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app or on Apple Podcasts. American Scandal uses dramatizations that are based on true events. Some elements

including dialogue might be invented, but everything is based on historical events. Some elements, including dialogue, might be invented, but everything is

based on historical research. This episode contains descriptions of murder, violence against children,

and discussions of suicide. Listener discretion is advised.

Music It's the afternoon. It's the afternoon of May 6, 1993, in West Memphis, Arkansas,

a small town on the border with Tennessee.

Police Sergeant Mike Allen swat at the mosquitoes swarming his neck.

Squinting into the sunlight, he looks down at a wide stream that flows lazily along a tree-line gully.

Allen has been out all day looking for three missing eight-year-old boys.

They've been gone since yesterday evening,

and fears are growing for their safety. The search has now taken officers to a small wooded

area near the interstate, known as Robin Hood Hills. It's a popular spot with children who are

often seen riding bikes, building forts, and playing games among the trees. But today, the area

doesn't seem so innocent, because one of the other officers in the search team gives out a shout

and points downstream. There's something black bobbing on the surface, and from this distance,

it's hard to tell, but it looks like a shoe. Sergeant Allen is the nearest, and he doesn't hesitate to wait into the water.

Splashing over to the object, he grabs it, and then realizes with horror that it's attached to the naked body of a small boy.

Shocked, Alan calls out to his superior, Detective Bryn Ridge.

Oh, no, God.

I found one of them.

...