Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2004 1:20 pm
Posts: 7730
Location: Portland, OR
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I'm actually surprised no one has talked about this on the board... did I miss a topic? If so, I apologize in advance.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/11/illino ... index.html
Prosecutors: Dad admits stabbing daughter, friend to death
Ex-convict charged with first-degree murder
Wednesday, May 11, 2005 Posted: 3:54 PM EDT (1954 GMT)
WAUKEGAN, Illinois (CNN) -- An ex-convict accused of killing his daughter and one of her playmates has admitted to stabbing the girls to death in the suburban Illinois community of Zion, authorities said Wednesday.
Jerry Hobbs, 34, was charged Wednesday with two counts of first-degree murder and denied bond, Lake County State's Attorney Michael Waller said.
Hobbs' 8-year-old daughter, Laura, and her 9-year-old classmate, Krystal Tobias, were found dead Monday, a day after disappearing while riding their bikes in a park in the town about 40 miles north of Chicago.
According to Assistant Lake County State's Attorney Jeffrey Pavletic, Hobbs told investigators that he went to the park to bring his daughter home.
In his statement, Hobbs said that after an argument ensued, he punched his daughter and her friend, then stabbed them, Pavletic said.
Laura was stabbed 20 times, including once in each eye, and Krystal was stabbed 11 times, he said.
Pavletic said Hobbs told investigators that Krystal tried to defend his daughter with a 4- to 6-inch knife and that he took it away from her during the fight and stabbed them.
Waller said he will make a decision on whether to seek the death penalty within the next 60 days.
Hobbs' next scheduled appearance in court is June 9 for a preliminary hearing.
On Wednesday morning, Waller told CNN the killings were among the worst he has ever seen.
"I think what you had is a person who is unlike the rest of us, and he can't control his rage and something set him off, and it was resulting in one of the most brutal, vicious attacks on two little girls that I've ever seen," he said.
"It's so horrendous and fortunately so outside the realm of normal human activity." Suspect had criminal record
Zion, population 23,000, had three reported homicides in 2002 and none in 2003, the last year for which police issued an annual report.
Hobbs was released from prison in Texas in April after serving nearly two years for violating probation for an assault charge he had pleaded guilty to in 2002, said Rick Mahler, an assistant district attorney in Wichita Falls, Texas.
The assault charge stemmed from a 2001 altercation with Laura's mother, Sheila Hollabaugh, Mahler said.
"He started chasing people around with a chainsaw that was running," he said. "Somebody hit him with a shovel, knocked him down. Those people held him until the police arrived."
Hobbs was arrested in 2003 after failing to show up for visits with his probation officer and skipping anger management classes. He was sentenced to two years in prison on the probation violation.
He also had served time in county jails on a variety of misdemeanor charges, ranging from assault to possession of marijuana and resisting arrest, Mahler said.
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