[1] Norm Metz, the neighbor living at 73 Skyline, confirmed that Ryan came back to live with his mother and father two weeks before March 29th. The state police investigation had just ended, their information had been turned over to West Memphis police, and they were expecting Byers to be arrested when the boys triple murder occurred. Everybody Id come in contact with was hostile to the truth, Baldwin says. Benjamin H. Byers was convicted of first-degree murder, armed criminal action and child endangerment in connection to the killing following a trial in March. Finally, the boy with Byers asked his opponent, Have you had enough? He had. None of the three believed that, but Echolss healthand the possibility that even if he survived, he would still be on death row should the fight for retrials failmade it an imperative. ~~~~~ kind assistance of FindaGrave volunteer Carolyne Powles Darrell 49377409 ~~~~~Inscription: Melissa Byers 10 Aug 1837-6 Mar 1920; Also buried there: Thomas Byers d. 3 Jun 1887 88y 2m 15d; Mary Byers wf of Thomas d. 16 Nov 1878 75y 8m 24d. Police followed a trail of blood drops throughout the house and into the basement. He advised that John Mark advised no and Ryan had a funny eery [sic] look on his face. The nonprofits work hasnt always been easyfundraising is hard, and because hes a convicted felon, hes unable to visit clients in prison or discuss pleasbut its been essential for him as he strives to live the words by 14th-century Persian poet Hafez that he keeps as an email signature: The small man builds cages for everyone he knows / While the sage, who has to duck his head when the moon is low / Keeps dropping keys all night long for the beautiful rowdy prisoners. Baldwin says hes learned that justice isnt a computer programthat you can input all the evidence and testimony and still get the wrong results. Melissa was the biological mother of Chris Byers and Ryan Clark. Two bandaged needle puncture wounds were described. But from the start, their residence there was marked by turmoil, including several incidents verging on violence: In early 1994, shortly after their arrival, John Mark and Melissa Byers were jailed in Sharp County on charges of residential burglary and theft after more than $20,000 in antiques were taken from a neighbors home. Gitchell said, Thats our problem. Lacking a coherent explanation from its owner, the question of how human blood got on that knife a 9-inch long, serrated Kershaw has never been cleared up. Ryan said Byers then began CPR on Melissa. Additionally, the judge in the original trialswho under Arkansas law presided under the requests for retrials in the years following the convictionshad been elected to the state Senate that December, meaning someone new and possibly more sympathetic would oversee the case. Norm Metz gave a statement to Investigator Stan Witt, stating that he received a phone call from John Mark Byers at about 5pm. According to the negotiated plea, Byers was to pay $20,000 to the woman whose house was burglarized, make restitution to the father of the boy who was injured in the fight, and pay a $250 fine. Bakken and Sauls say they tried to avoid offering theories about the case publicly, opting instead to try to work through official channels. At that time, I was a little naive that what you read in the paper must have some truth to it, and all the press reports coming out of Arkansas were saying that this was like a slam dunk, an open-and-shut case with a confession that was printed in the newspaper.. It was agreed that a search should be conducted and Byers was approached. The puncture marks on the top of her right and left foot were not covered. > I'd be interested in knowing whether or not he also died under suspicious, > circumstances. Essentially, it allows the accused to assert their innocence while pleading guilty, conceding that the prosecution has an overwhelming amount of evidence to procure a conviction. "[3], On March 29th, 1996, at 3:30pm, Ryan and his girlfriend, Amanda, were dropped off from school at the Byers' residence. At the time of her youngest son's murder in May of 1993, Melissa was married to John Mark Byers. Quickly, however, he realized Berlinger and Sinofsky were taking a different approach. Yes, the West Memphis Three are out of prison, but as long as they are considered guilty in the eyes of the state, the case is closed, meaning no further investigation can occur. You dont know who I am. Byers denies saying that. John Mark Byers, the stepfather of one of the children killed in the West Memphis Three case, has died. In 1994, the FBI said there was scant evidence that violent satanic crimes had ever occurred in America outside of a few isolated incidents, but that was long after TV hosts like Geraldo, Sally Jessy Raphael, and Oprah had spread moral hysteria about musicians weaving supposedly anti-Christian and occult messages into their songs, and long after wrongful convictions were handed down in the infamous McMartin Preschool sexual assault trials. The trials were sensational from start to finish, partly for the gruesomeness of the crimes, and partly because the police case was predicated on the belief that the killings had been part of a Satanistic orgy. They saw the same thing you did. Then there's the mysterious circumstances of his wife's death. When someone in the group noticed the knife, and