I transcribed this from what is posted. It seemed to me to have some info not available from other sources.
Murdered boys found in bayou.
Three 8-year-olds' bound bodies found a half-mile from homes
West Memphis reacted in horror this morning as news of the murder of three 8-year-old boys whose bound bodies were found in a drainage ditch became known.
Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Steve Edward Branch were last seen together riding bicycles north on North 14th Street toward Goodwin Street about 6 p.m. Wednesday. Bodies of the youths, all neighbors and second grade students at Weaver Elementary School were pulled from 10-Mile Bayou diversion ditch northwest of the intersection of Seventh and Barton streets about 4 p.m. Thursday. The site is only a few hundred yards from where they were last seen.
Police have no suspects in the murders, Gary Gitchell, public information officer for the West Memphis Police Department, said.
The wooded area along both sides of the drainage ditch, between Holiday Gardens subdivision and the south service road of Interstates 40 and 55, was a favorite haunt of youngsters in the area who nicknamed it "Robin Hood Hill" and criss-crossed it with bike trails. It had been the focal point of a search for the youngsters that started Wednesday evening and continued throughout the night and until the bodies were found early Thursday afternoon.
"I was out looking until 4:30 a.m. I walked within 10 or 15 feet of where the bodies were found and I didn't see them," Mark Byers, father of one of the victims said.
Police were called to an area off the end of West McAuley and W.E. Catt streets at 1:30 pm Thursday. When the call came in, searchers had found a white tennis shoe on the side of the bayou. A few minutes later, a pair of dark shoes was found in the bayou.
Shortly afterward one body was found. The other two bodies were found a short distance away.
Once the police had cordoned off the area, the families of the three children came to the scene and spoke with police. Pam Hobbs, the mother of Steve Branch, fainted when she heard the news. She was revived a few moments later and began screaming and crying.
She was carried by family members to a nearby vehicle.
Gitchell said the three boys' bodies were (page 2) found in the same location, all submerged in the water. Their two bicycles were found about 50 yards away, also under water. When a detective found the tennis shoe on the bank of the ditch, Gitchell said, he went into the water, where he found the body of the first youth.
Gitchell would not comment on published reports that the boys' bodies were mutilated, but he said that they were bound hand and foot.
"Not all of that report was accurate. I've refused to comment on what part was inaccurate, for investigative purposes," Gitchell said. "I will confirm that they were bound." He said police were hoping for word from the state medical examiner's office by late this afternoon as to the cause of the youth's death.
Byers, father of Christopher Byers, said Gitchell told him one youth had been hit above the eye, a second's jaw was injured, and the third "was worse than that." Asked how officers concluded that the three deaths were homicide, Gitchell said, "It was plain to an investigator's eye.
"It was homicide. They did not slip and fall (off a pipe that stretched across the bayou, often used as a bridge)." He described how the body of one of the boys was found by a detective.
"one of my men noticed a shoe. Being inquisitive, he jumped in the water and started feeling around," Gitchell explained. "People have been walking though (sic) here all day. We were lucky he (the officer) saw one shoe."
He said the three bodies were about 10 feet apart and that the two bicycles were found farther up the bayou.
Officers and volunteers had covered the area where the bodies were found several times before discovering the bodies in the water, Gitchell said. "That area where the boys were found was saturated hard and heavy that morning and even the evening before," he said. He estimated there were 50 searchers, including police, volunteers from the Crittenden County Search and Rescue Squad and the boys neighborhood.
A Memphis police helicopter searched the area from the air, but had to go back to its base at 11 a.m.
The chopper made several sweeps along the interstate and over the wooded area, but nothing was seen from the air. Robin Hood is a densed (sic) wooded area with heavy undergrowth.
A 30-yard section of the bayou was dammed off with sandbags and the water pumped out of it, in an attempt to preserve any evidence that might be beneath the water. Gitchell would not say whether anything was found that would be helpful in the investigation.
All 12 of the police department's detectives are working on the investigation, Gitchell said, and will be working seven days a week with time off only to eat and sleep. He emphasized the importance of anyone who may have any information about the murders calling police. More than 250 calls had been received by early this morning, he said, and each one of those tips will be checked out.
Callers may contact Crittenden County Crimestoppers at 732-xxxx with any information. All calls are confidential and tipsters may remain anonymous. Crimestoppers offered a reward of up to $2,000 for tips leading to arrest and conviction.
"If the telephone is busy, please don't give up," Gitchell said. "We're getting a lot of calls. But we want to talk with everyone who may possibly have any information about this."
Editor's note: Staff members Kay Brockwell, Leonice Watkins, and Kathleen Boyd contributed to this story.
Caption, photo: Gary Gitchell tells Mark Byers, one victim's father, the news of deaths.
