Devil's Knot_ The True Story of the West Memphis Three - Mara Leveritt [23]
By 1991, law enforcement interest in “bizarre cults and human sacrifice” had grown so intense that the FBI undertook a search of national records to determine just how widespread it was.57That year, an FBI specialist concluded that “after all the hype and hysteria is put aside, the realization sets in that most Satanic or occult activity involves the commission ofno crimes, and that which does, usually involves the commission of relatively minor crimes such as trespassing, vandalism, cruelty to animals, or petty thievery.” But that unsensational point of view had a hard time competing against accounts of mind control, sadism, and slaughter committed in the service of Satan. Driver was one of thousands of public officials who considered it their legal and moral duty to be on the alert for suspicious activity that might signify greater, albeit hidden, evil. So while Damien Echols was in the Little Rock psychiatric hospital, Driver contacted a consultant who lectured on crime and the occult.58The consultant came to West Memphis armed with photographs of graffiti and cult-related paraphernalia, which Driver recognized as similar to what he had been seeing in Crittenden County. Driver also attended seminars in Texas and Tennessee on the subject of crime and the occult, and he led seminars of his own.59Yet despite Driver’s vigilance and Damien’s absence, it seemed to Driver that the cult-related activity in his area was escalating. He kept hearing rumors that some “bad things were going to happen,” and felt that the situation was headed, as he later put it, “toward some sort of crescendo.”
Psychiatrists assessing Damien were not, however, so alarmed. They reported the teenager’s beliefs, but only as part of a broader psychological profile.60And at least some of the staff was willing to acknowledge certain distinctions. A psychiatrist carefully noted that Damien “indicates he is not involved with Satanism, but witchcraft.” The doctor also observed that Damien smoked a pack of cigarettes a day, had a history of asthma, and wore a “crude, rudimentary, self-inflicted tattoo” in the “shape of a scientific symbol representing the female sex” on his left upper arm. Damien’s diagnosis was major depression. A psychological examiner raised the possibility of a bipolar, or manic-depressive, disorder. Whatever the cause, Damien’s immediate problems were listed as “extreme physical aggression toward others, suicidal ideation and intent, depressed mood, and bizarre and unusual thinking.”
He remained hospitalized for three weeks. Upon his release, the hospital notified Driver that doctors had prescribed Imipramine to treat Damien’s depression. The report to Driver also noted that although Damien had drawn “numerous pictures of witchcraft type symbols” and written “some very unusual poems,” he was no longer considered to be a danger, either to himself or to others. It also notified Driver that Pam Echols, Damien’s mother, intended to move with him and Michelle away from Arkansas. The psychiatrist informed Driver that he had spoken with Fogleman, the prosecuting attorney, “who was in agreement with Damien’s leaving the state.”
In July 1992—the month that John Mark Byers was arrested on drugs and weapons charges in Memphis and released to federal marshals in the middle of the night—Damien and Michelle Echols moved with their mother to Aloha, Oregon. There, Pam reunited with Joe Hutchison, her children’s biological father. Joe managed a BP gas station in Aloha, where he was able to put Damien to work. It was an ironic occupation for a teenager who had never driven a car.61
Aloha,