EXHIBIT A-IOI - West Memphis Three Case - Document Archive

Case 4:09-cv-00008-BSM Document 30-5 Filed 07/17/2009 Page 258 of 297
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SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 3A
LENGTH: 505 words
Copyright 1993 Gannett Company, Inc.
USA TODAY
May 10,1993, Monday, FINAL EDITION
HEADLINE: 'Monstrous evil' haunts town II Brutal deaths puzzle police, terrify parents
BYLINE: Carol 1. Castaneda
BODY:
They were three 8-year-old boys, pals living in West Memphis, Ark. One was niclrnamed "Worm." One was a Cub
Scout.
They were last seen riding their bikes.
Last week, police found their bodies submerged in shallow waterjust blocks from their homes in Robin Hood Park.
Their hands and feet were tied. An autopsy found they died from blows to their heads.
On Sunday, four days after the boys disappeared, no one could say why.
Police are searching for clues that might lead them to the killer. And parents in West Memphis, a close-knit farming
community of 30,000, were fearfully keeping their children close by their sides.
"My heart is very troubled," the Rev. Fred Tinsley told members ofthe Holy Cross Episcopal Church Sunday. "I
hope yours is too. We've been subjected to a monstrous evi1."
The boys - Michael Moore, Steve Branch, and the "Worm," Christopher Byers - disappeared Wednesday afternoon.
The next day, a police investigator spotted a tennis shoe floating in a ditch.
"He just jumped in the water and found them," said Police inspector Gary Gitchell.
Police are chasing hundreds ofleads and going door-to-door to interview residents in the middle-class neighborhood
where the boys disappeared.
They've also turned to' the FBI's national crime database to look for similarities to other crimes and have talked with
FBI experts
about the psychological profile of the killer. The wooded area
near the ditch where the boys were found has bicycle paths and a rope swing.
"Most all ofthe kids have used the area as a playground for years," said Andy Taylor, a close family friend ofthe
Byers and a spokesman for the family. "It's very tragic something like this would happen in an innocent place like this."
Police have been criticized for not responding quickly enough when the boys were reported missing. The area is
near a truck stop, just offa busy interstate highwayi'
Gitchell would not comment on a rumor that the boys were sexually mutilated. And he would not talk about what
the motive for
the killings might have been. On Sunday, the forested area where
the boys' bodies were found remained cordoned offwith yellow tape.