May 5, 1993 started out like any other day in West Memphis, Arkansas; by the end of the next day, three little boys would be found dead in a drainage ditch and a town would soon be gripped with a Satanic panic mentality. Timelines for most of the individuals involved in this horrid set of events on the day of May 5 can be readily established; several individuals timelines are questionable. Conjectures are strictly a matter of personal opinion; do not consider these as factual or anything more than speculation. The following paragraphs contain information gleaned from the various statements given by JLM Jr., police records, alibi statements, and court documents. This in no way should be considered an official statement of fact, although the statements are taken from official documents available at
http://www.callahan.com associated with each individual noted. Any other sources used will also be noted. I apologize for the length and constant citation, but I am attempting to compose a coherent and viable timeline for all individuals connected in any way to this horrendous event. Please bear with me, and if anyone has anything to suggest, add, delete, edit, correct, whatever
please let me know so it will be right! Thank you so much in advance for your help and patience, it is very much appreciated.
*****
Despite the numerous confessions attributed to JLM Jr., most of which were obviously generated by the officers in charge of his interrogations, there is ample evidence that he was not in the Robin Hood Woods on May 5, 1993. For instance, there is the handwritten statement given by his girlfriend, SRB, on June 17, 1993. The timeline given in that statement:
3:30 pm SRB meets JLM Jr. at SDs home
4:00 pm Left to go to JHs home
5:30 pm Heard a commotion and left to see what was going on
6:30 pm Police arrived at scene
7:00 pm Returned to SDs home
7:10 pm (or 7:20 pm) JLM Jr. left for Dyess, AR for wrestling practice
According to the statement, SRB watched JLM Jr. walk down to RJs home to see if he wanted to go to the practice. She is adamant that she never saw DWE or CJB on that date (
http://callahan.8k.com/images/susie_brewer_statement.jpg). Her court testimony backed up her statement, and brought out a few other details, including that JLM Jr. went wrestling every Wednesday night in Dyess (
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/susieb.html). This was mentioned by FR in his court testimony on February 1, 1994, as well as their return home about 11:30 pm (
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/frevelle.html).
SD in an interview with the WMPD, gave JLM Jr. good references as a babysitter for her children, who obviously thought a lot of him. They had colored pictures to give him, and were wanting to know when he could come home and get them. Further, she stated that he was seen by her and a number of others gathered around a police car during an incident which she stated took place about 6:30 pm (
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/s_dollar_interview.html). This appears to contradict FRs account as to the time and place that JLM Jr. was at 6:30 pm. If this detail could be accounted for once and for all, then it is likely there would be no contradiction, but a simple mistake.
But could JLM Jr. have been in the woods earlier that day, say about 9:00 am as was stated in his confession? No; according to the statement and court testimony of JD, JLM Jr. was at his home and they were picked up by RD for a roofing job. This job took until approximately 1:30 pm and when they returned, JLM Jr. ate a couple of sandwiches and then either saw his girlfriend SRB, and was at a bus stop with her, or he went to SDs house to babysit (
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/joshd.html, cf.
http://callahan.8k.com/images2/j_darby/j_darby_statement_1.jpg and
http://callahan.8k.com/images2/j_darby/j_darby_statement_2.jpg). RD, for whom JD and JLM Jr. worked on the roofing job, corroborated these statements (
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/rickd.html, cf.
http://callahan.8k.com/images2/r_deese/deese_r_statement.jpg).
From these statements and court testimonies, we can pretty much rule out JLM Jr.s being in Robin Hood Woods at any time on May 5, 1993. From early morning until shortly after noon, he was working and in the presence of two witnesses which contradict his confession. Afterward, he was at SDs house babysitting, corroborated by her and later his girlfriend, SRB. From the time she arrived home after school, until he returned to Marion about 11:30 pm, he was in the presence of a number of witnesses, all of whom contradict the statements he made to the WMPD.
What does this tell us?
Considering the transcripts of JLM Jr.s confession, it is obvious this statement was done in a leading and coercive manner. Following protocol and allowing the witness to lead the way in a confession seem to have been forgotten (best case for them) or ignored (worst case). More often than not in the statements, the police interrogating him give him the answers they want to hear, and he merely parrots their statements (
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/jmjune1.html, cf.
http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/jmjune2.html). These statements contradict the testimony of all of JLM Jr.s alibi witnesses, several of those mentioned above. There are a great deal more who testified or made statements to his being in Dyess wrestling that night. WMPD ignored those statements, and the prosecution went along with the WMPDs (mis)judgment.
In this instance there was not only a rush to judgment, not only a misperception of evidence (what little there was of it, and none of it pointing in JLM Jr.s direction), but there was a miscarriage of justice and jurisprudence. I do not claim to know what went through the heads of the WMPD, the district attorneys, the judge, or the jury. I do not have to know to see there was a total screw-up (please forgive my language) in this case.
End result: an innocent young man lost almost 20 years of his life where he never should have been. Political careers were staked on this case, retirements, promotions and transfers. The only consolation: political careers went awry, retirements were interrupted by legal entanglements, and positions were lost through mismanagement, embezzlement, and theft. It seems that the very people in charge of railroading an innocent teenager were not so innocent themselves. It is a shame they could not have been taken out of the way sooner.
Next in the timeline/alibi saga will be CJB. And then we will begin putting timelines into a semi-coherent comparison. Then other statements will be added to clarify, put into perspective, and bring light into the dark places. Perhaps then we can begin to form a hypothesis that might even compare to those we have seen both here on Websleuths and in other forums and websites.
Thank you for your kind attention, and now, I return you to your regular programming.
As always, I remain your servant,
GK
