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I decided to watch part 2, which I'm sure I saw years ago. I found a lot of this documentary to be repetitive in that it did lots of flashbacks to the first documentary, Paradise Lost. I thought that was kind of annoying because I had just watched the first one and was very familiar with it, so I wanted to see all new material. But I can see how it is a helpful tactic for people who have not watched them back to back or might be unfamiliar with the first one.
This one definitely focused more on the supporters of Damien Echols and the craziness of John Mark Byers. I think it was trying to slip the idea into your mind of reasonable doubt and that John Mark Byers had something to do with this. It was great to see so much support for Damien, Jason, and Jessie. This documentary definitely leaves the viewer wanting more information and to become their own armchair detective on the case.
I did like how they specifically addressed some of the comments that were made in the first documentary - some of the inappropriate comments that Jason and Damien made in the first one that could have been misconstrued towards guilt. This time, they were able to explain why they made those comments and their thoughts behind them.
There was a lot of focus on bite mark evidence in this one. That was hardly mentioned, if at all, in the first one. I would really like to examine the photo of the bite mark more closely, because while it does look like a bite mark, it also looks like it could have been made by a hollow cylindrical object that was used as a weapon.
This one still leaves me with so many unanswered questions, but to get my answers or to even see if they exist, I might have to go through the actual evidence files, autopsy reports, and trial transcripts to see if what I am questioning was discussed.
Not sure if anyone else caught this who watched it, but it was never brought to light in the documentary. John Mark Byers explained several times that his wife no longer had the will to live and that is why she died. Yet, there is one comment that he makes where he says his wife was "murdered". I found that inconsistency to be very interesting. Her death is definitely a mystery, and I would love to know more about it to see if there were any similarities or markings in her death that were similar to the 3 boys that were murdered.
I think I will have to watch part 3 now, just to round out the series and see if it gives me closure.
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