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192. Lax tape-recorded the interviews with Stephanie Dollar, Linda Sides, Marine Collins, Jennifer Roberts, and Rhonda Dedman on January 11, 1994.

193. Lax noted that one woman told him, “She was talking about Aaron had seen this colored guy carrying knives and ropes.” Another reported that soon after the murders, she’d heard Aaron say “that he had been out in the woods with those other three boys before, and this black guy had chased them.” A third, Stephanie Dollar, reported that sometime after that, Aaron told her that the police had questioned him. Dollar recalled, “I said, ‘Really? What did you tell them?’ And he said, ‘I just told them that I seen a black man down there. He was either drinking whiskey or beer or something in a paper sack.’” Lax asked Dollar, “Did he seem upset at that time?” Dollar reportedly answered, “No. He was playing Nintendo with my little boy.” Another woman, Rhonda Lea Dedman, told Lax that she and Hutcheson had been “best friends.” Dedman said that on May 7, the day after the bodies were found, she had accompanied Hutcheson when she’d taken Aaron to the school counselor. Lax asked, “Did Aaron tell the counselor that he was present on the date that the little boys were murdered?” Dedman reportedly answered, “No sir.” Lax asked, “Or that he had had to fight any of the people off…. Or that he had been tied up?…Or if he [had given] her any indication that there was anything to it other than the fact that he had been with the little boys playing in that area in the past?” To each of those questions, Lax wrote, Dedman had answered, “No sir.” According to Lax’s notes, Jennifer Roberts, the seventeen-year-old niece of one of the women, said that on the afternoon the bodies were found, after her meeting with Bray, Hutcheson already had information that was not being reported by the media. “She said that they were mutilated and castrated and tied up.”

194. After reviewing the proposed agreement, Lax had cautioned, “Although I have no experience in the entertainment field, it seems as if Damien would be giving these individuals carte blanche to do as they like with whatever film they acquire.” He added, “I think we are all aware if Damien is found guilty of this crime and is sentenced to death, his appeals will continue, and believe the potential damage far outweighs any monetary remuneration he might receive.”

195. Concern was warranted. When word that Jason had been filmed reached Fogleman, the prosecutor subpoenaed the footage. A lawyer for HBO wrote to Ford and Wadley, assuring them that, “HBO will take all lawful steps…to vigorously resist turning over any footage.” In the end, Burnett denied the subpoena and that legal fight was averted.

196. At times, Byers ranted about, rather than to, the accused. In part of his tirade, he said: “Good Lord said Lucifer and a third of the angels were cast out of heaven. He didn’t need them. He took their minds and he manipulated them, and they prayed to Satan and they prayed to the devil and they had their satanic worship services out here, and they had all types of wild, homosexual orgies, I’ve been told. Crazy things. To me, this place, as I stand, is like hell on earth, because I know that three babies were killed right out here where I stand. I know my son was castrated and possibly lay right there on that bank and bled to death. I know that he was choked. I know one boy’s head was beat in beyond recognition. I know one little boy was skinned almost like a animal, cut, had to shave his head, had all types of injuries to the head where they just kept beating and pounding on them and killing them and killing them. It’s like they enjoyed it. They killed them two and three times.”

197. Byers’s speech while he shot at the pumpkins was chilling. “You know, Todd,” he said, raising his gun and taking aim, “I could save the state a lot of money if they’d just let me line the sons of a guns up. I’d say, ‘This one’s for you, Jessie. I’m going to go for the jug of water. [Firing.] Oh, Jessie, I just blowed