10 Times Pop Culture Solved Real Life Crimes

10. Paradise Lost Springs Three Accused Men From Jail

The case of the West Memphis Three is a long, strange, sad story. Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, Jr and Jason Baldwin were a trio of young men accused and convicted of the murders of three boys in the spring of 1993.

The prosecutors took advantage of the teenagers' heavy metal stylings and the lingering fears about Satanic sexual abuse, claiming evil occult influence in the killings. Whilst members of the group had been arrested for petty crimes like vandalism and shoplifting in the past and Echols had a history of mental illness, on further investigation there seemed to be holes abundant in the case against the three, which resulted in a death sentence for Echols and life imprisonment for Misskelley and Baldwin.

The murders resulted in a media circus, which eventually died down. Except in the minds of documentary filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, who went on to produce three films on the case. The Paradise Lost trilogy uncovered enough inconsistencies that they secured the release of the three.

They've not yet been exonerated, but the recent dramatisation of the case, Devil's Knot, might help them further.