This document remains a work
in progress. If you can add more to it,
block and copy it, make your modifications, then email them to me at dpd@dpdlaw.com – I’ll post them online.
I have done
the same with this statement as I did with one and three; show where IMO Jessie
is being led or fed answers. I’ve also
left in my notations where there are inconsistencies, etc. If I’ve missed any, please feel free to point
them out and I’ll edit them in.
JESSIE MISSKELLEY
STATEMENT 1993: Second Statement
[Note: This is a transcription of the taped
second statement of Jessie Misskelley, Jr. regarding
the murder of Chris Byers, Steve Branch and Michael Moore]
Statement of
Jessie L. Misskelley, Jr. 6/3/93
[*NOTE: The
following is the transcript of the second interview with Jessie Misskelley, Jr. taken later the same day]
JUNE 3, 1993
INTERVIEW OF JESSIE MISSKELLEY, JR.
SECOND INTERVIEW CONDUCTED TO CLARIFY PREVIOUS STATEMENTS
PRESENT DURING INTERVIEW: INSPECTOR GARY GITCHELL
JESSIE
MISSKELLEY, JR
NOTE: THIS
INTERVIEW WAS TAPE RECORDED
Gitchell: Jessie, uh, when when
you got with the boys and with Jason Baldwin when you three were in the woods
and then little boys come up, about what time was it? When the boys come up to
the woods?
Jessie: I would say it was about 5
or so 5 or 6.
Gitchell: Know, did you have your watch on at the time?
Jessie: Huh uh (no)
Gitchell: You didn't have your watch on?
Jessie: Huh uh (no)
Gitchell: Uh, alright you told me earlier around 7 or 8,
which time is it?
Jessie: It was 7 or 8.
Gitchell: Are you
Jessie: It was starting to get
dark.
(In the first
statement Jessie claims to have arrived in the woods at 9 a.m. He also stated the children skipped school
and that is how they were there at that hour (known to be false). Now he has
totally changed when he arrived. Here he
also starts at 5 or 6 and then goes on to say 7 or 8)
Gitchell: Ok, it
Jessie: I remember it was starting
to get dark.
Gitchell: Ok, well that clears it up. I didn't know, that's what I was
wondering, was it getting dark or what.
Jessie: We got up there at 6:00
and the boys come up and it was starting to get dark.
Gitchell: Ok, so you and Jason and Baldwin uh, Damien you all got there
right at 6.
Jessie: About 6 yeah
Gitchell: Is that a normal time that you all meet at 6?
Jessie: Yeah.
Gitchell: Ok, when you do your cult stuff does 6 mean something, I mean is that a time you normally do
meet?
Jessie: Yeah.
Gitchell: Ok, so you all met out there at 6 and then the
boys come
up about what time?
Jessie: About 7.
(Jessie is
changing back and forth, back and forth between and six and seven. This is very significant, as sundown on this
date was recorded at approximately 7:49 p.m. and Jessie is stating that it was
getting dark around 6:00 p.m. These time changes are also very important as you
will see below, Jessie was seen at
Gitchell: About 7:00, Ok. So you all were out there with the
boys and all this stuff going on and until you noticed it starting getting
dark. Is that correct?
Jessie: Yeah.
(Jessie has an
alibi: Charles Ashley gave a statement that he saw Jessie at
Gitchell: Ok, now are you sure about that?
Jessie: Yes.
Gitchell: Ok, uh, Ok, hold on just a minute. (Pause) Ok Jessie
uh, I asked you about your clothing and you said that uh, what what were you wearing?
Jessie: I was wearing uh, blue jeans, and a
white shirt with some kind of basketball deal on it. Some tennis shoes Adidas.
Gitchell: Alright, your shirt was it a, uh, what kind of shirt
was it?
Jessie: It was a white shirt with a
basketball on around it.
Gitchell: Is it a shirt like you got on now?
Jessie: Uh huh (yes).
Gitchell: What kind of shirt is it like you have on now? That
is what, a t-shirt?
Jessie: Uh huh (yes).
Gitchell: Ok, so you had a white t-shirt with a basketball
design on it.
Gitchell: Ok, uh, what about shoes, what kind of shoes did you
have on?
Jessie: White and blue Adidas.
Gitchell: White and blue?
Jessie: uh huh (yes).
Gitchell: And who has those shoes now?
Jessie: Buddy Lucas.
Gitchell: And how old is Buddy?
Jessie: He is about 18 or 19.
Gitchell: Why does he have your shoes?
Jessie: We went we was coming home one day
and it was raining and he didn't have nothing else to
wear so he put on one of my shoes.
Gitchell: Ok, and where does he live
at?
