Questions About Mark Byers and Paradise Lost 2

Satch

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Sup All,

I watched Paradise Lost I and II recently shown on HBO on Demand. With regards to Mark Byers:

1.) When did he change his mind that the WM3 were innocent? What evidence or statements made him do a complete 360 degree turn in this case?

2.) Watch one of these scenes in PL 2 with the Polygraph Examiner, Byers says something like....."It was a week after my wife was murdered." Did Mark misspeak there?

3.) Was it ever determined exactly how his wife died?

4.) Do any of you still find Mark's behavior disturbing? Why or why not? IMO, he does seem to change his story many times.

5.) I find it interesting that in PL 2, there is not one mention of Terry Hobbs, whom many believe may be responsible for the killings because of his DNA being found at the crime scene. In later developments, what has Mark Byers said about Terry Hobbs?

Satch
 
Sup All,

I watched Paradise Lost I and II recently shown on HBO on Demand. With regards to Mark Byers:

1.) When did he change his mind that the WM3 were innocent? What evidence or statements made him do a complete 360 degree turn in this case?

2.) Watch one of these scenes in PL 2 with the Polygraph Examiner, Byers says something like....."It was a week after my wife was murdered." Did Mark misspeak there?

3.) Was it ever determined exactly how his wife died?

4.) Do any of you still find Mark's behavior disturbing? Why or why not? IMO, he does seem to change his story many times.

5.) I find it interesting that in PL 2, there is not one mention of Terry Hobbs, whom many believe may be responsible for the killings because of his DNA being found at the crime scene. In later developments, what has Mark Byers said about Terry Hobbs?

Satch


1. He says that the reason why he changed his mind is because at the time (14 years after the murders) he looked at all of the evidence and decided they were not guilty.....

2. I remember him saying that.... I think he didn't mean to say it.

3. That I don't know

4. I know JMB called TH and tried to get him to incriminate himself but it never happend.

It is on Youtube if you want to watch it.
 
Sup All,

I watched Paradise Lost I and II recently shown on HBO on Demand. With regards to Mark Byers:

1.) When did he change his mind that the WM3 were innocent? What evidence or statements made him do a complete 360 degree turn in this case?

2.) Watch one of these scenes in PL 2 with the Polygraph Examiner, Byers says something like....."It was a week after my wife was murdered." Did Mark misspeak there?

3.) Was it ever determined exactly how his wife died?

4.) Do any of you still find Mark's behavior disturbing? Why or why not? IMO, he does seem to change his story many times.

5.) I find it interesting that in PL 2, there is not one mention of Terry Hobbs, whom many believe may be responsible for the killings because of his DNA being found at the crime scene. In later developments, what has Mark Byers said about Terry Hobbs?

Satch

1) He has said that he changed his mind when the mtDNA testing results revealed that the mtDNA of TH and his friend DJ were found at the discovery ditch under the ligature of one of the victims and on a tree stump of a tree right beside the discovery ditch. He has said that he felt lied to by the WMPD and that they didn't do a proper job of investigation as they interrogated him but never questioned TH for only one example.

2) Mark felt like Melissa died of a broken heart after her son died. I don't know if he said this outright, but I believe, at the time, that he blamed Chris' murderer (who, at the time, he believed to be the WMFree) for Melissa's death and considered it a murder of sorts, too. I'm thinking that that may have been what he meant.

3) No. Her death is still listed officially as "undetermined." IMO, we'll never know for sure why or how she died.

4) Mark, like Damien, will now say that his behavior at the time was disturbing and very suspicious. He understands how anyone could see him as the guilty party, based on his behavior at the time. However, this is no different than people who saw Damien as suspicious based on his behavior at the time. As to Mark, he was a grieving parent, and I believe that he reacted out of grief. I also believe, but this is just my opinion, that the medication that he was taking for his brain tumor could have caused some of the bizarre behavior at the time.

5) At the time, TH simply tried to blend into the background. The next time you watch PL 1, watch TH at the time of the verdict. His guilty "gulp" is very visible. Mark has been very vocal since the mtDNA results have been released. He publicly accused TH of the murders. Here's one example:

[video=youtube;gPkivEqmAXc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPkivEqmAXc&feature=player_embedded[/video]
 
4.)I find him highly disturbing.I don't care what his opinion is now because I believe he would change it to suit his own needs if he were to benefit from it.He's dirty.


