Untying the Knot: John Mark Byers and the West Memphis Three (26 page)

Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie
Misskelley, June 3, 1993

Mark’s parents died within three months of each other after fifty-two years of marriage and are buried in Marked Tree, Arkansas.

The tool shed at 1400 East Barton where Mark was doing jewelry repair until Christopher’s murder. His store in West Memphis had closed three years earlier.

Christopher’s Decree of Adoption. Christopher’s biological father, Ricky Lee Murray would claim that he never gave his consent to the adoption, and journalist Mara Leveritt suggested that the boy had been buried under an ‘illegal’ name, which, she said, was a “felony.”

Dana Moore stood in this spot and watched Michael, Stevie and Christopher disappear around this bend heading north on 14
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Street. They couldn’t hear her calling after them. She never saw Michael alive again.

Todd and Dana Moore sit with West Memphis Police Inspector Gary Gitchell (right) as the guilty verdict is read in the murder trial of Jessie Lloyd Misskelley Jr. The Moores have never wavered in their belief that the West Memphis Three killed their son.

Police surveillance photo of Terry Wayne Hobbs at Stevie’s funeral. May 13, 1993

January 23, 2008. Terry Hobbs in reflection. When asked by a reporter in 2007 how he thought Hobbs might feel, Mark Byers said, “I can’t imagine what it would feel like knowing you’re guilty of killing three children and that the hounds are on your tail.”

Christopher’s grave near Memphis, Tennessee. After he adopted the boy, Mark gave him his own middle name.

Melissa is buried just a few feet from Christopher, dying only three years after her son. The absence of Mark’s name on the grave marker testifies to the animosity that existed between Mark and his in-laws.

The contrast between Mark’s intake photo for the Arkansas Department of Corrections (top) and his parole ID card (bottom) fifteen months later couldn’t be more stark.

Byers speaks to the media at the August, 2009, Rule 37 hearings of Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley.

Supporters outside the 2
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Circuit Courthouse in Jonesboro holding signs that proclaimed the newfound stranglehold Lorri Davis and her team had on the court. Despite all the forensic testimony from renowned experts, in the end it would be strong allegations of juror misconduct that forced the state’s hand.