Abomination: Devil Worship and Deception in the West Memphis Three Murders (6 page)

Police then decided to interview Pamela Hutcheson, Damien Echol’s biological mother. She arrived at the West Memphis Police Department to be interviewed by Detective Bryn Ridge.

May 12th, 1993

Pamela Hutcheson (Echols)

Police Interview

Interviewed by Bryn Ridge

The report indicates Pamela Hutcheson is 5’6”, 200 pounds in wieght. She was 34 at the time of the killings. No high school, no GED. She lived with her mother, daughter and, supposedly, Damien. After a few details, Ridge questions Mrs. Hutcheson about her son. There are some elements of deliberate confusion. She also provides important insights into her sons character and confirms his interest in witchcraft. In my opinion, the following information provided to West Memphis Police Department knowingly provides an alibi for her son and indicates deception.

Ridge: Uh, after Damien was at home, did you see Jason?

Hutchison: No. I did not.

Ridge: Alright, so it was just Damien and Domini that you picked up?

Hutchison: Right.

Ridge: Alexander's Laundry?

Hutchison: Right.

Ridge: Okay, and this is about 3:45?

Hutchison: Uh, uh.

Ridge: And you took her home?

Hutchison: And i took him home with me.

Ridge: You took him home with you? And about what time did you get home?

Hutchison: It was about ten [?] minutes after four, cause I just went straight to Lakeshore and out, and came right straight home.

Ridge: Okay, what occurred next?

Hutchison: Uh, I can't remember exactly the times, but i think Wednesday, uh, some Detectives came out to the house and picked Damien up and brought, no, they talked to him at the house. There was...

Ridge: Wednesday?

Hutchison: Uh, uh, which, is it, Steve Jones came to my trailer. And another Detective came out, and they took pictures of Damien, standing outside the trailer, they went in his bedroom, well it's his sister's bedroom.

Ridge: I'm confused, cause at this point on Wednesday, nobody had reason to be looking for anyone.

Hutchison: They, uh, two officers, naw it was Thursday, you're right.

Ridge: Wednesday it was, we need to iron down Thursday, we are going to go through Thursday.

Hutchison: I had picked him up at the laundry mat and I carried Domini home and i carried Damien home with me.

Ridge: And you stayed home the rest of the day?

Hutchison: Um, um.

Ridge: Alright, he mentioned that you went to a Mr. Sanders house?

Hutchison: Right.

Ridge: Alright, when did that occur?

Hutchison: Um, I would say about 6:30 or 6:00 Wednesday night, Wednesday afternoon.

Ridge: That's when you went to that house?

Hutchison: Um, um.

Ridge: And about what time did you return?

Hutchison: Somewhere about an hour, if that long, uh, no longer than an hour, because she wasn't home. Her and her husband wasn't home, her daughter was there and we went in and sat down and talked to her for a minute.

Ridge: Okay, where did you go from there?

Hutchison: Home.

Ridge: Was Damien with you?

Hutchison: Yes.

Ridge: When you got home?

Hutchison: Yes, he was.

Ridge: Did he go anywhere else?

Hutchison: No.

Ridge: Did you go anywhere?

Hutchison: No.

Ridge: Did anybody come and visit?

Hutchison: No.

Ridge: Any phone calls?

Hutchison: Uh, yeah, there was a phone call from Damien's grandmother, uh, he answered the phone and then I talked to her. Uh, he talked to a girl that lives at Bartlett, I don't know what her name is, Jennifer is all I know, and he talked to Domini.

Ridge: About what time was the call from the grandmother?

Hutchison: Uh, i don't know, cause i had so...

Ridge: Is this the order basically, call from the grandmother, call.

Hutchison: Call from Jennifer and then a call from Domini, yeah.

Ridge: The call from Domini, I take it was later on in the evening?

Hutchison: Right.

Ridge: Well after dark?

Hutchison: Yes.

Ridge: And, about what time did you go to bed that night?

Hutchison: Gosh, I would say it was around 12 I guess.

Ridge: Was Damien in bed or...

Hutchison: Yes, he was in bed.

Ridge: And he didn't leave at all from the time you left the Sanders house until you went to bed.

