Comprehensive evidence supporting the Manhole Theory

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NOTE: This thread continues at our new home ... HERE

    Since the evidence supporting the manhole theory is scattered among many threads...I've been asked to post it all together.

  I'll add to this thread if more evidence comes forward.

From the WMPD Case Summary (This was the police conclusion before the Misskelley statement):

A CRIME SCENE SEARCH FAILED TO LOCATE ANY TRACES OF BLOOD OR OTHER EVIDENCE WHICH WOULD LEAD INVESTIGATORS TO BELIEVE THAT THE VICTIMS’ HAD BEEN MURDERED IN THE AREA WHERE THEIR BODIES WERE LOCATED. A FINGERPRINT AND SEVERAL TENNIS SHOE PRINTS WERE LOCATED IN THE MUD NEAR THE SITE. TWO PLASTER OF PARIS CASTINGS WERE SUCCESSFULLY MADE FROM THE SHOE PRINTS AND THE EARTH CONTAINING THE FINGERPRINT WAS REMOVED FROM THE AREA. THE CREEK WAS DRAINED BY ATTEMPT TO LOCATE ANY PHYSICAL EVIDENCE AT THE BOTTOM WITH NEGATIVE RESULTS.

http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/casesummary.html








   Other than the manholes and storm-drains....no other "secret hideout" was ever found in the area behind Mayfair Apartments.




 

  Storm drains and manholes in the area:






This photo (below) of a manhole behind the Blue Beacon Truck-Wash shows a trail which leads from the pipe-bridge area.
 The trail curves as it approaches  the manhole indicating that it could be a bike path for the neighborhood kids rather
 than a footpath for maintenance workers. This might be evidence that the boys played around or inside the manholes:
 



   Cindy Rico saw all three boys on two bikes between 6:00 and 7:00 in the bayou as she crossed the Service Road Bridge. As she turned south on 18th Street, she noticed the boys traveling west near the tree line.  This sighting (along with other witness sightings) indicates that the boys briefly visited the area on the east bank of the bayou very close to the Service Road Bridge and then turned around and headed toward the Blue Beacon Woods.  A large manhole exists in the exact area where Rico saw the boys:















 From the report of defense investigator, Brent Turvey (Equivocal Examination and Psychological Profile of Case Evidence):

There is an unexplained directional pattern abrasion just below the victim's right anterior shoulder area.

This unexplained injury does not correspond with any of the physical evidence collected at the location that victim was discovered. It is furthermore inconsistent with any of the naturally occurring elements that exist in that environment. The best conclusion that this examiner can reach is that this pattern abrasion was created by forceful, directional contact with something that was not found at that crime scene, whether it be a weapon, a surface or something else capable of creating that pattern.












   
    The ligature "knot" around Stevie's right wrist was described by criminalist Lisa Sakevicius as a half-hitch and a "figure 8".  A half-hitch would not have been used to restrain a live victim. It would be easily untied.  This type of "knot" would only serve as a loop around the wrist and could be useful in transporting the victim if the loose-end was held to secure the knot while the perpetrator carried the body a short distance:

















http://www.youtube.com/embed/lEcihYnzrcM



   Recent examinations of the manholes and drainage pipes in the Robin Hood area have revealed that the polypropylene ladder rungs within the majority of the drainage structures are reinforced with 3/8" X-patterned rebar.  The rebar that supports the concrete top of the Weaver Manhole was accurately measured at 5/8" in diameter.  Due to the flexibility of the skin...the 3/8" diameter rebar is probably the correct size that caused the grid-pattern of the left thigh of Stevie Branch. Doubts about the Manhole Theory have been raised because of the diameter of the X-patterned rebar found in the Weaver Manhole. It turns out the 3/8" X-patterned rebar (most likely the correct diameter) is the most prevalent size of rebar found in the Robin Hood drainage system.


   


   


      This horizontal pipe seen in PL II was located at the junction of the discovery ditch and the 10 Mile bayou:

   

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 A Summary of the Manhole Theory


All three victims were 8 year-old boys known to be fans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The TMNT dwelled in the sewers (manholes) of Manhatten.
The boys were also known to play in the storm-drains (manholes) around their neighborhood.

At between 4:00 and 4:30 pm on the afternoon of May 5th, 1993 (the day of the murders), Michael Moore told a classmate that he "was going down to his secret hide-out behind the Mayfair Apartments".  There were several manholes in this area and no other "secret hideout" was ever found.

These manholes contained ladder rungs reinforced with 3/8 inch rebar and, in 1993, the rungs were possibly made of exposed x-patterned rebar. There was also x-patterned rebar supporting the concrete slabs which covered the storm-drains in the area.

A skin impression on the left thigh of Steve Branch is consistent with peri-mortem contact with an angled piece of 3/8 inch x-patterned rebar. No such object was found in or around the ditch where the bodies were discovered although a very thorough metal detector search of the crime scene area was conducted by the WMPD.

