Viable suspect: Damien Echols

There was a 911-like call placed on 5-11-93 from a male caller who says that he 'killed three kids, whachya gunna do about it'. I wonder could this be Echols, it does sound like his voice.

Actual recording of the caller
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/audio/tape_phone_call_051093.mp3

Note about the recording
http://callahan.8k.com/images2/tape_of_phone_call_02.jpg


Envelope for tape
http://callahan.8k.com/images2/tape_of_phone_call_01.jpg

Have you ever listened to the tapes conversation between Domini and LG? To me, the voice in the 911 call sounds like it could be LG.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I listened to LG & Domini's call, but it didn't sound like his voice to me. BTW here's the link to it.

http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/dt_lg_call.html

It didn't sound like Damian's voice to me, but honestly I don't think anyone here is qualified to analyze such a thing, including myself. It's too bad they couldn't trace the call to make sure it wasn't a prank.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Sounds -nothing- like Echols, to me. Not the timbre of the voice, not the accent, and while pitch can be changed quite easily, it's actually hard to properly disguise a voice without it -sounding- like a disguised voice.

Might just be because he's on my rader atm, but it sounds much more like JMK than Echols..
 
How do you mean Lax convinced him to retract? Is there proof of that?


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So apparently a PI, who holds NO legal authority, can overcome one's free will and get them to say something that isn't true but yet LE, who is the epitomy of legal authority, cannot overcome one's free will to get them to say something that's not true.
 
As for Echols being a suspect:

-His prior problems(I don't know how much of it is fact vs. fiction so I'll leave it at problems).
-Like it or not, his uniqueness brings attention and makes LE take note thus making him a suspect.
-His cavalier attitude that comes off as arrogant didn't make matters any better.

All I can think of off the top of my head.
 
IMO, a lot of what would have made Echols a viable suspect was based on less than reliable hearsay. The statements from the Hollingsworth clan were... Well. Confusing at best. The softball girls were just a mess. But let's not stray in to all of that and derail the thread too much. ;)

Regarding Echols' alibi. Personally, I don't have much of a problem with it. However, was any of it ever corroborated by any kind of documentation?
I believe the Sanders provided some sort of receipt from the casino, which at least to a certain degree would corroborate that part of Echols' alibi. Was anything similar ever provided from the Medical Health Centre or pharmacy that Echols' claimed to have visited earlier in the day?
 
IMO, a lot of what would have made Echols a viable suspect was based on less than reliable hearsay. The statements from the Hollingsworth clan were... Well. Confusing at best. The softball girls were just a mess. But let's not stray in to all of that and derail the thread too much. ;)

Regarding Echols' alibi. Personally, I don't have much of a problem with it. However, was any of it ever corroborated by any kind of documentation?
I believe the Sanders provided some sort of receipt from the casino, which at least to a certain degree would corroborate that part of Echols' alibi. Was anything similar ever provided from the Medical Health Centre or pharmacy that Echols' claimed to have visited earlier in the day?

BBM

His sister gave a statement that his mother went in the pharmacy to get the meds.



MICHELLE - UM, I WOULD SAY AROUND 4 OR A LITTLE AFTER.

FOGLEMAN - OKAY, AND THEN YOU WENT WHERE?

MICHELLE - UM, AFTER WE DROPPED HER OFF WE ENT TO THE PHARMACY TO PICK UP HIS MEDICINE.

FOGLEMAN - AND WHAT PHARMACY WAS THAT?

MICHELLE - MARION DISCOUNT PHARMACY.

FOGLEMAN - OKAY, AND DID YOU GET HIS MEDICINE?

001812


MICHELLE - UH HUH.

FOGLEMAN - OKAY, WHO WENT IN?

MICHELLE - MY MOM.

http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/michelle.html
 
Cheers UdbCrzy2! :)
I was aware of how the whole family basically stated the same thing, but no receipt for the meds or record from the Health Centre was ever provided? It's a small detail but could do a lot for credibility.
It's just weird how the most obvious things seem to be missing from this case. Like how phone records were never checked until it, conveniently enough, was too late.
 
Regarding Echols' alibi. Personally, I don't have much of a problem with it.
So where do you believe Echols was at around sunset on the night of the murders, and what evidence do you base your belief on?
 
So where do you believe Echols was at around sunset on the night of the murders, and what evidence do you base your belief on?

