Since there is much controversy over whether or not the June 3, 1993 *confession - slash - statement* provided by Jessie Misskelley Jr. was coerced, or that his mental impairment (an IQ of 72) was or wasn't taken advantage of, or whether he was being spoonfed information by Ridge and Gitchell, I have removed ALL commentary, all questions, and all statements made by Ridge and Gitchell from this "confession". On the grounds that we no longer know what Jessie is answering to by his "yes", "no" "yeah", "nope", "ugh", and "uhhh", all that remains is the bare bone statement given by Jessie Misskelley, on his own, that we will presume was in no way coerced, led, fed, or otherwise fabricated by Ridge and Gitchell.
Having stripped this confession - slash - statement down to the absolute bare bone, and given what we already know is fact, please see if you can make the first shred of sense of "Jessie's Confession", ~ much less if you can figure out exactly what crime has been committed, on whom, by whom, when, where, etc. you know the drill: As if you're reading this for the very first time.....
Thanks for playing.................
======================================
Note: This is a transcription of the taped confession of Jessie Misskelley, Jr. regarding the murder of Chris Byers, Steve Branch and Michael Moore.Statement of Jessie L. Misskelley, Jr. 6/3/93
===================
JESSIE: Jason Baldwin
JESSIE: He called me and asked me if I could go to West Memphis with him and I told him, no, I had to work and stuff. He told me that he had to go to West Memphis so, him and Damien with and then I went with them.
JESSIE: Wednesday
JESSIE: That morning
JESSIE: Yes, I did. I went with them and then
JESSIE: We walked
JESSIE: Right, we walked and then uh,
JESSIE: We went up to Robin Hood
JESSIE: By uh, Blue Beacon Truck Wash.
JESSIE: A little patch of woods
JESSIE: Behind it, right there behind it.
JESSIE: When I was there, I saw Damien hit these one boy real bad, and then uh, and he started screwing them and stuff and then uh,
JESSIE: Michael Moore
JESSIE: He hit him with his fist and bruised him all up real bad, and then Jason turned around and hit Steve Branch
JESSIE: And started doing the same thing, then the other one took off, Michael Moore took off running, so I chased him and grabbed him and hold him, until they got there and then I left.
JESSIE: I was up there by the Service Road
JESSIE: I was in the woods.
JESSIE: Uh, down a little path
JESSIE: It leads out there close to the field, close to theinterstate.
JESSIE: Close to the interstate
JESSIE: That one, he runs out, out the park and I chased him and grabbed him and brought him back.
JESSIE: Towards the houses.
JESSIE: Yes, he run out there and I caught him and brought him back, and I took off.
JESSIE: Yes, and I took off and run home.
JESSIE: No, they had them off.
JESSIE: Right after they beat up all three of them, beat them up real bad
JESSIE: Then they tied them up, tied their hands up, they started screwing them and stuff, cutting them and stuff, and I saw it and turned around and looked, and then I took off running, I went home, then they called me and asked me, how come I didn't stay, I told them, I just couldn't.
JESSIE: I couldn't stand it to see what they were doing to them.
JESSIE: Jason
JESSIE: I saw him cut one of the little boys
JESSIE: He was cutting him in the face.
JESSIE: At the bottom
JESSIE: He was
JESSIE: Yeah, that's where he was cut at.
JESSIE: That one right there.
JESSIE: That's the one that I seen them cutting on.
JESSIE: That's where I seen them going down at, and he was on his back. I seen them going down right there real close to his penis and stuff and I saw some blood and that's when I took off.
JESSIE: He was close
JESSIE: Blue Beacon.
JESSIE: I was up there standing up there on the top.
JESSIE: They were at the bottom.
JESSIE: Memphis side
JESSIE: I was on
JESSIE: I was looking down, and after I seen all of that, I took off
JESSIE: About 12
JESSIE: I didn't go to school
JESSIE: They skipped school
JESSIE: They were going to catch their bus and stuff, and they were on their bikes and so,
JESSIE: They laid their bikes down when they come out to the, when they hollered for them to come out there
JESSIE: I don't know where they laid their bikes down at, cause I was behind Damien and nem, they were way behind them.
JESSIE: When they hollered, when they seen them boys
JESSIE: He had been watching them.
JESSIE: No, he's been watching them
JESSIE: They had some houses, trees and stuff
JESSIE: They were in the houses
JESSIE: They were in a group
JESSIE: There was a group of pictures of all three of them.
