The Unusual Suspects

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It was old-fashioned police work that led to the arrests. Investigators made casts of identical tire tracks at six churches, matching the pattern and size to a database of manufacturers. That narrowed the field to Toyota 4Runners and similar SUVs, and agents then methodically interviewed everyone in the nearby counties who owned such a vehicle. By the second week of March, they had questioned Cloyd's mother. Investigators say Cloyd cracked first, to his parents, who informed authorities; Moseley filled in the details for police. The three boys face five-to-20-year sentences per count if convicted.

The absence of any apparent racial motive for the crimes is a small comfort in Birmingham. But the demise of the churches, some more than 100 years old, is still painful. "I began to sense loss for our older people," says Jim Parker, pastor at Ashby Baptist in Bibb County. "They were baptized and married here, and their people are buried here," he says. "But when the children started really crying, I realized it was all they had ever known too." Some things have changed in Alabama, but grief remains the same.