Viable suspect: Terry Hobbs #1

[Ausgirl]

Not at anyone in particular, but....

PLEASE NOTE: It's not really the place for hot debate and endless quibbling -- there's many other threads for that. I am after here, a collection of reasons why Hobbs IS a good suspect -- please refrain from derailing it.

 

[Compassionate Reader]

So, to (hopefully) bring this full circle, if Damien is a suspect because he has been caught in multiple lies (although some of these supposed lies are totally not case related), Terry should equally be a suspect because he has been caught in multiple lies, one of them being that he had not seen Steven on May 5, 1993 (which, IMO, is a little more relevant than Damien fudging on his place of residence to a television talk-show host). I think that any confusion over Jacoby's declaration can be cleared up by reading paragraphs 3 and 4:

3. I am a friend of Terry Hobbs and Pam Hobbs. On May 5, 1993, I lived in the same neighborhood as Terry and Pam Hobbs and their children Stevie Branch and Amanda Hobbs. Stevie Branch was one of the three little boys murdered in the Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Arkansas on or about May 5, 1993.

4. The murders, the investigation into the murders, the victims, the families of the victims, the trials of the three teenagers ultimately convicted of the murders ("the West Memphis Three"), their appeals, and the question of whether the West Memphis Three actually committed the murders have received a lot of national and local press attention since 1993. I personally have received a great deal of requests for interviews from the press, as well as from investigators and writers, regarding the questions of who committed the murders and whether Terry Hobbs was involved in the murders of the three little boys. I have generally refused to talk to the press about the murders, the events relating to the murders and Terry Hobbs.

5. Terry Hobbs and I worked together at the Memphis Ice Cream Company in Memphis, Tennessee in May of 1993.

It seems obvious to me that, beginning with paragraph 5 and continuing on through paragraph 19, Jacoby is sequentially recounting the events, as he recalls them, surrounding the murders of Christopher, Michael and Steven.

May we please move on?

 

[Ausgirl]

So, to (hopefully) bring this full circle, if Damien is a suspect because he has been caught in multiple lies (although some of these supposed lies are totally not case related), Terry should equally be a suspect because he has been caught in multiple lies, one of them being that he had not seen Steven on May 5, 1993

^ Good stuff. What other lies? Is there is a point form list anywhere?

 

[kyleb]

if Damien is a suspect because he has been caught in multiple lies

No, Echols' being a compulsive liar isn't what made him a suspect, let alone what lead to is conviction, and picking decade and a half old recollections of minor events to brand others contradictory recollections a liar is absurd.

 

[Compassionate Reader]

I don't consider TH lying about seeing the boys inconsequential. In fact, since it's possible that TH was one of the last persons to see the boys alive, I consider that particular lie to be of major import.

Ausgirl,

1. Nothing happened with Mildred French.

2. When Jackie Hicks, Jr. was shot, the gun shot him while [TH] was holding it, but he wasn't responsible.

3. TH claims that he and Jacoby never played guitars on May 5, 1993.

4. TH claims that he was never alone while searching for the boys; Pam contradicts his statement.

5. TH claims that he took Steven's pocket knife from Steven before the murders; Pam claims that she was surprised that Steven did not have the knife on him when he was killed.

That's a few. Maybe others can post more.

 

[kyleb]

I don't consider TH lying about seeing the boys inconsequential.

It wouldn't be inconsequential if it could be proven that he was lying, but clinging to decade and a half old recollections which contradict his to claim proof of such is absurd, as is doing so with other minor details in such distant memories of others.

 

[reedus23]

No, Echols' being a compulsive liar isn't what made him a suspect, let alone what lead to is conviction, and picking decade and a half old recollections of minor events to brand others contradictory recollections a liar is absurd.

Did you really just call whether or not TH saw his step-son on the day he disappeared a minor event?

 

[UdbCrzy2]

Did you really just call whether or not TH saw his step-son on the day he disappeared a minor event?

Please supply the documentation with a link that says 'TH saw his step-son'. I honestly cannot say that I've seen it. If you are referring to Jacoby's declaration that doesn't REALLY say that. It actually says the Jacoby saw him and three boys sometime that day.

 

[Graznik]

There isn't really much left to add. All I can do is agree with the previous posters about what makes Hobbs a very viable suspect indeed.
However, I don't think no one has mentioned how Hobbs stayed in his car while the Byers' and Dana Moore were talking to the police and reporting their sons missing? I'll try to dig out the source for that, unless anyone knows what testimony that is from of the top of their head.

