Jason and Jessie were each sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of parole, and Damien was sentenced to die by lethal injection. Books written by best-selling author Stephen King were used as evidence against Damien when no real evidence could be found. There was no physical evidence that pointed to Damien, Jason or Jessie. As with any murder, there was certainly evidence. There had to be.
Nobody can commit such a violent act and leave absolutely nothing behind.
It seems that the West Memphis Police managed to destroy or lose much of what might have been useful. On the night that the children were reported missing Officer Regina Meek received a call to investigate a man in the ladies restroom of a nearby Bojangles restaurant. According to the manager of the restaurant, the black man was muddy, bleeding and mumbling, but Meek simply drove through the restaurant's drive-through window without getting out to even take a look. Twenty four hours later, long after the bodies had been found, officers returned to the Bojangles restaurant, which was only a few blocks from Robin Hood Hills woods. This time the officers actually got out of their vehicle and entered the building, but unfortunately they were still wearing the clothes in which they had searched the woods and handled the bodies earlier that day.