West of Memphis

I know that all of you are well aware that I have followed the ongoing saga of the Child Murders of Robin Hood Hills with great interest.

Since learning of the case from my aunt in 1993 that lived not too far where the crime had occurred and it was the big discussion at my cousin’s graduation of that year and the arrest of the trio that will always be remembered as the West Memphis 3.

A year ago I posted my review of Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, the third in a series of documentaries produced by filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky chronicling the events and the ongoing series in this travesty of justice.

Beginning with the original documentary Paradise Lost: The Child murders of Robin Hood Hills telling the story of Jessie Misskelley, Damien Echols, and Jason Baldwin who were convicted of the brutal murders based on circumstantial evidence and local prejudice based on the fact that they listened to Metallica, wore black and read Stephen King books which naturally many of us would take offence to considering that if you are reading this review you are most likely of this behavior yourself.

I was not the only one that was bothered by this as was many high profile celebrities such as Johnny Depp, Eddie Vedder, Henry Rollins, Natalie Maines as well as Peter Jackson and his wife Fran Walsh who gave their full support and fronted a whole new investigation as well as produced this new documentary in West of Memphis.

 

Directed by Amy J. Berg and produced by both Peter Jackson and Damien Echols himself among others, West of Memphis retells the case from a whole new perspective as well as focuses on the investigation and the reasons for the wrong conviction in the first place as well as the introduction of new evidence that was not even taken into consideration in the original trial in 1994.

West of Memphis features interviews with key witnesses that reveal in this documentary that they were not telling the truth in the original trial and the reasons that they chose that path as well as the guilt that they feel for making this decision.

One of the key pieces of evidence introduced in this documentary is the sound theory that many of the wounds on the children were committed post mortem by not the killer but by alligator turtles that are native and common in the area where the bodies were found.

In a truly surreal sequence a man allows one of these turtles to bite his arm to show what the bite mark will look like and it matches the wounds on the victim.

Much like Paradise Lost 3 this film focuses a great deal on a suspect  who was the step father of one of the victims and was never addressed as a suspect in the original investigation. The film follows his own alibi who himself suspects him of the murders as well as the abusive relationship between him and  his stepson the victim.

What this film definitely points out is that there is far more evidence including DNA evidence that links this man to the murder than there is that points to either any member of the WM3 or Mark Byers who is often looked at as a suspect in this case.

West of Memphis is told from the conviction all the way to their eventual release with an Alford Plea and the story is told in a way that would be suspenseful for someone that is not familiar to the case.  The conclusion is also worth watching in seeing how the WM3 react when they first obtain their freedom.

Now I have to say that the Paradise Lost Trilogy disturbed me but West of Memphis angered me.

The fact that this film revealed to me the corruption that lies within the elected officials that were in power in this flick and it was simply disturbing.

The fact that the events in this film and it’s sister films can happen in this day and age really scares me, and I have seen some scary things in my years as a movie goer.

Just as far as this “conspiracy” goes is what scares me in the fact that we don’t know how far this goes in the chain of command in the state powers and interests and I will recommend this flick to all movie goers and I will consider it to be a must see for all of you that think that this won’t happen to you.

What angers me the most is that a state can’t not just admit that they made a mistake but the depths that they will go to cover it up and that they will let a killer walk the streets because it will reveal that they screwed up.

 

Definitely check this flick out.

 

 

The Fire

After Weeks of silence I have finally decided to speak out here on my blog.

Like many of us that work in the industry we are night owls. Many of us are working late into the night and sleep well into the afternoon.

On December 19th the final live episode of Attack of the Show aired and I posted a Blog about the subject and then I continued to edit the Scare for a Cure Haunt video for my HauntShooter YouTube Channel after which I took a break to go into the living room to brew some Iced tea for the next day and to watch some videos on NetFlix to review for this blog. I had been thinking about launching both a podcast and a series of video blogs so as a result I had all of my cameras set up around my place. I had my primary camera and lights set up in front of a Green Screen because of an invention that I am trying to create with my Cousin.

The other cameras were set up around my work station so that I can film myself working and cut the occasional video blog for my YouTube Channels.

I had also began recutting my film Checkmate that was filmed in 2005 but not yet edited fully because of Sound Issues however living in Austin I had recently learned how to repair the damage to the audio and was in the process of creating a back ground score with some of the local musicians in the Austin area. 

My Roommate had already gone to bed and was sound asleep.

Then I heard noises outside which sounded like screaming and yelling and then I stepped outside to see what was going on.

What I saw was pure chaos. All of my neighbors were running around the complex pounding on Doors waking up the other apartments. There were embers blowing on the street and the apartments around the complex. And I could see flames behind the buildings.

My first instinct was to wake up my roommate and to gather up the cats.

Due to the fact that my roommate is confined to a wheelchair and I had to mostly help her out of the while carrying the pet carrier with the cats inside.

