Abomination: Devil Worship and Deception in the West Memphis Three Murders (12 page)

Sherry Dockins, LMSW

S: Damien is seen today for a scheduled session. He is dressed completely in black and is noted to have cuts on his right arm and hand.

O: Damien relates that he cut his arm & hand as a way of permanently marking his skin. The name Domini is cut into his arm. Session continues focused on Damien’s self concept and image. Relates feeling very angry yesterday when running into previous girlfriend. “I controlled it — I can do anything”.

A: Affect and mood — flat.
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Exhibit 500 includes several documents associated with Damien Echols’ application for Social Security disability benefits in early February 1993. Echols claimed that his mental illness left him unable to work.

February 2nd, 1993

Supplemental Interview Outline

Social Security Administration

In requested statements about personal information, family relationships and daily habits. For the question “describe your pain”, Echols wrote “Mentally disturbed.” For the query “Describe any changes in these things since your condition began”, Echols wrote, “I am a sociopath.”
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To the query “What is your disabling condition?”, Echols wrote, “I am going through treatment at the Mental Health Center and have been in several mental hospitals.” For “Explain how your condition now keeps you from working”, Echols wrote, “Because when I try to take a time out my employers don’t like it. Violent, medicine makes me sleepy, vomit & headaches.” He wrote that the reasons for the hospitalizations were due to the following: Homicidal, Manic Depression, drug abuse, sociopathic, suicidal, schizophrenia, alcohol abuse.
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Sandra Douglas, the Social Security interviewer, noted that he had E-V-I-L tattooed on the fingers of one hand, done with ink and a razor blade.
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A subsequent page on the Disability Report form requested information on hospitalizations. Echols listed his two Charter Hospital of Little Rock stays and under “Reason for Hospitalization” wrote, “Homicidal, suicidal, manic depression, schizophrenia, sociopathic.” Below that, Echols listed his stay at St. Anthony’s (sic) in Portland, Oregon. Under “Reason for Hospitalization” this time, Echols, in his own handwriting, wrote, “Homicidal, suicidal, manic depression, schizophrenia, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, sociopathic.”
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The Social Security Administration determined that Echols was 100% disabled due to mental impairments. At the time of the murders, Damien Echols received full Social Security disability benefits.
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He was provided a Million Adolescent Personality Inventory (MAPI), a test specifically crafted to assess the problems of adolescents. The results were blunt:

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....Closeness to others, displaying weakness, and a willingness to compromise are seen as fatal concessions.  This teenager believes that past degradations may be undone by provoking fear and intimidation in others.  Often loses temper, gets into fights, and acts in a daring fashion.
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The final of the report stated: "I feel good about myself and the things I like about myself are that my will can not be bent and the ability to scare people."
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March 1st, 1993

Jennifer Ball

Police Report

Jennifer Ball, a resident of Lakeshore, called the police to report threats made to her by Michael Beshears, age 14 and one other unknown person who dressed all in black. She stated that on several occasions she had been threatened, and specifically on March 1st---someone threatened to kill her by shouting through her window. She would provide a detailed report to police after the murders.

By the spring of 1993, Damien was well known to West Memphis residents and the authorities. He kept his fingernails long, sharp and pointed like talons; his hair long and black. As he had no car, West Memphis residents often saw him walking, all in black, through town on sidewalks or side streets, always wearing a knee length trench coat. A committed cigarette smoker, his antisocial tendencies led him to read often, preferring Anne Rice and Steven King novels.

Prior to his expulsion from Marion High School, he was suspended seven times. Frequently absent, when he did attend school, he continually disrupted his teachers and classmates. He fought with other students, spat on a teacher, even starting a fire in science class. In one fight, he almost gouged out the eyes of Shane Divilbiss. He continued to write poetry in his journals:

Holy men tell us life is a mystery

They embrace that concept happily

But some mysteries bite and bark

And come and get you in the dark.
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He studied world religions, which led to an interest in Wicca, a new age, nature worshipping religion started by Gerald Brousseau Gardner in England. Their motto, known as the Wiccan Rede, is “
do what ye will, an harm none.
”
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They think of themselves as "white witches." To some associates, he admitted he worshipped the Devil; to others he insisted he was only a Wiccan. He studied turn of the century occultist Aleister Crowley, but at the same time would downplay Crowley's influence on him. In his personal journal, known among Wiccans as a “Book of Shadows”, Damien's interest in Satanism and witchcraft is evident. He listed names of fallen angels alongside the deadly sins they represented.

Probation officers Steve Jones and Jerry Driver both had an interest in Echols starting on May 19th, 1992. Echols relayed information to police about an occult underworld in the West Memphis area. Police obtained a consent search for the trailer where Damien and Domini lived. Dark artwork covered the walls depicting winged demons, with creatures circling a robed figure holding two flaming torches with a goats head. Driver obtained Echols notebook, containing his occult writings. On a number of occasions, Driver drove Damien Echols to mental hospitals or reform schools after his frequent arrests. Driver and Jones scoured the West Memphis area for signs of occult activity. What they found was disturbing: animal carcasses and bonfires littered abandoned cotton gins and decrepit, empty homes. They heard rumors of bacchanalias at night, involving many local teenagers. Through an informant, Driver heard that Echols wanted to sacrifice a baby; he wanted to impregnate Domini and sacrifice their offspring. Driver relayed all the information about Echols and the occult to West Memphis Police Detectives. At the time of the murders, Domini was pregnant. "That child was to be sacrificed" thought Driver.
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Damien claimed to friends that Driver and Jones had an untoward obsession with him. “Every kind of weirdo one time or another has passed through these truck stops here.” said Driver.
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Referring to the summer of 1992, Driver said “We went everywhere in the world that summer, every time there was a witches sabbath, we were out in force.”

