Just watched the dateline on this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Timothy_Wiltsey The mom did it or at minimum knew about it and covered it up.
For any of you Up and Vanished Podcast listeners or anyone that has kept up with the Tara Grinstead case, the murder trial started today.
The judge ruled the defense can call Bo Dukes today. He's one of the two (maybe 3) I think are the killers or at least the ones involved that night. They'll bring up his rapes in Macon, stealing money from the military, and a bunch of other bad shit about him. He's going to plead the 5th, but the state fought hard to not allow him to be called.
They found Ryan Duke not guilty on all counts except for concealing a body. He's served 5 of a max 10 years, so he might walk with time served
Judge denies advanced DNA testing in West Memphis 3 case by George Jared ([email protected]) 15 hours ago 292 views Crittenden County Circuit Court Judge Tonya Alexander denied a petition Thursday (June 23) by Damien Echols to have advanced DNA testing done on ligatures that were recovered in the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis. Alexander told Echols that since he was not in prison anymore he could not seek relief in the form of DNA testing. Echols’ defense team member Lonnie Soury said the ruling was an incorrect interpretation of the law. There are consequences that a wrongful conviction brings to a defendant that go beyond incarceration, and many have sought relief even after being released from prison, he added. “We are extremely disappointed in the judge’s decision which was based upon a narrow interpretation of the law and one that failed to allow justice to be served. All we asked is for the right to seek to identify the DNA of the real killer(s). We will certainly appeal the decision and are confident that the Arkansas Supreme Court will see it differently. The sad fact is that those responsible for the murders of three children in 1993 will breathe a sigh of relief now that Arkansas is once again in their corner,” Soury said. According to Arkansas’ DNA statute, “Except when direct appeal is available, a person convicted of a crime may make a motion for the performance of . . . DNA testing, or other tests which may become available through advances in technology to demonstrate the person’s actual innocence.” Baldwin attended the hearing, but Misskelley did not. Baldwin told Talk Business & Politics before it started that he was in good spirits, and he hoped for a resolution in the case. His goal is to find the person or persons responsible for the murders and to clear his name, he said. “Well, here we go,” he said as he matriculated his way toward the courthouse doors. Security was tight at the district courthouse in West Memphis. Dozens of officers in full gear surrounded the complex and numerous barriers were put into place. State troopers roved the side streets near the complex. A couple of hundred people, mostly supporters of the West Memphis 3, stood in line for hours. Only 20 or so people were allowed in the courtroom. The rest were told that they could only stand on the sidewalk next to the road and were not allowed to sit in their cars with the air conditioning on. Temperatures soared into the mid-90s, and several were visibly and verbally upset by the treatment by law enforcement. Echols asked prosecutors to test the ligatures two years ago, and at first the state seemed ready to allow the testing to move forward. But after Prosecutor Scott Ellington was elected to a judge post, newly appointed Prosecuting Attorney Keith Crestman told Talk Business & Politics in April 2021 he would seek a judge’s order to destroy the evidence. Soon after, prosecutors claimed the evidence had been lost or destroyed in a fire, but these claims proved untrue when in December 2021 the evidence was found intact inside the West Memphis Police Department’s evidence locker room. Why it was claimed that the evidence was destroyed or lost has never been explained. Repeated attempts by Talk Business & Politics to get comment from Crestman have gone unanswered. Branch, Byers, and Moore were riding their bikes in their neighborhood on May 5, 1993, when they vanished. Their nude, bound bodies were found