This article is 1993 THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL
THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL
POLICE OPTIMISTIC ON SEVERAL LEADS IN BOYS' SLAYINGS
Date: Sunday, May 9, 1993
Section: News
Page: A19
Source: By James Chisum The Commercial Appeal
Edition: Final
The officer in charge of the investigation into the slayings of three schoolboys said Saturday he was optimistic about several leads in the case but did not indicate when an arrest might be made.
"We think things are going very well," said Insp. Gary Gitchell, the officer in charge of the investigation. "We've got several leads we're working on."
Gitchell revealed his optimism at a 4 p.m. press briefing. Though he gave reporters little new information, he said leads from the public, such as calls to the (901) 732-4444 Crime Stoppers number, have been helpful.
He would not speculate on when an arrest might be made.
Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore, all 8-year-old second- graders, disappeared Wednesday while riding bikes. They were found dead Thursday, their bodies submerged in a creek. Police said their hands and feet were bound and that they had been killed by blows to the head.
Volunteers collected donations at several West Memphis intersections Saturday to help the families of the three boys. The "roadblock" fund- raising effort raised $10,853.
Gitchell said police have talked to the families of the three boys, and told them that they couldn't reveal all details of the murders, even to them. He said police also "corrected some false information that is out." He would not describe that information Saturday, however.
Gitchell would not confirm an Arkansas State Police broadcast report that the children had been sexually mutilated.
The boggy woods where the boys were found remained cordoned off by yellow tape Saturday. Gitchell said he didn't know how long the crime scene would remain restricted.
Earlier Saturday, Gitchell said West Memphis investigators are following conventional methods - examining evidence found at the scene of the crime, looking for possible witnesses and checking out tips.
Some tips that would have been dismissed earlier in the investigation are now being taken very seriously, he said.
Gitchell was also enthusiastic about the help of the FBI's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime in Quantico, Va., where specialists work to develop profiles of suspects in unusual crimes.
"It's an amazing, astounding, wonderful unit," Gitchell said.
He said the West Memphis Police Department has also furnished details of the slayings to the FBI's Violent Crime Apprehension Program, which uses a computer database to search for similar crimes throughout the nation. No information has yet come to the department from the computer search, he said.
Gitchell said investigators don't know at this point whether they're looking for a single killer or for more than one killer.
Police haven't received a complete report on the medical examinations of the boys, he said, saying that pathologists at the State Crime Lab in Little Rock are being "very meticulous." The preliminary examination, completed Friday afternoon, revealed that they died of multiple injuries.
Gitchell said he knows of only $6,000 now on hand for rewards, though he's heard reports that other money will be available.
Two funds have been established for the boys' families.
---Snipped addresses of churches collecting funds----
