Now a judgewho coincidentally works part time in the courtroom where Misskelley was convictedStidham spends time speaking to law students about the judicial system. The arrests of the two stepfathers of the murdered children at West Memphis tend to underscore questions raised months ago by attorneys for defendants in the triple slaying case particularly about the adequacy of the investigation that led to the arrests of three local teenagers, none of whom had a record of prior violence. peter w busch why is it important to serve your family how did melissa byers die. Its something that Baldwin couldnt envision when he first agreed to let the documentarians interview him in jail in exchange for an honorarium, or even when Mojo played that VHS tape for him in 1997. Only her urine was abnormal. I agree. And they used that visibility to help raise funds for the defense. (Its worth noting that despite the issues raised by Lindseys work, the first season of Up and Vanished renewed interest in the case, which ultimately led to arrests, albeit of people that Lindsey hadnt previously covered on the podcast.). Speaking by phone last month, he comes across, in many ways, like the person Berlinger says he encountered in prison in 1994: polite, deferential, soft-spoken. He advised her mouth was wide open, her eyes were closed, she was totally limp, and her arms were down by her side. Seed saving is a great way to ensure the survival of your plants, and it's also an economical choice. This year, many gardeners are looking for new varieties of tomatoes to try out in their gardens. Waser assisted in photographing Melissa at the hospital and bagging evidence. When we were driving in the car a lot, wed play a lot of the Metallica album Master of Puppets, says Alex Sinofsky, who became a doctor instead of getting behind the camera himself. I think I introduced my dad to it because that was not his normal genre., Three Metallica songsOrion, Welcome Home (Sanitarium), and Call of Ktuluwould play throughout the documentary. and talk normal, but then all of a sudden, he would get arrogant again, advising me that he was the father and he was going to take the kids. The two met with Byers' neighbor, Metz, who expressed concern over Byers' step-son, Ryan Clark, as he had not returned to the residence after reportedly leaving abruptly while Melissa was being worked on. Since moving to Cherokee Village in 1994, the couple had had frequent run-ins with police. Except this was 1996, and home internet was still in its infancy. I thought that was *very* strange, his insistence on re-living the whole thing. 1 0 obj Then there's the mysterious circumstances of his wife's death. It s not between you, its between them. And, Rose added, he does admit to saying that, too., The boys did back off, in part because Byers was holding what appeared to be a gun. The results suggest that Melissa had not been using hydrocodone for an extended length of time; otherwise, the drug would have been in her blood and her liver. Melissa DeFir Byers was born on January 15, 1996. Baldwin remembers grabbing a Mountain Dew and a burrito and sitting down, still unaware of what he was about to watch. She stated that she lived with Byers and "discovered that he was nothing but a pathological liar. All three boys were found guilty. The 1998 Arkansas Times Academic All-Star Team nominees. Maybe, maybe not, but there's no evidence (aside from that knife, which never underwent full DNA testing as far as I know). But the list of people who have looked at the facts of the case and come away believing Baldwin, Echols, and Misskelley are innocent is long. "She was a beautiful woman. Byers and his companion got back in their car and drove alongside the victim of the fight, who was still lying on the ground. In 1996, Melissa Byers died. endobj Metallica had never licensed a song for a film before, but when they learned about the case, Berlinger says, they made an exception. Everybody Id come in contact with was hostile to the truth, Baldwin says. But it wasnt in the ways its directors had hoped. It was a call about Damien Echolshe wasnt dead, but his wife, Lorri Davis, feared he might be soon. Their advocates believe the Alford pleas represent their own form of injustice, but correcting that is a less pressing issue than the early battlesthe men are free and have been able to mostly live their lives in the years since their release. Witt arrived at the hospital about 35 minutes later. Melissa and John Mark Byers were having problems in their marriage in 1996. He was wearing sunglasses and had this weird hair, big cowboy boots. The neighbor quoted Melissa Byers as having screamed, You cant watch your family 24 hours, and you are going down.. Its first season ostensibly focused on the disappearance of a Georgia beauty queen, but it spent nearly as much time digging through the salacious details of the victims love life and dipping into amateur psychology as it did looking at evidence. Melissa Byers, Self: Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. [9], Waser's report indicated that two EMTs were performing CPR on Melissa when he arrived. He told Mark he was going to call EMS., When Metz returned to the room, Witt wrote, Ryan was trying to help John Mark put some pants on Melissa, and he asked John Mark if Melissa was dead. By the time she got done watching it, her life was forever changed. Armchair detectives of today, I think a lot of them dabble in conspiracy theory, Berlinger says. Inevitably, the West Memphis Three case always comes up. Kansas City man found guilty of murder in wifes 2017 stabbing death at their home, Daughter finds mothers body in the basement; her father is charged with murder, Man found dead inside house where Kansas City police officers were shot late Tuesday, Three Kansas City police officers shot and injured while executing search warrant, Bald eagles egg breaks in nest, Minnesota photo shows. The documentarians found me in one of the worst things a person could go through, Baldwin says. In the meantime, he has hired Larry Kissee, a lawyer in Ash Flat, to represent him in a lawsuit