a day later in a drainage ditch that bifurcated a wooded area near the neighborhood known as Robin Hood Hills. A month later, the three defendants were arrested and charged. Prosecutors claimed the murders were part of a Satanic or occult ceremony. Misskelley gave a series of error-riddled confessions that led to the arrests, although he later recanted and claimed he was coerced. Echols was sentenced to death and the other two received life sentences in 1994 even though no forensic evidence tied them to the crime. Hairs from the crime scene were DNA tested in 2005 and in 2007. None of the hairs tested were a match for Echols, Baldwin or Misskelley. One hair found in the ligature that bound more was a genetic match for Branch’s stepfather, Terry Hobbs, and another hair found was a partial match to his alibi witness, David Jacoby. Hobbs has denied involvement in the crime as has Jacoby. Jacoby has also signed a sworn affidavit stating he was not with Hobbs when the boys vanished. Hobbs told Talk Business & Politics several months ago that he didn’t support DNA testing the ligatures and that he hoped a judge would order the evidence destroyed in the case. His reasoning was that he was tired of dealing with the “WM3 and their supporters.” Echols wants to use the M-Vac testing system. Swabbing with a cotton tip has been the gold standard for collecting DNA in criminal cases for many years, according to the FBI. The agency conducted an extensive research probe into M-Vac testing and found in 2020 that it’s on average 12 times more accurate than swabbing and it recommends using the method if it’s available. M-Vac uses a wet vacuum system. An item is ‘vacuumed” and the material collected is placed into a solution. The solution is removed and all the material, including any DNA, is collected by a filter that is then transferred to a lab for analysis. Prosecutors and defense attorneys settled on Alford plea agreements after it became clear a new judge in the case was set to order new trials almost 11 years ago. Ellington said at the time he would not have been able to bring these charges to court if new trials had been ordered. He said the evidence had grown “stale” and that several key witnesses in the original trials had now changed their stories and several admitted they had told lies on the witness stand. Even after his release in 2011, Echols said it took him years to recover from the physical and emotional trauma of being on Arkansas’ Death Row. His memories of the time are vague, and it has taken him years to cope, he said. He said it was surreal standing in the town of his birth, and it is also the place where his freedom was taken. The 47-year-old sported a long beard and tinted glasses while waiting for the hearing to begin. Despite his decades long struggle against the Arkansas judicial system, he said he felt good about their chances of getting the advanced DNA testing done. “I am optimistic. I really am,” he said. A timetable for filing the appeal was not released.
Hope the appellate court is willing to take a stand. Otherwise, it will take a big movement from the people of Arkansas to change the law.
Watched the first three episodes of this. Disturbing, yet interesting case. Sounds like a former cop decided he knew the answer and got himself hired at another agency in order to coerce confessions to fit his theory. Exonerated 20 years later.
Me and the wife have our long drive for the family vacation coming up. Anyone have a long podcast recommendation? Couple that we have listened to over the last couple years while on this drive: The Clearing Dr. Death To Live and Die in LA Anyone have anything similar to these?
Have you listened to season 2 of To Live and Die in LA? I liked it better than season one. Season two of Dr. Death is pretty good too. Some of my favorites over the last couple years: Your Own Backyard Unraveled Culpable The Root of Evil West Cork Someone Knows Something The Teacher's Pet
Just watched this. Based on what I saw here I’m not convinced of his intentions. It seems plausible that he wasn’t conscious. There’s surely a lot of evidence that wasn’t shown that could have impacted the verdict, but it kind of seems like the prosecution and jury just kind of went on vibes.
