Michael D. Pope, the chief of the West Memphis Police Department (WMPD), has resigned after some claim evidence was found in the West Memphis Three case, according to Damien Echols, one of the three boys convicted of murder in 1994.
Calls for confirmation to the WMPD and West Memphis City Hall were not immediately returned.
Echols, Jessie Misskelley Jr., and Jason Baldwin were convicted of killing three boys in a Satanic ritual. New DNA evidence found in 2010 allowed the three to negotiate a plea bargain. In 2011, they left prison after entering Alford pleas.
Credit: City of West Memphis 
WMPD Chief Michael Pope resigned in a letter dated December 7th. Pope said he’d leave the post on December 24th. In the letter, Pope said his resignation comes as “I have other endeavors and goals that are pointing me in a different direction.” Pope took the job six months ago.
However, Echols said on Twitter Tuesday, “The chief of police [Pope] was not truthful. He has now resigned, and we know that none of the evidence was destroyed. It can now be tested, to see who left DNA at the crime scene. My attorney was in the evidence room this morning and saw it with his own eyes. Every piece is still there.”
Mara Leveritt, an investigative journalist who wrote The Devil’s Knot, a book about the West Memphis Three case, quoted Echols’ attorney in a tweet Tuesday. He said, “Patrick Benca, an attorney for Damien Echols, said he’s been advised that WMPD Chief Mike Pope resigned. Benca was in [West Memphis] this morning to examine evidence in the case of the [West Memphis Three], some of which was reported missing. Benca texted, ‘We found the ligatures. We got what we needed.’”
The Arkansas Justice Project, an online crime watch news source, shared the news saying, “We have received reports that the police chief of the West Memphis Police Department has resigned after someone suddenly located the evidence related to the West Memphis Three case. More importantly, they have all the ligatures. They have all the evidence.
“We are also calling for criminal charges for anyone involved in the coverup and obstruction, including police officers, prosecutors, judges, and whoever else was involved in this scam.”
The Truth and Justice podcast tweeted texts from Echols.
