THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL
Friday, May 7, 1993
Section: News
Edition: Final
Page: A1
Memo: Different version, First A1
CORRECTION from May 8, 1993: Pam Hobbs is the mother of Steve Branch,
one of three West Memphis boys found murdered Thursday. A story Friday
incorrectly identified her.
MUTILATED BODIES OF 3 BOYS FOUND IN BAYOU
HUNT ON FOR SUSPECT IN W. MEMPHIS
By Richard Kelley The Commercial Appeal
Staff reporter Lloyd Holbeck and The Associated Press contributed to
this story.
Three 8-year-old boys were found slain Thursday, their bodies submerged in a drainage ditch.
West Memphis police would not comment on the cause of death, but an Arkansas State Police broadcast Thursday night said West Memphis police were investigating the abduction and sexual mutilation of three boys.
[other version reads:
Police are searching for whoever killed three 8-year-old schoolmates whose submerged bodies were found Thursday afternoon in Ten-Mile Bayou.
An Arkansas State Police broadcast alerting regional authorities to the slayings said the hands of the boys had been tied behind their backs and that they had been sexually mutilated.]
Neighbors last saw Weaver Elementary School second-graders Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore riding bicycles between 5:15 and 6 p.m. Wednesday. The search by police, parents and neighbors began at 7:30 p.m.
"We do have three homicides," said Insp. Gary Gitchell of the West Memphis Police Department. "I won't comment on the crime scene or what we found."
Mark Byers, father of Christopher, characterized whoever killed his son as an "animal."
"I hope God shows a little mercy on his soul, because I sure wouldn't," he said.
The bodies were to be sent to Little Rock for autopsies by the state medical examiner.
Christopher Byers lived at 1400 E. Barton, next door to Michael Moore at 1398 E. Barton. Steve Branch's family lives nearby at 1601 E. McAuley.
Gitchell said the bodies were found at about 1:30 p.m. within 10 feet of each other in Ten Mile Bayou, the city's main drainage ditch.
The ditch was drained and the bodies retrieved around 4 p.m.
Authorities said they drained the ditch to search for additional evidence. Police were also searching a culvert where bicycle tracks and small sneaker prints were found.
The culvert, which connects to the drainage ditch, runs under Interstate 40 near a truck wash. The ditch was a few hundred yards north of where the children were last seen, and less than a half-mile from the children's homes.
They were behind the Mayfair Apartments in a wooded, undeveloped area known to residents as Robin Hood Park.
"It's several little ditches or streams that run through the area, from a trickle to two to three feet of water," Gitchell said.
"One of my officers found a tennis shoe and, being inquisitive, he just jumped in the water and felt one of them."
The boys were last seen cutting through the yard of a resident who lived on Goodwin Avenue, just south of the brush-choked bayou.
Debra O'Tinger, 18, said three boys on two bikes cut through her yard.
"That's where they went in at," she said Thursday. "I told them to get out of my yard."
The bicycles were found 50 yards from the bodies, Gitchell said.
The neighborhood of neat family homes is bounded by apartment buildings to the west, and the bayou to the north.
A police barrier was set up at the intersection of W. E. Catt Street and McAuley Drive West, which ends in a small cul-de-sac beyond which the bodies were found.
About midafternoon, anxious parents were awaiting official word as neighbors massed at the police barricade on McAuley Drive after hearing one body had been found.
Pam Hobbs, mother of Michael Moore, collapsed when authorities told her that her son's body also had been found.
"Oh Lord!" she said, collapsing to the asphalt before being raised into the arms of friends and family.
Neighbor Bo Hamrick said he and friends had helped search the area on three-wheelers since about 7 a.m. Thursday.
"It's nothing but woods, woods and trails - a few trails just wide enough to get a three-@#%$ through," he said. "I thought, if we get our three- wheelers out, they'll hear us, if they're back there hiding. They always are."
Gitchell, the lead investigator, said he could not confirm whether a story
from a neighbor who reported seeing two men with some children in the area was accurate.
