Authorities: Illinois Father Admits Killings (for breaking curfew)

Associated Press ^ | May 11, 2005 | Nicole Ziegler Dizon

[AntiGuv]

WAUKEGAN, Ill. - The father of an 8-year-old girl who was slain along with her best friend admitted to authorities that he was the killer, saying he was angry at the girl for breaking curfew, authorities said Wednesday.

A judge denied bond Wednesday for Jerry Hobbs after prosecutors described a videotaped interview in court in which he allegedly told investigators he stabbed the girls to death.

Hobbs' 8-year-old daughter, Laura Hobbs, and her friend Krystal Tobias, 9, were found dead Monday in a park in Zion, the day after they vanished.

The father, who had been released from a Texas prison last month, told investigators he was angry at Laura when he tracked her and Krystal in the wooded park, punched her and then killed both girls, prosecutors said.

Hobbs, shackled and in a dark blue jail uniform, stared at the floor as Assistant Lake County State's Attorney Jeff Pavletic described the case against him.

Hobbs led police to their bodies Monday morning, claiming then that he found them while searching for his missing daughter. In videotaped interviews, however, prosecutors say Hobbs told them he killed the girls, stabbing his daughter repeatedly in the neck and eyes, after Laura refused to leave the park when he ordered her to go home.

State's attorney Michael Waller told NBC's "Today" earlier Wednesday that the father had showed a lack of emotion and that "things didn't add up" in his interviews with police.

The prosecutor said Hobbs went looking for his daughter and that Krystal "just happened to be there," before the father killed both girls.

Hobbs has an extensive criminal history dating to 1990 in Texas, including arrests for assault and resisting arrest, according to Texas Department of Public Safety records.

Just last month, he was released from a Texas prison after serving time for an assault in 2001. He had argued with Laura's mother, Sheila Hollabaugh, then grabbed a chain saw and chased neighbors until someone hit him in the back with a shovel, according to Rick Mahler, assistant district attorney for Wichita County, Texas. No one was injured.

Hobbs was sentenced to 10 years probation but failed to appear for required meetings, so his probation was revoked in 2003.

Arthur Hollabaugh said Hobbs had been living with the Hollabaughs after his release.

"Jerry just got out of prison for aggravated assault, and I think they're holding that against him," Hollabaugh said before police announced the charges. "I don't think he did it."

Zion, along Lake Michigan, was founded in 1901 by a religious faith healer. It has about 22,000 residents but retains a quiet — at times, rural — feel despite being on the edge of both the Chicago and Milwaukee metropolitan areas.

At the entrance to Beulah Park, where the bodies were found, more than a dozen children stood quietly around a growing memorial of flowers, balloons and stuffed animals.

One sign read: "May your angels rest peacefully in heaven."

At a prayer vigil later Tuesday evening, Krystal's family and about 200 community members gathered outside her home and somberly walked the block and a half to Laura's house. The slain girls' families hugged each other and began crying.

[wrathof59]

Like I said yesterday, after he's determined to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, take him outside the next day at sunrise and put a bullet in his head.

Anything less is not justice.

[Steve_Seattle]

Now THERE'S an angry white man.

[lilylangtree]

"Hobbs had been living with the Hollabaughs after his release"

One would think that the dumb mother would have learned the first time.

[najida]

Agreed,
I don't think he went from a 'Cuddles and Kisses' kind of father to this...

[WENDON]

And "Mommy" brought him into her home.

"Welcome home from prison, honey. Would you mind taking care of the kids?"

Friggin' mother of the year candidate.

[Freemyland]

"Like I said yesterday, after he's determined to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, take him outside the next day at sunrise and put a bullet in his head."

He confessed. There goes reasonable doubt. Time for phase 2 of your plan.

[wideawake]

Hmmm . . . I predicted that when the Governor suspended the death penalty there would soon be a case that would demonstrate once again why the death penalty is necessary.

[Space Wrangler]

Nope, just that this guy is an enraged scumbag with no self-control, and is a sub-human animal. The mother has some responsibility in this as well for allowing someone so dangerous near her child. She'll be paying for that mistake for the rest of her life, so I won't harp on it.

[End Times Sentinel]

Just last month, he was released from a Texas prison after serving time for an assault in 2001. He had argued with Laura's mother, Sheila Hollabaugh, then grabbed a chain saw and chased neighbors until someone hit him in the back with a shovel, according to Rick Mahler, assistant district attorney for Wichita County, Texas. No one was injured.

Hobbs was sentenced to 10 years probation but failed to appear for required meetings, so his probation was revoked in 2003

Damn.  A feller like that, you'd think he'd be all rehabilitated, and upon release the lions would be sleeping with the lambs.

There's a special place in hell for "men" like Jerri Hobbs who beat and stab little girls to get their way.

Owl_Eagle

(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,

 it was probably sarcasm)

[cynicalman]

She'll be paying for that mistake for the rest of her life, so I won't harp on it.

Will she or will she continue to live the lifestlye she has been living all these years.

[cynicalman]

She'll be paying for that mistake for the rest of her life, so I won't harp on it.

Will she or will she continue to live the lifestlye she has been living all these years.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

This man - and I hesitate to call him such -

He is not a man. He is an animal. And since this animal has demonstrated its inability to live among civilized human beigs, it should be killed immediately and turned into fertilizer. I will volunteer to pull the trigger if no one else will.

[oceanview]

and he will get a nice clean cell, three meals a day, access to the law library and weight room, TV - for the rest of his life at taxpayer expense.

[FormerACLUmember]

Evil eyes. As opposed to Jeffifer Wilbanks manic eyes.

[writmeister]

She'll be paying for that mistake for the rest of her life, so I won't harp on it.

Until she pops out a few replacements with some other loser.

[oceanview]

good point, but they can't make it retroactive to snuff out this scum.

[It's me]

Stabbed her in the neck and eyes!!!

What a sick man.She was probably looking at him imploring him to stop. And he couldn't take it. I hope he will live with the image of her pleading eyes until his death.

Sick, sick, sick!

[speed_addiction]

Notice how this cowardly bastard is all about chasing women and kids with a chainsaw and killing little girls but did not want any payback from the guy who busted him with a shovel.