In November 1993, John Mark Byers was brought in for questioning. He had given a knife away to a film crew making a documentary of the crime. He stated that the knife had never been used. When it was analyzed by police and was discovered to have blood on it at one point, he said that he had used it to cut up deer meat. The results showed that the blood was Christopher Byer's blood type. John Mark denied knowing how it got there. Another item that could also possibly link John was another hair found on the victims. It was a black Caucasion hair, which was microscopically indentical the both Damien and John. John was also taking a number of prescriptions, one of which Carbamazephine, which was also found in Christopher's body. With all the evidence pointing to John, police never considered him a suspect. He was on friendly terms with investigators and was a drug informant. The shoe print found at the scene did not match anything owned by Damien, Jessie, or Jason.
The patterned injuries on Steven Branch were pite marks, not caused by a serated knife blade as originally thought. The bite marks did not match Jessie, Damien, or Jason. On Christopher Byer, the impression of a knife handle was found. Another pattern on Steven's back were identified as foot prints. There as also a torn piece of clothing in the hands of James Moore.
The clearing that the boys were found in was only a dump-site, not the place of the murders. The crime most likely involved four scenes: the abduction site, attack site, vehicle used to transport, and the dump-site. There was no blood found near the boys. No screaming was heard. Search parties were searching the area. The evidence is consistent with a Battered Child or a Child-Custodial Homicide. The crime was punitive in nature. The attacked could not have attacked all three boys unless they trusted him. The severity of the injuries very. James Moore seemed to only be attacked because he was with the other two. Steven Branch and Christoper Byers received the majority of the rage. Bite marks often are associated with Battered Child Homicide. There were healed injuries on Christopher, which proves abuse.
Jessie was sentanced to life in prision. Jason received the same. Damien was sentanced to death by lethal injection.