I am not saying he murdered Melissa but it would not surprise me in the least if he did.

I would never want to be in his presence.
 
4.)I find him highly disturbing.I don't care what his opinion is now because I believe he would change it to suit his own needs if he were to benefit from it.He's dirty.


I am not saying he murdered Melissa but it would not surprise me in the least if he did.

I would never want to be in his presence.

You hit the nail on the head, while I don't believe he was involved in the boys deaths he is highly suspicious in Melissas death. No matter what he believes now (and I feel strongly that it is just his way to make a buck or somehow benefit himself) JMB is not a good guy, read up on him and you will see that he is just a shady and bad guy. Also I'm not sure how much I really buy the grieving dad bit in the PL movies, there are numerous reports that he didn't care a bit about Chris and I do believe he is just showboating for the camera, you know playing the victim and making much of this about him (like how he compared the boys being attacked to something that happened to him...Like really dude?) So no I don't buy JMB for one second and am convinced that his motives in support of the WM3 are not on the up and up.
 
He was a suspect for a bunch of things back when the murders occurred but the cops never pursued him on the charges of any of them including never being a suspect for the murders. Something I never understood.
 
He was a suspect for a bunch of things back when the murders occurred but the cops never pursued him on the charges of any of them including never being a suspect for the murders. Something I never understood.

Well there are various reports about how he had a very close relationship with the local police. Not only was it likely that he was an informant but he also would throw parties attended by the local police, going as far as throwing a retirement party for an outgoing police chief. Now he was questioned and I guess considered a "suspect", but if you read the questioning he was never truly looked at... Which is just another fallacy by the WMPD.
 
Well there are various reports about how he had a very close relationship with the local police. Not only was it likely that he was an informant but he also would throw parties attended by the local police, going as far as throwing a retirement party for an outgoing police chief. Now he was questioned and I guess considered a "suspect", but if you read the questioning he was never truly looked at... Which is just another fallacy by the WMPD.

One thing that is obvious is that he was questioned by the police, however cursorily you may believe it to have been, about the murders, and he was told by the police that the other fathers would also be questioned. Todd M was ruled out as he was out of town. Terry H was not questioned until years later, and only then because of the fact that new testing had revealed that a hair containing what was most likely his mtDNA was found at the discovery ditch. TH simply managed to be "elsewhere" when the police were around - until the fickle finger of suspicion wagged his way. JMB has never refused to any sort of testing, including taking and passing a polygraph (for what it's worth).

Let's look at the reaction of these two "suspects" when suspicion reared its ugly head. JMB loudly proclaimed his innocence, offered to take a polygraph, offered any sample requested for testing and, in short, acted like an outraged innocent grieving adoptive father. TH "lawyered up," tried to sue Natalie Maines Pasdar and the Dixie Chicks, tried to stay out of the limelight as much as possible, when cornered proclaimed his innocence (but IMO not very convincingly), but to this day still refuses to submit to a polygraph or give any new biological samples for testing. Now, which person is more suspicious to you?
 
One thing that is obvious is that he was questioned by the police, however cursorily you may believe it to have been, about the murders, and he was told by the police that the other fathers would also be questioned. Todd M was ruled out as he was out of town. Terry H was not questioned until years later, and only then because of the fact that new testing had revealed that a hair containing what was most likely his mtDNA was found at the discovery ditch. TH simply managed to be "elsewhere" when the police were around - until the fickle finger of suspicion wagged his way. JMB has never refused to any sort of testing, including taking and passing a polygraph (for what it's worth).

Let's look at the reaction of these two "suspects" when suspicion reared its ugly head. JMB loudly proclaimed his innocence, offered to take a polygraph, offered any sample requested for testing and, in short, acted like an outraged innocent grieving adoptive father. TH "lawyered up," tried to sue Natalie Maines Pasdar and the Dixie Chicks, tried to stay out of the limelight as much as possible, when cornered proclaimed his innocence (but IMO not very convincingly), but to this day still refuses to submit to a polygraph or give any new biological samples for testing. Now, which person is more suspicious to you?