Hutchison: No, he didn't.

Ridge: Uh.

Sudbury: Let me try and understand this, did he go with you to Susan's?

Hutchison: Yes, he did.

Sudbury: Did your daughter go also?

Hutchison: Yes, she did, and my husband...

Detective Ridge then turns the conversation to Damien’s religious beliefs and practices:

Ridge: As for time periods or whatever, we pretty well went over that, you know, pretty well have a response for those periods of times. As far as attitudes, uh, do you understand or are you aware of Damien being in a white magic group?

Hutchison: Yes, I am.

Ridge: Okay, how do you feel about that?

Hutchison: Uh, I am not real fond of it, but as long as, I don't see that he's hurting anybody, and he's keeps it mostly to himself, I don't have a problem with it.

Ridge: Okay.

Hutchison: Everyone has the right to practice religion.

Ridge: Yes, i agree.

Sudbury: That's his religion?

Hutchison: Yes, I do, that's his religion.

Sudbury: Do you encourage him with that or you just don't have a opinion?

Hutchison: Uh, I have an opinion, but I try to understand the way he feels.

Ridge: What is your religion?

Hutchison: Baptist.

Ridge: Baptist, alright, and as for as your religion...

Ridge: (con't) have you tried to get him to understand your religion?

Hutchison: Yes, I have, he was raised in church.

Ridge: Ykay, has he attempted to get you to understanding his religion?

Hutchison: Yes, he has.

Ridge: And, in the explaining of this, I understand from other people that he may have animal skulls or something symbolism in this?

Hutchison: This animal skulls that he had, when I lived at Lakeshore, was just a skull that had been found laying on the side of the road. It had been there for I don't know how long, and he picked it up.

Sudbury: Not that you're aware of, is there a special celebration days, a special times of the year that...

Hutchison: Not that i know of.

Sudbury: Do you go to church regularly now?

Hutchison: No, i don't.

Ridge: The group, I say that loosely, because I don't know that Damien is a member of a group, but if there is a group, of this white magic or whatever the name is meka,

Hutchison: No, wicker [Wicca]

Ridge: Wicker, okay i'm sorry, who does that group consist of.

Hutchison: I have no idea.

Ridge: You've never met any of them?

Hutchison: No, I haven't.

Ridge: meka. [Wicca]

Hutchison: Not, that I know are wickers [Wicca], I know most of Damien's friends, but who I could say is...

Ridge: Or is not.

Hutchison: Or is not, i can't. I have no idea.

Ridge: Who are some of his friends?

Hutchison: Uh, Jason, like I said, is his closest friend, uh, a young man by the name of Murray (Murray Farris), that I don't really know, I never invited him inside of my house, and somebody by the name of Chris, and I don't know who he is either.

Ridge: Okay.

Hutchison: And, that's basically Damien more or less keeps to himself, other than Jason. He doesn't have a lot of friends, he leans toward girls, as for as being friends.

Ridge: Okay, basically if he to profile his personality, do you understand the term introverted or extraverted?

Hutchison: Uh, I've heard it, but I don't know what it means.

Ridge: Introvert would be more or less that he's a home body, he's a person within himself, he maybe deep in self thought, uh, wants to take care of himself, wants to do things for himself, where extraverted person would think of other people and would like to get out and communicate and take part in activities.

Hutchison: He's most to himself, he would be the more introverted.

Ridge: So, he would be the more introverted person?

Hutchison: Right.

Ridge: What would you consider his I.Q. to be. Normal, above, below normal?

Hutchison: It's very much above normal.

Ridge: Okay, he dropped out of school, was there a reason?

Hutchison: He could not stay interested in school.

Ridge: His attention span was very short?

Hutchison: Right, and he couldn't stay interested.

Sudbury: Unless it really interested him?

Hutchison: Yes, uh, and it would go according to the teachers that took up time with him and they would have to interest him, just depends on the way they...

Sudbury: Did he have any particular hobbies or sports?

Hutchison: He doesn't have any sports, he loves to read.

Ridge: What was his best class?

Hutchison: Uh, the last year he was there.

