Found Deceased OK - Aja Johnson, 7, Geronimo, 24 January 2010 - #3

[Oriah]

Where in the exam notes/pictures are you finding cuts underneath her clothing?

The only cuts I see mentioned are on the neck where it mentions "cuts vs tears".

Give me a few and I'll go back and find it for you.

 

[LogicalMinds]

It is easy to take things out of context...

I never said that all alcoholics and addicts are "bad people" but honestly most active ones do some bad things , perhaps without meaning to

I do feel that THEY can change...but some people are pure evil..which Hobbs sounds like he was just pure evil, fueled by booze and drugs

we see the same things happen over and over

Maybe I just want to cut through this sometimes and state what I see as clear and logical facts : maybe to prevent future tragedies

I think the "lady and the snake" is very true...HOBBS WAS A SNAKE AND EVERYONE JKNEW IT....THIS COULD BE USED TO PREVENT FUTURE TRAGEDIES

I think there is a lesson to be learned here : that people should expect the worst and hope for the best

The kids have to come FIRST

as someone else said here maybe the emphasis should be on the "responsible/good parent"...get help for THEM

Hopefully some child will be saved when a custodial parent puts their foot down and doesn't let the "bad parent" gain control

If there is a court order...enforce it....if it means putting your ex in jail, so what...better that than to stand at your child's grave. JMO of course

 

[sarx]

I am with you, I am very pro LE, but they are not infallible, and just like the rest of us, they are not all created equal. Putting anyone on a pedestal just because of their title or job description is unwise, never assume anything.

Sorry, I should have said tracks instead of prints, I was referring to what animals tracks were around, it would go a long way to explaining marks and the state of the body.

I think this is also a case where they found her, they found her killer, and therefore the search for evidence kind of just came to a halt. Nothing needed for prosecution, case closed, KWIM?

 

[Oriah]

I am with you, I am very pro LE, but they are not infallible, and just like the rest of us, they are not all created equal. Putting anyone on a pedestal just because of their title or job description is unwise, never assume anything.

Sorry, I should have said tracks instead of prints, I was referring to what animals tracks were around, it would go a long way to explaining marks and the state of the body.

I think this is also a case where they found her, they found her killer, and therefore the search for evidence kind of just came to a halt. Nothing needed for prosecution, case closed, KWIM?

KWIM entirely, my friend.

 

[LogicalMinds]

One would THINK they would have welcomed the help of the FBI...

why didn't they?? Hobbs had relatives in that area who were telling LE he might
come there...but they didn't have enough people to search?? Why didn't they call in
the FBI...heck call in the National Guard or whatever??? This is so sad and so much "coulda shoulda woulda"

I am so sorry for Aja. So many people failed this little girl

 

[Oriah]

Give me a few and I'll go back and find it for you.

darlin gal,
it is not listed as such in the reported article released- the one you posted earlier (although the notation that there were 'no cuts on her clothing' is interesting. I believe I read cuts and abrasions on the actual ME report, but I will have to dig some to find that. I'll get back when I chase down that email.

Oriah

 

[sarx]

One would THINK they would have welcomed the help of the FBI...

why didn't they?? Hobbs had relatives in that area who were telling LE he might
come there...but they didn't have enough people to search?? Why didn't they call in
the FBI...heck call in the National Guard or whatever??? This is so sad and so much "coulda shoulda woulda"

I am so sorry for Aja. So many people failed this little girl

Because there is a pride issue that gets in the way. LE just like anyone can be very territorial and the sad fact is that it can get in the way and does.

 

[wfgodot]

I'm pro-LE too, but one really must live or have lived in the state of Oklahoma to understand what an utter shambles LE is here. While OSBI boasts of its solve-rate, many if not most of those cases I suspect are clearly drug-involved - people on drugs killing other people on drugs, because of drugs. Those aren't tough to figure (though kudos to them for clearing the cases, anyway). Anything complex? Not so much.

It's a long litany: from the double murder/arson & kidnapping of Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible in 1999 in rural Welch (fifteen minutes from where I sit), to Taylor and Skyla in Weleetka, to Pastor Carol Daniels in Anadarko, to Joe Neff in Poteau, and on to Aja - none of these cases had satisfactory outcomes, and there are not a few others. "Oklahoma justice" (never was a phrase more oxymoronic) seems mainly to be based on a system of power and favor.

