DNA test results in the West Memphis Three case are expected by mid-summer, possibly July, according to reports.
Lonnie Soury, a spokesperson for Damien Echols, stated that Virginia-based Bode Technology DNA lab is currently testing ligatures used to bound three 8-year-old children in 1993, in West Memphis, Arkansas.
The victims, Michael Moore, Christopher Byers and Stevie Branch, were found in an area known as Robin Hood Hills, submerged in a drainage ditch, igniting a media frenzy and decades of legal battles.
L to r: Byers, Moore, and Branch/Family handouts, school photos
According to K8 News, Prosecuting Attorney Sonia Hagood said last year that the lab will also test hairs found at the crime scene and on the victims, along with hairs from Terry Hobbs, identified as the stepfather of Stevie Branch.
Echols is one of three defendants freed in 2011 under a rare legal compromise called an “Alford plea.”
Alongside co-defendants Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin, he spent nearly 20 years in prison following their 1994 convictions.
Echols has continually pushed for absolute exoneration through contemporary forensic technology, according to Soury. The Alford Plea did not exonerate the WM3. Instead, it allowed them to plead guilty while maintaining their innocence.
The lab is reportedly using M-Vac (Microbial Vacuum) technology, which collects microscopic DNA from surfaces in which standard testing fails to reach.
A 2026 view of the drainage ditch where the three victims were found/ Photo via Leigh Egan
“If we get a hit on somebody’s DNA, then it’s up to the authorities to prove, to reopen the case. We would ask them to reopen the case,” Soury said.
“They’d be hard pressed to walk away from it. I don’t think you and the rest of the media would stand for that. I mean, that would be shocking.”
Check back for updates.
[Featured images: Echols, Misskelley, and Baldwin/West Memphis PD]