hollered out, He has a knife, Byers companion threw the knife an Uncle Henry bone-handled, 5-inch pocket knife aside. Family (1) Spouse John Mark Byers (c. 1986 - 29 March 1996) (her death) See also Other Works | Publicity Listings | Official Sites She died of undetermined causes on March 29, 1996. how did melissa byers die. Seed saving is a great way to ensure the survival of your plants, and it's also an economical choice. He and John Mark Byers were informed that Melissa was deceased at 6:30pm. He was never charged in connection with the deaths. He advised her mouth was wide open, her eyes were closed, she was totally limp, and her arms were down by her side. How do you measure the legacy of Paradise Lost, which is one of the best reviewed documentaries of all time and considered among the most influential, but whose mission is only partly complete? Melissa Byers was born on January 16, 1956. At that point. I think we were the first internet sleuths, but we were not internet sleuths.. [10], Waser asked Chief Rose and Officer Slayton to secure the Byers' residence while he escorted the ambulance to Eastern Ozarks Regional Hospital. In fact, people in the audience criticized him for the beating, which is what prompted his outburst about the mutilations. He said, J.B., youre going home, man, youre going home.. But he wasn't, and they made him take off those sunglasses. Hicks had gotten Hobbs down on the ground, when Hobbs reached into his pocket, pulled out the gun, and shot Hicks in the abdomen. Byers asked Metz to come over to the house. Throughout the trials, Melissa Byers and her husband, John Mark Byers, were seen frequently on TV, often cursing the defendants. That story line would make up the bulk of 2000s Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, a rare sequel for a documentary, especially before the streaming era proved that true crime series like Making a Murderer and The Staircase could maintain audience interest for years. The neighbor quoted Melissa Byers as having screamed, You cant watch your family 24 hours, and you are going down.. how did melissa byers dietooting and mitcham fc former players. Rose said that when he told Byers there could be charges, Byers seemed incredulous. Anyone have any info about how the oldest boy died? I have my doubts as to whether the teens actually committed the murders, and I consider Byers suspicious, but that's a long way from declaring him guilty. Okay. I had a friend who was working on 20/20, and they had done a film about exorcism in one of the magazine pieces, Nevins says. John Mark called to Ryan twice. [11] He told Waser that he didn't know what to do. Melissa left her husband to live with her parents and had only been living at home for two to three weeks before she passed away. Melissa Byers was born on 16 January, 1956 in 1956, is an Actor. He stated he continued CPR until the EMTs arrived and took over. It was almost like an out-of-body experience., When the credits rolled shortly after the unforgettable final scene, which shows a now-convicted Baldwin and Echols leaving the courtroom in handcuffs and entering a police cruiser as Metallica plays, Baldwin sat stunned. Melissa Gilbert recently became the latest celebrity to fall prey to an online death hoax. "[15], Metz took Byers back to his home, but the two men were advised that no one was to enter the residence during the search. At this point, Ryan said he couldn't "take it anymore" and so he and Amanda left, drove around, got gas, and bought a soda. Melissa had older scars on her wrists. Inevitably, the West Memphis Three case always comes up. He had always maintained he didnt commit the crimes, and outside the Varner Units walls, a growing chorus of activists and legal observers were arguing that same thing on his behalf. And then there was the public pressure: In August 2010, Vedder and Maines headlined yet another benefit concert, this one in Little Rock. So with less urgency surrounding full exoneration and no documentary cameras rolling, the question 25 years later becomes: Who is paying close enough attention to the case to pick up the fight? As of "The Piggyback", 825+ characters are known to have died throughout the show's run. He had been expecting a visitation, but was instead led to the prison chapel office, where inmates were typically brought only if someone close to them had died. We know that Melissa A. She assists in the drafting of all estate planning documents and works with clients to ensure we have the proper information to include in their documents. The question the police now have to deal with is was it a death caused simply by the heart stopping (which does happen) or was it murder? A year later, when the film Paradise Lost was shown on television and then released to theaters, John Mark and Melissa Byers were brought to national attention. A heavy metal test was conducted and none were found. Like Misskelley in the first trial, Baldwin received a life sentence. korbell plus refill apotea; jake hess death; lithonia shop light model 1233 Police admit that the case against the teen-agers was circumstantial, based almost entirely upon a confession from Misskelley, a boy who is borderline mentally retarded. Other charges against Mark and Melissa Byers, including those for the residential burglary, were still pending in Sharp County Circuit Court on March 29, 1996, when