and the NY TImes added some:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/10/na...0cnd-slay.html
Father Arrested in Slaying of Two Girls in Illinois
By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
Published: May 10, 2005
The father of one of two young girls found stabbed to death in a park on Monday was arrested and charged today with two counts of murder, easing the fear but not the shock that has gripped the town of Zion, Ill., since the girls were reported missing on Mother's Day.
The charges against the father, Jerry Hobbs, were announced at a televised news conference this afternoon by the Lake County state's attorney, Michael J. Waller. Both children had been beaten and stabbed, he said at the press briefing in Zion, about 45 miles north of Chicago. Officials said there were no obvious indications of sexual assault.
"This horrible crime has terrorized and traumatized the Zion community and, I think it's safe to say, people of good will everywhere," said Mr. Waller, who described it as the "most horrific crime" he had seen in 30 years in law enforcement.
Mr. Hobbs reported finding the bodies of his missing 8-year-old daughter, Laura, and her best friend Krystal Tobias, 9, early Monday while he and Laura's grandfather, Arthur Hollabaugh, who is Mr. Hobbs's father-in-law, searched Beulah Park, in Zion.
Laura and Krystal had been bicycling and playing in the neighborhood on Sunday, Mother's Day. When they did not return home that night, their families called the police.
Mr. Hollabaugh told The Associated Press today that he and Mr. Hobbs began searching at first light on Monday and eventually spotted a child's bicycle in the bushes part way down a wooded ravine in the park.
Minutes later, he said, Mr. Hobbs screamed that he had found the girls' bodies. "I went and I seen them from a distance," Mr. Hollabaugh told The A.P. "It was clear they were laying there."
Mr. Hollabaugh said he did not believe that his son-in-law had killed the girls.
"Jerry just got out of prison for aggravated assault, and I think they're holding that against him," Mr. Hollabaugh told The A.P. "I don't think he did it."
During today's news conference, Mr. Waller said he could not provide details about the evidence against Mr. Hobbs because state law bars such disclosures until a suspect has had a bond hearing. Mr. Hobbs's hearing is set for 10 a.m. Wednesday.
"We believe we have a compelling case against this defendant, and that will come out in due course," Mr. Waller said.
The prosecutor did say that Mr. Hobbs' actions after he was questioned by the authorities had "piqued the officers' interest" in him as a possible suspect. Mr. Waller declined to describe those actions.
Mayor Lane Harrison told reporters at the news conference that word that the killings did not appear to have been the work of a stranger might help calm his town of 22,000. But, Mayor Harrison added, "We will all have questions until the day we die."
Citing records from the Texas Department of Public Safety, The Associated Press reported that Mr. Hobbs has an extensive criminal history dating to 1990 in Texas, including arrests for assault and resisting arrest.
The records also show that Mr. Hobbs has had a rocky relationship with Laura's mother, Sheila Hollabaugh. Mr. Hobbs was arrested in 2001 after arguing with her, grabbing a chainsaw and chasing residents around the Texas trailer park where they lived at the time, according to an assistant district attorney in Wichita County, Rick Mahler. Mr. Hobbs was eventually subdued by a blow to the back with a shovel, Mr. Mahler told The Associated Press.
Mr. Hobbs was convicted of aggravated assault and sentenced to 10 years' probation, but he failed to appear for his required meetings, so his probation was revoked in 2003 and he was imprisoned until his release on April 12, the news service reported.
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Is it just coincidental that the father was the one who found the girls? Or is he being made a scapegoat because of his criminal past?