by Marshall Parks

Created on: July 23, 2008

No one could have guessed that May 5th, 1993 would be anything other than a typical day in West Memphis, Arkansas. Not until 8 p.m., when John Mark Byers phoned the West Memphis Police to report his step-son, 8 year-old Christopher Byers had gone missing. The sun had already set when Regina Meeks showed up at the Byers residence to take down the information. Chris hadn't been seen by his family since 5:30 that evening, cleaning his yard. Meeks wrote down the details of Chris's description and notified her department. She then left to handle other calls. One still haunts the community.

Later that night, Meeks handled another missing persons call directly across the street from the Byers home. This one from Dana Moore, mother of 8 year old Michael Moore. She hadn't seen her son since 6 p.m., riding his bicycle with Chris Byers and another boy, Steven Branch. Around this same time, another distraught mother was talking to another member of the WMPD from her job at a restaurant. All three boys were friends. All were missing.

It didn't take long in the sleepy little town for word to spread. Witnesses stated that they had seen the three boys riding toward a four acre patch of land that the neighborhood children frequented. It was known as Robin Hood Hills, a thickly wooded area just south of Interstates 55 and 44, which ran together in a single stretch through West Memphis.

Neighbors formed search parties that evening, combing Robin Hood Hills and surrounding neighborhoods, abandoned houses and building, anywhere three 8 year old friends could hole up for a while. Despite an extensive search from the parents, neighbors and the police, nothing tangible was uncovered. Panic had set in within the three households of the missing boys.

With the daylight of May 6th, the search intensified. Robin Hood Hills being the focal point of the search, despite the mosquitoes, which Arkansas residents joked were their state bird. Crittenden County Search and Rescue, supplied a john boat and poled down the Ten Mile Bayou, which separated the woods from the city proper. Nothing was found and the woods were abandoned to search other areas. A few stayed in the woods. One was juvenile officer Steve Jones from the Crittenden County Sheriff's Office.

Around one o'clock, he radioed that he had made a discovery in the woods, in a tributary of the bayou. A child's shoe, without laces, floated on the water's surface. Soon, Sergeant Mike Allen joined him and Jones led him to the site. Other officers

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