It's odd - when I was growing up in southeast Kansas, OSBI enjoyed a sterling reputation. Then came 1977 and their botching of the Locust Grove Girl Scout murders, and things seem to have gone downhill ever since. And it's OSBI's attitude, as much as anything, that rankles - just trot spokesperson Jessica Brown out in front of the cameras with excuses and attacks on the doubters and hope the unsolved kidnappings and homicides bury themselves quickly. There's pride, there's ego - and then there is rank amateurism and systemic corruption.

In a state rife with many prejudices, where political hypocrisy is deeply ingrained and in fact encouraged, Oklahomans are reaping what they have sown. And that's sad, because, by and large, Oklahomans are a warm and friendly people.

 

[Oriah]

KWIM entirely, my friend.

sarx, actually I understood you meant animal tracks- just thought I'd also note that no one on our end picked up any human activity. But again, bare in mind the weather was all over the place, so with melting, warm, snow, freezing, melting, warm....it was messy.
There were several tracks that appeared to be from larg(er) animals, but could have been something like coyote. There was evidence of buzzards, hawks, eagles, etc all around the LT area. Sometimes, certain types of birds will also grab and carry remains farther than a predatory animal on the ground.

I don't know. I just don't understand how we missed it 9 days after the fact, but I guess we need to up our OWN training.

 

[sarx]

Don't blame yourself Oriah (I know, it's easy for me to say, I blame myself everytime, but do as I say not as I do!)
I think sheer exhaustion may have been your biggest enemy on this one, for both you and the pups. I don't know the specifics, but I do know you worked past the breaking point.

 

[Oriah]

I'm pro-LE too, but one really must live or have lived in the state of Oklahoma to understand what an utter shambles LE is here. While OSBI boasts of its solve-rate, many if not most of those cases I suspect are clearly drug-involved - people on drugs killing other people on drugs, because of drugs. Those aren't tough to figure (though kudos to them for clearing the cases, anyway). Anything complex? Not so much.

It's a long litany: from the double murder/arson & kidnapping of Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible in 1999 in rural Welch (fifteen minutes from where I sit), to Taylor and Skyla in Weleetka, to Pastor Carol Daniels in Anadarko, to Joe Neff in Poteau, and on to Aja - none of these cases had satisfactory outcomes, and there are not a few others. "Oklahoma justice" (never was a phrase more oxymoronic) seems mainly to be based on a system of power and favor.

It's odd - when I was growing up in southeast Kansas, OSBI enjoyed a sterling reputation. Then came 1977 and their botching of the Locust Grove Girl Scout murders, and things seem to have gone downhill ever since. And it's OSBI's attitude, as much as anything, that rankles - just trot spokesperson Jessica Brown out in front of the cameras with excuses and attacks on the doubters and hope the unsolved kidnappings and homicides bury themselves quickly. There's pride, there's ego - and then there is rank amateurism and systemic corruption.

In a state rife with many prejudices, where political hypocrisy is deeply ingrained and in fact encouraged, Oklahomans are reaping what they have sown. And that's sad, because, by and large, Oklahomans are a warm and friendly people.

Thank you for this post, wfogot. My recent experience entirely, right down to the by and large friendly Oklahomans. In fact, when I called my friend Gayle of the Cherokee nation early on, she said to me- don't worry about the locals or the indians (she is native american.) Worry about LE.
We did- but we still lost Aja. And it has only made me more curious about the OSBI.

I am very interested in the Ashley and Lauria case. One of the ones we are looking at.

Thanks again for the post.
Oriah

 

[sarx]

You can add Jody Wilson to the list I believe too.

 

[Oriah]

It is easy to take things out of context...

I never said that all alcoholics and addicts are "bad people" but honestly most active ones do some bad things , perhaps without meaning to

I do feel that THEY can change...but some people are pure evil..which Hobbs sounds like he was just pure evil, fueled by booze and drugs

we see the same things happen over and over

Maybe I just want to cut through this sometimes and state what I see as clear and logical facts : maybe to prevent future tragedies

I think the "lady and the snake" is very true...HOBBS WAS A SNAKE AND EVERYONE JKNEW IT....THIS COULD BE USED TO PREVENT FUTURE TRAGEDIES

I think there is a lesson to be learned here : that people should expect the worst and hope for the best

The kids have to come FIRST

as someone else said here maybe the emphasis should be on the "responsible/good parent"...get help for THEM

Hopefully some child will be saved when a custodial parent puts their foot down and doesn't let the "bad parent" gain control

If there is a court order...enforce it....if it means putting your ex in jail, so what...better that than to stand at your child's grave. JMO of course

Now this, I 100,000% agree with.