 

[primitivefuture]

Please supply the documentation with a link that says 'TH saw his step-son'. I honestly cannot say that I've seen it. If you are referring to Jacoby's declaration that doesn't REALLY say that. It actually says the Jacoby saw him and three boys sometime that day.

http://callahan.8k.com/pdf/affidavit_jamie_clark_ballard.pdf


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[Miranda!]

I honestly cannot say that I've seen it.

Well hopefully you have now as the link is given above.

If you are referring to Jacoby's declaration that doesn't REALLY say that. It actually says the Jacoby saw him and three boys sometime that day.

OK. If I concede that, would you be so kind as to give us an approximate time frame for this sighting? Before you post it, maybe read point 6 of the declaration of Jacoby's again first. Unless you are trying to make a case for Jacoby lying too?

 

[Miranda!]

. . . I don't think no one has mentioned how Hobbs stayed in his car while the Byers' and Dana Moore were talking to the police and reporting their sons missing?

Good catch! And this took place around 8:00pm and after Meek had gone is the first time JMB actually met Hobbs. What I find fascinating is that Hobbs has tried to hector him into saying that they met earlier that evening! Very BIG red flag. But he does get a couple of points for attempting to bully Byers in to changing his memory. Courage or desperation?

 

[kyleb]

Did you really just call whether or not TH saw his step-son on the day he disappeared a minor event?

Hobbs seeing Stevie was a minor and common occurrence in general, which makes it easy for people's memories to blur regarding when they actually witnessed as much over the decade and a half between the murders and when they came forward with such recollections.

http://callahan.8k.com/pdf/affidavit_jamie_clark_ballard.pdf

From that affidavit, point 13:

The next day, I saw Ryan at school and he was very upset. Ryan told me that the boys had never come home and that the police had found the bodies of the Stevie, Michael and Christopher. Ryan was so upset. When he told me that the boys had been killed, I said something like, "What, I just saw your brother last night playing in my backyard!" Ryan was crying and said to me, "Why didn't you tell my brother to come home?" That really upset me and I told Ryan, "I did tell him to come home!" They let out school and everyone went home soon after that.

So Ryan went to school the day after his brother went missing and stayed in school after he was informed his brother was dead? While that's not impossible it seems rather unlikely. Has Mark Byers on anyone else ever corroborated Ballard's claims of such?

 

[UdbCrzy2]

Good catch! And this took place around 8:00pm and after Meek had gone is the first time JMB actually met Hobbs. What I find fascinating is that Hobbs has tried to hector him into saying that they met earlier that evening! Very BIG red flag. But he does get a couple of points for attempting to bully Byers in to changing his memory. Courage or desperation?

BBM

What exactly do you mean by 'hector'? Please show me where it is that Hobbs is hectoring Jacoby? Got a link?

Above about Ballard. How could they have gotten past the door to door search/questioning done? Even if they were gone for the evening she claims to not seeing police anywhere, but in fact there was a search going on with as many as 40 people or more.

Why didn't Lax, Echol's investigator find her? It's very odd that she waits all this time to come forward.

 

[Graznik]

Good catch! And this took place around 8:00pm and after Meek had gone is the first time JMB actually met Hobbs. What I find fascinating is that Hobbs has tried to hector him into saying that they met earlier that evening! Very BIG red flag. But he does get a couple of points for attempting to bully Byers in to changing his memory. Courage or desperation?

Yes, it's a very big and very bright red flag. His alibi inconsitencies are worrying. I can understand why somone to whom that date bares little to no significance would have a hard time trying to recollect the events of that day. Most of us would. But to someone whos stepson was missing, and later found murdered, you would think that the events of those days would be crystal clear. So why aren't they?! Is it because he was never interviewed by the police until 2007, or never interrogated until the Pasdar suit? He never needed to remember?! Or is it because, plain and simple, his whereabouts just don't add up?! Anyhow, it's suspicious behaviour.

 

[Miranda!]

What exactly do you mean by 'hector'? Please show me where it is that Hobbs is hectoring Jacoby? Got a link?