A scrape-mark on the right shoulder of Michael Moore is consistent with "road rash"....or having been dragged across a roughly troweled concrete surface. The manhole bases in the Robinhood Hills area are roughly troweled concrete. There is no other source of concrete in the wooded area.

An abrasion on the scalp of Michael Moore is consistent with having been dropped head-first on a pebbly concrete surface. The floors of the manholes have this pebbly concrete texture.  Basilar skull fractures to all three victims were not caused by blows, but are consistent with a head-first impact to the upper skull which transfers force to the more fragile skull base.

The bodies were found tied with shoelaces in a wrist-to-ankle manner with several inches of slack between the knots. They were also determined to have been bound after death. Since this manner of binding would not serve-well to restrain the victims, and the boys were tied after death....it leads to the conclusion that the bodies were tied as a means of transport up and out of one of these concrete structures.

The bodies were determined to have been predated upon by animals. Several animal hairs were found on the bodies and under the bindings of the victims.  The bodies were also found submerged under two-three feet of water. For land animal predation to have occurred before submergence, it is likely that the bodies lay exposed to the animal/s, yet hidden from human view for several hours.  Several types of fur-bearing mammals are found in drainage systems including raccoons, rats, and opossums. IF the cause of death was drowning (as concluded by the experts)...it could have occurred in a manhole (rather than the discovery ditch) as the water level rose throughout the night.

There was a lack of foot-prints, blood spatter, or other trace evidence that would indicate the murders occurred at  the discovery site. The boys were last seen entering the woods between 6:30 and 7:00 pm, but were never seen exiting the woods. The victims' bikes were found submerged in the Ten-Mile Bayou about 60 yards from the discovery site. No suspicious vehicle was seen or vehicle tracks found around the wooded area. These factors would indicate that the boys were killed within the woods, but not at  the discovery site.
 
                                                          *******************************

  If we accept the above evidence, ......the victims were confronted by their perpetrator within the Blue Beacon Woods around 7:00 PM on May 5th, 1993.  They were severely injured and  their bodies secluded in a concrete drainage structure where a fur-bearing animal predated on the bodies.  The perpetrator returned to the scene, probably at least two more times before sun-rise on May 6th, removed the victims' clothes (before the animal predation), tied the bodies with their own shoelaces, and moved them to a nearby ditch where they were submerged under two feet of water along with their clothes.
 
 This scenario would require the perpetrator to spend around 30 minutes during the initial attack...an additional 15 to 20 minutes while he stripped the victims of their clothing,... and another 30 minutes to tie them wrist-to-ankle and move the bodies to the ditch.
  
Statistics on murdered children indicate that the most likely perpetrators are close acquaintences or family members.
 
One family member admittedly spent "all night long" returning to the small patch of woods where the bodies were eventually found.  It seems very suspicious that this family member would spend so much time in a 2 1/2 acre patch of woods, yet claim to have not completely searched the entirety of this small area.

 It's also highly suspicious that this suspect would not have searched the manholes within the wooded area considering the fact that he claimed, in two sworn statements, that he was aware that the boys may have been hiding in a manhole.

A hair found in the ligature knot of Michael Moore matches the mDNA profile of this same family member.

Another hair found on an exposed tree-root at the discovery site matches the mDNA profile of a friend of this suspect whose house and vehicle he had been in before and after the boys disappeared.

The WMPD did not interview this family member until 14 years after the murders. His interview contained many contradictions to other witness statements.

This suspect has no alibi for several critical time-periods on the evening of May 5th and the early morning of May 6th. He even tried to create a false alibi for the time-period immediately preceding the last sightings of the victims.

The suspect also has a history of sexual and physical abuse and is known to have been a frequent illegal drug user.
 
Recent sworn statements from three witnesses place this family member with all three boys shortly before they disappeared. The suspect has continuously denied seeing any of the boys on the day of the murders.

This suspected family member and, In My Opinion, the killer of Steve Branch, Michael Moore, and Chris Byers is...
 
Terry Wayne Hobbs. (stepfather of Steve Branch)  

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    Here's a basic time-line.... including my interpretation of what may have occurred  (the orange entries are only possible if the police log is incorrect for the Bojangles incident and Marty King's testimony is correct. This speculation does not change the basic theory...it just might explain certain details otherwise considered coincidental):



 
2:45 pm........... Pam and Amanda pick Stevie up from Weaver Elementary.

3:10 pm............Michael arrives at the Hobbs' house asking Stevie to ride bikes.

3:25 pm............Chris arrives at the Hobbs' house and stays to watch Muppet Babies with Amanda.

3:45 pm............After looking for Chris, JMB takes Ryan to the Courthouse.

4:00 pm............Chris leaves the Hobbs' house.

