by Sepka » Fri Jan 20, 2006 6:38 am
I have trouble seeing where Byers had enough time and privacy to commit the murders. Numerous witnesses saw the children alive and heading towards the woods at times estimated between 5:45 and 6:45pm. Most of the time estimates centre around 6:30pm. At 7:30pm, Byers reported his son missing to a police officer. His wife and other son were with him at that time, and they had apparently been searching for Christopher since shortly after 6:00pm, when Byers picked up his other son (Ryan) at the courthouse, then stopped by home to pick up his wife and Chris (who was of course missing). They'd planned to go out to eat.<br><br>IMHO the 5:45 sighting of the three boys heading into the woods is just mistaken, either as to time, or (less likely) as to who all was present. Other witnesses report seeing Chris' two friends Michael and Steve together at that time in the vicinity of the woods, but not Chris. One classmate (Alan Bailey) who knew them both spoke to them and learned that they were then on their way to get Chris. This happened pretty reliably at 5:45, as Alan was with his father, who was running late for an appointment, and had reason to be conscious of the exact time. Michael's mother saw the three of them together heading towards the woods at 6:00. Again, she had reason to be aware of the exact time as it was time for the family's dinner.<br><br>My personal guess is that the three boys entered the woods sometime between 6:15 and 6:30. That's the last time we know for a fact that they were alive. By that time Chris had already been missed, and Byers was searching for him. I think what must have happened is that Chris's friends met with him at 6:00pm, and they immediately headed toward the woods. Byers would have arrived home around 6:10pm, and just missed him.<br><br>If we posit that Byers murdered the boys that evening in a rage, then he'd have had to do it between 6:15-6:30 (when they were last seen) and 7:30 (when he talked to the police). If he did it in that timeframe, then his wife and other boy either lied about having been with him, or else were active accomplices. I could see his family covering for him if he had simply lost control of himself and beaten the boys to death, but it seems unlikely that they would do so for a crime of such savagery and horror. Even if he frightened them into silence at the time, there was plenty of opportunity later to talk to the police.<br><br>From 7:30 until 9:00 or so, Byers was constantly in the company of one or more third-party witnesses, often policemen. Between 9:00 and 9:42, he searched the woods by himself. <br><br>At about 9:00 his son and a friend who were out searching reported hearing "big splashes" from the large drainage ditch. They became frightened and ran away. The running away seems a curious reaction to me. Both boys were 14, old enough to understand that the little boys' safety, if not lives, might hinge on their actions. So far as anyone could have known at that point, the boys were only missing, and there was no evidence of foul play. I'm left to wonder why they didn't take the splashes as possibly being from the missing boys at play.<br><br>Interestingly, this ditch where the splashes were heard is where the bicycles were found the next afternoon.<br><br>While fleeing, they met two more friends. Fortified with extra numbers, they then returned to the woods and searched it until 10:00 or so, apparently unaware that Byers was in there as well. They didn't see Byers, nor does he report having seen them.<br><br>Let's assume for the sake of argument that the splashes represented the murderer(s) disposing of the bicycles. That opens the door to several scenaria:<br><br>1. The boys had been killed in the woods, their bodies were already in the stream. The murderer threw the bicycles in the ditch as he left the scene of the crime. This seems to me to be the most likely explanation.<br><br>2. At least two of the boys were still alive in the woods (IIRC only Michael was dead when he was thrown into the water - the other two drowned) but the murderer thought it important to dispose of the bicycles before they attracted attention. This seems terribly unlikely to me, unless there was more than one killer. Additionally, the two final killings would have had to happen in the woods after 9:00, when search parties were wandering all over.<br><br>3. The boys were lying dead up in the woods, already in the stream. Byers threw the bicycles into the ditch as he entered the woods to tidy up the crime scene. This presupposes though that he had killed the boys earlier, and for reasons given above, I doubt that.<br><br>At 9:42, a police officer searching the woods met up with Byers, and they searched together until 10:10. From then on until 2:00am, he wasn't alone for more than a few minutes at a time. <br><br>He was alone between 2:00am and 5:00am, when the search resumed. Interestingly, the medical examiner placed the time of death at between 1:00am and 5:00am. If Byers killed the boys in that timeframe, it's highly unlikely that the murders could have taken place in the woods. He'd have had to kill them somewhere else, and transport the bodies and bikes there, at considerable risk to himself. Again, it's possible, but it would be a suicidal risk. He'd already alerted the police department and spent much of the evening trying to spur them on to a more intensive effort. Additionally, he'd pointed out the woods as a known resort of the boys, as had the other parents.<br><br>For all those reasons, I have trouble accepting Byers as the killer. <br><br>-Sepka the Space Weasel <p></p><i></i>