Sorry, maybe it is an English word that did not make it across the Atlantic? It is another way of saying 'bully' 'harrass'; try to 'persuade' in a rather aggressive manner.
I am unable to 'show' you this as it is something I was told by one of the parties involved which was, I seem to remember, confirmed by another who was present on one of the occasions! It might also have happened in the course of a telephone conversation as well and been recorded, but it was some time ago now.

Above about Ballard. How could they have gotten past the door to door search/questioning done? Even if they were gone for the evening she claims to not seeing police anywhere, but in fact there was a search going on with as many as 40 people or more.

Why didn't Lax, Echol's investigator find her? It's very odd that she waits all this time to come forward.

Not odd at all. They had made the perfectly legitimate sssumption that a step-father would have provided police with the information of when he last saw his step son and his two friends. Normal step-parents do things like that. The people who saw this event did not learn that Hobbs claimed not to have seen his step-son that day until, I believe, it came out in the Pasdar deposition and was made available on line. The witnesses called it in on the tip-line.

Can you give me a link to wmpd documentation of any door to door done anywhere near where the Hobbs' lived? Had they done one then there is a high chance that the wmpd might have had a statement from the Jacobys back in 1993. They did not even formally, or informally, interview Terry Wayne Hobbs until 2007!

What hard evidence is there of a serious and organised search with up to 40 people involved that evening? No officers were ever drafted in from other parts of the county or even State. Just local police and members of the CCDTF.

I am still awaiting your response as to when you think Jacoby might have seen the boys other than early evening as he says he did. I am not asking for links or anything to back it up.

 

[primitivefuture]

Sorry, maybe it is an English word that did not make it across the Atlantic? It is another way of saying 'bully' 'harrass'; try to 'persuade' in a rather aggressive manner.
I am unable to 'show' you this as it is something I was told by one of the parties involved which was, I seem to remember, confirmed by another who was present on one of the occasions! It might also have happened in the course of a telephone conversation as well and been recorded, but it was some time ago now .

Sorry I'm confused. Did you mean hobbs tried to bully jacoby into saying they met earlier that evening? Or that he was trying to bully JMB to say they met earlier that evening?



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[UdbCrzy2]

Sorry, maybe it is an English word that did not make it across the Atlantic? It is another way of saying 'bully' 'harrass'; try to 'persuade' in a rather aggressive manner.
I am unable to 'show' you this as it is something I was told by one of the parties involved which was, I seem to remember, confirmed by another who was present on one of the occasions! It might also have happened in the course of a telephone conversation as well and been recorded, but it was some time ago now.

Not odd at all. They had made the perfectly legitimate sssumption that a step-father would have provided police with the information of when he last saw his step son and his two friends. Normal step-parents do things like that. The people who saw this event did not learn that Hobbs claimed not to have seen his step-son that day until, I believe, it came out in the Pasdar deposition and was made available on line. The witnesses called it in on the tip-line.

Can you give me a link to wmpd documentation of any door to door done anywhere near where the Hobbs' lived? Had they done one then there is a high chance that the wmpd might have had a statement from the Jacobys back in 1993. They did not even formally, or informally, interview Terry Wayne Hobbs until 2007!

What hard evidence is there of a serious and organised search with up to 40 people involved that evening? No officers were ever drafted in from other parts of the county or even State. Just local police and members of the CCDTF.

I am still awaiting your response as to when you think Jacoby might have seen the boys other than early evening as he says he did. I am not asking for links or anything to back it up.

I'm not familiar with hearing the word 'hectoring' at all and that's why I asked about it.

So the 'hectoring' that you are talking about is hearsay from someone that you know who was told about the 'hectoring' and now you are telling us here about it. I guess that's why it wasn't in Jacoby's statements or that it couldn't be linked to.

That's triple hearsay.

 

[primitivefuture]

I'm not familiar with hearing the word 'hectoring' at all and that's why I asked about it.

So the 'hectoring' that you are talking about is hearsay from someone that you know who was told about the 'hectoring' and now you are telling us here about it. I guess that's why it wasn't in Jacoby's statements or that it couldn't be linked to.

That's triple hearsay.

Main Entry: 2hector
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): hec·tored; hec·tor·ing \-t(-)ri\
Date: 1660
intransitive verb
: to play the bully : swagger
transitive verb
: to intimidate or harass by bluster or personal pressure



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[Miranda!]

Sorry I'm confused.

Hobbs wanted Byers to change his description of his movements that night in order for it to mesh with Hobbs' and thus back up the latter's alibi etc!