The attorney for one of the West Memphis Three has revealed a haunting new theory about the horrific murders of three eight-year-old Cub Scouts – with new DNA testing now underway in a bid to identify ‘the real killer’.
The three young victims – Stevie Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers – were found naked in a murky ditch, hog-tied with their shoelaces, and mutilated beyond recognition in West Memphis, Arkansas, in May 1993.
Dan Stidham represented Jessie Misskelley, Jr. – one of the teens who was convicted of the heinous crime in 1994 along with Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin.
The teens became known as The West Memphis Three, with prosecutors claiming they killed the children as part of a Satanic ritual. The ordeal was later chronicled on the big screen in the movie Devil’s Knot, starring Reese Witherspoon.
The suspects spent the next 18 years behind bars, but were released from prison in 2011 and continue to maintain their innocence to this day.
Now, in his book, A Harvest of Innocence: The Untold Story of The West Memphis Three, Stidham has revealed his theories about who the ‘real killer’ could be.
The West Memphis Three pictured (l-r) Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. and Jason Baldwin, at a news conference at the Craighead County Court House in Jonesboro, Arkansas
Three eight-year-old Cub Scouts brutally murdered: Stevie Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers were found naked in a ditch, hog-tied with their shoelaces and mutilated beyond recognition
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Stidham said he believes a long haul truck driver may be the real culprit for the triple murders.
The attorney did not reveal the alleged suspect’s name, but said that he is already serving a life sentence for a separate murder conviction.
This unnamed truck driver, who the attorney has honed in on during his rookie investigations, allegedly has other victims who are varied by appearance and gender.
Stidham told DailyMail.com he is also looking at a second long haul trucker, also serving a life sentence, as a potential suspect. The pair have been communicating via mail exchange, and he plans to visit him.
‘I will be tracking him down,’ Stidham said.
Some of his theories are based on logs of the trucks that passed through the area on the date the boys were murdered in 1993.
He explained: ‘Truckers are required to sleep so many hours per day – so they pull into those truck stops and park.
‘There are a lot of people who are hitchhikers, sex workers or just run aways who end up with these long haul truck driver serial killers and their bodies are dumped six states away before the police can figure out what happened.’
In this case, he said: ‘It is a little bit strange that this truck driver – if it is a truck driver – would leave the bodies so close.
‘But you don’t want to be pulled over by a state trooper police officer with three dead kids in the back of your big rig. That is why I think he left them where he did.’
Attorney Dan Stidham, who is now a judge, has been working tirelessly on new leads to find ‘the real killer’
Dan Stidham (center) is pictured as a young attorney when he was defending his client Jessie Miskelley, Jr, one of the three accusers in The West Memphis Three
Another lead he continues to pursue is Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of Stevie Branch, one of the eight-year-old victims, who was married to Stevie’s mom Pam.
They divorced after her son’s murder.
Hobbs has never been arrested or charged for the crimes, and previously in 2021 welcomed the new DNA testing, according to Action News 5.
Before the murders, Hobbs, who was reportedly doing drugs with some other men, caught the boys spying on them.
‘I said this in my book, I am not willing to take Terry Hobbs off the suspect list,’ he said. ‘I cannot account where he was over the entire evening – all night and all morning- the next day.’
He added: ‘We have a small DNA link at this point and where it was located was in one of the ligatures that bound the boys.’
In April, a critical new development took place in the decades-long case when the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled in favor of new DNA testing of evidence from the crime scene that was not available when the evidence was previously tested.
Damien Echols’ attorney had filed a petition in 2022 requesting further testing which had initially been denied by a circuit court on the grounds that Echols was no longer in custody before it was overturned two months ago.
This DNA – that may hold key evidence in the case – will now be retested with the M-Vac wet vacuum system, a forensic collection device, that investigators use to solve crimes.
Stidham called the move ‘groundbreaking,’ as the case is now open, stating that ‘the benefits of one of The West Memphis Three, benefits them all.’
‘It’s incredible technology. So we’re very, very hopeful that this will lead us to the real killer,’ Stidham said.
Enthusiastic about the recent development, Stidham said: ‘The DNA testing that is going to be retested, gives me two different shots at it from two different angles the long haul truck driver angle and Terry Hobbs.’
Damien Echols, 17, was labeled the ‘mastermind’ in the brutal murders and was sentenced to death
Jessie Misskelley, Jr., 16, lived with his father Jessie Misskelley, Sr. in a trailer. After his release he went back to live with his dad in the trailer, despite Peter Jackson offering to buy him a new home
Charles Baldwin, pictured at the age of 17
Stidham’s book highlights the alleged gross misconduct of justice by the police, the trial jury and the prosecutor, as well as the personal and professional sacrifices he made during the period he was involved in the case.
And with a revived interest from younger audiences, Stidham said that Gen Z and Millennial true crime enthusiasts are engaging with the West Memphis Three case more than ever.
Today, he is still working to get his client exonerated.