Melissa Byers mysteriously died. Mojo jumped up, Baldwin recalls. Years of solitary confinement and the abuse he said he suffered at the hands of prison guards had taken its toll. Join us in the fight for truth. But the list of people who have looked at the facts of the case and come away believing Baldwin, Echols, and Misskelley are innocent is long. [17] A later interview with a woman identified as "Fern" revealed that Mandy was Byers' girlfriend. Ryan brought the towel into the master bedroom where he observed his mother cough and throw up. "[12], Waser met with Sheriff Powell, Chief Burton, and Investigator Witt to discuss searching the Byers' residence. Melissa gurgled up some fluid and Metz called for an ambulance. Rose called police at Cherokee Village, read them the description, and, he said, they told me who I was looking for. As a result of the incident, the boy whom Byers had driven to the altercation and who had used Byers knife ended up being charged with second-degree battery, a Class-D felony. You need corroborating evidence.. Byers has a teen-aged stepson, but the boy who was with him on this day who will not be identified because of his age was not a relative. Whether youre growing them in your backyard or buying them from the store, tomatoes can be a great addition to any meal. Waser remained with Byers while his wife was treated by physicians. He returned to the Byers' home on March 31st, 1996 to interview Ryan. Either email addresses are anonymous for this group or you need the view member email addresses permission to view the original message. While Byers went into the local gas company to conduct some business, another boy passed by the truck and he and the boy who was riding with Byers exchanged words. The boy on foot then proceeded to whats known as the old Hardy bridge over the Spring River, where he joined a group of four other friends, ranging in age from 15 to 17 years old. The story felt personal for all of them, but especially Sauls: He had grown up in Florida and Georgia as an outcast obsessed with art and reading some of the same books Damien Echols had. While a Sharp County deputy took a statement from John Mark Byers and got his permission to search his home, Witt began taking notes about the condition of Melissa Byers body. She also described seeing lots of blood in the home and seeing the body in the basement with what she thought was a stab in the back. The hospital staff came to his aid and I excused myself to the visitor's room. Then youd try to find it, and it didnt exist, because when we went out to discussion groups, no one knew about the case yet., After learning that the teens were still in prison, Bakken, Sauls, and Pashley decided to make full use of the budding technological revolution. (Associate Medical Examiner), Frank Peretti, M.D. endobj WWE legend Melissa Coates has died at the age of 50 after undergoing a leg amputation last year to stop her arteries being blocked by blood clots, leaving her former colleagues from around the wrestling world to voice their shock. As for ordering Byers out of the district, Lambert said, such an arrangement can be legal if done with the agreement of the party being banished. Its first season ostensibly focused on the disappearance of a Georgia beauty queen, but it spent nearly as much time digging through the salacious details of the victims love life and dipping into amateur psychology as it did looking at evidence. The medical examiners office said Melissa Byers, 47, died as a result of multiple stab wounds. Moreover, that anomaly in the body was matched by an anomaly in the report. [21], In November of 1997, a confidential informant known as "James" told Investigator Stan Witt that he believed Byers had been giving Melissa pills the entire day when she died on March 29th, 1996. Did Byers do it? It just needed a catalyst. Mark Byers also faces charges as the result of an episode July 11 in Hardy. As part of the deal, they cannot file wrongful-conviction lawsuits, which both Berlinger and Baldwin say couldve cost the state tens of millions of dollars. But the feud between neighbors is minor compared to two other incidents, both of which have resulted in the filing of charges against the couple. The concept of citizen investigations intrigues Berlinger just as much as it did in the 1990s, though today hes often more concerned with the moral implications. And the seemingly endless stream of threats against them and the frequent clashes with Mark Byers did nothing to dissuade them. In 1996 they appeared on television again, this time in a highly praised documentary about the West Memphis murder case that was shown on HBO. I grabbed his arm and shoulder and guided his body to the floor. (Associate Medical Examiner), and Williarm Sturner, M.D. Email: melissa.byers@legacylawmissouri.com Phone Number: (636) 486-2669. I thought that was *very* strange, his insistence on re-living the whole thing. It had been a long fight to clear their names, and the odds seemed better than ever. Sheila Nevins, the HBO exec who pushed for Berlinger and Sinofsky to make that initial trip to Arkansas, is most proud of the companys willingness to let her finance three documentaries over 18 years without knowing where they would go. Mojo was right. Additionally, by selecting varieties that are well-suited for your climate and soil type, you can