Jessie: In Lakeshore.
Gitchell: Is there
Jessie: By, uh the church.
Gitchell: Is there a street or anything?
Jessie: It is a street but it ain't got no names on it though.
Gitchell: What street is the church on?
Jessie: On uh, as soon as you get off of
Gitchell: Off of
Jessie: Uh hu
(yes)
Gitchell: Ok, are there any vehicles around close by that I
could recognize that trailer?
Jessie: It should be a green truck and a
brown van and there is a basketball goal right there where the green truck
is at by the basketball goal.
Gitchell: Alright, who tied the boys up?
Jessie: Uh, Damien.
Gitchell: Did Damien just tie them all up or did anyone
help Damien or
Jessie: Jason helped him.
(*In the first
statement, Jessie claims the boys were tied up while he was chasing down
Michael; he did not see it. Now he is
stating that he saw Damien do it.)
Gitchell: Ok, and what did they use to tie them up?
Jessie: A rope.
Gitchell: Ok, what color was the rope?
Jessie: Brown.
(The children
were not tied up with any rope. The
children were tied up with shoestrings)
Gitchell: Did you ever see the boys in the water?
Jessie: Uh, yeah, down by the
water.
(Only one small
partial of a foot print was ever found at the site where the boys were found)
Gitchell: Alright, how did the boys get into the water?
Jessie: They pulled them there into the
water.
Gitchell: Alright, when you say they who is it that pulled them
into the water?
Jessie: Jason and uh, Damien.
Gitchell: Do you wear a belt?
Jessie: Nope.
Gitchell: Does Jason where a belt?
Jessie: Unt
uh (no).
Gitchell: Does Damien wear a belt?
Jessie: Yeap.
Gitchell: What kind of belt does he wear?
Jessie: A black
leather belt with uh, beads uh, like little beads around it.
Gitchell: With beads around it?
Jessie: Like little beads you know
stubbies with
Gitchell: Ok, about how thick is the belt?
Jessie: It's about 4 inches.
Gitchell: Now, do you know what 4 inches looks like?
Jessie: About like that, the belt
was about like that. (Using hands to show width)
Gitchell: Ok, I don't think that's quite 4 inches, but uh, probably about 3 something like that.
(Why this line of questioning? There were contusions and small slit like
cuts on Christopher Byers buttocks. See John Mark Byers’ statement of 5-19-93
where he admits to giving Christopher a whipping with a belt the
afternoon he disappeared)
Jessie: Uh huh.
Gitchell: Which, which boys were raped?
Jessie: Uh, Byers and the Branch.
(There was no
evidence any of the children were raped)
Gitchell: Ok, so you know them by name and face, well
enough to call them by name?
Jessie: Uh huh.
(*In Jessie’s
first statement he does not know the boys by face and in fact confuses Chris
Byers and Steve Branch)
Gitchell: Ok, did you, did you see the
Jessie: No.
Gitchell: Alright, who raped those two boys?
Jessie: Jason and Damien.
Gitchell: Do you know which one raped which boy, or how did that happen?
Jessie: Damien raped the Myers by hisself and and Jason and Damien
raped uh the Branch.
Gitchell: Alright, give that to me again now.
Jessie: Damien raped uh the Myers
by hisself and Jason and Damien raped uh the Branch.
(More
discussion of rape, and again, there was no evidence of sodomy)
Gitchell: Did anyone have oral sex with the boys?
Jessie: Yes, Damien and Jason.
Gitchell: How many of them did they do that to?
Jessie: Just two, Branch and Byers.
Gitchell: How did they keep the boys quiet?
Jessie: Put their hands over their mouths.
Gitchell: Did they do anything else other than put their hands
over their mouths? How did they finally keep them from being quiet, cause the boys bound to have been hollering?
Jessie: They stuck their hands over their
mouths first, and then they stuck their shirts to their mouth.
Gitchell: Ok, did they do anything else to them to make
them be quiet?
Jessie: They stuck their thang in their mouth.
(Common sense
would lead one to believe that a fighting child would bite their attacker if
he/she put put a part of themselves into their mouth)
Gitchell: Ok, did they, were they hitting them before that
or afterwards?
Jessie: Before and after, just trying
to keep them off of them.
Gitchell: Just all of the time?
Jessie: Just trying to keep Jason
and Damien off of them.
(No wounds of
any kind were ever seen on Damien, Jason, or Jessie. In fact the day after the bodies were found,
police went to question Damien Echols after a tip from a Juvenile Officer, and
took a picture of Damien without a shirt on.
There were no marks of any kind on him.)
Gitchell: Now they put their, whose shirts did they put in
their mouth?
Jessie: Damiens.