Update - spoilering as the last episode is worth watching unspoiled if you’re going to watch Spoiler they continued to explore how a psychiatrist who was also employed as a deputy basically convinced them that they did it because of broken mental states of most of them. The county attorney refused DNA testing in order to prosecute these people, all kinds of shit. Throughout the show there have been a few ongoing themes: 1. They definitely didn’t do it. There’s a ton of evidence. 2. The town is still heavily convinced they did it for some reason 3. The deputy insists he did nothing wrong, and they are guilty, even in the face of overwhelming evidence 4. The woman’s family is still convinced and in love with the POS deputy 5. The community actors are struggling with their portrayal. They want to do it justice, but are facing incredible backlash, and the material itself (from records, tapes, transcripts) is sickening and hard to say out loud for many of them. They get through the civil trial. First one hung at 11-1, mistrial. New one is awarded 28 million. They touched on more of the mental health issues preyed on by law enforcement. We get to the day of the play opening, security concerns, people from all sides of it attending. Some mad as hell that it’s happening, some excited. They watch it all. Cut to the next day and one of the family members who has been stuck on them doing it finally realized that he’s been wrong for 35 years and refused to recognize it until it was laid out. He even meets with the family of the main suspect of the 6 (who had since passed) and they share some tears and stuff. Then they call the main cousin from the show and explain the change of heart and he slowly accepts that ok yeah we got it wrong and we’re so emotionally wrapped up we couldn’t see it. So we’re like awwww this is great they’re moving on. Then they instantly snap back to WE LOVE DEPUTY BERT AND HE DID IT ALL CORRECTLY. What the fuck come on. I literally facepalmed as I sat there. They plant a tree and have anyone who wants to add dirt come up and in a big showy way, deputy dumbass hobbles up as dirt thrower number one and gets a big cheer and hugs. It’s absolutely wild how people just refuse to believe overwhelming evidence and are just like nah I know there’s prof, but I heard they did it and so they did.
it’s been annoying to try and keep up with this trial being closed to recording, now it’s delayed again due to a juror emergency
Curious to see why it took 4 years to indict these guys. I mentioned that Geas did it in the Whitey Bulger thread immediately after it happened
Unbelievable. They should be ashamed. https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/loc...ence-testing-in-west-memphis-3-case?_amp=true
Saw video on the news earlier of this family of four being kidnapped from a store. They find the abductor and arrest him. He attempts to kill himself. They can’t find the family. Just went to google the story and found this. Heartbreaking. Sickening.
Idk where this question belongs exactly, but it was prompted by a murder acquittal where the defendant is facing a weed possession charge while inside awaiting trial. Anyone know how much, if any, leniency is shown toward charges like that? Or in lengthy exonerations where the defendant has since ‘offended’ in an environment they should not have been put in to begin with?
Listened to a podcast on this one a while ago but just now watching the interrogation videos. Just a really sad and fucked up case. The video is long but it's really interesting to watch how it progresses. Shortly after the 1:01 mark is my favorite part. It's always fun to watch them squirm when the detective lays everything out for them. https://kileystruecrime.squarespace.com/kileystruecrimeaddict-blog/the-murder-of-seath-jackson
Because of the Idaho knife murders I went down a rabbit hole and landed on a 1960 unsolved stabbing of 3 people in a tent in Finland with a 4th person surviving only to be arrested for it 44 years later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Bodom_murders
Not sure if this has been mentioned here but this is one of the more insane stories no one seems to discuss much — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripper_Crew
This is crazy and I feel like no one has really reported on it outside of Philly news — https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Joseph_Augustus_Zarelli https://www.inquirer.com/news/live/boy-in-box-philadelphia-name-identity-solved-20221208.html
I forgot about this thread. In late November 2022, prosecutors solved a 1978 murder in the town where I live. https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-new...ld-cold-case-of-murdered-uc-student?_amp=true The assailant died in a car accident in 1985, but they were aware of one attempted kidnapping that he tried before he died. Police asked a relative of the dead assailant for a DNA sample. It closely matched the 1978 victim, so they exhumed the assailant’s body and he matched. They then got hits on three other unsolved rape/murders in the Cincy area. The guy was a serial killer with at least four murders.
There's a show that was originally on Discovery back in the early 2010s, that is now on Hulu called Murder in Paradise and it's one of the best true crime series I've ever watched. Most of the cases sounded like they were out of a movie, and better, I hadn't even heard of most of them. Highly recommend.
I've been cruising through episodes of I Survived on YouTube. I was about to move onto the next one, but I'm legit scared bc the thumbnail for this one gives me pause. Update: Spoiler I started it. Thankfully, the thumbnail was not the result of something that a human did to another human. I was worried, but because now that I know that, it should be ok to watch.