My belief is that he was around the Sanders house at that point, sunset being around or just after 7 o'clock.
Anyhow, here's a few statements that all, more or less, state that:
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/michelle.html
http://callahan.8k.com/images/joeh/joe19.jpg
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/pamh1.html
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/jennsan.html
 
My belief is that he was around the Sanders house at that point, sunset being around or just after 7 o'clock.
Anyhow, here's a few statements that all, more or less, state that:
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/michelle.html
http://callahan.8k.com/images/joeh/joe19.jpg
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/pamh1.html
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/jennsan.html

Jennifer Sanders testified in court that she remembered specific date because her boyfriend's band concert was the following night
Davidson: Ok. And how do you know this occurred on May 5th of 1993?

Sanders: Because the night after that, I went to my boyfriend's concert. Band concert.

http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/ebtrial/jennifers.html


Another witness testified which was the school band director that the date of the band concert was May, 17.

Fogleman: Alright. When was the spring concert?

Pokorski: Uh - the spring concert was Monday night, May 17th in the West Memphis civic auditorium.

Fogleman: Alright. Now, did you have any other practices or concerts or anything of that nature in May of last year in West Memphis?

Pokorski: No sir.
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/ebtrial/gpokorski.html


Here is Echols own testimony regarding those alibis:


Q. Your mother testified that when you were down at the police station, one of the things she told you was, we’ve got some alibis, correct?

A. Yes.

Q. She’s testified that the same day the police talked to you, or maybe it was your sister, that that is when you first started discussing among the family about the details of those alibis, correct?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. When the police talk with you on the tenth, at that point in time you tell them from 3:00 to 5:00 is when you think you were at the Sanders’, is that right?

A. I probably told him that then.

Q. That was about five days after the boys had turned up missing that you told him it was around 3:00 to 5:00?

A. I probably told him that if it’s in the report.

Q. When your mom tells him something, it is about five to six or five to six-thirty, okay?

A. (NODS HEAD)

Q. As time moves on and the time period that is in question becomes later that evening, the visit to the Sanders’ becomes later that evening, correct?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. So the story kind of changes to fit the facts we need to cover, right?

A. Yes, sir.
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/damien1.html


I hope that helps clear up any confusion about those alibis.
 
Thing is, it would worry me more if every alibi statement Echols, or any of his friends/family members, ever gave was exactly the same. I know that we disagree on this point, but to someone whom that date bares no significance to it would be strange indeed if the memory for some reason was crystal clear. Stranger is the fact that Misskelley seems to have no clue as to when the murders occured while he is "confessing" to them (until he gets told) and the fact that Hobbs, to whom this day should be crystal clear, still can't get his timeline straight. That is worrying.
 
Thing is, it would worry me more if every alibi statement Echols, or any of his friends/family members, ever gave was exactly the same.
Well I certainly don't expect exactness from witnesses, but the night before Jennifer Sanders' boyfriend's concert isn't anywhere even close to the night of the murders, it was a week and a half later, and the night of that concert was obviously a date significant to her. Also, did you notice the fact that in Echols' mother's statement which you linked she didn't mention her husband on the purported trip to the Sanders on the evening of the murders at all, and rather said they had a fight the day before and "He had everything out by 9:00 that night"? Then there's the fact that in Echols' father's statement on page 16-17 he answered regarding who went to the Sanders:

It was me, Pam, Michelle and if I ain’t mistaken, I can’t be positive, because I’m trying to run this back in my mind. But Damion was with us. But, I cannot be positive. I can remember the three of us being there.

And then on page 20 when asked specifically about Echols going to the Sanders he insisted "I don't want to put myself on the spot and tell you yeah, he was there, or no, that he wasn't". If you've no trouble overlooking those discrepancies between witness statements, what exactly do you take issue with in that from the Hollingsworths and the girls who were at the softball game?

Stranger is the fact that Misskelley seems to have no clue as to when the murders occured while he is "confessing" to them (until he gets told)
Actually Misskellley was the first to correctly identify the timing of the murders when he said "all of this stuff happened that night, that they done it", and only then did did start demonstrating his utter lack of comprehension of the abstract concept of time by continuing with "I went home about noon" and misusing the term noon throughout the rest of the recorded interview.
 
Echols received three psychiatric hospitalizations in the year before the murders. He contends now these amounted to wrongful commitments.


Yet records show at least two of the hospitalizations followed violent outbursts by Echols, who reportedly threatened to cut his mother's throat, eat his father and kill his ex-girlfriend's parents.

