David Jacoby is a West Memphis, Arkansas, man whose name has surfaced in the West Memphis Three case as a friend and former coworker of Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of eight-year-old victim Stevie Branch. Hobbs used time spent with Jacoby on the evening of May 5, 1993, as part of his alibi. A hair consistent with Jacoby’s DNA was later recovered from a tree stump near where the three boys’ bodies were found, and in 2013, two sworn affidavits named him as one of four alleged participants in the killings. Jacoby has never been charged in connection with the murders and has denied any involvement.
Who David Jacoby Is
Jacoby lived in West Memphis and knew Terry Hobbs as a friend and coworker. His name entered the case because Hobbs told police the two spent part of the evening of May 5, 1993, together, the same evening Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore disappeared after riding their bikes near Robin Hood Hills. The boys were found the next day in a drainage ditch, naked, beaten, and bound with their own shoelaces.1Encyclopaedia Britannica. West Memphis Three
Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley Jr. were convicted of the killings in 1994 and released in 2011 after entering Alford pleas. In the years since, attention has shifted repeatedly to Hobbs and, by extension, to Jacoby.2Arkansas Advocate. Arkansas Supreme Court Reverses West Memphis Three Ruling, Allows for DNA Testing
The Alibi and Its Timeline Problems
Hobbs told police he was with Jacoby for a significant portion of the evening, an account that placed him away from Robin Hood Hills during the window when the boys are believed to have been killed.3Famous Trials. Who Killed the Three Boys
Jacoby’s own recollection has not fully matched. In the 2012 documentary West of Memphis, he expressed doubt about how much time he actually spent with Hobbs that night. An account in The Atlantic noted that while the filmmakers got Jacoby to question Hobbs’ timeline, he also “can’t seem to recall the exact sequence of events that night — perhaps understandably, given that it took place 18 years ago.”4The Atlantic. The Unsettling Recklessness of Peter Jackson’s West of Memphis One case-record summary describes the two men as “together then not together then back together” over the course of the evening, with Jacoby last seeing Hobbs around 8:45 p.m.5Encyclopedia of Arkansas. West Memphis Three
Jacoby has said repeatedly that he was not with Hobbs when the boys disappeared.6Talk Business & Politics. Evidence Testing in West Memphis Three Case Could Be Completed by End of July
The Hair on the Tree Stump
In 2007, defense attorneys secured DNA testing of crime-scene evidence using methods that had not been available in the 1990s. The results excluded Echols, Baldwin, and Misskelley from the biological material recovered at the scene.7Innocence Project. Who Are the West Memphis Three Two findings pointed elsewhere.
A hair recovered from one of the shoelace ligatures used to bind Michael Moore was consistent with Terry Hobbs’ DNA, matching a profile shared by roughly 1.5 percent of the population.3Famous Trials. Who Killed the Three Boys A separate hair found on a tree stump near the location where the bodies were discovered was consistent with the DNA of David Jacoby.8Los Angeles Times. DNA Evidence Casts Doubt on West Memphis Three Convictions
Hobbs suggested his hair could have transferred to the ligature through ordinary household contact with his stepson. He offered no comparable explanation for how Jacoby’s hair reached the tree stump.9AY Magazine. Murder Mystery: The West Memphis Child Murders Conclusion Jacoby did. Asked about the finding in a 2013 interview with WMC-TV, he said: “They said close to the crime scene because at one time I did walk near where they had found the kids with Terry Hobbs, his father-in-law, his wife. But I didn’t wear hats back then, my hair could have blown around anywhere.”10Action News 5. Evidence Points to 4 New Suspects in WM3 Case
The legal brief that first disclosed the DNA findings stated that the evidence “does not establish guilt of Hobbs or Jacoby.”8Los Angeles Times. DNA Evidence Casts Doubt on West Memphis Three Convictions
The 2013 Affidavits Naming Jacoby as a Killer
On February 15, 2013, two men filed sworn affidavits naming four people as the actual killers: Terry Hobbs, David Jacoby, and two teenagers from a local trailer park, L.G. Hollingsworth and Buddy Lucas. Attorney Ken Swindle, representing victim family members Pam Hicks, Mark Byers, and the estates of two of the murdered boys, presented the affidavits to a Crittenden County judge on March 27, 2013.10Action News 5. Evidence Points to 4 New Suspects in WM3 Case