4:15 pm............Terry Hobbs arrives home from work. 

4:45 pm............Terry, Amanda, and Pam leave their house for Catfish Island.

4:45 pm...........Chris meets-up with Stevie and Michael on Goodwin near Proctor. They decide to go back to Stevie's house. (Stevie is late and needs to get home)

4:50 pm...........Stevie, Michael, and Chris arrive at the Hobbs' house. Stevie changes from jeans into shorts.
 
5:00 pm............Terry and Amanda arrive back home from Catfish Island. Stevie asks Terry permission to stay out later. Terry allows Stevie to stay out until 6:00 pm. The boys follow Terry and Amanda to the Jacoby's house.

5:05 pm............Terry and Amanda arrive at Jacoby's house. Jacoby sees Stevie, Michael, and Chris ride by his house as the door is opened for Hobbs.

5:25 pm..............JMB and Melissa arrive home from Memphis. 

5:30 pm.............JMB goes south on 14th Street and finds Chris on his skateboard.
 
5:35 pm......Chris is spanked by JMB and told to clean up the carport.
 
5:45 pm......Otto and Allen Bailey encounter Stevie and Michael on W.E. Catt Street with "back-packs".  Stevie is wearing shorts and Michael says that they need to hurry and pick up Chris.
 
6:00 pm......Dana Moore sees Chris, Stevie, and Michael on two bikes heading north on 14th Street .  (this corrborates the Bailey's encounter and the statement of Melissa Byers)
 
6:30 pm......All three boys are seen by the Clarks... running from their back-yard toward South McAuley as Terry Hobbs yells for the boys to return to his house. (This sighting of Hobbs and Amanda is consistent with Jacoby's statement of Hobbs leaving his house around 6:15 pm) [This sighting is slightly inconsistent with the Dana Moore sighting only because of the direction that she saw the boys going at about 6 pm (north) when the Hobbs' house is located to the south, However, the boys may have seen Dana before she saw them...and headed north to avoid her, then turned south and rode down Wilson to S McAuley.]
 
About 6:45 pm....David Jacoby states that Hobbs checked with him to see if Stevie had come by.  Jacoby volunteers to help Hobbs look for Stevie. Hobbs takes Jacoby on a very short 10-15 search around the immediate neighborhood.
 
About 7:00 pm......Hobbs takes Jacoby back home and drops him off.  He tells Jacoby that he wants to check some other places where Stevie might be.  (It's odd that Hobbs would not want Jacoby with him when he checked out these places).

  [7:00 pm to 7:45 pm....Hobbs finds Stevie, Michael, and Chris at their "secret hideout" (manhole) in the Blue Beacon Woods. He loses his temper and strikes Stevie in the head causing severe injury.  Michael and Chris are also severely injured as Hobbs decides to eliminate any witnesses. The boys are dropped into the manhole and their bikes are dumped into the 10 Mile Bayou]
 
About 7:50 pm.....Hobbs returns to Jacoby's house and asks for help in searching for Stevie. They search the same areas that they had searched earlier, and when a little girl tells them that she saw some boys on bikes near the woods...Hobbs takes Jacoby back home to gather up some flashlights rather than immediately checking out the girl's story. Jacoby is dropped off again and Hobbs says that he'll be back, but never returns. 
 
8:10 pm.....Dana Moore stops by Hobbs' house looking for Stevie. Hobbs follows Moore to her house. 

8:08-8:15 pm.....Officer meek takes Chris' MPR at the Byers' house.

8:13 pm.....Dana sees Officer Meek's patrol car in the Byers' driveway. She knocks on the door and tells Meek and Byers that she saw all three boys at about 6 pm heading north on 14th Street. Hobbs parks his car and stays away until Meek has left. Ryan goes door-to-door asking about Chris.

8:17 pm......Meek leaves and drives around looking for the boys.

8:20 pm.....Ryan comes back and says that the boys were seen entering the woods at the Goodwin dead-end around 6:30 pm.  Hobbs joins the other parents and they all head toward RobinHood.

8:27 pm.....Officer Meek parks at the McAuley Dead-end, walks down to the pipe-bridge area, then returns to her car and leaves the area.

8:32 pm......Hobbs goes west toward the pipe-bridge (Amanda stays with Dana and Melissa).  JMB walks around in the field and then decides to go back home and change clothes. Robbie and Richie arrive and search the trails. Ryan and Brit wait in the car until about 8:50pm, then walk to the rope-swing area.

8:38 pm......Hobbs returns to his car and drives to the Union 76 parking lot. 

8:42 pm.......Hobbs takes his 9mm gun out of his car and walks back to the "secret hideout" to make sure the boys are dead, that there's no evidence around the manhole, and to keep other searchers away from the area (Amanda is left in the car).

8:45 pm.......Meek checks a license plate on 20th Street.