Noticing that Laura’s van was parked at the epicenter of where the flames were I knew that I had to try to save it as it is a custom made for her with a special lift for her wheelchair and I was unable to get to it as the embers and fire fell on top of me burning my neck and back and the van was lost.

http://www.kvue.com/news/Austin-fire-victims-move-on-with-help-from-Red-Cross-184572511.html

Well after we gathered the cats and my roommate I placed them outside and I had my laptop and my phone still on me and the fire department then told us to leave and I decided to listen to them.

Laura and I decided that the best place to go was to the motel next door to the apartment complex that was in the opposite direction that the fire was going and I began to take her there and however while I was pushing her wheelchair and we hit a rise in the sidewalk that threw Laura out of her chair and the chair flew back stabbing me in the leg knocking me down.

Luckily for us there was a cameraman close by that had seen us both fall and he then set his camera down and helped Laura back into her chair and we made it to the hotel.

The chaos of the apartment complex fire was met with an eerie calm in the hotel which to me was reminiscent to the final scene in Poltergeist…Just without me pushing out the TV.

The best part about the insurance company that we used was the fact that it was right across the street and I walked to it at 9:00 in the morning in my socks and when I told them what happened there was no doubt because you could still see the smoke and it smelled like firecrackers.

Laura had just found a nice young woman to help her around the apartment with duties while I was working and she was super helpful in taking me to get another pair of shoes.

After we got to the hotel the room that they gave us was on the second floor and I was able to walk to the other side of the hotel after I knew that Laura and the cats were in the room and situated and I watched my home and all my belongings burn.

I felt the need to post it on facebook but I didn’t feel like taking any pictures of the event especially since all of my cameras were in the apartment as I didn’t have time to break them down so that I could get them out and I felt that getting all of the living things out of the apartment. Since the cars were also destroyed in the fire this became an issue in the fact that it was a what you can carry situation and that was the cats and Laura.

I watched the building burn and inside was 30 years of movies, comic book, and action figures among other things that I had been collecting since childhood not to mention all of my video archives, the projects that I was working on as well as all of my equipment.

I had spent years collecting special editions of DVDs and taking them to conventions to get signed by the guests and it can’t be forgotten that I lost the rare films that few remain of in existence... One of the most painful things to lose is my Universal Monster displays that I had for many years. Which I am sure that there is more out there somewhere I just need to find them.

These all pale in comparison to the things that Laura lost in the fire. Laura lost all of her family heirlooms, a painting that her late father had painted, her family pictures and awards that she had won as well as her extensive library of rare books and clothes that her late mother had hand stitched for her.

We are very lucky to have rescued out cats. There were some of the apartments that were unable to get their pets out and they either perished in the fire or are having to take their chances in the open world because their homes were destroyed.

While I was watching the building burn I decided to make a posting of Facebook talking about what had happened. I don’t know what made me do that it was a pure impulse decision.  

The next day friends of mine saw the posting and began efforts to help Laura and I recover from the fire.

A friend of mine that he and I were estranged for a year was one of the first ones on the scene arriving on the scene with another friend with some changes of clothes for me.

I attended a meeting for the residents that were affected by the fire by the Police as well as the fire department who informed us that nothing in the building were salvageable as the building burned to the ground and was still on fire.

He Also informed us that it was an absolute miracle that no one was seriously injured or killed in the fire especially the way that the fire spread.

I will credit most of that with the quick thinking of the neighbors especially the ones across the walkway that coordinated themselves to knock on all doors until a light was seen coming on.

I also give credit to the fire department who put forth the best effort that they could put together to put out the fire.

The next day after the Facebook posting Lar called me and put together a donation effort for household items as well as money donations. Lar is still working that effort as is my good friend Anjanette who is putting together a benefit in Dallas to help us.

The Austin Disaster Relief Network and the American Red Cross were also there to help us. The ADRN acquired Laura a new Electric Wheelchair and the Red Cross was there with Debit Cards for us to buy new clothes and helped Laura get new medication that she had lost in the fire. 

Now Laura and I did have Renters insurance but the policy was pretty small considering how much the equipment that I had lost as well as the collections and entertainment centers that we had.

My Equipment alone reaches about $15,000 not to mention the furniture and clothes that we lost.

Our families have been great. Laura and I are currently staying at her sister’s house where they have been ultra-accommodating and hospitable to me and her.

I have also received small donations from my family and friends. This incident happened during the holidays and with the economy in the position that it is in many of us don’t have much to help out and trust me I understand that. I am happy to receive all the small donations that I can get.

For those of you that would like to donate and help us, I have included a PayPal button for donations

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=R6JGHBKK6KJN6

Items can be delivered to Lar (in Plano) lar@larparklincoln.com  214 289 6407  and Anjanette anjanetteclewis@yahoo.com 214 549 8023 https://www.facebook.com/anjanetteclewis  (in Dallas) as they are coordinating  drops offs etc.

Anjanette is putting together an event in Dallas to help us raise money

https://www.facebook.com/events/272068892921749/?ref=22