Two Jason Baldwins?!

During the trial and investigation of the WM3, there were actually two Jason Baldwins who were discussed: (I did not know this!)

http://www.jivepuppi.com/other_baldwin.html

Satch

Yes, there are two Jason Baldwins. Charles Jason Baldwin is Damien Echols' best friend. Jason Howard Baldwin was about Damien's age at the time. I'm not sure why he wasn't investigated (or where he is right now). Just another example of the stellar work done by the WMPD. While in West Memphis, he was arrested for underage drinking in 1991:

http://callahan.8k.com/images2/j_h_baldwin_arrest_1.JPG

and for shoplifting and possession of marijuana in 1992:

http://callahan.8k.com/images2/j_h_baldwin_arrest_2.JPG

He had other offenses elsewhere as is documented in the link below. IIRC, he ran with a rather rough crowd.

Here's side-by-side photos: http://www.jivepuppi.com/other_baldwin.html

I'm so freakin' confused...

This is probably the single most convoluted case I've ever researched.

It is a very convoluted case. I don't know why the WMPD expected to close it within a month, I don't think the FBI would have solved it in that time frame, and they have much more experience than the police in West Memphis.

Just to confuse things further - the other Jason Baldwin is, (or was), a friend of Robert Burch. The rumour mill in West Memphis at the time had several different strands going - one around Damien Echols and one around Robert Burch, and another around both together! Which Jason Baldwin features in which rumour is really anybody's guess, and the West Memphis police never made any attempt to ascertain which one Jessie Misskelley was talking about.

I NEVER knew this until right now .
and this person has never been questioned?
Yet another failing

Cappuccino said:

It is a very convoluted case. I don't know why the WMPD expected to close it within a month, I don't think the FBI would have solved it in that time frame, and they have much more experience than the police in West Memphis.

Just to confuse things further - the other Jason Baldwin is, (or was), a friend of Robert Burch. The rumor mill in West Memphis at the time had several different strands going - one around Damien Echols and one around Robert Burch, and another around both together! Which Jason Baldwin features in which rumor is really anybody's guess, and the West Memphis police never made any attempt to ascertain which one Jessie Misskelley was talking about.

Click to expand...

Has Jessie ever followed up or clarified over the years which Jason Baldwin he was talking about? I will refer to the two as "Big Jason" (The about 300lb guy who was never questioned) and "Little Jason." (The about 150lb guy who was arrested and convicted in the case.)

Did "Little Jason" know "Big Jason?"

Maybe those answers are in the URL above or around the Net, but I don't remember now. The two Jasons is totally new information for me.

We need to find out more about "Big Jason."

Satch

Satch - personally, I doubt very much if Jessie himself knew which Jason he was talking about. He was regurgitating the local rumour mill, especially what Vicki Hutchinson had told him, which is why he starts off with Robert Burch and Damien Echols did it, then when that doesn't please his interrogators, moves to Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin did it.

Come to think of it, I'm not entirely sure Jessie himself even knew that there were two Jason Baldwins in town. Anything Jessie heard about "Jason Baldwin", he would probably have just assumed was about the only one he knew, especially as Damien's name was in the mix, and he knew Damien and little Jason were friends.

I can't help but notice though that the description he gives of "Jason" during the crime - remember, he describes Jason as the most vicious of the three - would be more in line with a rumour started about Big Jason, who apparently already had a local reputation for being mean, and killing animals "just for the hell of it."

Wrt whether the two Jasons knew each other - little Jason would have known of big Jason, but not known him to talk to. I don't know if Big Jason had ever noticed little Jason's existence.

(P.S. I feel silly calling them Big Jason and Little Jason. :crazy

OK, I'll call them CJB (Charles Jason Baldwin, Damien's friend) and JHB (Jason Howard Baldwin, the "other" one). I know that I've read somewhere stories that JHB was cruel and mean spirited similar to what was previously stated. I don't remember off hand where I saw that. I believe that the link to jivepuppi's site contains most of the known information on JHB, however. I agree about Jessie probably not knowing that there were two Jason Baldwins and that any reference to that name would make Jessie think of CJB who he had known and been friends with since childhood. It's kind of sad, really. As CJB matured and Jessie didn't, they drifted apart. It was good to see CJB hugging Jessie at the presser on 8/19/2011!