The accounts came secondhand, drawn from alleged confessions by Hollingsworth and Lucas. Billy Wayne Stewart said Lucas told him in April 1995 that the four had driven to a dirt road near the Blue Beacon Wood on May 5, 1993, and that when the three boys appeared on bikes, Hobbs shouted an order to grab them. According to Stewart’s account, Lucas said Hobbs beat one of the boys, sexually assaulted him, and used a knife to mutilate his genitals, after which Hobbs and Jacoby killed all three boys to silence them.3Famous Trials. Who Killed the Three Boys
Bennie Guy said Lucas told him in 1994, “me, L.G. Hollingsworth and two men, we was there with them boys. We did it.”11WREG. New Details in New Affidavits About West Memphis Murders Guy also said Hollingsworth confessed while the two were incarcerated together at the Crittenden County Jail in 1995, and that he sent a detailed letter about the confessions to Prosecutor Scott Ellington in February 2012 without receiving a response.3Famous Trials. Who Killed the Three Boys
Versions of the accounts differed on Jacoby’s specific role. One described him personally beating one of the children; another cast Hobbs as the primary aggressor with Jacoby present and participating in the cover-up.12WREG. Hearing Held Today About West Memphis 3 Evidence
Credibility Issues With the Affidavits
The sources came with problems. Stewart was an admitted drug dealer and Guy a convicted felon. The source material describing their accounts noted a “level of detail and overall plausibility” that made them “seem highly credible,” while also acknowledging those backgrounds.3Famous Trials. Who Killed the Three Boys
Why Jacoby Has Not Been Charged
Prosecutor Scott Ellington said all four names in the affidavits had been “investigated thoroughly.”10Action News 5. Evidence Points to 4 New Suspects in WM3 Case The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that authorities said the individuals had been “previously excluded as suspects.”13Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Filings in Lawsuit Claim Four Killed Three Boys Judge Victor Hill denied Swindle’s initial request to allow the victims’ parents to view the physical evidence. No charges followed the affidavits, and the West Memphis Police Department has never named Jacoby a suspect.14Oxygen. Who Is Terry Hobbs, Stepfather of Stevie Branch
Jacoby reportedly ran from news cameras outside the courthouse after the 2013 hearing.14Oxygen. Who Is Terry Hobbs, Stepfather of Stevie Branch In Oxygen’s docuseries The Forgotten West Memphis Three, he said of the night the boys went missing: “I wish I knew what happened, but then again I don’t want to know what happened.”15Oxygen. David Jacoby Talks About the Night the Boys Went Missing
What New DNA Testing Could Reveal
Jacoby’s name is likely to come up again as the case reopens forensically. On April 18, 2024, the Arkansas Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s denial of Damien Echols’ petition for new DNA testing, ruling that Arkansas law permits anyone alleging actual innocence to petition for testing regardless of whether they are currently incarcerated.2Arkansas Advocate. Arkansas Supreme Court Reverses West Memphis Three Ruling, Allows for DNA Testing In June 2025, Judge Tonya Alexander signed an agreed order directing the West Memphis Police Department and the Arkansas State Crime Lab to release the ligatures, human hairs, and other items to Bode Technology in Virginia for analysis using modern methods, including a wet-vacuum system called M-Vac.16KAIT8. Judge Orders DNA Testing of WM3 Evidence
The evidence had previously been believed lost. The state told the court in 2021 that it did not exist, but it was later found in a box at the West Memphis Police Department.17UALR Public Radio. Judge Allows New DNA Testing in West Memphis Three Case Attorney Patrick Benca, representing Echols, has said the M-Vac system can extract minute skin cells from the interior of the knotted shoelaces, potentially identifying who tied them.18KATV. New DNA Testing in West Memphis 3 Case
As of mid-June 2026, the evidence remained at Bode Technology with no results released. Lonnie Soury, a spokesman for Echols, said testing could be completed by the end of July 2026.19Action News 5. West Memphis 3 DNA Test Results Expected Next Month Whatever those results show about the shoelaces will speak directly to the question that has followed Jacoby since 2007: how his hair ended up on a tree stump next to three dead boys.