The show you're about to listen to may contain themes of violence, occult activity, strong language, and other sensitive material.

With an emphasis on cults, murder, and other adult matters, listener discretion is advised.

On cult leader, I strive for telling stories in a truthful matter, though press, media, and other resources cannot always be verified.

Sources can be found in the show notes. Hello and welcome back to cold leader.

I'm your cult leader, Spencer Henry, and recently I was on a little road trip with the champ and Madison, our friend Alyssa, to go to Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee.

Now, it's a lengthy drive and in true cult leader fashion. I was like, hmm, I wonder what infamous Moida cases took place here. I mean, you're

driving through lots and lots of trees. So I start Googling and I am reminded, I should say,

not introduced to this case, the West Memphis 3. Now, this is a case I've, of course,

heard of. I feel like it's pretty infamous in the world of true crime, but it didn't take

place in Memphis, Tennessee didn't take place in

Memphis, Tennessee. This took place in West Memphis, Arkansas. Just kidding. I know it's Arkansas.

Put the keyboard down. Okay. Put the keyboard down. Now, everyone in the car was like, wait, yeah,

what actually happened with that case? So we started listening to some news specials that were on YouTube

and the Dateline episodes and whatnot. And as soon as I got home and the dust settled from a

weekend of fun, I went further down the rabbit hole. Thus, we will be exploring this case in

at least two parts. There's a lot to talk about here. So let's get into it. Come back with me,

Colbapababes. It's May 5th, 1993. That's right. Sink of a Mayo, baby. It started like any other

early summer evening in West Memphis, Arkansas. It was hot, humid, quiet, and slow moving in that

familiar small town way. It was the good old days. It's the 90s. Kids drifted in

and out of each other's yards until the streetlights came on. You get the vibe. Eight-year-old's

Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore were three friends who did exactly that.

The kind of kids who spent their afternoons together, riding bikes, cutting through woods,

...