"We've got our work cut out for us," he said, declining to say if authorities had any suspects.
The state police broadcast made no mention of suspects, but it asked any police agencies investigating similar crimes to notify West Memphis police.
West Memphis police asked anyone with information about the murders to call Crime Stoppers at (501) 732-4444.
The elder Byers said he was concerned that the Crittenden County Sheriff's Department did not join the search until Thursday morning despite his repeated requests.
It was not their jurisdiction, he said he was told by a dispatcher.
"If they had brought them out there last night, we would have had a chance of finding those boys alive," he said before praising the all-night search effort by West Memphis Police Department officers.
"They could have used some help; hell, yes, they could have used some help," he said.
Sheriff Richard Busby said Thursday night he talked with the dispatcher and sergeant on duty the previous night and said there was miscommunication between his officers and Byers.
The officers said Byers wanted to know if "this was the right place to call to get a report made out," the sheriff said. "They said no, you need to call the city police department."
Busby, who said he knew Byers and considered him a friend, said "if anyone had called us last night, we'd have been glad to have helped them. We didn't get a call from West Memphis (police) or anyone."
West Memphis's most recent triple murder occurred in 1985, when Ronald Ward, then 15, killed two elderly sisters and their 12-year-old great- grandnephew. Initially sentenced to death, Ward received a second trial and got life in prison.
There have been three other homicides in West Memphis this year, two of which authorities said were justifiable. In 1992, there were 10 homicides in the city.
Illustration: photo (5): map - Staff
Steve Branch, Christopher Byers, Michael Moore
CAPTION: By Dave Darnell
(Color) West Memphis Patrolman G. C. Masengale comforts Mark Byers, father
of 8-year-old Christopher Byers, one of three boys found slain Thursday in Ten
Mile Bayou in West Memphis.
Insp. Gary Gitchell (second from right), of the West Memphis Police
Department, is heading the investigation into the three deaths. Police did not
indicate whether they had identified suspects.
Friday, May 7, 1993
Section: News
Edition: Final
Page: A1
Memo: Different version, First A1
CORRECTION from May 8, 1993: Pam Hobbs is the mother of Steve Branch,
one of three West Memphis boys found murdered Thursday. A story Friday
incorrectly identified her.
MUTILATED BODIES OF 3 BOYS FOUND IN BAYOU
HUNT ON FOR SUSPECT IN W. MEMPHIS
By Richard Kelley The Commercial Appeal
Staff reporter Lloyd Holbeck and The Associated Press contributed to
this story.
Three 8-year-old boys were found slain Thursday, their bodies submerged in a drainage ditch.
West Memphis police would not comment on the cause of death, but an Arkansas State Police broadcast Thursday night said West Memphis police were investigating the abduction and sexual mutilation of three boys.
[other version reads:
Police are searching for whoever killed three 8-year-old schoolmates whose submerged bodies were found Thursday afternoon in Ten-Mile Bayou.
An Arkansas State Police broadcast alerting regional authorities to the slayings said the hands of the boys had been tied behind their backs and that they had been sexually mutilated.]
Neighbors last saw Weaver Elementary School second-graders Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore riding bicycles between 5:15 and 6 p.m. Wednesday. The search by police, parents and neighbors began at 7:30 p.m.
"We do have three homicides," said Insp. Gary Gitchell of the West Memphis Police Department. "I won't comment on the crime scene or what we found."
Mark Byers, father of Christopher, characterized whoever killed his son as an "animal."
"I hope God shows a little mercy on his soul, because I sure wouldn't," he said.
The bodies were to be sent to Little Rock for autopsies by the state medical examiner.
Christopher Byers lived at 1400 E. Barton, next door to Michael Moore at 1398 E. Barton. Steve Branch's family lives nearby at 1601 E. McAuley.
Gitchell said the bodies were found at about 1:30 p.m. within 10 feet of each other in Ten Mile Bayou, the city's main drainage ditch.
