and stevie branch with his two friends, christopher byers and michael moore. the boys were nude and bound with their own shoe laces. >> i run up there and one look at my husband and i knew it was stevie. and i hit the ground screaming "god, no". >> almost immediately word spread that these murders were the the work of the devil. >> that was the first thing that everybody started saying, that it was a ritualistic killing, satanic killing. i overheard people saying that they've been trying to let the police know that there's been groups of teenagers out there practicing satanic rituals and things like that. >> satanic killing? an idea not so far fetched for the time. this is a community steeped in religion, a church is never far away. and it was a time before the goth look or the notion of a romantic teenage vampire became fashionable. and this was a crime so horrendous it was easy to believe it was committed by a monster. >> when you're hearing all of this, what's going through your mind? >> exactly the same thing that that's what happened, that the devil actua

one is john mark byers, haunted by his son christopher's death. >> if i met you in may of 1993, how convinced would you have been of the guilt of the three teenagers? >> 100%. >> so now, do you believe that three men in prison are guilty? >> no, ma'am. they're 100% innocent. we needed someone to hate to survive because our child was dead. >> we meet damien echols at the super max prison, an hour's drive south of little rock. his hair is still coal black, but now his gaze is sharp. >> you were asked at the trialers did you kill christopher byers. your answer then was -- >> no. absolutely no. >> your answer now is? >> absolutely not. >> michael? >> absolutely not. even though it's been 20 years, you don't get used to being asked that. it's the kind of thing that screws with your head for the rest of your life. to have people to constantly have to answer that question or constantly have people asking you that, it's like being kicked in the stomach over and over and over again. >> these sort of sterile images of those little boys down by the creek, how did those images affect you? >> i didn't see

one is john mark byers, haunted by his son christopher's death. if i'd met you in may of 1993, how convinced would you have been of the guilt of the three teenagers? >> 100%. >> reporter: so now, do you believe that the three men in prison are guilty? >> no, ma'am. they're 100% innocent. we needed someone to hate to survive because our child was dead. >> reporter: we meet damien echols at the super max prison, an hour's drive south of little rock. his hair is still coal black, but now his gaze is sharp. you were asked at the trial, did you kill christopher byers. your answer then was -- >> no. absolutely no. >> reporter: your answer is? >> no. absolutely not. even though it's been 20 years, you don't get used to being asked that. that's the kind of thing that screws with your head for the rest of your life. to have people, to constantly have to answer that question or constantly have people asking you that. it's like being kicked in the stomach over and over and over again. >> reporter: those sterile images of the little boys down by the creek, ho

you were asked at the trial, did you kill christopher byers. your answer then was -- >> no. absolutely no. >> reporter: your answer is? >> no. absolutely not. even though it's been 20 years, you don't get used to being asked that. that's the kind of thing that screws with your head for the rest of your life. to have people, to constantly have to answer that question or constanley have people asking you that. it's like being kicked in the stomach over and over and over again. >> reporter: there's sterile images of the little boys down by the creek, how did those images affect you? >> i didn't see those all the way up until i was -- it was during the trial. so it was still sort of abstract to me. they were just names. that's when it really hit me and -- it does something to you when you see something like that. it cracks you inside. >> reporter: after the boys were discovered here, police searched the area. and yet they found no physical evidence linking damien echols and his two friends to the crime scene. there was no dna. no fingerprints. nothing even suggesting a satanic r