Memo to God: World Is Broken, Please Start Over

[Gentle Giant]

In a good world, this should never happen.

Father arrested in slaying of two girls
By Mike Colias, Associated Press Writer | May 10, 2005

ZION, Ill. --A man was arrested on murder charges Tuesday in the Mother's Day stabbings of his 8-year-old daughter and the little girl's best friend, who were killed after they went biking in a park.

Jerry Hobbs, who was recently released from prison, had led police to the bodies just off a wooded bike path early Monday, claiming he spotted them while searching for his daughter, the girl's grandfather, Arthur Hollabaugh, told The Associated Press.

Hobbs, 34, was questioned through the day about the deaths of Laura Hobbs, 8, and Krystal Tobias, 9.

Both girls had been beaten and stabbed repeatedly in the woods and left to die, Lake County Coroner Richard Keller said. The girls were found side-by-side and did not appear to have been sexually assaulted. They appeared to have been killed Sunday evening near the area where they were found, he said.

Lake County State's Attorney Michael Waller said in announcing the charges Tuesday that he could not discuss possible motives for the killings, but prosecutors said more details would come out when Hobbs appears in bond court Wednesday morning.

Authorities said Tuesday that additional charges could be filed, but they did not specify what they might be.

"This horrific crime has terrorized and traumatized the Zion community and I think it's safe to say people of good will everywhere," Waller said.

Outside the Tobias home, Krystal's 15-year-old brother, Albert, said he had never met Hobbs but knew Hobbs was searching with his own family the night his sister was killed.

"We never thought a father would do that to a daughter," Albert Tobias said. "They were just babies. They didn't do anything wrong."

In front of the Hollabaughs' house, "No Trespassing" and "Keep Out" signs printed in black and orange had been posted on a fence.

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

Before being released April 12, he had served two years in a Texas prison for chasing neighbors with a chain saw during an argument with Laura's mother, Sheila Hollabaugh, according to Wichita County, Texas, Assistant District Attorney Rick Mahler.

No one was hurt in the 2001 incident, and someone subdued Hobbs by hitting him in the back with a shovel, Mahler said. Hobbs was sentenced to 10 years of probation but failed to appear for required meetings, so his probation was revoked in 2003 and he was imprisoned.

Hobbs had been living with the Hollabaughs after his release, Arthur Hollabaugh said. He said he worried authorities might be trying to railroad Hobbs in their search for the girls' killer.

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

Hollabaugh said authorities confiscated clothes and a computer from the house.

He described the search for his missing granddaughter and said the two men were in the woods shortly before dawn Monday when they spotted Laura's bike part way down a ravine in the brush.

Minutes later, he said, Hobbs was screaming that he had found the bodies.

"I went and I seen them from a distance," Hollabaugh said. "It was clear they were laying there."

[Enforcer]

It's hard to even read a story like this.

[Monte Smith]

A single bullet could have prevented this.

[Gary Sisco]

Don't tempt the Motherfucker unless you're a hell of a water tredder.

[patricia]

Never has a thread title been more heart-breakingly true.
We adults are expected to protect our little people. To me, that is our most important responsibility. It seems more and more, I read of cruelty to children I wonder if indeed the world is broken?
What is the matter with these people???? Outrage is the feeling that every adult should feel. I don't care why this happened. There is no reason to hurt a child. NONE.

[walto]

Don't blame God--he/she prolly doesn't even exist! Why not rather blame the religions that are currently charged with the moral instruction of Americans. Maybe Christianity, Judiaism, etc. aren't doing such a hot job and should be permanently discharged.

[Noj]

One has to wonder what could possibly bring forth such a horrendously evil act from any person. I just hope there's an appropriately punishing Hell waiting for this scum when he dies, and an appropriately comforting Heaven for the two innocent little girls.

There is no comfort for the remaining three parents who no longer have their respective daughters to love, theirs are wounds that will never heal.

[patricia]

Whether or not God exists, we are responsible for how this world is being mishandled. In a way, believing in a force outside ourself to step in and deal with real evil is a cop-out.
These horrible occurances are not an example of God taking his/her eye off the ball, but an example of US setting priorities that don't include cherishing and guarding our most vulnerable. We see evil everywhere else in the world, but not in our midst. We have to again CARE, not just murmer, "Ain't it awful??" and once again do nothing to repair ourselves and our society.

[jazzy mary]

I read this horrible story too. No offence to anyone but I'm not sure if society can really do anything to prevent someone from doing this horrible, crazy thing. This guy was CLEARLY crazy--he terrorized his wife with a CHAIN SAW, for God's sake. Perhaps it could have been prevented by keeping the guy in prison forever. Sadly, guys like this sick man are human time bombs.

[jazzy mary]

Addendum, the guy is innocent until proven guilty. Maybe he didn't do it, but it doesn't look good. Whenever there is an horrific crime like this, it's usually a case of cherchez the father, mother, boyfriend, step-father, husband etc.