The ditch was drained and the bodies retrieved around 4 p.m.
Authorities said they drained the ditch to search for additional evidence. Police were also searching a culvert where bicycle tracks and small sneaker prints were found.
The culvert, which connects to the drainage ditch, runs under Interstate 40 near a truck wash. The ditch was a few hundred yards north of where the children were last seen, and less than a half-mile from the children's homes.
They were behind the Mayfair Apartments in a wooded, undeveloped area known to residents as Robin Hood Park.
"It's several little ditches or streams that run through the area, from a trickle to two to three feet of water," Gitchell said.
"One of my officers found a tennis shoe and, being inquisitive, he just jumped in the water and felt one of them."
The boys were last seen cutting through the yard of a resident who lived on Goodwin Avenue, just south of the brush-choked bayou.
Debra O'Tinger, 18, said three boys on two bikes cut through her yard.
"That's where they went in at," she said Thursday. "I told them to get out of my yard."
The bicycles were found 50 yards from the bodies, Gitchell said.
The neighborhood of neat family homes is bounded by apartment buildings to the west, and the bayou to the north.
A police barrier was set up at the intersection of W. E. Catt Street and McAuley Drive West, which ends in a small cul-de-sac beyond which the bodies were found.
About midafternoon, anxious parents were awaiting official word as neighbors massed at the police barricade on McAuley Drive after hearing one body had been found.
Pam Hobbs, mother of Michael Moore, collapsed when authorities told her that her son's body also had been found.
"Oh Lord!" she said, collapsing to the asphalt before being raised into the arms of friends and family.
Neighbor Bo Hamrick said he and friends had helped search the area on three-wheelers since about 7 a.m. Thursday.
"It's nothing but woods, woods and trails - a few trails just wide enough to get a three-@#%$ through," he said. "I thought, if we get our three- wheelers out, they'll hear us, if they're back there hiding. They always are."
Gitchell, the lead investigator, said he could not confirm whether a story
from a neighbor who reported seeing two men with some children in the area was accurate.
"We've got our work cut out for us," he said, declining to say if authorities had any suspects.
The state police broadcast made no mention of suspects, but it asked any police agencies investigating similar crimes to notify West Memphis police.
West Memphis police asked anyone with information about the murders to call Crime Stoppers at (501) 732-4444.
The elder Byers said he was concerned that the Crittenden County Sheriff's Department did not join the search until Thursday morning despite his repeated requests.
It was not their jurisdiction, he said he was told by a dispatcher.
"If they had brought them out there last night, we would have had a chance of finding those boys alive," he said before praising the all-night search effort by West Memphis Police Department officers.
"They could have used some help; hell, yes, they could have used some help," he said.
Sheriff Richard Busby said Thursday night he talked with the dispatcher and sergeant on duty the previous night and said there was miscommunication between his officers and Byers.
The officers said Byers wanted to know if "this was the right place to call to get a report made out," the sheriff said. "They said no, you need to call the city police department."
Busby, who said he knew Byers and considered him a friend, said "if anyone had called us last night, we'd have been glad to have helped them. We didn't get a call from West Memphis (police) or anyone."
West Memphis's most recent triple murder occurred in 1985, when Ronald Ward, then 15, killed two elderly sisters and their 12-year-old great- grandnephew. Initially sentenced to death, Ward received a second trial and got life in prison.
There have been three other homicides in West Memphis this year, two of which authorities said were justifiable. In 1992, there were 10 homicides in the city.
Illustration: photo (5): map - Staff
Steve Branch, Christopher Byers, Michael Moore
CAPTION: By Dave Darnell
(Color) West Memphis Patrolman G. C. Masengale comforts Mark Byers, father
of 8-year-old Christopher Byers, one of three boys found slain Thursday in Ten
Mile Bayou in West Memphis.
Insp. Gary Gitchell (second from right), of the West Memphis Police
Department, is heading the investigation into the three deaths. Police did not
indicate whether they had identified suspects.