Gitchell: Ok, alright hold on just a minute, -pause- Let me ask
you something else, Jessie, I'm sorry, I keep coming back and forth, but
I got people that want me to ask you some other questions, uh talking about
oral sex, did you see, you know we had talked earlier about how Jason and uh
Damien do each other, have sex with each other did they, did they have oral sex
on the boys?
Jessie: Yeah, they, they, one of them stuck
their thang in one of the boys
mouth while the other one got the other one up the butt and stuff.
Gitchell: Ok, but did, did anyone go down on the boys and maybe
suck theirs or something?
Jessie: Not that, I didn't see nothing
neither one of them do that.
Gitchell: You didn't see that?
Jessie: Uh, uh
Gitchell: Ok, did, did they pinch
their penis in anyway or were rough with it or anything like that?
Jessie: I didn't see nothing
like that, not rough with them, I just seen um
Gitchell: You didn't see anyone go down on the boys?
Jessie: Uh, uh.
Gitchell: Are you sure?
Jessie: Yeah.
Gitchell: Ok.
Pause Gave Jessie a Coke
Gitchell: That Coke was kind of cold huh?
Jessie: Uh huh.
Gitchell: I tell ya it tasted pretty
good to me though.
Gitchell: Um, Jessie when, now the boys hands were tied up
right?
Jessie: Right.
Gitchell: How did, how did, they force these boys to have oral
sex on them? How did they have a hold of them?
Jessie: One of them had holding them by the
arms while the other one got behind them and stuff.
Gitchell: Did he ever hold him up here or
Jessie: Uh, the one that was
holding him up there at the front grabbing him by his headlock.
Gitchell: Had him in a headlock?
Did he have him any other way?
Jessie: He was holding him like
this by his head like this and stuff (Note: was indicating
the victims being held by their ears)
Gitchell: Could he have been holding him up here like that?
Jessie: I was too far away he was
holding him up here by his head like this (Note: showed the same as above)
(Jessie
describes the child being held in a headlock.
This is a wrestling term. Jessie
maintains throughout all statements that he was to attend wrestling this
night. Gitchell
makes the suggestion that it is the ears alone that he is referring to; that is
not what a headlock is, and Jessie was an avid wrestling fan, frequently
traveling to the next town to wrestle himself, and would know what a headlock
looked like)
Gitchell: So, so
Jessie: And he was pulling him.
Gitchell: Ok, so who was one of them doing that or both of them
was doing it? Was Jason?
Jessie: Jason was holding him while Damien
did it and then they took turns.
Gitchell: So, they both did it to all three of these boys?
Jessie: Just them two as far as I know.
Gitchell: Just the two of them?
Jessie: Yeah.
Gitchell: But they, they both Jason and Damien did it to two of
the boys and they took turns?
Jessie: Uh huh.
Gitchell: And they would hold, tell me again about their hands
on, I mean I know you're, you're holding it up here.
Jessie: It was up here by their heads and
stuff and was just pulling and stuff.
Gitchell: Alright, so they are up here, had their hands
Jessie: By their ears and pulling
them and stuff.
Gitchell: Alright, Ok, say, say that again for me now.
(Now Jessie
changes his mind and is saying “ears” instead of “headlock”. The reason for this line of questioning would
have been the fact that there was slight bruising found on one or more of the
boys’ ears during the autopsy.)
Jessie: Hold them by their head, by ears and
pulling
Gitchell: Ok.
(******Remember
the statement highlighted above that Rainey turned down Jessie’s first
statement and Ridge and Gitchell had to come back to
get another one from Jessie. You can see how drastically the statement
changes. Although hours were spent
talking to before he confessed Jessie, only the last 45 minutes were taped. There is no record of any kind of what was
said before that,save some
sparse notes by Ridge. There is a photo
that was taken of the room Jessie was questioned in; it had a baseball bat in
it. Jessie took a polygraph test during
questioning, he was told by Ridge and Gitchell that he
failed the test; Jessie did not fail the polygraph test
(a poly expert, Warren,
later determined Jessie, in fact, had passed the test) He was shown a picture
of one of the children that was horribly gruesome and that Ridge claimed in
court they used “to keep Jessie talking” and that Jessie’s lawyer Dan Stidham claimed “frightened” Jessie.)
(*****After
this statement Jessie made remarks to police officers while being taken to
jail. He allegedly repeated a variation
of his statement above to the officers after the officers promised Jessie that
they would bring Jessie’s girlfriend to see him in jail if he told them what
happened. Jessie’s lawyer protested this
as a violation of his rights. In fact
this was a violation of Jessie’s rights. There is no formal
documentation of that statement that we are aware of.)
Notations by
boohiss13