Kathleen Zellner
Charges Dropped Against Jerry Hobbs, Father Accused of Murder
Associated Press
Chicago - A
northern Illinois
man jailed on first-degree murder
charges in the 2005 stabbing deaths of his daughter and another young
girl was
a free man Wednesday after prosecutors dropped charges because DNA
evidence
from the crime scene matched that of another man.
Jerry Hobbs, 39, arrived at the brief court hearing in a blue
prison
jumpsuit and handcuffs, and a short time later -- after changing his
clothes --
was released from custody, according to the Lake County Jail.
"We're glad that Jerry has been released today," said Keith
Grant,
an assistant public defender. "It's been a long time coming."
Hobbs 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.
Last month, prosecutors in Lake
County
announced 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.
Lake
County
State's
Attorney Michael Waller said
he was not convinced that Hobbs
didn't have a role in the killings, but he said he didn't believe the
case
could be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
"The priority at this point is holding somebody responsible
for these
murders," he said at a news conference. "We're working as quickly as
we can."
Waller's office declined to comment further on the case. Hobbs'
whereabouts were not immediately clear
and messages left Wednesday for his attorney were not immediately
returned.
Hobb's mother, JoAnn Hobbs of Wichita
Falls, Texas,
said Lake
County
officials were expected to
bring her son to Texas.
"After over five years, I might get him back but he will never
be the
same," JoAnn Hobbs told the Chicago Tribune.
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.