8:50 pm.........Ryan and Brit walk to the rope-swing area. Richie and Robbie are searching the trails in the western part of RHH south of the pipe-bridge.

9:04 pm.........Meek is on Roy Pugh taking a call for a house egging.

9:05 pm.........Hobbs makes his way to the rope-swing area by-way of the north side of the bayou. He tosses some rocks into the water to scare Ryan and Brit out of the woods.

9:10 pm.......Hobbs goes back by the manhole where the boys' bodies are hidden. He's seen  by a black transient and fires a gunshot grazing the man's arm.  The man gets away and runs west through the muddy field. Hobbs throws the hand-gun into the bayou near the pipe-bridge.

9:15 pm......JMB arrives back at RHH after changing into over-alls and boots. He walks back to the bayou and Devil's Den area.

9:17 pm........Hobbs drives across 7th Street and arrives at Catfish Island to pick up Pam.

9:19 pm........Hobbs phones the police to report Stevie missing.

9:24 pm........Officer Meek takes Michael's MPR from Dana Moore.

9:25 pm........The black man enters the Bojangles restaurant.

9:25 pm........Ryan and Brit meet Robbie and Richie at the pipe-bridge area.  Robbie and Richie had heard the gunshot. Ryan and Brit had heard the splashes.  The boys decide to cross the pipe-bridge.

9:30 pm.......Officer Moore arrives at Catfish Island and takes Stevie's MPR. Pam states that Stevie was last seen wearing blue jeans. This is the first time Hobbs realized that Stevie was not wearing shorts when Pam allowed him to ride his bike with Michael. Hobbs knows he needs to swap the jeans for the shorts, otherwise Pam will know that Stevie came home after she went to work....something Hobbs has denied.

9:34 pm......Meek takes a call for Track Liquors, but is relieved by Shrader and Joplin who are closer. Instead Meek takes a call to Bojangles and arrives at about 9:50 pm (the WMPD log is off by 1 hour. This is in agreement with Marty King's testimony)

9:42 pm.......Officer Moore, Pam, Terry, and Amanda arrive at the Goodwin Dead-end.

9:45 pm.......The black man leaves the Bojangles restaurant.

9:45 pm.......Officer Moore meets JMB coming out of the woods. They search the RHH area together.

9:55 pm.......Ryan, Brit, Robbie, and Richie cross back over to the south-side of the pipe-bridge.

10:00 pm.....Meek leaves Bojangles and drives back to the McAuley Dead-end where she talks with Ryan and Brit and goes with them to search some vacant houses.

10:10 pm......Hobbs takes Pam and Amanda home. While Pam is changing clothes, Hobbs takes Stevie's jeans and drives back to the Union 76 parking lot.  There are no searchers in the Blue Beacon Woods at this time. Hobbs climbs down into the manhole and removes Stevie's shorts. Instead of leaving Stevie unclothed and different than the other two boys, he removes the clothes of all three. Hobbs takes the back-packs, Chris' medical ID bracelet, and Michael's wrist compass and leaves the woods at about 11:00 pm. He puts Stevie's knife in his pocket.

10:15 pm.....Officer Moore and JMB leave the woods.

10:20 pm......Pam walks Amanda down to the Jacoby's house. She makes a few phone calls and Jacoby drives them back to their house at about 11:20 pm.

10:55 pm.......Meek arrives at the WMPD station for shift change. She talks to JMB on the phone.

11:10 pm........JMB and Ryan search the area behind the Blue Beacon.

11:20 pm.......Hobbs arrives back home along with Pam, Jacoby, and Pam's parents who Pam had called from Catfish Island and have driven down from Blytheville.

11:30 pm.......Hobbs goes with Jacoby and Pam searches with her parents.

12:00 midnight....Hobbs, Jacoby, JMB, and Jackie Hicks Sr. meet under the streetlight at Dana Moore's house.

12:15 am......Hobbs, Jacoby, and Hicks Sr search the Robinhood area.

12:15-2am......JMB, Tony Hudson, and Melissa search together.

2:00 am.........JMB and Melissa return home.

2:45 am.........Jacoby and Hicks Sr. end their search of the woods. Jacoby goes home and Hicks Sr. goes back to Hobbs' house.

3:30 am..........Hobbs returns to the Blue Beacon Woods.  He wants to move the bodies away from the manhole where the black man saw him and get the bodies away from any possible trace evidence.  He enters the manhole and decides to tie the bodies in a way in-which he can transport them out of the manhole and over to the drainage ditch without getting wet and bloody.  Hobbs uses the victims' shoelaces and ties them wrist-to-ankle leaving enough slack as a "handle".  He uses Stevie's knife to cut one of the longer laces to save time.

5:00 am.........Hobbs returns home.  He tells Pam that he's been searching with Jacoby all night.


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