Speaking about his theories and the case that has haunted him for three decades, Stidham told DailyMail.com: ‘There has never been any DNA belonging to the West Memphis Three discovered in the case at any time.
‘As far as the State is concerned, the case is closed. We, involved with the defense, still believe it is far from over and continue to pursue our own theories and suspects.’
He added: ‘We will never give up.’
With the release of his book, he hopes there is somebody out there with a guilty conscience who is willing to come forward and help them catch the real killer.
Another lead the attorney continues to pursue is Terry Hobbs (pictured) the stepfather of Stevie Branch, one of the eight-year-old victims. Hobbs has never been arrested or charged, and has denied any wrongdoing
An Alford Plea technically ended the case – allowing the three convicts to walk free.
On August 19, 2011, the remarkable plea was negotiated between the attorneys, who were facing the grueling task of giving the men a new trial after new DNA evidence in 2010 failed to connect any of them to the horrible crime.
The name derives from a 1970s Supreme Court case, but in this instance, the Alford Plea was used as an ‘explicit assertion of innocence while pleading guilty.’
Essentially, the three convicts refused to admit to any criminal act, but conceded that the defense had evidence that could be used against them.
As a result of the rare and historic legal compromise, Misskelley Jr, Echols and Baldwin were released in 2011.
This is why the West Memphis Police and the prosecutor have been very reluctant to allow the new DNA testing, according to the attorney.
‘They wanted all this nightmare to go away. It’s never been out of the news the entire 31 years since it happened. There’s always been something in the news about the case or the WM3 themselves,’ Stidham said.
A Harvest of Innocence: The Untold Story of The West Memphis Three was published in late 2023
Stidham is hoping the new generation of readers and those interested in true crime will lead to more proof in the case.
‘It’s been interesting to see how people change their outlook after the release of my book and even after the Alford Plea itself,’ he said. ‘These people I would have never had a chance to talk to or interview, and I’m hoping that it leads to more evidence.’
Stidham, who was a young public defender at the time he was representing Misskelley, said that West Memphis Police were convinced from the very beginning that Damien Echols was the perpetrator of the crime.
They also surmised that Jason Baldwin, his best friend, must have been in on it as well. ‘The theory that emerged was that the murders were the result of a Satanic Ritual due to the wounds on the bodies that were beyond human comprehension,’ he explained, ‘but Ken Lanning, a former FBI profiler had debunked the theory.’
Stidham claimed police focused on Damien Echols like a ‘laser beam’ and began rounding up and questioning anyone who had ever been associated with him.
The trio were arrested and sent to prison, with no other evidence linking the teens to the murders with the exception of an alleged false confession given by Misskelley.
The attorney said that Misskelley found it difficult understanding the situation he was in and that he ‘did not understand anything about the criminal justice system.’
Misskelly was interrogated by police for more than 12 hours which resulted in what Stidham called a false ‘compliant confession,’ which means that the person being interrogated is psychologically coerced by the interrogators to confess even while believing he is innocent.
‘The person confesses to escape a stressful situation, avoid punishment, or gain a promised or implied reward,’ he explained.
On the big screen: The murders of the three boys was made into a film, Devil’s Knot (2013), starring Reese Witherspoon as Pam Hobbs and Alessandro Nivola as Terry Hobbs (pictured)
Kristopher Higgins (playing Misskelley), James Hamrick (playing Echols) and Seth Meriwether (playing Baldwin) in Devil’s Knot (2013)
‘Jessie Misskelley was a concrete thinker, not an abstract thinker, and he could not fathom how his false confession would haunt him for years,’ Stidham said. ‘He was only thinking of how he could end the interrogation and go home to his dad as promised by his oppressors.’
‘When it became clear to even the most casual observer that they were innocent, say as early as 2007, after our experts gave their affidavits, they doubled down and tried to keep their ‘campfire story’ alive and burning,’ he said.
‘They could have just said, “Hey, sorry we made a mistake and then exonerated them. Paid them reparations, done the honorable thing, but they just dug in deeper.’
He said he believed they used the Alford Plea to avoid having to admit that they were wrong and did everything they could to preserve these misguided convictions. Nor did they want to pay them for the loss of the best years of their lives.
‘So, they took a cowardly way out and simply got into the lifeboats and safely off the sinking ship to protect themselves from embarrassment and ridicule.
‘I wrote my book to make sure that everyone knew exactly what happened, including the enormity of their failure to take responsibility for what they did. My book sets the record straight.’
He said: ‘It was not a coincidence that within mere months after the new prosecutor and new judge were put into the equation, the West Memphis Three were released from prison.’
Stidham, a judge for the last fifteen years, is not able to be involved in any official investigation so he does the work when he isn’t on the bench.
‘I made a promise to my client that I’d get him out of prison, which I was able to fulfill,’ he said. ‘Then two of the three victims’ parents asked me to continue my work and find the real killer.’
He added: ‘I’m trying to fulfill that promise now.’
