{"podcast":{"title":"Crooked Tree: A West Memphis 3 Podcast","slug":"crooked-tree-a-west-memphis-3-podcast-7844947","podcast_index_feed_id":7844947,"rss_url":"https://api.riverside.com/hosting/IrKJTEIs.rss","website_url":"https://x.com/CrookedTreePod?s=20","image_url":"https://hosting-media.riverside.com/media/podcasts/36cd24e0-6713-4048-af5f-e27cdd9cc588/logos/34a09a4c-2739-4603-9cf5-336ff84d4f8d.jpeg","author":"Paul Day and Kristin Rich","episode_count":20,"summary":"Welcome to this long-form podcast series on one of the most controversial and heavily debated true crime cases in American history: the West Memphis Three. In this series, Paul Day — victim advocate, evidence researcher, and longtime friend of the Byers family — teams up with Kristin Rich, a criminologist and victim advocate who has immersed herself in the case for years. Together, they embark on an in-depth journey that tells the story from the victims’ perspective. Focusing on the three eight-year-old boys — Christopher Byers, Michael Moore, and Stevie Branch — whose lives were tragically cut short on May 5, 1993, in West Memphis, Arkansas, Paul and Kristin draw on their extensive research, personal connections to the families, and deep knowledge of the victims’ personalities, family dynamics, and the West Memphis community. This series delivers fresh perspectives, previously undiscussed details, and thoughtful analysis that challenges surface-level narratives. Expect detailed timelines, evidence discussions, family insights, and open conversation as the hosts carefully unpack what happened that spring afternoon in 1993 — and why things were not as they first appeared. Whether y…","last_synced_at":"2026-09-09T02:17:33.235330+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/crooked-tree-a-west-memphis-3-podcast-7844947"},"episode":{"title":"Episode 13: A Shot by the Hydrant","slug":"episode-13-a-shot-by-the-hydrant","published_at":"2026-08-18T09:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/crooked-tree-a-west-memphis-3-podcast-7844947/episode-13-a-shot-by-the-hydrant","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/crooked-tree-a-west-memphis-3-podcast-7844947","url":"https://api.riverside.com/hosting-analytics/media/efbdc6b3cea53eed26287617bd69a0a586f3cf8872ea0940a7e461e2d725e99e/eyJlcGlzb2RlSWQiOiIwNWUzNTJjZS00MjM5LTQ5ZTAtOTdkZC1iNjI0ODE1NjUxY2MiLCJwb2RjYXN0SWQiOiIzNmNkMjRlMC02NzEzLTQwNDgtYWY1Zi1lMjdjZGQ5Y2M1ODgiLCJhY2NvdW50SWQiOiI2OTJjZjcyNGNkZmZkMjBmNjI3OGUyYzQiLCJwYXRoIjoibWVkaWEvY2xpcHMvNmE4MjA4ZmRhMTZkZWE1NjEwMjllNzllL3BhdWxzLXN0dWRpby1XcXFWcS1jb21wb3Nlci0yMDI2LTgtMTZfXzIxLTEtMTcubXAzIn0=.mp3","audio_url":"https://api.riverside.com/hosting-analytics/media/efbdc6b3cea53eed26287617bd69a0a586f3cf8872ea0940a7e461e2d725e99e/eyJlcGlzb2RlSWQiOiIwNWUzNTJjZS00MjM5LTQ5ZTAtOTdkZC1iNjI0ODE1NjUxY2MiLCJwb2RjYXN0SWQiOiIzNmNkMjRlMC02NzEzLTQwNDgtYWY1Zi1lMjdjZGQ5Y2M1ODgiLCJhY2NvdW50SWQiOiI2OTJjZjcyNGNkZmZkMjBmNjI3OGUyYzQiLCJwYXRoIjoibWVkaWEvY2xpcHMvNmE4MjA4ZmRhMTZkZWE1NjEwMjllNzllL3BhdWxzLXN0dWRpby1XcXFWcS1jb21wb3Nlci0yMDI2LTgtMTZfXzIxLTEtMTcubXAzIn0=.mp3","summary":"In the shadowed hours before three young boys vanished into Robin Hood Hills, a critical gap in the West Memphis Three timeline has long gone unfilled… until now. On this episode of Crooked Tree, West Memphis Three researchers Paul Day and Kristin Rich dive deep into the missing thirty minutes between 5:15 and 5:45 p.m. on May 5, 1993. Drawing on overlooked door-to-door notes and police interviews, they track Stevie Branch and Michael Moore as they ride their bikes near Wilson and Holiday, then head toward the woods. The most chilling detail emerges from the accounts of Kim Williams and Dawn Moore: as the two boys enter the ditch leading into Devil’s Den, three older teens—one white male and two Black males—are seen coming out. Near the fire hydrant at the edge of Devil’s Den, one of them offers Dawn a “shot.” Paul and Kristin also uncover strange gaps in the police record—including a bizarre “555” case-number anomaly on Todd Moore’s statement, the only document in the entire file that breaks from the infamous 666 designation—and reconstruct a clearer timeline of the boys’ final free hours, revealing how the official missing-persons report may have been off by half an hour. Who were those three teenagers exiting Devil’s Den… and what else is still hidden in the shadows of the investigation? A deep dive into the overlooked minutes—and the unsettling documents—that may help us understand the last afternoon of Stevie, Michael, and Christopher.","meta_description":"In the shadowed hours before three young boys vanished into Robin Hood Hills, a critical gap in the West Memphis Three timeline has long gone unfilled… un…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1912,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/crooked-tree-a-west-memphis-3-podcast-7844947/episodes/episode-13-a-shot-by-the-hydrant/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/crooked-tree-a-west-memphis-3-podcast-7844947/episode-13-a-shot-by-the-hydrant.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}