JERRY HOBBS: (3): STATE'S ATTORNEY MICHAEL WALLER ON HOBB'S ARREST IN 2005; "WE HAVE A COMPELLING CASE AGAINST THIS DEFENDANT;" CNN;

"Lake County State's Attorney Michael Waller declined to speculate on a motive, saying there was no "rational explanation" for the killings.

Hobbs, 34, could face the death penalty. But Waller said whether to pursue it is not a decision he wants to make "in the heat of the moment."

"The arrest today is the first step in the process of bringing this person to justice," he said.

Waller said the girls were not lured to the park; rather they encountered Hobbs there.

Waller said police questioned several relatives, but the others "didn't pique the officers' interest like he did."

"We believe we have a compelling case against this defendant, and all of that will come out in due course," he said."

CNN;

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BACKGROUND: The northern Illinois man jailed on first-degree murder charges in the 2005 stabbing deaths of his daughter and another young girl was freed early in August, 2010, after prosecutors dropped charges because DNA evidence from the crime scene matched that of another man. Hobbs, 39, had pleaded not guilty in the stabbing deaths of his 8-year-old daughter, Laura, and her friend, 9-year-old Krystal Tobias in Zion, about 50 miles north of Chicago. Prosecutors in Lake County had several months earlier that DNA from the crime scene matched another man who once lived in Zion but was in custody in Virginia after being charged in two attacks on women. The DNA match came on June 25 from a national database, where the man's DNA had been recently entered, according to Lake County Deputy State's Attorney Jeffrey Pavletic. Prosecutors then relaunched their investigation. The man in custody in Virginia has not been charged in the 2005 Zion deaths. In May 2005, Jerry Hobbs reported finding the girls' bodies near their homes in Zion. Both had been stabbed numerous times. Prosecutors alleged Hobbs killed them because he was angry his daughter was outside when she was supposed to be home. Police said Hobbs confessed to the slayings, but his attorneys said the confession was coerced. Both defense attorneys and prosecutors have acknowledged there was no physical evidence linking Hobbs to the killings.

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Arrest stories tend to be tinged with irony often years later when the accused person is exonerated - often through - and it is evident that the accused person could not have committed the crime. The CNN story on Hobb's arrest - which reeks with details of Hobb's criminal background which make him appear likely to be the killer - is no different. Of course the reader remains unaware that any confession the police relied on in laying the charge had been obtained after a 20 hour interrogation of a grieving father, and that there was not a single iota if physical evidence connecting him to the crime. Yet, State Attorney Waller believed that the state had "a compelling case" against Hobbs, and asked the public to accept that "all of that will come out in due course." Five years later we are still waiting, Mr. Waller;

Harold Levy...Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;

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"ZION, Illinois (CNN) -- Police have taken Jerry Hobbs into custody and charged him with murdering his 8-year-old daughter, Laura, and her best friend, 9-year-old Krystal Tobias," the CNN story on Jerry Hobb's arrest, published on May 11, 2005, begins, under the heading, "Father charged in girls' deaths: Hobbs served time for assaulting girl's mother."

"The second-grade classmates are believed to have been stabbed to death Sunday on Mother's Day," the story continues.

"He was reported to have found the girls' bodies early Monday in a wooded park just blocks away from their elementary school, said police in Zion, about 40 miles north of Chicago.

Lake County State's Attorney Michael Waller declined to speculate on a motive, saying there was no "rational explanation" for the killings.

Hobbs, 34, could face the death penalty. But Waller said whether to pursue it is not a decision he wants to make "in the heat of the moment."

"The arrest today is the first step in the process of bringing this person to justice," he said.

Waller said the girls were not lured to the park; rather they encountered Hobbs there.

Waller said police questioned several relatives, but the others "didn't pique the officers' interest like he did."

"We believe we have a compelling case against this defendant, and all of that will come out in due course," he said.

Hobbs' bond hearing is scheduled for Wednesday morning.
Criminal record

Hobbs was released from prison in Texas last month after serving nearly two years for violating his probation. He had been serving time after pleading guilty to assault in 2001 against Laura's mother, Sheila Hollabaugh, said Rick Mahler, an assistant district attorney in Wichita Falls, Texas.

"He started chasing people around with a chainsaw that was running," Mahler said. "Somebody hit him with a shovel, knocked him down. Those people held him until the police arrived."

Hobbs was arrested again in 2003 after failing to show up for visits with his probation officer and skipping anger management classes.

In addition, Hobbs has served time in county jails on a variety of misdemeanor charges, ranging from assault to possession of marijuana and resisting arrest, Mahler said.

School Superintendent Connie Collins said the killings have left the community "in terrible shock." (Full story)

"It's very difficult to begin to understand something like this," Collins said. "It's something that was not expected. In a community like this, we have never had this type of experience, so it's been very difficult for everyone."
Girl 'had a smile for everybody'

Laura's grandmother, Emily Hollabaugh, said her granddaughter was "a typical 8-year-old girl" who "always had a smile for everybody," and Krystal was "just as sweet as Laura was."

"I have a lot of questions, but it's just mostly rage at whoever could do this to two little girls," she said.

Lake County Coroner Richard Keller said each girl had been stabbed at least twice. Investigators found no initial signs they had been bound or sexually assaulted, he said.

Keller estimated the time of death at 1 to 2 a.m. Monday, but said that estimate could be affected by rain and cool temperatures in the area.

Parents, police and city and school officials were expected to attend a community meeting Tuesday night to talk about the killings, to offer safety tips and to provide an update on the investigation, Collins said.

She said the girls' class had recently touched on the issue of loss.

"Fortunately, in talking with the classroom teacher, she shared with me that the children recently read a couple of books on loss -- 'Charlotte's Web' and 'The Taste of Blackberries,' " Collins said. "The children had an opportunity to discuss feelings and talk about what it meant to lose someone and to share with each other."

The girls were last seen riding bicycles Sunday afternoon. One of the bikes was recovered near the spot where their bodies were found, shortly after 6 a.m. Monday by a man taking a walk in Beulah Park, a spot that neighborhood parents warn children to avoid.

"It's out of sight of many adults who might possibly be around the kids or monitoring them," Collins said. "We try to keep them in the open."

Hollabaugh said the girls were seen playing in the park about 5:30 to 6 p.m. Sunday.

"I know she didn't come home for dinner and we got worried, and her brothers and sisters went out looking for her," Hollabaugh told Chicago television station WLS. "They didn't find her, and then, about 9 o'clock, they called the police."

Zion Police Chief Doug Malcolm said the bodies were found about 100 yards off a bicycle path in a wooded area on the north end of the park.

Zion isn't used to such criminal events, said Mayor Lane Harrison. "This is an unusual occurrence for our community," she said. "We are going to do everything we can to bring this to a quick resolution."

Zion, population 23,000, had three reported homicides in 2002 and none in 2003, according to the police department's annual reports.

CNN's Chris Lawrence and Keith Oppenheim contributed to this report."

The story can be found at:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/10/illinois.girls/index.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-feature-cases-issues-and.html

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;