JESSIE: I just saw one
JESSIE: Yes, they were going to catch, they were going somewhere and like I said, Damien and nem left before I did, I told them that I would meet them there and stuff, and it was early in the morning and so, they went ahead and met me, they went on up there and then I come up later on behind them.
JESSIE:I got there about 9
JESSIE: Right now?
JESSIE: My dad woke me up this
JESSIE: Right
JESSIE: Well after, all of this stuff happened that night, that they done it, I went home about noon, then they called me at 9 o'clock that night, they called me.
JESSIE: They asked me how come I left so early and stuff, and I told them that I couldn't stay there and watch that stuff no more, so I had to do something to get out of there.
JESSIE: Jason
JESSIE: I heard some dingling
JESSIE: He made the call from his house and Damien was hollering in the background saying, we done it, we done it, what are going to do if somebody saw us, what are we going to do?
JESSIE: I got one knife
JESSIE: It's at home
JESSIE: Uh, I don't know what he done with it, cause after I left then they, I don't know what they done with, after I left
JESSIE: I was there until they tied them up and then that's when I left, after they tied them up, I left.
JESSIE: I saw them cutting on them, and then
JESSIE: They laid the knife down beside them and I saw them tying them up and then that's when I left,
JESSIE: They were unconscious then
JESSIE: And after I left they done more.
JESSIE: They started screwing them again
JESSIE: They, Jason stuck his in one them's mouth and Damien was screwing one of them up the ass and stuff.
JESSIE: Jason did
JESSIE: Jason was screwing him while Damien stuck his in his mouth
JESSIE: He was holding him down like, and Jason had his legs up in the air and that little boy was kicking, saying, 'don't, no' like that.
JESSIE: They beat them up so bad so they can't hardly move, they had their hands tied down and he sit on them
JESSIE: They could run, they just had them tied, when they knocked them down and stuff, they could move their arms and stuff, and hold them down like, wake up and raise up and the other one just put his legs up.
JESSIE: I was there.
JESSIE: Damien had kinda of a big old stick when he hit that first one, after he hit him with his fist and knocked him down and got him a big old stick and hit him.
JESSIE: I would say it was about that big around, I would say about that long.
JESSIE: Right
JESSIE: About that long
JESSIE: Uh, like a regular knife blade
JESSIE: It was
JESSIE: Just a fold up knife
JESSIE: He didn't have one that night
JESSIE: No, he didn't borrow mine.
JESSIE: I didn't see a briefcase, not unless they left it there at that day before it happened, unless they left it there then but I didn't see one that day.
JESSIE: I've seen them once that night, I seen them with it that night.
JESSIE: They had some cocaine, and a little gun
JESSIE: yes, out there in Lakeshore
JESSIE: Yes, I think when we had that cult.
JESSIE: I've been in it for about three months.
JESSIE: We go out kill dogs and stuff and then carry girls out there.
JESSIE: We screw them and stuff
JESSIE: Everybody, and we have an orgee and stuff like that.
JESSIE: We usually skin it, then make a barn fire and eat it and stuff
JESSIE: We usually you know, kill an animals, you know, you have to know how to handle the meat and stuff, after we kill it to see if he knows, if he can't handle it, then he don't get in.
JESSIE: Uh, the meat off of his leg.
JESSIE: If he can't eat it, then he don't get in.
JESSIE:Yeah, we've been in the water, we were in it that night, playing around in it.
JESSIE: Just
JESSIE: No, they didn't get into the water with us
JESSIE: We were just sitting there, throwing stuff at eachother,
JESSIE: No, I wasn't
JESSIE: They took turns going up under the water
JESSIE: They were sitting so far away, they were in the water, I would say about five to ten seconds, then come up and then the other one would go down
JESSIE: Yeah, they seen them boys and then they hollered, Damien said, hey, the little boys come up there.
JESSIE: No, they just hollered at them, they slowed up.
JESSIE: Close to right where there before you come in and they laid them down right there, and after I left I don't know what they done with the bikes.
JESSIE: Positive
JESSIE: I didn't touch them
JESSIE: I went down there and sit there, and after what they did to the boys, I just sit there.
JESSIE:Just thought, what happened to them real bad, just thought.
JESSIE: And I left and stuff, and walked home.
JESSIE:Two or three days after it happened, and I left.
JESSIE: I was there by myself.
JESSIE: Me. David
JESSIE: No, not to that place
JESSIE: (Silent)
JESSIE: Not that I know of, I wouldn't
JESSIE:After the murder and stuff, I would say about two or three days later after it happened, I went down there and thought about it and I haven't been down there since.
