In 1993, in the working class, deeply religious community of West Memphis, Arkansas, three eight-year-old West Memphis Three#Victims – Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore – go missing from their neighborhood. After an extensive search, their bound and beaten bodies are found the next day. The community and the police department are convinced that the murders are the work of a satanic cult, due to the violent and sexual natures of the crime. A month later, West Memphis Three#Baldwin.2C Echols.2C and Misskelley – Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley Jr. – are arrested after Misskelley confesses to the murders following 12 hours of interrogation. They are taken to trial, where Baldwin and Misskelley are sentenced to life in prison, and Echols to capital punishment, all the while proclaiming their innocence.