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that day? Why not? (The drug, which calms hyperactive children, is known to act as a stimulant when taken by adults.) Had one of Christopher’s parents helped themselves to the drug instead? Had Christopher left home in the past for several hours at a time, as Melissa had told the police? Or had that never happened, as her husband claimed? And what about John Mark’s account of his activities on the night of the murders? Why had he entered the woods after dark on the evening the boys disappeared without a flashlight? And why had he then left to go home and change his clothes?212Most of all, Stidham would have liked to grill the couple about the mysterious bloodstained knife. But the lawyer held his tongue. Despite Stidham’s mounting concerns that Byers might have been the killer, he considered it far too risky to suggest that possibility in court. Long after the trial was over, he would admit that his decision might have been different had he known more about Byers’s background. Under the circumstances, he concluded that “pointing the finger at a stepparent without blatant proof” would probably “inflame the jury” and “insure the death penalty for Jessie.”213

When Fogleman questioned Ridge about his hands-and-knees search of the ditch, the detective cried on the stand. To emphasize the sadness of that day, and the loss, the prosecutor had the boys’ bicycles wheeled into the courtroom and introduced as evidence. The bikes remained in the front of the courtroom, leaning against a wall, throughout the rest of the trial. Next, Fogleman handed the jury more than three dozen photographs showing the victims’ bodies as they lay, white, bound, and uncovered, on the muddy, shaded bank. Fogleman then called Dr. Frank Peretti of the Arkansas Crime Laboratory to report on his autopsy findings.

As jurors were handed another batch of photos, these showing the boys’ bodies on the autopsy table, Peretti explained that there’d been limits to what his examination could reveal. Citing the length of time that the bodies had lain exposed to the warm air, for example, he said he had not been able to estimate the time of the boys’ deaths. The matter of time was important, in light of Jessie’s widely varying statements regarding time.

But when Stidham cross-examined Peretti, time was only one of the discrepancies the lawyer wanted to explore. Had Peretti found evidence that the boys had been choked, as Jessie had told the police? No, the doctor said. Was there evidence that they’d been sodomized, as Jessie had described? Again Peretti said no.214

Fogleman then called Gitchell to explain the circumstances that had led to Misskelley’s confession. Gitchell testified that during the interview, Jessie was “very relaxed” and was under no pressure from officers.215The chief inspector described how he had played a tape recording for Jessie to see how the boy would react. Fogleman asked Gitchell to play the tape, exactly as he’d played it that day. Gitchell clicked on a tiny tape recorder and held it to the microphone. The voice of a child filled the courtroom, saying, “Nobody knows what happened but me.” That was all. Gitchell clicked the tape recorder off. Nobody asked him to explain whose voice was on the tape or how it had come to be made, or to put the words in any context. All the jury learned was that the tape had shocked Jessie and that shortly after hearing it, he had confessed. With that, Fogleman asked Gitchell to play the tape recording of what Jessie had said. For the next thirty-four minutes, as another tape recorder played in the hushed courtroom, the jury listened to Jessie confess.

When Stidham cross-examined Inspector Gitchell, the detective admitted that, yes, Jessie’s statement did contain several errors. The victims had not skipped school, as Jessie had reported, and they could not have been killed at noon.

“And you knew that that was incorrect when Jessie told you that?” Stidham demanded.

“Yes sir,” Gitchell responded.

Stidham recalled that Jessie had said he’d seen the boys tied up with brown rope. That was inaccurate too, Gitchell