JESSIE: That one right there.
JESSIE: He choked him real bad and all
JESSIE: His hands, like a stick, he had a bit old stick, kinda holding it over his neck.
JESSIE: I don't know
JESSIE: I got a little bit ways out of there and got half a mile up the road, is when I threw up, and couldn't hardly run and I just threw up.
JESSIE: No, I didn't hide.
JESSIE: I didn't have no blood, I didn't get close to them.
JESSIE: Yes, they were damp
JESSIE: He was wearing some blue jeans and boots, army boots like,
JESSIE: He was wearing a mega death shirt
JESSIE: Or maybe a metalica
JESSIE: No, he wasn't wearing anything like that
JESSIE: Damien had some black pants on, some boots and a blackt-shirt.
JESSIE: No, just black
JESSIE: They were wore out
JESSIE: They had holes in them and the knees were cut
JESSIE: Blonde
JESSIE: It's like
JESSIE: Sandy colored blonde
JESSIE: They had picture
JESSIE: Different shirts, different types of shirts have different pictures
JESSIE: He had that uh, like a, skull like
JESSIE: I was just wearing regular blue jeans, my shoes
JESSIE: My uh, Adidas
JESSIE: I was just wearing a regular old greasy up t-shirt.
JESSIE: Plain white
JESSIE: A friend of mine, he borrowed them
JESSIE: Buddy Lucas
JESSIE: He borrowed them from me
JESSIE: Close like army type, not quite
JESSIE: Jason's were black up to, about knee
JESSIE: Uh, silent an hour
JESSIE: When he first called me, he said, how come you left, and said, I couldn't stand it, I had to do something else
JESSIE: And then Damien, I heard Damien in the background saying we done it, we done it, what we gone do if somebody saw us
JESSIE: That I know of
JESSIE: I don't know, I left before them
JESSIE: Just the meat
JESSIE: They hadn't said nothing around me, when I was over to my friend's house, they didn't say nothing.
JESSIE: You know Damien keeps asking me how come I left and stuff and hadn't anybody said anything to me about it.
JESSIE: He didn't know anything about that.
JESSIE: He keeps on asking me what are we going to do next, I told him, I can't do nothing now cause I go to work with my daddy everyday
JESSIE: They are scared cause after what they did, I told him that I was going to work with my daddy, I got to do something
JESSIE: They need to be put away for awhile,
JESSIE: I think they are sick
JESSIE: Cause I was scared
JESSIE: Scared of the police
RIDGE: Alright, I am going to conclude this interview, the time is 3:18PM.
Having stripped this confession - slash - statement down to the absolute bare bone, and given what we already know is fact, please see if you can make the first shred of sense of "Jessie's Confession", ~ much less if you can figure out exactly what crime has been committed, on whom, by whom, when, where, etc. you know the drill: As if you're reading this for the very first time.....
Thanks for playing.................
======================================
Note: This is a transcription of the taped confession of Jessie Misskelley, Jr. regarding the murder of Chris Byers, Steve Branch and Michael Moore.Statement of Jessie L. Misskelley, Jr. 6/3/93
===================
JESSIE: Jason Baldwin
JESSIE: He called me and asked me if I could go to West Memphis with him and I told him, no, I had to work and stuff. He told me that he had to go to West Memphis so, him and Damien with and then I went with them.
JESSIE: Wednesday
JESSIE: That morning
JESSIE: Yes, I did. I went with them and then
JESSIE: We walked
JESSIE: Right, we walked and then uh,
JESSIE: We went up to Robin Hood
JESSIE: By uh, Blue Beacon Truck Wash.
JESSIE: A little patch of woods
JESSIE: Behind it, right there behind it.
JESSIE: When I was there, I saw Damien hit these one boy real bad, and then uh, and he started screwing them and stuff and then uh,
JESSIE: Michael Moore
JESSIE: He hit him with his fist and bruised him all up real bad, and then Jason turned around and hit Steve Branch
JESSIE: And started doing the same thing, then the other one took off, Michael Moore took off running, so I chased him and grabbed him and hold him, until they got there and then I left.
JESSIE: I was up there by the Service Road
JESSIE: I was in the woods.
JESSIE: Uh, down a little path
JESSIE: It leads out there close to the field, close to theinterstate.
JESSIE: Close to the interstate
JESSIE: That one, he runs out, out the park and I chased him and grabbed him and brought him back.
JESSIE: Towards the houses.
