I am currently a Captain with the West Memphis Police Department. I was
employed by the Department in May of 1993. (BMHR 2540).
On the day the three boys went missing, I got to work at around 8 a.m. After
receiving the information of the missing boys, I searched the area they were last
known to be in, then went home and got a three-wheeler and expanded my search.
I probably first searched the Robin Hood Woods at around 8 a.m. I can show you
where I went on State’s Exhibit 32, a map of the area. (BMHR 2543). I can
identify the areas we are talking about, including the Woods, and the Blue Beacon
on State’s Exhibits 15 through 29, which are photographs of the area. [The
photographs were received at BMHR 2547].
I was contacted by radio and asked to return to Robin Hood Woods. I met
with Chief Allen and received information that a body had been found. (BMHR
2547). I entered the water, saw evidence such as clothing, shoes and other matters
and went to the body and picked it up. The first body removed was that of Michael
Moore. I then walked down the ditch towards the south and retrieved the bodies of
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the other two victims. I searched the bed of the drainage ditch, hand feeling,
where the bodies were found. I walked all the way down the ditch until the water
was about neck height. (BMHR 2548) After that search, a segment of the drainage
ditch was sandbagged and drained. The ditch at that point was about 3 ½ to 4 feet
deep. (BMHR 2549)
I have been fishing and hunting all of my life. When I was searching I was
concerned about snakes. I saw no kind of movement in the water and saw no wild
life. I was aware that one area in this Wood was called Turtle Hill. (BMHR 2550).
The area of the bank to my left when I entered the water was smooth. There
were no leaves on it. It has scuff marks. State’s Exhibit 30 shows that area.
(BMHR 2551)
State’s Exhibits 30 and 31 show the scene as it was found. The video that is
being displayed shows the scene beginning with Michael Moore’s remains. You
can then see the other two bodies. You can see where we piled up the sandbags.
You couldn’t see too far down into the water of the ditch. When I came up to Steve
Branch, I looked down and could see the color of his skin. There were flies in the
area. The bodies were removed and placed on the bank of the drainage ditch, it
took around 20 minutes for the Coroner to get sheets and bags, and some more
time before the bodies could be wrapped.
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The flow of water in the drainage ditch was very slow. (BMHR 2559) Once
the drainage ditch was drained, I saw no sign of aquatic life. I am familiar with
wild life in the West Memphis area, and had seen snapping turtles and a calf soft
shell turtle in the area prior to that. (BMHR 2561)
CROSS EXAMINATION BY JOHN PHILIPSBORN
Exhibit 75 appears to be a set of notes that I identified as having been taken
by one of the officers at the scene. The notes show certain times in them, but I
can’t be sure when each of the bodies was found. I know that we were there
beginning at around noon. (BMHR 2563)
Mike Allen, Detective Gitchell and I were discussing how the ditch should
be searched. I recall no discussion of getting the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory
or someone from the Medical Examiner’s office to the scene before we searched
the ditch. That would have been someone else’s decision. (BMHR 2565-66)
When the sandbagging and pumping started there were law enforcement
officers at the scene, and utility workers from the street department. We were
talking back and forth. It took some time for the pump that was being used to
spring into action and remain in operation. It was an engine-driven pump.
Normally when you hunt, you don’t have that level of activity in the area.(BMHR
2569)
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I had not talked to people about the wild life that was in the area. RT 32-33.
I was unaware of any follow-up done by the laboratory on animal hairs that had
been recovered at the scene. I did not know that the Arkansas State Crime
Laboratory had found animal hairs at the scene (BMHR 2570) and had made slides
from evidence that had been taken from the scene at the time of its processing.
There was a truck stop operating in the vicinity of Robin Hood Woods, and
there was another business called the Blue Beacon that was in operation 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week at that time. (BMHR 2572)
CROSS EXAMINATION BY MICHAEL BURT
There were other people that I ran across who were out searching. My prior
testimony was that I had seen up to 15 people searching. (BMHR 2574) Later, I
went back to the scene. This would have been at around 1:30. At that point, there
were two search activities that I undertook. First, I went into the water and
searched by going north to south, sweeping my hands on the bottom of the ditch.
Second, the ditch was drained. (BMHR 2576)
The second body that was retrieved was that of Steve Branch who I had
originally called Byers. The second victim that I picked up was the one who had
wounds to his face. (BMHR 2577) The wounds looked as though someone had
been pecking at the skin. It looked like a knife had done it, but I don’t have training
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to distinguish knife wounds from animal predation. (BMHR 2578)
REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY KENT HOLT
I thought that a person had cleaned off the bank of the ditch.
Both the 76 Truck Stop and the Blue Beacon were 24 hour-a-day businesses
at the time. The Voss truck stop was also a 24-hour facility near the Wood, and it
was floodlit. (BMHR 2582)