Ridge: Math, English, History?

Hutchison: I can't remember what the subject was. I could not remember the teacher, but I don't remember what the subject was.

Sudbury: You mentioned earlier or something about, he was suicidal. Do you know what brought that on or what he considers himself what to be?

Hutchison: Uh, it's lot better now. I feel like, than what it use to be. Uh, at one time about a year ago, it didn't make him any difference that he was dead or alive.

Sudbury: Do you know what brought that on?

Hutchison: I feel like because he had been through so much. I think he had been through more physical abuse with his stepfather that what I realized he was going through.

Ridge: Physical abuse?

Hutchison: Uh, well, it's mental, they call it mental abuse. But to me, like I said, whenever he trips over a phone cord, and he would jump off the couch like he was going to reach and hit him, I felt like, had I not been there, it would have resulted.

Ridge: The apprehension of being beat up.

Hutchison: Right.

Ridge: Even though it may been.

Hutchison: Right.

Ridge: Okay, the other day, I know, I'm aware that you became upset when we had Damien in here. On the polygraph examination?

Hutchison: Yes I was very upset.

Ridge: Okay, you, were you made aware of the fact that he failed the polygraph examination?

Hutchison: Yes, I was, I was not notified that he was being taken to the hospital for samples.

Ridge: Okay.

Hutchison: My son was kept here from approximately 11:30 that morning until after 7 that afternoon when we left here he did not receive a bite of food.

Ridge: Okay, alright the point I've tried to make is that Damien is 18 years old. He considers himself to be a man okay, and he was asking to speak to you after we did the hospital examination, the test.

Hutchison: Right.

Ridge: Alright, do you fell that maybe as a mother you may be, do you feel like there's anyway that you may be projecting yourself as too much of a mother at this point in his life?

Hutchison: No, I don't. I think he needs me right now, very much.

Ridge: That's what I'm trying to get to.

Hutchison: And I don't as far as dominating him, and telling him you can or can not do this or that, I don't but he has enough respect for me.

Ridge: I'm not saying he doesn't respect you, because I know he does.

Hutchison: But he'll ask me even while his 18 years old mama can I do this?

Sudbury: Legally because he's 18 years old. Do you feel like he needs your protection?

Hutchison: Uh.

Sudbury: Not that is really matters per se, I don't mean you have.

Hutchison: To a certain extent I feel like he does.

Ridge: We are aware that Domini is with child?

Hutchison: Yes.

Ridge: Alright, how has that stress on, I'm sure there is not no one that there's not a stress for, knowing that a child is coming. How is that stress come out in Damien?

Hutchison: Um, the only thing Damien ever says about it is that he is kinda scared.

Ridge: He's scared. What are his plans to take care of the child?

Hutchison: Um, I think he is more or less counting on me to help him take care of that child.

Ridge: Okay, and you are planning to this?

Hutchison: Yes, I will.

Pamela Hutchison talks about some extraneous issues and then Detective Ridge asks a question about Deanna Holcomb:

Sudbury: Okay, are you aware there was, the name slips my mind, a girl your son dated before?

Hutchison: Deanna Holcomb.

Sudbury: Deanna, did your son ever make mention about he and she wanting to have a child?

Hutchison: Well yes he did, yes they did. They were in hopes she would get pregnant because the girl’s mother had forbidden Damien to see her and they thought if she got pregnant she couldn't keep him away.

Sudbury: Okay.

Ridge: Was that, I understand their split was that split a big conflict or was it sorta just she went her way and he went his way?

Hutchison: No, it was a big conflict, it was not between Damien and Deanna, but between her parents and Damien. They did not like him and they didn't want him around.

Sudbury: How did he accept that after. I understand they ran away together?

Hutchison: Yes, they did.

Sudbury: After that is when she put an end to the relationship, how did he accept that?

Hutchison: He was put in the hospital.

Sudbury: He was pretty upset about that?

Hutchison: Yes he was, at that point and time he didn't care if he lived.

Sudbury: Is that the only time he's been in the hospital?

Hutchison: No, he's been in the hospital 3 times I believe.

Sudbury: Now we are talking medical or...