Jason Baldwin

On May 5, 1993, three eight-year-old boys (Steve Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers) were reported missing in West Memphis, Arkansas.

The first report to the police was made by Byers's adoptive father, John Mark Byers, around 7:00 pm.

The boys were allegedly last seen together by three neighbors, who in affidavits told of seeing them playing together around 6:30 pm the evening they disappeared and seeing Terry Hobbs, Steve Branch's stepfather, calling them to come home.

Initial police searches made that night were limited.

Friends and neighbors also conducted a search that night, which included a cursory visit to the location where the bodies were later found.

A more thorough police search for the children began around 8:00 am on May 6, led by the Crittenden County Search and Rescue personnel.

Searchers canvassed all of West Memphis but focused primarily on Robin Hood Hills, where the boys were reported last seen.

Despite a shoulder-to-shoulder search of Robin Hood Hills by a human chain, searchers found no sign of the missing boys.

Around 1:45 pm, juvenile Parole Officer Steve Jones spotted a boy's black shoe floating in a muddy creek that led to a major drainage canal in Robin Hood Hills.

A subsequent search of the ditch revealed the bodies of three boys.

They had been stripped naked and were hogtied with their own shoelaces, their right ankles tied to their right wrists behind their backs, the same with their left arms and legs.

Their clothing was found in the creek, some of it twisted around sticks that had been thrust into the muddy ditch bed.

The clothing was mostly turned inside-out; two pairs of the boys' underwear were never recovered.

Christopher Byers had lacerations to various parts of his body and mutilation of his scrotum and penis.

The autopsies by forensic pathologist Frank J. Peretti indicated that Byers died of "multiple injuries", while Moore and Branch died of "multiple injuries with drowning".

Police initially suspected the boys had been raped; however, later expert testimony disputed this finding.

Trace amounts of sperm DNA were found on a pair of pants recovered from the scene.

Prosecution experts claim Byers's wounds were the results of a knife attack and that he had been purposely castrated by the murderer; defense experts claim the injuries were most likely the result of post-mortem animal predation.

Police believed the boys were assaulted and killed at the location where they were found; critics argued that the assault, at least, was unlikely to have occurred at the creek.

Byers was the only victim with drugs in his system; he was prescribed Ritalin (methylphenidate) in January 1993 as part of treatment of an attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The initial autopsy report describes the drug as Carbamazepine and the dosage at a sub-therapeutic level.

His father said Byers may not have taken his prescription on May 5, 1993.

Steve Edward Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore were all second graders at Weaver Elementary School.

Each had achieved the rank of "Wolf" in the local Cub Scout pack and were best friends.

Steve Branch was the son of Steven and Pamela Branch, who divorced when he was an infant.

His mother was awarded custody and later married Terry Hobbs.

Branch was eight years old, 4 ft. 2 tall, weighed 65 lbs, and had blond hair.

He was last seen wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt, and riding a black and red bicycle.

He was an honor student.

The West Memphis Three are three men convicted as teenagers in 1994 of the 1993 murders of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, United States.

Damien Echols was sentenced to death, Jessie Misskelley Jr. to life imprisonment plus two 20-year sentences, and Jason Baldwin to life imprisonment.

During the trial, the prosecution asserted that the juveniles killed the children as part of a Satanic ritual.

Due to the dubious nature of the evidence as well as the suspected presence of emotional bias in court, the case generated widespread controversy and was the subject of several documentaries.

Celebrities and musicians held fundraisers to support efforts to free the men.

In July 2007, new forensic evidence was presented.

A report jointly issued by the state and the defense team stated, "Although most of the genetic material recovered from the scene was attributable to the victims of the offenses, some of it cannot be attributed to either the victims or the defendants."

Following a 2010 decision by the Arkansas Supreme Court regarding newly produced DNA evidence and potential juror misconduct, the West Memphis Three negotiated a plea bargain with prosecutors.

On August 19, 2011, they entered Alford pleas, which allowed them to assert their innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them.

Judge David Laser accepted the pleas and sentenced the three to time served.

They were released with 10-year suspended sentences, having served 18 years.