JESSIE: Yes, he run out there and I caught him and brought him back, and I took off.
JESSIE: Yes, and I took off and run home.
JESSIE: No, they had them off.
JESSIE: Right after they beat up all three of them, beat them up real bad
JESSIE: Then they tied them up, tied their hands up, they started screwing them and stuff, cutting them and stuff, and I saw it and turned around and looked, and then I took off running, I went home, then they called me and asked me, how come I didn't stay, I told them, I just couldn't.
JESSIE: I couldn't stand it to see what they were doing to them.
JESSIE: Jason
JESSIE: I saw him cut one of the little boys
JESSIE: He was cutting him in the face.
JESSIE: At the bottom
JESSIE: He was
JESSIE: Yeah, that's where he was cut at.
JESSIE: That one right there.
JESSIE: That's the one that I seen them cutting on.
JESSIE: That's where I seen them going down at, and he was on his back. I seen them going down right there real close to his penis and stuff and I saw some blood and that's when I took off.
JESSIE: He was close
JESSIE: Blue Beacon.
JESSIE: I was up there standing up there on the top.
JESSIE: They were at the bottom.
JESSIE: Memphis side
JESSIE: I was on
JESSIE: I was looking down, and after I seen all of that, I took off
JESSIE: About 12
JESSIE: I didn't go to school
JESSIE: They skipped school
JESSIE: They were going to catch their bus and stuff, and they were on their bikes and so,
JESSIE: They laid their bikes down when they come out to the, when they hollered for them to come out there
JESSIE: I don't know where they laid their bikes down at, cause I was behind Damien and nem, they were way behind them.
JESSIE: When they hollered, when they seen them boys
JESSIE: He had been watching them.
JESSIE: No, he's been watching them
JESSIE: They had some houses, trees and stuff
JESSIE: They were in the houses
JESSIE: They were in a group
JESSIE: There was a group of pictures of all three of them.
JESSIE: I just saw one
JESSIE: Yes, they were going to catch, they were going somewhere and like I said, Damien and nem left before I did, I told them that I would meet them there and stuff, and it was early in the morning and so, they went ahead and met me, they went on up there and then I come up later on behind them.
JESSIE:I got there about 9
JESSIE: Right now?
JESSIE: My dad woke me up this
JESSIE: Right
JESSIE: Well after, all of this stuff happened that night, that they done it, I went home about noon, then they called me at 9 o'clock that night, they called me.
JESSIE: They asked me how come I left so early and stuff, and I told them that I couldn't stay there and watch that stuff no more, so I had to do something to get out of there.
JESSIE: Jason
JESSIE: I heard some dingling
JESSIE: He made the call from his house and Damien was hollering in the background saying, we done it, we done it, what are going to do if somebody saw us, what are we going to do?
JESSIE: I got one knife
JESSIE: It's at home
JESSIE: Uh, I don't know what he done with it, cause after I left then they, I don't know what they done with, after I left
JESSIE: I was there until they tied them up and then that's when I left, after they tied them up, I left.
JESSIE: I saw them cutting on them, and then
JESSIE: They laid the knife down beside them and I saw them tying them up and then that's when I left,
JESSIE: They were unconscious then
JESSIE: And after I left they done more.
JESSIE: They started screwing them again
JESSIE: They, Jason stuck his in one them's mouth and Damien was screwing one of them up the ass and stuff.
JESSIE: Jason did
JESSIE: Jason was screwing him while Damien stuck his in his mouth
JESSIE: He was holding him down like, and Jason had his legs up in the air and that little boy was kicking, saying, 'don't, no' like that.
JESSIE: They beat them up so bad so they can't hardly move, they had their hands tied down and he sit on them
JESSIE: They could run, they just had them tied, when they knocked them down and stuff, they could move their arms and stuff, and hold them down like, wake up and raise up and the other one just put his legs up.
JESSIE: I was there.
JESSIE: Damien had kinda of a big old stick when he hit that first one, after he hit him with his fist and knocked him down and got him a big old stick and hit him.
JESSIE: I would say it was about that big around, I would say about that long.
JESSIE: Right
JESSIE: About that long
JESSIE: Uh, like a regular knife blade
JESSIE: It was
JESSIE: Just a fold up knife
JESSIE: He didn't have one that night
JESSIE: No, he didn't borrow mine.
JESSIE: I didn't see a briefcase, not unless they left it there at that day before it happened, unless they left it there then but I didn't see one that day.
JESSIE: I've seen them once that night, I seen them with it that night.
