IL - Krystal Tobias, 9, & Laura Hobbs, 8, found dead in Zion park, 8 May 2005 - #2

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I remember this story back when the girls first went missing back in 2005. The details still make me cry. Two little girls savagely attacked like that... it is unforgettable. I have been donating my time, attention and heart to child abuse and missing child cases ever since. Rest in peace, angels. I just wish I could do more. I'm working on going back to school and getting a degree in child development so I can really make a difference.
 
Article about false confessions, specifically Hobbs and the Fox case. I hope Hobbs has a lawyer who is going to sue the you-know-what out of that county.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-forced-confessions-20100711,0,5509713.story

snip...

Confessions carry powerful weight with juries, and, as shown in the Hobbs case, they also strongly influence authorities. In 2008, Lake County Judge Fred Foreman agreed with prosecutors that Hobbs should remain imprisoned without bail, despite the revelation that his DNA did not match the semen found on his daughter's body.

Prosecutors suggested that Hobbs' daughter Laura had gotten the DNA in her body because she was found in a wooded area where people apparently go to have sex — in spite of the fact she was fully clothed.

Lake County prosecutors have not said if they have ruled out Hobbs as a participant in the crime, but they announced they're renewing their investigation in light of the DNA evidence.


snip...
 
Hobbs to stay in jail; family hires private investigator

By Lisa Black and Dan Hinkel, Tribune reporters July 22, 2010


Hobbs to stay in jail; family hires private investigator


The first time JoAnn Hobbs saw her son after he was charged with killing his 8-year-old daughter and her young friend, he blurted out that he'd confessed to the slayings, she said.

"Mama, they broke me," she said he told her.

She believed Jerry Hobbs III when he told her he was forced to confess after 20 hours of interrogation in May 2005 — and she believes him today, she said.

After staying silent for years out of fear of jeopardizing the Zion case, she said she decided to speak up Wednesday after Lake County prosecutors were granted a second two-week continuance to investigate DNA evidence linked to another man in custody.

Hobbs' attorney also filed a motion asking for a hearing to argue that Hobbs should be released on bond. Judge Fred Foreman set a status hearing and bond hearing for Aug. 4.

For now, Hobbs, 39, remains in jail with a murder trial scheduled Oct. 6. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

<snip>

JoAnn Hobbs, frustrated that her son remains in jail, has hired a private attorney, Kathleen Zellner, to investigate the case.

Zellner won a civil lawsuit filed against Will County on behalf of Kevin Fox, who was incarcerated for eight months in the murder and sexual assault of his 3-year-old daughter until DNA evidence exonerated him.

"The family has hired me to see what's going on in the case and why it's taken five years," Zellner said. "It isn't complicated when you have DNA. And this is better DNA than we had in the Fox case."


full article at link:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...ct-met-hobbs-hearing-20100722,0,7642478.story

DNA LINKED TO ANOTHER MAN. Lake county prosecutors this is not rocket science! If you think, for one moment DNA LINKED TO ANOTHER MAN is not enough for reasonable doubt, you've all lost your marbles and you will be wasting tax payer money.


Here's a clue: Investigate the DNA and CHARGE THE OTHER MAN! It is not rocket science, it is good investigating and admitting when you've made a mistake rather than adding Lake County to this list of profoundly incompetent/corrupt (word I can't use due to TOS) counties in NE Illinois.

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
 
Cubby said:
Here's a clue: Investigate the DNA and CHARGE THE OTHER MAN! It is not rocket science, it is good investigating and admitting when you've made a mistake rather than adding Lake County to this list of profoundly incompetent/corrupt (word I can't use due to TOS) counties in NE Illinois.

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
Click to expand...

I give it 50/50 that the prosecutors will try to come up with a "Hobbs and Torrez did this together" theory.
 
I think prosecutors would have a hard time tying Hobbs and Torrez together because Torrez would have still been a teen at the time and was the friend of Krystals brother according to media articles.