"They shoved me into walls, spit at me, and never let up for a moment,'' Echols writes in "Life After Death." He made no such accusations at trial.


He claimed he'd been repeatedly raped — as many as 40 times — by the man in the next cell, Mark Edward Gardner, who has since been executed. Echols made similar allegations in letters he mailed to various public officials. Prison officials investigated his claims and found them meritless.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/oct/07/memoirs-missing-element/
 
Thing is, it would worry me more if every alibi statement Echols, or any of his friends/family members, ever gave was exactly the same. I know that we disagree on this point, but to someone whom that date bares no significance to it would be strange indeed if the memory for some reason was crystal clear. Stranger is the fact that Misskelley seems to have no clue as to when the murders occured while he is "confessing" to them (until he gets told) and the fact that Hobbs, to whom this day should be crystal clear, still can't get his timeline straight. That is worrying.

I believe that anyone of age can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news about JFK's assassination, and that was over fifty years ago. I've often pointed out that failing to have a detailed memory of something that happened almost a month ago (May 5th murders to June 3rd arrest and questioning) is really a type of proof of their innocence not their guilt. Why should they remember their exact movements on a day that they had no reason to believe they needed an alibi? However, with the exception of Jessie, their stories haven't changed substantially since the murders. TH, OTOH, has changed his story almost more often than he has changed his underwear! Seriously, the number of things that he "can't remember" about the day the step son he claims to have loved was murdered is quite alarming! So, I don't see the conflicting stories as a reason to make Damien a suspect. He was merely a teenager going about his business - with no reason for remembering all the details.
 
Uh actaully he did that later in. Earlier he said the boys died at noon, while they were in school. He only claimed later after a **** ton of questioning.

And the point is that if something is traumatic or important it's easier to remember. Seeing a person shortly before they die is significant. That's why they mention terry hobbs and the other witnesses. Those boys died a little later so it was going to be easier to remember. Terry Hobbs not remembering is alarming because that's the night his stepson was murdered. Hell, I remember where I was when 9/11 occurred, and that was four hours before I even knew what happened. For someone who had lived with one of the victims for most of his life, and who also claimed to care, isn't it bizarre that he barely remembers what would have been one of the most traumatic events of his life?

If May 5th didn't have much meaning for Echols, or Miskelley or Baldwin, then of course they would give conflicting stories.
 
Yes, thank you both, that was the point I was trying to make.
Echols alibi has never bothered me much. Hobbs on the other hand... For the record, I must add that I am not convinced of his guilt. But that is one alibi with big red flags all over it.

Misskelley said all sorts of crazy stuff in that so called confession. Like when he runs off home but is still able to tell them what happened next. Did Ridge and Gitchell know what they were doing?

In regards to the soft ball girls. That was rumours spreading like absolute wildfire. There is a good debunking of that one another forum, but I'm not certain what the rules are regarding linking other forums.

Anyhow. Merry Christmas to all of you. Those who I agree with as well as those that I don't. :)
 
Earlier he said the boys died at noon
Would you please quote from the transcript whatever statement from Misskelley are alluding to here?

And the point is that if something is traumatic or important it's easier to remember.
Sure, like Echols' father moving out the night before the murders makes a good point of reference for him.

In regards to the soft ball girls. That was rumours spreading like absolute wildfire.
Are you suggesting they'd just heard rumors that Echols said he killed the boys and perjured themselves by testifying that they witnessed as much?

I'm not certain what the rules are regarding linking other forums.
Well [ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=159"]the rules[/ame] are posted for everyone to read, and there's nothing in them against linking to other forums.
 
Here is the statement from Jessie where he says the boys were attacked at noon.
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/jmjune1.html
"RIDGE: I'm not saying when they called you. I'm saying what time was it that you were actually there in the park?
JESSIE: About 12
RIDGE: About noon?
JESSIE: Yes"

As I'm now at a computer (and not my horrible touchscreen mobile phone...), here's a link to a pretty good debunking of the soft ball girls:
http://westmemphisthreediscussion.yuku.com/topic/2091/Softball-Girls#.UrwJsYtwL6c
Them girls could have believed what they were actually saying. They could've believed it was the truth. Or they didn't. And it got terribly out of hand.
At one time I had a boyfriend that lived in a small town just north of where I grew up. People there I didn't even know, and had never even spoken to, knew of me and how I apparently was a raging devil worshipper. Half the town "knew" and rumours of my alleged shenanigans spread like crazy. I just found it funny.
 

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