Murdered boys found in bayou.
Three 8-year-olds' bound bodies found a half-mile from homes
West Memphis reacted in horror this morning as news of the murder of three 8-year-old boys whose bound bodies were found in a drainage ditch became known.
Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Steve Edward Branch were last seen together riding bicycles north on North 14th Street toward Goodwin Street about 6 p.m. Wednesday. Bodies of the youths, all neighbors and second grade students at Weaver Elementary School were pulled from 10-Mile Bayou diversion ditch northwest of the intersection of Seventh and Barton streets about 4 p.m. Thursday. The site is only a few hundred yards from where they were last seen.
Police have no suspects in the murders, Gary Gitchell, public information officer for the West Memphis Police Department, said.
The wooded area along both sides of the drainage ditch, between Holiday Gardens subdivision and the south service road of Interstates 40 and 55, was a favorite haunt of youngsters in the area who nicknamed it "Robin Hood Hill" and criss-crossed it with bike trails. It had been the focal point of a search for the youngsters that started Wednesday evening and continued throughout the night and until the bodies were found early Thursday afternoon.
"I was out looking until 4:30 a.m. I walked within 10 or 15 feet of where the bodies were found and I didn't see them," Mark Byers, father of one of the victims said.
Police were called to an area off the end of West McAuley and W.E. Catt streets at 1:30 pm Thursday. When the call came in, searchers had found a white tennis shoe on the side of the bayou. A few minutes later, a pair of dark shoes was found in the bayou.
Shortly afterward one body was found. The other two bodies were found a short distance away.
Once the police had cordoned off the area, the families of the three children came to the scene and spoke with police. Pam Hobbs, the mother of Steve Branch, fainted when she heard the news. She was revived a few moments later and began screaming and crying.
She was carried by family members to a nearby vehicle.
Gitchell said the three boys' bodies were (page 2) found in the same location, all submerged in the water. Their two bicycles were found about 50 yards away, also under water. When a detective found the tennis shoe on the bank of the ditch, Gitchell said, he went into the water, where he found the body of the first youth.
Gitchell would not comment on published reports that the boys' bodies were mutilated, but he said that they were bound hand and foot.
"Not all of that report was accurate. I've refused to comment on what part was inaccurate, for investigative purposes," Gitchell said. "I will confirm that they were bound." He said police were hoping for word from the state medical examiner's office by late this afternoon as to the cause of the youth's death.
Byers, father of Christopher Byers, said Gitchell told him one youth had been hit above the eye, a second's jaw was injured, and the third "was worse than that." Asked how officers concluded that the three deaths were homicide, Gitchell said, "It was plain to an investigator's eye.
"It was homicide. They did not slip and fall (off a pipe that stretched across the bayou, often used as a bridge)." He described how the body of one of the boys was found by a detective.
"one of my men noticed a shoe. Being inquisitive, he jumped in the water and started feeling around," Gitchell explained. "People have been walking though (sic) here all day. We were lucky he (the officer) saw one shoe."
He said the three bodies were about 10 feet apart and that the two bicycles were found farther up the bayou.
Officers and volunteers had covered the area where the bodies were found several times before discovering the bodies in the water, Gitchell said. "That area where the boys were found was saturated hard and heavy that morning and even the evening before," he said. He estimated there were 50 searchers, including police, volunteers from the Crittenden County Search and Rescue Squad and the boys neighborhood.
A Memphis police helicopter searched the area from the air, but had to go back to its base at 11 a.m.
The chopper made several sweeps along the interstate and over the wooded area, but nothing was seen from the air. Robin Hood is a densed (sic) wooded area with heavy undergrowth.
A 30-yard section of the bayou was dammed off with sandbags and the water pumped out of it, in an attempt to preserve any evidence that might be beneath the water. Gitchell would not say whether anything was found that would be helpful in the investigation.
All 12 of the police department's detectives are working on the investigation, Gitchell said, and will be working seven days a week with time off only to eat and sleep. He emphasized the importance of anyone who may have any information about the murders calling police. More than 250 calls had been received by early this morning, he said, and each one of those tips will be checked out.
Callers may contact Crittenden County Crimestoppers at 732-xxxx with any information. All calls are confidential and tipsters may remain anonymous. Crimestoppers offered a reward of up to $2,000 for tips leading to arrest and conviction.
"If the telephone is busy, please don't give up," Gitchell said. "We're getting a lot of calls. But we want to talk with everyone who may possibly have any information about this."
Editor's note: Staff members Kay Brockwell, Leonice Watkins, and Kathleen Boyd contributed to this story.
Caption, photo: Gary Gitchell tells Mark Byers, one victim's father, the news of deaths.
