Devil's Knot_ The True Story of the West Memphis Three - Mara Leveritt [196]
148. Shettles learned from her research that Damien had, in fact, attended nine schools in five states before the age of ten. Damien entered kindergarten in West Memphis in 1980. He attended first grade in schools in Tupelo, Mississippi; Walker, Louisiana; and back in West Memphis. Second grade was divided between Wichita Falls, Texas; and a school in West Memphis. He attended third grade in West Memphis; in Columbus, Mississippi; and in Frederick, Maryland.
149. Shettles wrote: “Michael stated he had ideas the world was to be destroyed as if in a nuclear war due to his mother talking about the world being destroyed as in the Book of Revelations. Michael told me he liked very scary movies and was a fan of Stephen King books. He described his favorite Stephen King book as being ‘The Children of the Corn.’…Michael states he became involved in Wicca, which is white witchcraft, through his relationship with Deanna…. Michael stated his main source of information regarding Wicca was ‘Buckland’s Complete Book on Witchcraft.’ He stated Wicca does not practice animal sacrifices or blood rituals in any way. He further stated participants do not engage in orgies and said he has never practiced bestiality or homosexuality. Michael described his talents as being a poet and a skateboarder.”
150. Driver and Jones had questioned Damien and Jason several times: when an abandoned school burned and dead cats and birds were found inside; when graves in a Marion cemetery were desecrated; and when Driver had found some dead animals at the abandoned cotton gin. Damien said he’d had nothing to do with the incidents but that, in light of the police attention, he had not been surprised when officers showed up at his door the day after the murders.
151. The autopsy reports on each of the boys specifically stated, “No adhesions or abnormal collections of fluid were present in any of the body cavities.”
152. After an interview with Damien’s mother, Shettles wrote: “Pam stated Michael and Jason would talk on the phone after they had been questioned by the police and would jokingly say, as an example, ‘This is Suspect Number One calling Suspect Number Two.’”
153. As information on the case was slowly being released to the defense attorneys, other information continued to be leaked to the media. Despite Gitchell’s stout refusal to speak with reporters, and the judges’ seal on the records, a reporter for theCommercial Appeal learned about a burglary in the neighborhood where the victims lived that had occurred a year before the murders. Word reached the paper that reports of the burglary had been included in the murder case file, and someone had even provided details. The burglar had reportedly stomped the family’s Yorkshire terrier to death and left it dead in the master bedroom. But when reporters asked to see police records on the incident, they were told that since the records were now part of the murder investigation, they fell under Judge Rainey’s seal. “This whole case is just so huge,” Gitchell told the paper. “Anything to do with it, be it significant or insignificant, we followed up on.” While defense lawyers worried about leaks they could not combat, neither the judges nor Fogleman complained. When asked about the murdered dog, Fogleman replied obliquely, “I’m not saying any crime is related. I’m saying it’s part of the investigative file.” In its report on the incident, theCommercial Appeal pointed out that Driver had noted “an increase in Satanic-related graffiti and reports of animal sacrifice.” In July, elements of Aaron Hutcheson’s statements to police were leaked. A Memphis television station reported that, at times before the murders, the victims and “a fourth eight-year-old child” had visited a tree house