Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three
 On May 5, 1993, Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Steven Branch went missing from their homes in West Memphis, Arkansas. The next day, their bodies were found in the woods near their homes with evidence showing that they had been brutally beaten and savagely murdered. In the case of Christopher Byers, the evidence revealed that he had been castrated and his penis had been skinned before he was killed. News of the boys deaths and the manner in which they happened soon reached the inhabitants of the small community. The rumor then spread that the nature of Christopher Byers death in particular hinted that the deaths may have been related to a Satanic ritual. Weeks after the murders, a local woman by the name of Vicki Hutcheson brought her eight-year-old son Aaron to see the police. Aaron claimed to have witnessed the kidnapping of his three friends. Vicki Hutcheson volunteered to help the investigation by becoming "involved" with both Jessie and Damien. Hutcheson was a neighbor of Jessie's and coaxed him into setting up a "meeting" with Damien so Hutcheson and Damien could get to know each other. Vicki Hutcheson would later admit to the police that she had attended an Esbat with both men. Years after the trials, Hutcheson would admit that she had lied about attending the Esbat. Over the months that led up to the arrests and trials, her son Aaron would also change his account of what happened numerous times, each time the story becoming more outrageous and unbelievable. Eventually, the police brought in Jessie Misskelley for questioning in relation to the murders. Misskelley was 17 and considered mildly retarded. Despite this, a simple questioning turned into a heated interrogation by West Memphis Police which resulted in a confession from Misskelley that was almost immediately recanted. Based on this confession and the story told to police by Aaron Hutcheson, Misskelley, Echols and Baldwin were all arrested and charged with three counts of Capital Murder. Each of the three men encountered issues during the course of their trials, including the inability to have the trial moved away from Arkansas area, lack of the prosecution's required assistance in the delivery of all intended evidence to the defense, and what is perceived by the author to be a biased judge. Author Mara Leveritt makes numerous comparisons to the trials of the three men to that of the Salem Witch Trials, stating that the men were convicted based on the "Satanic Craze" the community was surrounded by after the murders. Actual evidence used by the prosecution during the trials included pictures of Metallica t-shirts worn by Jason Baldwin and books checked out by Damien Echols at his public library. Prosecution cases contained little more than circumstantial evidence. Eventually, all three men were convicted of the murders, with Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley receiving life sentences without parole and Damien Echols receiving the death penalty.