered admission.

Chief Complaint
: “They say I suck blood.”

History of Present Illness
: Reportedly, Damien and his girlfriend were going to have a boy and sacrifice they baby. Damien relates that he is a witch.

While at the Detention Center, he reportedly grabbed a peer and began “sucking blood from the peer’s neck”. According to Damien, he relates that the peer was aware he was going to do this. Staff reports that Damien was not remorseful for his behavior. Damien indicated that he sucked blood to get into a gang. He denies that it was any type of ritual....The other peers were afraid of him. Damien denies that he rubbed the blood all over his face.

Judgment and Insight
: He exhibits extremely poor judgment and has absolutely no insight into his illness.