Now like I said earlier I don't believe JMB killed the boy (Melissa may be a different story), but to discount him as a suspect completely with everything in his past is ludicrous. The WMPD basically didn't look seriously at any of the fathers who should have been the primary suspects... namely JMB and TH since TM was out of town during the murders. In the end yes TH looks like a better suspect, but the WMPD couldn't know that immediately after the murders and they both should have been the primary focus. Also as I stated in another thread polygraphs hold absolutely no water with me... especially if your on medications when you take them. So to reiterate TH should be the prime suspect (but not the only one since the evidence against him is still pretty scant), also to completely remove JMB from the suspect list just because he turned supporter (IMO for VERY questionable reasons) would be doing the three dead boys a disservice.
 
Well there are various reports about how he had a very close relationship with the local police. Not only was it likely that he was an informant but he also would throw parties attended by the local police, going as far as throwing a retirement party for an outgoing police chief. Now he was questioned and I guess considered a "suspect", but if you read the questioning he was never truly looked at... Which is just another fallacy by the WMPD.

Do you mean Mark Byers or Terry Hobbs? (Or perhaps both?)

Satch
 
Mark Byers is as shady as a black crayon under a lava rock.

I really don't care to hear praising comments about him here.Be realistic.He's not out for justice.He's out for himself.He's the Uncle in the family that no one wants to claim at the family reunion.
 
....aside from anything else that's disturbing about him...he abused Chris.
That's the bottom line for me.That's why I will never have any sympathy for him.
 
....aside from anything else that's disturbing about him...he abused Chris.
That's the bottom line for me.That's why I will never have any sympathy for him.

Thank you for saying this.I know you stand by your posts.
 
I believe it's a pretty well-established fact that Mark B worked for the WMPD as a drug informant. In fact, IIRC, he did time because he sold drugs to an undercover agent. My question is why did the police treat Terry H with kid gloves?

He had a sexual assault in his past (Mildred French), and his victim (the same Ms. French) was attacked because she went to the police to report him for spousal and child abuse (not Pam, Amanda and Stevie but his first wife and son). Later, after the testing results from the hairs were made public, again Terry H received the kid glove treatment. He was questioned by the WMPD, but he was not treated in any way like a suspect. Mind you, this is after he has shot his brother-in-law (and his brother-in-law had died of complications from the gunshot wound). Can someone tell me why was he never considered to be a suspect?
 
I think he was simply overlooked,they were already too convinced it was Damien,Terry Hobbs just fell under the radar.
I just read this amazing document that I don't ever remember reading.It is from 1998 and very detailed.It lists Chris as having lived in a "high risk" environment because of the abuse of his father,but it states Stevie lived in a low/moderate risk environment.(these assessments are towards the middle in the "victimology").Even that many years later not even the defense (I assume this document was created for the defense) looked at Hobbs.
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/b_turvey_profile.html
 
I think he was simply overlooked,they were already too convinced it was Damien,Terry Hobbs just fell under the radar.
I just read this amazing document that I don't ever remember reading.It is from 1998 and very detailed.It lists Chris as having lived in a "high risk" environment because of the abuse of his father,but it states Stevie lived in a low/moderate risk environment.(these assessments are towards the middle in the "victimology").Even that many years later not even the defense (I assume this document was created for the defense) looked at Hobbs.
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/b_turvey_profile.html

Brent Turvey, the profiler, simply didn't have all of the information he needed to do a proper profile. The same could be said of John Douglas' later profile. I believe part of the reason for the lack of focus on TH is that, at least at this point in the case, TH was still flying under the radar. It wasn't until he "showed his hand" by suing Natalie Maines Pasdar and the Dixie Chicks that his questionable actions, etc. came to light. It was a failing of the WMPD that he wasn't properly investigated at the time of the murders, and I still wonder why.
 
I know he doesn't like the Devil's Knot lady. She tried to get him to sign her book. I thought all these media WM3 lovin people were all friends. I guess the knot is coming loose.

John Mark Byers berates Ms Mara Leveritt in Little Rock
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5RBAdBMbM4"]John Mark Byers vs Mara Leveritt - YouTube[/ame]
 
I can understand why JMB would be a little perturbed with Mara as she almost single-handedly pointed the finger of suspicion his way. However, I believe that they have settled their differences. Mara has a second book about the case in the works, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to find JMB exonerated in the new book.
 
Why do they keep switching on who the 'real killer' is?

I guess that makes their books and movies more interesting instead of focusing on the three who were convicted and also plead guilty to the butchering of 3-second graders.
 

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