JESSIE: They had some cocaine, and a little gun
JESSIE: yes, out there in Lakeshore
JESSIE: Yes, I think when we had that cult.
JESSIE: I've been in it for about three months.
JESSIE: We go out kill dogs and stuff and then carry girls out there.
JESSIE: We screw them and stuff
JESSIE: Everybody, and we have an orgee and stuff like that.
JESSIE: We usually skin it, then make a barn fire and eat it and stuff
JESSIE: We usually you know, kill an animals, you know, you have to know how to handle the meat and stuff, after we kill it to see if he knows, if he can't handle it, then he don't get in.
JESSIE: Uh, the meat off of his leg.
JESSIE: If he can't eat it, then he don't get in.
JESSIE:Yeah, we've been in the water, we were in it that night, playing around in it.
JESSIE: Just
JESSIE: No, they didn't get into the water with us
JESSIE: We were just sitting there, throwing stuff at eachother,
JESSIE: No, I wasn't
JESSIE: They took turns going up under the water
JESSIE: They were sitting so far away, they were in the water, I would say about five to ten seconds, then come up and then the other one would go down
JESSIE: Yeah, they seen them boys and then they hollered, Damien said, hey, the little boys come up there.
JESSIE: No, they just hollered at them, they slowed up.
JESSIE: Close to right where there before you come in and they laid them down right there, and after I left I don't know what they done with the bikes.
JESSIE: Positive
JESSIE: I didn't touch them
JESSIE: I went down there and sit there, and after what they did to the boys, I just sit there.
JESSIE:Just thought, what happened to them real bad, just thought.
JESSIE: And I left and stuff, and walked home.
JESSIE:Two or three days after it happened, and I left.
JESSIE: I was there by myself.
JESSIE: Me. David
JESSIE: No, not to that place
JESSIE: (Silent)
JESSIE: Not that I know of, I wouldn't
JESSIE:After the murder and stuff, I would say about two or three days later after it happened, I went down there and thought about it and I haven't been down there since.
JESSIE: That one right there.
JESSIE: He choked him real bad and all
JESSIE: His hands, like a stick, he had a bit old stick, kinda holding it over his neck.
JESSIE: I don't know
JESSIE: I got a little bit ways out of there and got half a mile up the road, is when I threw up, and couldn't hardly run and I just threw up.
JESSIE: No, I didn't hide.
JESSIE: I didn't have no blood, I didn't get close to them.
JESSIE: Yes, they were damp
JESSIE: He was wearing some blue jeans and boots, army boots like,
JESSIE: He was wearing a mega death shirt
JESSIE: Or maybe a metalica
JESSIE: No, he wasn't wearing anything like that
JESSIE: Damien had some black pants on, some boots and a blackt-shirt.
JESSIE: No, just black
JESSIE: They were wore out
JESSIE: They had holes in them and the knees were cut
JESSIE: Blonde
JESSIE: It's like
JESSIE: Sandy colored blonde
JESSIE: They had picture
JESSIE: Different shirts, different types of shirts have different pictures
JESSIE: He had that uh, like a, skull like
JESSIE: I was just wearing regular blue jeans, my shoes
JESSIE: My uh, Adidas
JESSIE: I was just wearing a regular old greasy up t-shirt.
JESSIE: Plain white
JESSIE: A friend of mine, he borrowed them
JESSIE: Buddy Lucas
JESSIE: He borrowed them from me
JESSIE: Close like army type, not quite
JESSIE: Jason's were black up to, about knee
JESSIE: Uh, silent an hour
JESSIE: When he first called me, he said, how come you left, and said, I couldn't stand it, I had to do something else
JESSIE: And then Damien, I heard Damien in the background saying we done it, we done it, what we gone do if somebody saw us
JESSIE: That I know of
JESSIE: I don't know, I left before them
JESSIE: Just the meat
JESSIE: They hadn't said nothing around me, when I was over to my friend's house, they didn't say nothing.
JESSIE: You know Damien keeps asking me how come I left and stuff and hadn't anybody said anything to me about it.
JESSIE: He didn't know anything about that.
JESSIE: He keeps on asking me what are we going to do next, I told him, I can't do nothing now cause I go to work with my daddy everyday
JESSIE: They are scared cause after what they did, I told him that I was going to work with my daddy, I got to do something
JESSIE: They need to be put away for awhile,
JESSIE: I think they are sick
JESSIE: Cause I was scared
JESSIE: Scared of the police
RIDGE: Alright, I am going to conclude this interview, the time is 3:18PM.
