Abomination: Devil Worship and Deception in the West Memphis Three Murders (9 page)

May 27, 1993

Chris Litrell

Police Interview

After the murders but before the arrests, Chris Littrell told police he attended coven meetings at Murray Ferris’s house with Don Warwick, David McCarty and Rena Hallmark--all students from West Memphis High School. He testified that the coven had only formed three or four months before the murders and that Echols only attended one of the gatherings. He also provided startling information about Echols:

Damien told him that, while in reform school, he drank blood from a cut in a gang leader’s arm so he could join the gang. Also, Damien likes to put sharpened sticks through frogs to see how long it takes them to die. Once he burned down his father’s garage and, after the roof collapsed, stood in the flames and chanted. Damien also told Murray that he once poured gasoline over his own foot and set it on fire. Chris said that also heard that Damien plans to marry Domini after the baby is born, so he can get a bigger government check. Damien no longer plans to kill the baby.

Littrell also heard from Murray Farris that Frankie Knight told him that Frankie Wren assisted in the murder of the three boys.
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4. DAMIEN

Damien Echols, all in black in the distance.

Hello can anyone hear me?

Maybe I'm just a character in someone else's dream

For proof you set on a tree stump and tie tin cans to a string and hope the wind will blow them and make some kind of noise.

The only problem is that it lasts only a minute and once it stops you're not even sure you heard it in the first place. Face it it's my destiny to be flipped, ripped, copied and at times completely overlooked.

I'm flat and without life.

Damien Echols

Born Michael Hutchison, he shares with many serial killers the middle name Wayne. After divorcing Joe Hutchison, Michael's mother Pamela married Andrew Jack Echols. Michael’s biological father moved away and had little contact with the boy as he grew older. On Halloween, 1990, stepfather Jack Echols adopted Michael as his son, and Michael took his last name. The sixteen year old ominously changed his first name from Michael to Damien. Echols said he changed his first name to that of a Catholic priest who assisted lepers in Hawaii; Damien's friends were convinced he took the name of the Antichrist character from the movie Omen, starring Gregory Peck. The new name never took hold with his family, and they continued to call him by his first name, Michael.

Pamela Hutchison, on permanent disability for what she claims is a nervous disorder, had little oversight of her son. Joe Hutchison, his biological father, worked as a gas station attendant for decades and his stepfather Jack worked as a roofer for over twenty-five years. At eighteen, Echols had no Drivers License, no automobile, and no stable place he called home. Damien matured into a moody, distant teenager. He recently moved back to his mother’s trailer in the dilapidated eastern part of West Memphis. Not interested in the formality of high school, the eighteen year old often checked out books from the library, usually on his favorite topics: dark themed literature or the occult. He attracted a group of other lost children to him and they shared the same interests. The other members of his group wore the same black clothing and dyed their hair black in emulation of Echols. He spent little time in the sun in 1993, and his colorless, white face starkly contrasted with his jet black hair and clothes.

In 1991, Damien began a relationship with a local girl, Deanna Holcomb. Her parents disapproved of the relationship with Echols, and on March 3rd, 1992, she informed Damien their relationship was over. She immediately took up with another boy. Damien responded by threatening to kill her new boyfriend and dump his dead body in her front yard, then burn down her house. Her mother immediately called the police, who filed a report of "terroristic threatening."
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The relationship with Deanna continued against the will of her parents. Eventually, she ran away from home to be with Echols. On May 7th, 1992, Damien and Deanna were found by police in West Memphis, hiding in the closet of an abandoned trailer in Lakewood Trailer Park. During the arrest, Echols threatened to kill the police officer and Deanna Holcomb’s father. Echols was charged with burglary, breaking and entering, disorderly conduct, sexual misconduct and terroristic threatening. Deputy prosecutor John Fogleman filed charges for the State of Arkansas. Echols was sent for a stay at the Craighead County Juvenile Detention Center in Jonesboro on May 26th, 1992. The next day, Damien's mother Pamela and his stepfather completed their divorce, Jack Echols having moved out of the trailer weeks before. Pamela, alone and in need of help, reached out to her former husband Joe Hutchison. Hutchison returned from Oregon to live in West Memphis with Pamela and his biological children.

I’M NOT DEAF

I can hear it coming. It sounds

like thunder intermingled

with a small child’s cries.

I’m not frantic

I can feel it coming. It violently

shakes every molecule of my body

as if it is rushing to reach me personally

I’m not crazy

I can see it coming.

It sees me with its one piercing eye.

Its huge metal teeth appear to be smiling. It

knows I can put an end to its madness

by just stepping aside. But no I think

I can win. It reaches me as I

jump and sends me out of my state

of utopia and face first into a

painful black reality

Damien Echols

EXHIBIT 500

Ronald Lax, a defense team investigator, compiled the following psychiatric records into a 509-page dossier for use by a psychologist who examined Echols after his conviction. His attorneys hoped that the psychologists’ testimony about Echols’ mental illness would persuade the jury to spare him the death penalty. This dossier, detailing his treatment in hospitals and mental institutions, became known as the State’s Exhibit 500. The
Exhibit 500 information only became publicly available during the penalty phase of Damien Echols’ trial. I have inserted the information into the book before an analysis of his trial, as the information in these records occurred before Echols’ arrest on June 3rd, 1993.

Many of the pages in the file are duplicates or unreadable due to poor handwriting and/or photocopying, but are essential reading to understand the character of Damien Echols before the murders. Actual records are italicized and indented in this chapter.