If I had to take a guess, I'd think prosecutors are probably trying to figure out how to avoid being sued for botching this case and keeping a man incarcerated for 5 years when they had known for a long time the DNA didn't match Hobbs.

I'd also guess Lake county might have some 'splaining to do about how much effort they put into identifying Torrez's DNA when witnesses might have been able to tie Torrez being around the girls the day they were murdered. Did Torrez hang out with Krystals brother that day and if so, how exactly did LE rule Torrez out previously?
Was Krystals brother ever interviewed by LE or did they immediately suspect Hobbs without looking into other possible suspects?

Just questions I have on my part as to how thorough Lake County investigated this case.

JMO
 
In *some* ways, I cut prosecutors and LE a bit of slack--as an undergrad, I spent a summer interning in a DA's office. After I went to law school, I ended up on the defense side of things (I'm not a practicing attorney now, but when I was about 20% of my practice was criminal defense).

When you're a defense attorney, your role is pretty clear-cut: you represent your client to the best of your ability, according to their wishes--if they want a trial, even if you think/know they're guilty, you give them the best defense at a trial that you can. If you're a prosecutor, in some ways it's harder--you have to walk a line between protecting the public, but also *not* prosecuting (even if there is a "confession") if you think the person that LE is pointing at didn't do it. It's a huge responsibility that I decided I wanted no part of.

Things like eye-witness accounts, and confessions (and I'm referring to ones obtained under situations like this one--the 20 hour interrogation--ugh) are powerful things. Even though I know, intellectually, how inaccurate they can be (I've read the studies, and I've seen first-hand examples), I'll admit--when I first saw this thread pop up a few weeks ago, I went and read from the beginning--and I was feeling sure that Hobbs was the guy--until I read of the DNA evidence.

It's an extremely frustrating situation, and I wish I had answers on how to keep this sort of injustice from happening. Better training, and better rules about interrogation are a start (I *hate* that cops are allowed to lie to people with total impunity), but other than that? I dunno. I seriously don't envy the kinds of decisions and judgment calls that LE and prosecutors have to make, but I *also* wish they'd be a lot more open to owning up to mistakes.
 
Thanks for the excellent post RLynne. I agree on all points.
 
RoseRed said:
No Mistakes Made, Hobbs Case Prosecutor Insists

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/Waller.Hobbs.no.2.1845718.html

Also another article prosecutor says he does not even owe Hobbs an apology.
Click to expand...

I've seen this sort of behavior from the prosecution before.
For instance, the guy in OH who was falsely convicted of murder of his mother in law, Clarence Elkins-even after it was found out the DNA did not match him, prosecution was fighting against his release and over-turning his case.
 
Ex-Marine linked to girls' murders charged in death of Navy officer Amanda Snell

Torrez, 22, of Arlington has been charged with murdering 20-year-old Snell, in her barracks room at Joint Base Myer in Henderson Hall, officials said in a news release, reports CBS affiliate WUSA.

<snip>


Torrez was already in prison for the abduction of two Va. women and the abduction and rape of another, reports Arlnow.com. On Dec. 10, 2010, Torrez was sentenced to five life terms plus 168 years, which he is currently serving at Red Onion State Prison, in Pound, Va.


Full article at link.


Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20072091-504083.html#ixzz1Pjaj1q5P


Still wondering if Lake County is going to charge this man for the murders of Krystal and Laura. I hope they are not going to leave this case unsolved because the person likely responsible received life in another case in another state. Krystal and Laura still deserve justice.
 
Older article from August 2010


WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) - A northern Illinois man who'd been jailed since 2005 on first-degree murder charges in the deaths of two young girls is a free man.
Prosecutors dropped charges against 39-year-old Jerry Hobbs on Wednesday after DNA evidence found on one of the girls was linked to someone else.

http://www.wqow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12924726


ETA: I've asked the mods to move this thread from currently awaiting trial to cold cases since no one is currently charged with the murders of these two precious children.
 
