Read Untying the Knot: John Mark Byers and the West Memphis Three for Free Online Page B

camp, a support group for the killers that didn’t exist until after the release of Paradise Lost , some three years after the murders. They accused police of inadequately investigating Mark Byers, but a careful look at the investigation shows that Byers received much more scrutiny than either the Hobbses or the Moores. Not only did Mark give a thirty-four-page statement to police on May 19, but Terry Hobbs made no statement at all. Todd Moore’s comments were summarized in one line contained in a police interview summary report, though he was asked to produce receipts for gas purchased during his truck driving job. Mark was also the only parent whose profile was requested from the FBI. Further, of all the parents, apparently only Mark Byers’s criminal background was investigated.
    When police interviewed Pam Hobbs five days after the murders, a note was made at the bottom of the interview notes: “Mr. Hobbs was not at home at this time.” 23 Apparently, police felt no need to get Terry’s timeline for the day of the murders, something that would come back on the WMPD in ways they could not have foreseen.
    Further investigation into Byers’s record would show that he had a history of violence. In 1987 he had been arrested and convicted for “terroristic threatening” following an incident involving his first wife, Sandra Sloane. An argument had erupted between the two early one morning when Mark arrived to pick up his children for a scheduled, court-approved visit. According to Mark, it was Sandra who first got violent—she spit in his face—and Byers responded by pouncing on her and threatening to use a stun gun to subdue her. The gun was never used, but Byers was sentenced to probation for the incident. In 1991 his record was expunged per an agreement made during sentencing. 24
    Byers had also had a conflict with Michael Moore’s parents, Todd and Dana Moore. The Moores lived at 1380 East Barton, directly across the street from the Byers family, and at one time had been frequent guests at the barbeques that Mark and Melissa hosted at their pool home. Byers had stopped inviting them over after deciding that they didn’t “fit in” with the other guests. After this, according to Mark, the Moores had called the police four times with complaints about noise and parking. Both families today say that their problems were minor and that no real animosity ever existed between them.
    More interesting to many, however, was the work Mark Byers had done as an undercover informant, first in Memphis, and later on in West Memphis. Byers served the drug task forces in both cities by helping to set up sting operations for the police, two of which resulted in arrests and convictions. Police were interested in a possible retribution angle to the killings; had one of those convicted as a result of a Byers sting operation sought revenge though Christopher?
    The police were able to easily eliminate Byers as a suspect, however. Besides having a very verifiable alibi—he had spent the night searching for Christopher with his family and friends and was never alone for any length of time—none of the suspicions police might have had stood up to scrutiny. Despite rare horror tales to the contrary, does a father spank his boy and then murder and mutilate him and two of his friends a few hours later? The minor friction between Mark and the Moores was an obviously insufficient motive. As for retribution by someone Mark had set up for the West Memphis Drug Task Force, it is within the realm of possibility that someone sentenced to five years’ probation at the hands of the Byerses might have sough revenge. But the idea of someone getting even by brutally murdering three eight-year-olds fails the smell test, and if the police ever considered it a possibility, it was quickly ruled out.
    Improbabilities notwithstanding, during the May 19 interview with Mark, Detective Bryn Ridge got right down to business.
 
Ridge : I may have information.