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Jessie. As police continued to question him after his experience with Durham, Jessie made several accusatory statements about Damien and Jason. Now, according to Ridge, Jessie said that he had “received a call from Jason Baldwin the night before the murders. They were going to go out and get some boys and hurt them…. He knew what they were going to do.” After that, Ridgewrote, “Jessie began to say something, and then says he doesn’t want anything to do with it.” But Jessie’s hesitancy did not last. Following that expression of reluctance, Jessie reportedly told the detectives
—that he had seen a picture of the murdered boys at a meeting of a “Satanic cult”
—that “all meetings are held on Wednesdays”
—that the group “has had meetings in Robin Hood”
—that at the meetings, members built fires “of paper and wood and stuff,” and “someone brings a dog, and they usually kill the dog…and eat part of it”
—that the animal killings were “part of a ritual”
—that on the Wednesday the boys were killed “there was no meeting”
—that “a friend of Jason’s” would “bring a briefcase” containing “a couple of guns and drugs—marijuana and cocaine”
—that the picture he’d seen of the three victims standing “in front of a home” had come from the briefcase
—that he didn’t know who had the briefcase now
—that “Jason and Damien are having sex with each other”
—that “Jason has a folding knife”
—that “Damien has watched boys in the woods where they were killed”
—that Damien and Jason had called him three times about the murders: once, the day before; again, on the morning of the murders; and a third time, soon after the murders, “after dark,” when he’d heard Damien in the background saying, “We did it.”
    The statements sent a thrill through the station. But claims of a photograph, satanic rituals, a teenager with a folding knife, and even Damien’s alleged shouts of “We did it” were not enough to claim a solution to the murders. On the other hand, Jessie’s account had changed considerably since his arrival at the police station more than four hours earlier. He’d said initially he knew nothing of the murders. Now his statements were getting more elaborate, more accusatory, and more focused on Damien. The detectives upped the ante. According to Ridge’s handwritten notes, they showed Jessie “a picture of one victim in the coroner’s office.” The notes continue: “Jessie knew it was one of those killed by Damien. Jessie looked hard at the picture and said it was of the ‘Moore boy,’ and that it was one of the boys in the Polaroid.” This was apparently a reference to the photograph that was reported to have been in the briefcase seen at the esbat. Alongside this section of notes, there appears a circle, with the words “the circle” written inside. The next line of the text continues: “Jessie stated that he didn’t want to be a part of this, that Damien and Jason killed, he did not.”
    With Jessie clearly shaken, Ridge wrote, “I left the room, at which time Jessie informed Gary Gitchell of his being present during time of the murders, [of his having] witnessed the murders by Damien and Jason.” Having tape-recorded nothing so far, the detectives decided it was now time to record what Jessie was saying. Ridge’s handwritten notes conclude: “Taped statement began after time given to get self composed.”
    Jessie later said that after the session with Durham, he had decided to start “telling ’em back whatever they told me.” He said there were three reasons for that decision. The circle was one of them. The photograph of the murdered child laid out on the slab at the crime lab was another. “It was just a kid that was beat up in the face,” he recalled, “but when I looked at it, it shocked me.” His third incentive was a tape recording. After drawing the circle for Jessie and showing him the photo of the