increase the chances of success with each planting season. That November, he says, HBO agreed to give an honorariumroughly $5,000to the families on both sides. I see two possibilities: 1) natural death or 2) murder by asphyxiation. Support came from unlikely corners: a classroom of kids who held a cookie sale that raised $30, local bands in Chicago who held a benefit show and sent $150. Melissa A. He advised that John Mark advised no, and Ryan had a funny, eery [sic] look on his face. Traces of one of her prescribed medications, an anti-seizure medicine used to treat post-traumatic stress syndrome, were present, as were traces of lithium, a medication that had been prescribed for her to treat manic depression. The cult part of the Commercial Appeals headline signaled how the case would be defined by both the media and prosecutors. The killings came at the peak of the so-called Satanic Panic, a time of heightened worries about ritualistic abuse. A visual observation of Byers body revealed IV puncture marks on the top of her right and left foot, on the inside of her right wrist, and on the upper right thoracic area, Witt noted. The arrests of the two stepfathers of the murdered children at West Memphis tend to underscore questions raised months ago by attorneys for defendants in the triple slaying case particularly about the adequacy of the investigation that led to the arrests of three local teenagers, none of whom had a record of prior violence. Waser noted that there was a glass containing white liquid on the nightstand located to the right of the bed. West Memphis 3 murders Wiki is a FANDOM Lifestyle Community. When West Memphis police questioned Byers two weeks after the boys murders, they asked him about this undercover work and people who, as Byers put it, maybe would be vindictive.. A longer trail of violence followed the lives of Melissa and Mark Byers, the mother and stepfather of Christopher Byers, another of the young victims of that crime, who, besides being murdered, was also found castrated. Maybe, maybe not, but there's no evidence (aside from that knife, which never underwent full DNA testing as far as I know). When the pair got the call from Nevins, they mobilized immediately, landing in Arkansas shortly after the arrests. We send our thoughts our prayers to her and his family and our team wishes her to be in total health. It has happened to a lot of people that just dont have the spotlight of a documentary, he says. But for every Your Own Backyard or Ill Be Gone in the Dark that has applied journalistic rigor to their research in the past two decades, theres an Up and Vanished, which has been at the center of ethical debates since the podcast debuted in 2016. ", >That same large number of people here feel that Mark Beyers is guilty of, >the 'Paradise Lost' murders because of skimpy evidence and the fact that. 3 0 obj Melissa D Byers was born on March 25, 1975. None of the initial trio behind WM3.orgnor their friend Lisa Fancher, who later became a key part of the efforthad ever considered themselves an activist to that point. Sauls says that the former Black Flag frontman was one of the few big names who dug deep into the evidence, wanting to learn as many details as he could about the case. Peter Jackson, who would produce a separate documentary about the case titled West of Memphis in 2012, and his partner, Fran Walsh, funded an extensive private investigation and helped hire forensic experts to comb through evidence. Her body showed no visible signs of trauma. Berlinger and Sinofsky, the latter of whom died in 2015 at age 58, were able to gain incredible and immediate access to seemingly everyone the case had touched: the families of the victims and the accused, the judge, the lead investigator, members of the community. Attorneys for Darnien Wayne Echols, who was sentenced to death last May for the killings, made several efforts to at least raise the possibility that a family member of one of the victims was involved, especially after a knife belonging to Byers was discovered with human blood on it blood that matched the type of both him and his stepson Christopher. Melissa DeFir Byers was born on January 15, 1996. John Mark gave a voluntary statement to Waser as well. Copper has been known to kill tomato plants if placed directly into the stem or base, but placing copper wire around the wound may not have the same effect. This is on mara's new website Sheriff to re-examine Byers 'cold case' Posted by Mara on Friday November 10, 2006 Sheriff Dale Weaver, of Sharp County, Arkansas, said in an October interview that his office intends to do some additional work within the next few months to answer questions that have lingered for more than 10 years over the death of Melissa Byers, (shown in the self-portrait above). Court records show the charges were later amended. Deputy Sheriff C.L. That was more than the people deciding the case were able to hearthe presiding judge made the expert give most of his testimony without the jury in the courtroom because he questioned its relevance. No, he said, according to a transcript of that interview. Stated he continued CPR until the EMTs arrived and took over of people that just have. Evidence and testimony and still get the wrong results any info about how the oldest boy died right of Commercial. 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