I missed this from earlier this year. The following info is from May of this year.

Jerry Hobbs was jailed for five years awaiting trial, having been charged in the murders of his 8-year-old daughter, Laura Hobbs, and her friend, Krystal Tobias, 9. Their bodies were found in 2005 in the Beulah Park Forest Preserve in Zion.



Now, a onetime friend of the Tobias family, Jorge Torrez, is charged. Torrez, 23, was charged Tuesday by the Lake County State&#8217;s Attorney&#8217;s office.

Torrez is already serving five life terms for attacking women in Virginia.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/05...d-in-2-high-profile-lake-county-murder-cases/
 
Ex-Marine held in killing of 2 girls in Lake County in 2005 due to stand trial first in Virginia in woman's slaying

Jorge Torrez, 24, is charged locally with killing Laura Hobbs, 8, and Krystal Tobias, 9, in Zion in 2005. The case has attracted notice not just for its brutality but because prosecutors charged Laura's father, Jerry Hobbs, who spent five years in jail before Torrez emerged as a suspect.

But Torrez will not face those charges before he stands trial in the death of Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Amanda Snell, 20, in 2009 on a Washington, D.C., -area military base. Torrez's trial is scheduled to start in four months.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-torrez-change-of-venue-20120919,0,3272281.story
 
Another older article. This one is from august of 2011. Not sure if this was posted previously.

"I'm not denying that (the DNA) is mine," he said. "Once I tell them how my DNA got there, I'm walking."
Torrez said he has an alibi and three witnesses to prove his innocence in the double murder. He said he will eventually explain why his semen was found in the girl.
He couldn't kill a person, Torrez said. "All my friends and family know I don't do (expletive) like this," he said.


http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...0819_1_alberto-segura-laura-hobbs-zion-park/2

:maddening:

Interesting article about Jorge Torrez and another of his victims.

It's good to know this is likely never going to see the light of day outside prison even if this never makes it to trial here in Illinois. Looks like Illinois is in line behind other states trying this :censored: person.
 
Cubby said:
Another older article. This one is from august of 2011. Not sure if this was posted previously.

"I'm not denying that (the DNA) is mine," he said. "Once I tell them how my DNA got there, I'm walking."
Torrez said he has an alibi and three witnesses to prove his innocence in the double murder. He said he will eventually explain why his semen was found in the girl.
He couldn't kill a person, Torrez said. "All my friends and family know I don't do (expletive) like this," he said.


http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...0819_1_alberto-segura-laura-hobbs-zion-park/2


:maddening:

Interesting article about Jorge Torrez and another of his victims.

It's good to know this is likely never going to see the light of day outside prison even if this never makes it to trial here in Illinois. Looks like Illinois is in line behind other states trying this :censored: person.
Click to expand...

Wow. Scary. "...I'm walking."

Should have been locked up and then one woman would still be alive. He's sick.
 
<snipped>

Jurors in Virginia today found Zion native Jorge Torrez guilty of murdering a 20-year-old Navy sailor in the barracks building they shared in 2009, clearing the way for federal prosecutors to seek his execution.

****

Lake County State's Attorney Mike Nerheim has said he plans to send a top deputy to watch the Virginia sentencing. The prosecutor hopes to try Torrez for the Zion killings promptly after the federal proceedings.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...virginia-navy-murder-20140408,0,6825823.story
 
Only just became aware of this case and it is just incredible, Jerry Hobbs was kept in prison a further 3 years after the DNA was not a match to him, I wonder if they ever looked at Torezz when the girls were first murdered, he was a friend of her brother so was known to the family, incredible to think that at 16 he not only raped and murdered the girls but was able to get away with it for years, and then was able to go on and commit other horrifying violent sexual attacks and at least one murder that he has been convicted of,
 
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