he is considering fling against the city of West Memphis. Stidham says he has a hard time sleeping at night, so convinced is he that his client and the boys convicted with him were victims of what one witness for the defense labeled a satanic panic. He is aware of Byers record, and of the further violence erupting in the family of Steve Branch, but Stidham is careful about throwing stones. The third boy, Byers, had died of loss of blood suffered during the removal of his penis. But the lawyer quickly noticed inconsistencies in Misskelleys purported confession. I deeply admire that and I thought it was worthy of putting on film.. The answer seems obvious. They found marijuana in a closet of the master bedroom and on a night stand in the other bedroom. He arrived at the home around 1pm and "partied with them, drinking Crown Royal, and taking valium, xanex, and that he saw Mark Byers with a sandwich baggie of K-4 dilaudid." Powell told Witt that a woman named Melissa Byers had been taken by ambulance from her residence in Cherokee Village to Eastern Ozarks Regional Hospital. Additionally, modern pennies are only 2.5% copper, so older pennies should be used instead for better results. Mark Byers faces trials on both the burglary charge and the charge stemming from the teen-agers fight. Melissa's Death Byers left the gas company and, as he drove across the old Hardy bridge, more words were reportedly exchanged between his passenger and the other boy. Our monthly magazine is free at over 500 locations in Central Arkansas. Melissa A. One of Kathy Bakkens earliest jobs in Los Angeles allowed her a certain kind of cultural currency: She designed movie posters for an entertainment-advertising company, which meant she got to see films months before they were released. Chances are, if death was from natural causes, it came about by arrythmia,which leaves no traces after death. In 1992 he petitioned to have the charge dismissed and the record of his conviction expunged a petition that was granted. [28] The coroner noted that rigor was not present, but checked "yes" on lividity. Melissa was the biological mother of Chris Byers and Ryan Clark. As of "The Piggyback", 825+ characters are known to have died throughout the show's run. When Rose reached the scene, he questioned the boys involved, none of whom, he said, hes had any trouble with before. In the joint trial of Baldwin and Echols, which took place separately from Misskelleys, Berlinger and Sinofsky filmed the surreal moments that juries were actually present for: a rundown of the books Echols checked out of the library, a parade of band T-shirts worn by the pair, a copy of a Blue Oyster Cult record found in Damiens girlfriends house that became evidence because of the word cult and song titles like Dont Fear the Reaper. What the cameras couldnt capture, however, was the introduction of physical evidencethe prosecution didnt offer much of that aside from a knife that was never directly linked to the crimes and fabric threads deemed microscopically similar to items found in Baldwins and Echolss homes, an assertion that has been questioned in the years since the trials. Through what Jim Clark, the director of the crime lab, recently described as a typographical error, no mention of the finding of Dilaudid appeared in the autopsy reports conclusions. Melissa's Death Melissa and John Mark Byers were having problems in their . Furthermore, if you're growing heirloom varieties or rare species that may not, 2021 Tomato Varieties to Try in Your Garden this Year | Varieties for Storage & Other Tomatoes Available, Tomatoes are a popular and versatile vegetable that can be used in a variety of dishes. Not only had their son Christopher sustained the most savage of the attacks, but John Mark and Melissa Byers stood out as the most demonstrative of the parents in the film. Founded 1974, the Arkansas Times is a lively, opinionated source for news, politics & culture in Arkansas. You still dont really know what happened to these kids. She was pronounced dead after efforts to revive her failed. In December, Investigator Stan Witt closed his case on Melissa Byers. When told about the finding of blood, Byers changed his statement, claiming that he had used the knife to cut deer meat to make jerky. endobj Metz advised he checked for a pulse, lifted her eyelids, and looked at her eyes. You dont know who I am. Byers denies saying that. Essentially, it allows the accused to assert their innocence while pleading guilty, conceding that the prosecution has an overwhelming amount of evidence to procure a conviction. Melissa DeFir Byers was born on January 15, 1956. In August 2011, Jason Baldwin was pulled from his prison cell under confusing circumstances once again. That same large number of people here feel that Mark Beyers is guilty of the 'Paradise Lost' murders because of skimpy evidence and the fact that he is thought of as 'creepy'. She was not injured and taken into custody, police say. When the pair got the call from Nevins, they mobilized immediately, landing in Arkansas shortly after the arrests. By the time he arrived on the scene there were several responders: Officer Slayton, Chief of Police Ernie Rose, and Paul Brinkley (ambulance driver). Kissee said, I dont know how you put a pricetag on a little boy s life. But he said the Byerses believe their son would still be alive if police had begun searching for the three boys sooner, after Pamela Hobbs reported them missing. Mandy also stated that Ryan had assisted in the burglary of the Atwood home. [14] In the statement given by Metz, he said that John Mark told him he thought Melissa had overdosed on a drug. In September, Melissa Byers was charged with disorderly conduct after a neighbor reported that Melissa had threatened to kill her family. % In April of this year, shortly after the trials at which three West Memphis teen-agers were convicted of the killings, the Byerses moved to Cherokee Village, a quiet community of about 4,000, close to the Missouri border. Melissa DeFir Byers was born on January 15, 1956. 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