The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson is funding an investigation into the 1993 deaths of three eight-year-old boys. The murders were believed to be part of a Satanic cult ritual, due to one of the boys having been castrated. Three Arkansas teenagers — Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin, who were dubbed the “West Memphis Three” — were found guilty despite a lack of DNA evidence. They were released from prison last Friday (August 19) after reaching a plea deal called “The Alford Plea” — in which they admitted their guilt before a judge in return for their freedom, while at the same time being allowed to maintain their innocence. Jackson, along with Johnny Depp, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and several other celebrities believe the three are innocent and have spent considerable time and money requesting their release. Jackson wants to continue to investigate the crime in order to get them exonerated and find the real killer. He wrote last Friday on Facebook: “Let’s not think for a second that justice was served today. Far from it… All three men had to accept the conditions of the plea—if one refused, they would all stay in prison, probably for another 2 to 3 years, until their inevitable retrial, which would have almost certainly found them innocent… There’s also a triple child killer who has walked free for the last 18 years.”