May 7th, 1992

Admission to

East Arkansas Regional Medical Health Center

Damien was sent to Jonesboro to the Juvenile facility.

The admission of Damien noted that there was an open Child Protective Services case concerning the Echols family, specifically involving Jack Echols. The Referral Form reported that Damien’s sister reported that Jack Echols had been sexually abusing her “for a long time”, with abuse occurring periodically from age seven to her then current age 14. Michelle also stated that her mother “knows but has done nothing to stop it.” The Sheriff’s Department got involved and interviewed the entire family. The case worker, Gloria Stevenson, added that:

The Echols family has extreme problems related to an ongoing history of sexual abuse, suspected emotions problems and undefined interpersonal relationship disorders. Mr. Echols admits to being overly affectionate with Michelle and to have been charged for indecently exposing himself to an older daughter, however, Mrs. Echols states she feels Michelle is lying as she has been skipping school and sexually acting out. Michelle alleges to have had several miscarriages, although the mother denies it. Damien Echols on the other hand, holds his adopted father in low regard and feels the allegations are in fact true. Mrs. Echols states Damien is in need of counseling and evaluation as he feels he is “smarter than everyone else” and will verbalize this fact. He also reportedly has little regard for others and stated he feels people have no true feeling for each other; their main purpose is to use and bring harm to others around them. Mrs. Echols reports Damien has attempted to fight with her on occasion.
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A Sheriff’s department investigator searched the Echols home on May 19, 1992, after the runaway incident and found a dog skull in Damien’s bedroom. At trial Damien explained:

It was a skull me and my step-dad, Jack Echols, had found and I just thought it was kind of cool. And before he gave it to me, he bleached it out and everything to make sure there wasn’t any germs or anything on it. It was a decoration for my room.
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June 1st, 1992

East Arkansas Regional Mental Health Center

While at the juvenile center, authorities heard that Damien wanted to commit suicide by hanging himself. Responding quickly, detention authorities sent Echols to the East Arkansas Regional Mental Health Center, then to the Charter Hospital in Little Rock, a mental hospital, for a thirty day stay. Charter admission papers added:

There were also major concerns that this young man was exhibiting disturbed thinking. He has a history of extreme physical aggression toward others.
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Certification of need by Charter Hospital drafted by Christine Deaton added a list of points as a rationale for emergency admission:

1.
Fire setting behavior by history,

2.
Potential danger to property,

3.
Excessive irritability and anger that is potentially dangerous and persistent,

4.
Involvement in bizarre and unusual behavior.
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A “personality inventory” report from June, 1st 1992 described Echols as:

...characterized by impulsive hostility, an apprehensive mistrust of others and an edgy defensiveness against criticism. Fearing that others will dominate and possibly brutalize him, he puts forward a socially blunt and aggressive public posture. He fantasizes being all powerful so as to block others from possessing the means to be belittling and harmful. He believes that only alert vigilance and vigorous counter-action can prevent the malice of others. … The desire to gain power and demean others springs from animosity and a wish to vindicate past grievances. Although frequently unsuccessful in these aims, this teenager believes that past degradations may be undone by provoking fear and intimidation in others.
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In a Psychosocial Assessment taken the day after his admission, additional information was gathered and added to his file. The circumstances of his relation to Deanna Holcomb and the subsequent arrest are addressed in detail. Additional information compiled by social worker Tina Deaton completed the lengthy and detailed report:

“I have no feelings about suicide. I know I can be reincarnated. I’m not afraid....”

...The patient [Echols] has admitted to self-harm behaviors. He states, “I burn myself with lighters. I have huffed gas and paint...”

The patient adamantly denies any contact with devil worshipping. However, he readily admits to practicing witchcraft and did state that he is a “practicing warlock.”

...Damien denies any serious illnesses or accidents. However, during the course of the psychosocial assessment, Damien openly showed to this social worker spots on both forearms where he has used a cigarette lighter or other sharp object to burn marks into his forearms...

...The patient states that he abstains from chemical use without external pressure. He says that he does not have a desire in continuing to use chemicals due to the fact that he believes they interfere with his ability to practice witchcraft successfully...

...the patient states that he often times “scared” his sister by making reference to spells and witchcraft practices...

Damien indicated that he has a blood brother. When questioned further about having a blood brother, Damien states that he and a male have exchanged blood and that his girlfriend is an individual with whom he has a strong bond. Damien appears to have achieved a high level of functioning. He is well-read and has a good working knowledge of many different practices and beliefs...

...he stated that he enjoys reading, enjoys practicing witchcraft, and likes to be with his girlfriend...
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Deaton also expressed concern that Echols was hallucinating and was unsettled by his frankness:

The patient appeared to be sniffing the air around him as if he were responding to an external stimulus. When he was questioned as to what he was doing, the patient gave an inappropriate smile and was unwilling to discuss what he was doing. Upon several occasions, the patient also cut his eyes in one direction or the other as if he were hearing or thinking of something before he spoke. Again, it did appear to this social worker as though the client was responding to an external stimulus. When asked what he was doing, the patient gave an inappropriate smile and was unwilling to discuss what he was doing....Also of interest was the patient’s unabashed discussion of sexual activity. The patient did not seem intimidated, embarrassed or shy to discuss that he had been sexually active and that many of the witchcraft practices included the patient being with other individuals in various stages of undress.
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