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Jolie Rouge
05-11-2005, 08:27 AM
By NICOLE ZIEGLER DIZON, Associated Press Writer


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 34-year-old 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.

Pavletic said Hobbs told investigators he believed Laura had stolen money from her mother. She had been grounded, but her mother let her go out and play on Sunday, Mother's Day. When she didn't return at 7 p.m. as she had been told, he went looking for her, he said.

He also told authorities the other girl, Krystal, had pulled out a paring knife to try to defend her friend and he had taken it from her and stabbed both of them.

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.

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Associated Press writer Nathaniel Hernandez in Zion, Ill., contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

City of Zion: http://www.cityofzion.com

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/girls_dead

Jolie Rouge
05-12-2005, 09:55 AM
Father Stabbed Girls 30 Times
By NICOLE ZIEGLER DIZON

WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) - The man accused of stabbing to death his 8-year-old daughter and her best friend hunted his child down in a park in a fit of rage because she was supposed to be grounded for stealing money, prosecutors said Wednesday.

A judge denied bail for 34-year-old ex-convict Jerry Hobbs after prosecutors said he admitted in videotaped and written statements to beating and stabbing his daughter Laura Hobbs and 9-year-old Krystal Tobias on Mother's Day.

He claimed the older girl pulled a knife on him, but prosecutors said they doubt that.

The girls were found dead Monday in a park in Zion, the day after they never came back from a bike ride. They had more than 30 stab wounds between them, and Laura was stabbed in each eye, prosecutors said. "You can see through the injuries to these two individuals the rage that was exhibited. This was a slaughter of two little girls,'' prosecutor Jeff Pavletic said.


Hobbs, who had been released from a Texas prison last month, said he thought Laura had stolen money from her mother, prosecutors said. She was supposed to be grounded on Mother's Day, but her mother let her go out and play, so Hobbs went out to find her and bring her home, Pavletic said. ``Mr. Hobbs believed that her mother was too lax in her supervision of Laura,'' the prosecutor said.


But when Hobbs found the girls, Laura refused to go home, and he beat and stabbed the girls with a small kitchen knife, prosecutors said. Hobbs then allegedly dragged them into the woods and left them side-by-side.


Hobbs told investigators that Krystal pulled the knife to defend her friend, and he wrested it away. But prosecutors said they doubt the little girl was carrying a blade. ``It was a brutal beating, repeated punching of the two little girls and then repeated stabs. It's pretty horrible,'' State's Attorney Michael Waller said.


Hobbs stared at the courtroom floor as Pavletic described the case against him. Public Defender David Brodsky said he had not seen details of the case and could not comment yet, but he said he would assign two capital defenders to represent Hobbs.


A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 9, but Brodsky said he expects Hobbs will be indicted by a grand jury before then. He also said his office would investigate whether Hobbs' statements should be admissible in court.


Hobbs has a long criminal history dating to 1990 in Texas, including arrests for assault and resisting arrest.


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 prosecutor Rick Mahler in Texas. No one was injured.


Hobbs was sentenced to 10 years' probation but failed to appear for required meetings and was thrown in prison in 2003.


He and Hollabaugh, who never married, had three children together. They were reunited after his release and were living with Hollabaugh's parents in Zion, a town of about 22,000 along Lake Michigan north of Chicago.


Outside the home where Jerry Hobbs and Sheila Hollabaugh had lived with their children, a man who identified himself as a family spokesman Wednesday read a brief statement and said they would have no other comment. ``The entire family wants to express their deepest sympathy for the Tobias family,'' Jeremy Harter said. ``They wanted to thank the Zion community for all their support throughout this trying time.''


Down the street, outside Krystal Tobias' home, there was makeshift memorials of flowers and teddy bears on a path leading up to house.



05/12/05 01:28

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20050512%2F0128896401.htm&photoid=20050510ILCA103&ewp=ewp_news_0505missing_girls

Peanut818
05-12-2005, 07:18 PM
This just makes me sick and want to cry, to think what these little girls went through and what their mom's will have to go through every day and then it will be worse on mother's day. :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( I know this is sad to say but at least the girls will be in heaven together.

I just can't imagine, what these families are going through. Sending prayers!!!