I probably talk to Damien 20 times in the last two years, he’s always maintained that there was an older woman that brought him into it, but you never tell me who it was.
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Driver insisted that Damien maintained sole authority over his fellow cultists: “he wanted to have ultimate control over these people.”
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Driver and Jones provided West Memphis detectives with names of teenagers they thought were involved in the cult. Included in the list was the name of Jason Baldwin, a quiet sixteen year old with an interest in art. Baldwin lived in a trailer down the street from the trailer of Domini Teer’s mother.

Detective Sudbury and Steve Jones visited Echols right after the killing. Armed with literature about occult killings, their discussion with Echols focused on the need to engage in overkill and the need to defile the victim. Both Sudbury and Jones noticed something unusual: Damien's boots were covered in mud.

Domini Teer told Driver that she and her friends were witches and that they worshipped nature. Hecate, goddess of the moon and earth, and Diana, her Roman form, were the primary gods she worshipped. She also told an astonished Driver that she drank blood, saying “Why should I not drink blood, because my mother drinks blood?” This statement provides credible evidence that the witchcraft practiced in the area wasn’t merely confined to the teens, but was intergenerational.

June 1st, 1993

Craig Beshires

Investigative Report

States that approx. 2 yrs. Ago – he and a friend John Graham (Phelix Elem.) were riding bikes on Robin Hood by Mayfair. States that they were on the South side of the bayou. States that they observed 2 w/ms approx. Late 20’s or early 30’s – both had red, white + black make-up or paint on their faces. One had blond hair – collar length – the other had short brown hair – does not remember what either was wearing. States that they were mumbling something and appeared to be doing some sort of dance. States that as soon as they saw them – they grabbed their bikes and took off running. Had never seen either of these guys before and has not seen them since. Craig states that that was the last time he ever went to Robin Hood. Craig does not believe that he could identify the subject if he saw them again.
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5. JESSIE MISSKELLEY:

FIRST CONFESSION

June 3rd, 1993

Investigation Report

Jessie Misskelley

Interviewed by Bryn Ridge

Detective Sgt. Mike Allen drove to Jim’s repair shop and asked Jessie Misskelley, Sr. if it were possible for police to talk to Jessie, Jr. Jessie Sr. agreed to the discussion and left to pick up Jessie Jr., and drove him back to the auto shop to meet with Detective Sgt. Mike Allen at approximately 9:45 a.m. They drove to the police station together for questioning. At the station, Allen noted on the investigative form that Jessie had a tattoo---an acronym: F.T.W., representing “Fuck The World.” A tattoo that said “bitch” was etched on his chest and a skull with a dagger through it was on his left forearm. During the interview, both Allen and Ridge thought Jessie acted nervous and exhibited suspicious body language. He told police that Damien was “sick” and that Damien committed the murders. Realizing Jessie was underage, the detectives left the Police Department, returning to the auto shop to obtain the consent of Jessie, Snr. Police records indicate the following:

Detective Sgt. Allen obtained the permission from Jessie Misskelley Snr. On N. Missouri Street at McDonald's restaurant at about 10:30 AM on 06/03/93.
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Due to their belief in Jessie’s deception, Detectives Allen and Ridge decided to give Jessie a polygraph test. Jessie was read his Miranda rights. Jessie stated that he understood his rights and then signed a document agreeing to make statements concerning his knowledge of the homicides. The polygraph test took two hours from roughly 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM. The record indicates Jessie Misskelley responded with deception to the following of five of ten questions asked by the Detective Durham:

1)
Have you ever been in Robin Hood woods?

2)
Have you ever took part in devil worship?

3)
Have you ever attended a devil worship ceremony?

4)
Are you involved in the murder of those three boys?

5)
Do you know who killed those three boys?

Detective Durham left the polygraph room and told police colleagues, “He’s lying his ass off.”

No audio or visual record exists of what transpired next, but Misskelley reportedly, upon further questioning, spoke about the murders in greater detail:

Jesse implicated Damien Echols in the crime, with his friend Jason Baldwin;

Said Damien and Baldwin were lovers;

Said they spoke the morning after the murders with Jason, and heard Damien in the background saying “We did it”;

Said that the animal killing is part of a ritual and if a person eats meat then he is part of group;

Said the coven has 8 or 9 members, and they would have an orgy after the meetings, which usually occurred on Wednesdays;

They would build a fire of paper and wood;

Said Damien had been stalking the three boys, taken pictures of them, and kept the pictures in a black briefcase, along with drugs and a gun;

Someone brings a dog to the meetings and they usually kill it, then they would skin the dog and eat part of it.
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