What ever happened in the Ramsey case???

[Enforcer]

I read this guy confessed. Up next:

[lynn]

Father admitted killing his daughter and her friend, Illinois authorities say
Updated at 13:27 on May 11, 2005, EST.

WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) - The father of an eight-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' eight-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 said in a television interview 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.

[Dr Dave]

Well, thank you, Jerry Hobbs, for reminding us all that we are capable of just about anything, including killing our kids.

We wail and gnash, but there really isn't anything we can do about guys like this. In this society, we don't lock people up because we're afraid they may do something (well, except for Enemy Combatants...). We have to wait until they do it. Sometimes, as now, with horrible consequences.

[crawjo]

I'm reserving judgment, because if the guy was mentally imbalanced and the interrogation lengthy, who knows how valid the confession actually is.

[sonic1]

I don't often find a reason to quote Soundgarden, but:

"black hole sun won't you come, won't you come...."

Originally Posted by crawjo

I'm reserving judgment, because if the guy was mentally imbalanced and the interrogation lengthy, who knows how valid the confession actually is.

Amazing............

But then again, you were quite adamant about reserving judgement on the guy in Sarasota, Fl. who was videotaped kidnapping a young girl, then later led the police to her dead body.

Give him a fair trial you wailed.

I sometimes think that you will only believe someone is guilty if you witness the crime firsthand.

Originally Posted by sonic1

I don't often find a reason to quote Soundgarden, but:

"black hole sun won't you come, won't you come...."

I agree.

Shitcan all of society because of this one twisted motherfucker.

[jesus marion joseph]

Originally Posted by Scott Dolan

Give him a fair trial you wailed.

What's the problem with that? As Dave pointed out, we still have *some* constitutional guarantees left.

OTOH, if this guy *is* sane, and the confession *was* validly obtained, I am all on board with locking the SOB up forever and a day.


Hedging his bets,

jmj

[Slurpy]

Originally Posted by sonic1

I don't often find a reason to quote Soundgarden, but:

"black hole sun won't you come, won't you come...."

Sorry, it's believed our Sun isn't massive enough to collapse into a black hole.
It is believed that it'll go Red Giant tho, and fry all our asses, literally, to a cinder.

Carry on then...

[Pete C]

A horrible incident, but what does it have to do with "the world," alleged deity notwithstanding.

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by jazzy mary

cherchez the father

I'm not guilty!

[Sergio Zamora]

Originally Posted by crawjo

I'm reserving judgment, because if the guy was mentally imbalanced and the interrogation lengthy, who knows how valid the confession actually is.

Reading the above articles made me feel sick and angry and it actually pained me, but nevertheless I agree. Call me bleeding-heart all you want, but unless we start dealing with and learning what causes a man to commit such horrible acts - and this is clearly a mental imbalance whether or not it qualifies as legal insanity - these things will continue to happen and we will not have made progress. We're too afraid to confront these issues, so we settle with cleaning up the mess.

Don't get me wrong - if this was my child, I'd do everything I possibly could to ensure this man suffered a long and painful death. I can't reconcile that with my humanistic social tendencies, so I won't try.

Originally Posted by Pete C

I'm not guilty!

I didn't realize that you are Spanish now.

When did you convert?

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by Scott Dolan

I didn't realize that you are Spanish now.

When did you convert?

All the Afro-Cuban stuff I've been listening to all these years stuff did the trick.

[jazzy mary]

Hey Pete, that was the "vous" form, now if I had used the "tu" form, you'd be in trouble!

Originally Posted by Pete C

All the Afro-Cuban stuff I've been listening to all these years stuff did the trick.

Osmosis can be a dangerous thing in the wrong hands.

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by jazzy mary

Hey Pete, that was the "vous" form, now if I had used the "tu" form, you'd be in trouble!

But you'd be in bigger trouble for incorrectly forming an imperative!

[jazzy mary]

Precisely, and I would hate to do that!!

[Gentle Giant]

Whomever made the decision to let this monster out of jail, I hope he or she is in some serious pain right now.

This man stabbed his 8-year-old daughter in her eyes. My daughter is 8 years old. When I look into her eyes I see infinite beauty and possibility. An 8-year-old's eyes retain the look of innocence, and yet they show an awareness that maybe wasn't there a year or two ago. They get it now. They read real books, they sense what's going on in the news. They've known of births and deaths, they understand that life is more complex than they once thought. My daughter believes in God. She knows we are in a war and that wars are wrong - especially this one. Her eyes betray this, and yet still they sparkle like the Hope Diamond when she's on stage, when we're singing "Help!" in the car, when she watched the trapeze artist at the circus last weekend.

Why in the eyes? Why?

Prosecutors: Father stabbed girls 30 times
By Nicole Ziegler Dizon, Associated Press Writer | May 11, 2005

WAUKEGAN, Ill. --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.

I think this guy could be innocent, GG.


We musn't rush to judgement.