When three children were murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1993, the case quickly developed into a massive media spectacle.
After just a month of investigating, police arrested three teenagers, and the case was quickly taken to trial. Known as the "West Memphis Three," they were found guilty based on rather flimsy evidence and accusations that they belonged to a satanic cult. The reason? They listened to heavy metal, wore a lot of black and read the works of occultist author Aleister Crowley. Supporters of the teens, including actors Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder, launched a massive protest in response.
In 1996, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky released a definitive documentary on the trio titled "Paradise Lost." Sequels came out in 2000 and 2011, and in that same year the West Memphis Three were released from prison. The so-called ringleader, Damien Echols, had been on death row, while Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin were serving life sentences.
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