The West Memphis 3 were three teenagers accused of the brutal murders of 3 eight-year-olds in West Memphis, Arkansas. The boys were believed to have been killed as part of a satanic ritual. The next day, the police had already found the first suspect, Damien Echols, and were questioning him. Echols was considered a suspect due to his interest in the Wicca religion and the officers investigating the case both thought that "the murders had strong cultic overtones". sacrifice." One of the officers said that the only person he thought could be capable of committing such a horrible crime was Echols. He was a loner, who had long hair, dressed all in black and listened to heavy metal music like Metallica. He had changed religion several times, converting from Buddhism to Hinduism, to Islam and finally to Paganism. When he was first interviewed, the police sergeant noted that he had a tattoo of a five-pointed star on his chest and some. other unidentified symbol, which could be associated with Wiccan religions or cults, and took Polaroid photos to document it His friends Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were suspected by association evidence that would point to Echols as a suspect so he could be arrested. They offered a reward to anyone who had information about Echols and the murders. A young Aaron Hutcheson and his mother Vicki came forward and said Aaron may have been a witness to the crime. Aaron said he saw the suspects at a theater near where the boys' bodies were found. They took Aaron to the crime scene and it appears that no theater was found there. Aaron later retracted his statement and said he saw three men... in the center of the paper... friends and acquaintances. No one even remembered seeing the boys together. Despite the lack of evidence, all three teenagers were found guilty. Echols was sentenced to receive the death penalty, and Baldwin and Misskelley were sentenced to life in prison. They each served 18 years in prison before appealing their convictions. The DNA evidence was analyzed again and found to not match any of the boys' DNA. Additionally, it was found that there had been jury and foreperson misconduct during the trial (one member of the jury had discussed the case with an attorney and pushed for the guilt of the West Memphis Three), as well as misconduct of the police during the investigation. Because of these factors, the prosecution arrived at an Alford plea deal, in which the defendants plead "No Contest" but still maintain their innocence. They were released from prison and sentenced to serve time.