A Slaughter of Two Little Girls

From CBS 2 Chicago WBBM:

The man accused of stabbing his 8-year-old daughter and her best friend to death on Mother's Day 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 Lake County Circuit Court judge denied bond for 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.

The girls were found dead Monday in a park in Zion, the day after they vanished. They had 30 stab wounds between them -- some of Laura's were so severe that they went through her neck and into her spine, said Assistant Lake County State's Attorney Jeff Pavletic.

"You can see through the injuries to these two individuals the rage that was exhibited. This was a slaughter of two little girls," Pavletic said.

...The 34-year-old father, who had been released from a Texas prison last month, said Laura had stolen money from her mother and was supposed to still be grounded on Mother's Day, according to prosecutors. But her mother let her go out and play, prompting Hobbs to go look for her in order to bring her home, Pavletic said.

"Mr. Hobbs believed that her mother was too lax in her supervision of Laura," Pavletic said.

When Hobbs found the girls, he told authorities that Laura refused to go home and he punched her for disobeying, Pavletic said. According to Hobbs, Krystal then pulled out a potato knife to try to defend her friend, and he attacked her as well, the interviews show. Hobbs said he wrested the knife from her, hit her, and then stabbed both girls repeatedly, Pavletic said...

"It was a brutal beating, repeated punching of the two little girls and then repeated stabs. It's pretty horrible," Lake County State's Attorney Michael Waller said.

Laura was stabbed 20 times in the neck and abdomen and once in each eye, prosecutors said. Krystal was stabbed 11 times in the neck and torso.

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

For the two years up until April 12, he was in a Texas prison serving time for assault involving an argument with Laura's mother, Sheila Hollabaugh, during which he grabbed a chain saw and chased her and neighbors through the trailer park where they lived, 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 probation but failed to appear for required meetings, so his probation was revoked in 2003 and he was imprisoned until last month.

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.
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Jerry Hobbs is an animal. He is soulless, pure evil. His crimes are incomprehensible, murdering two little girls, stabbing his own daughter in her eyes.

In this case, there are a number of "what ifs".

Hobbs' history of violent crime dates back fifteen years. This recidivist should never have been allowed back into society. Which judge was responsible for his latest release from prison? What if a Hobbs had received a stiffer sentence and he remained locked up?

Hobbs committed the murders of these two precious children with an unimaginable rage. What if some professionals along the way had better assessed the viciousness within him and the danger he posed to others?

After an argument, Hobbs threatened Sheila Hollabaugh, the mother of his children, with a chain saw. What if she had never allowed Hobbs back into her life and the lives of her children?

Krystal and Laura would be alive.

"For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, 'It might have been'."--John Greenleaf Whittier