 

[Oriah]

Don't blame yourself Oriah (I know, it's easy for me to say, I blame myself everytime, but do as I say not as I do!)
I think sheer exhaustion may have been your biggest enemy on this one, for both you and the pups. I don't know the specifics, but I do know you worked past the breaking point.

We did swap out dogs to avoid exhaustion on their part- we NEVER do not, unless it is a disaster situation, and even then- we try very hard to not exhaust the dogs. But I agree about ourselves. Another thing to watch when you are so close to a case.
Thanks for the reminder. We'll be more careful next time.

Oriah

 

[RubyRed]

So many times we criticize children services for not doing their job. This time they did their job and the parent that knew Tonya was supposed to have supervised visits ignored it. This set into motion a tragic chain of events. Hobbs is the monster, however the father's fateful decision, cost Aja her life, in my opinion.

 

[sarx]

[/B]

We did swap out dogs to avoid exhaustion on their part- we NEVER do not, unless it is a disaster situation, and even then- we try very hard to not exhaust the dogs. But I agree about ourselves. Another thing to watch when you are so close to a case.
Thanks for the reminder. We'll be more careful next time.

Oriah

You are just as important to the equation as the dog. I think the dogs can actually go longer than us a lot of the time, course we just choose to ignore that part and keep going, only worrying about the MP and our dog, not ourselves.

 

[sarx]

So many times we criticize children services for not doing their job. This time they did their job and the parent that knew Tonya was supposed to have supervised visits ignored it. This set into motion a tragic chain of events. Hobbs is the monster, however the father's fateful decision, cost Aja her life, in my opinion.

I completely agree and had commented about that on an earlier post I made.
I will say it again, it's the parent that has the custody that needs to be reached out to, they are the ones that we all have a prayer of "getting to".

 

[White Hawk]

This is what CPS/DHS did to protect Aja!

Family of missing Geronimo girl waits
Relatives, friends keep eyes and ears open for sightings, news about 7-year-old Aja Johnson
BY RON JACKSON
Published: February 21, 2010

BLANCHARD — Aja Johnson was beaten and bruised by her suspected abductor in August, according to a family friend who had sheltered the 7-year-old child and her mother at that time.
Lester William Hobbs, 46, the man wanted in connection with Aja’s apparent kidnapping and the slaying of his estranged wife, Tonya LeAnn Hobbs, "just went off” on the girl, bruising her "from her butt to the bottom of her knees,” said Sissy Miller, 26, of Blanchard.
"That poor child was bruised so badly she couldn’t even sit,” Miller said. "We took pictures and turned them into DHS. We told school officials, and they reported it, too, but we were just told there was nothing that could be done. Now look what’s happened.” Aja has been missing since Jan. 24, when relatives found her mother beaten to death inside Lester Hobbs’ recreational vehicle that was parked outside his sister’s trailer home in Geronimo.
Tonya Hobbs, 37, died from blunt force trauma to the body, according to the state medical examiner.
Since then there have been no confirmed sightings of Aja, Lester Hobbs or Tonya Hobbs’ white 1992 Toyota Paseo (Oklahoma tag 577-BPW), which investigators think might be key to solving the case. The U.S. Marshal’s office and the FBI have joined the hunt.
"I can’t even sleep at night,” said Miller, who is taking care of Tonya and Lester Hobbs’ 13-year-old daughter. "I just keep waiting to hear that little knock at the front door, hoping it will be Aja. I look all the time. Whenever I’m driving I’m constantly looking, thinking I might see her walking down the street.”
Miller said on a recent cold day, Aja’s older sister said to her, "‘I hope Aja has her coat. It’s really cold today.’ I just broke down and started crying.”
Roy Anderson, Miller’s father and next door neighbor, is also grieving. He had known Tonya Hobbs for 15 years and has raised her oldest child, a 15-year-old boy, since he was a baby.
Anderson said he worried about Tonya Hobbs’ relationship with Lester Hobbs.
"I tolerated him,” Anderson said. "Then I saw those bruises on that little girl, and that was it for me. I don’t care who you are, you just don’t hurt a child.”
Department of Human Services spokeswoman Beth Scott said Friday she could "neither confirm nor deny” the reports of Aja’s bruising.
She cited state law and the agency’s requirement to protect victim confidentiality.
J.J. Johnson, Aja’s father who gained custody of her in November, continues to have sleepless nights. Through it all, he said he remains positive.
"I just miss her so bad,” said Johnson, 60, of Oklahoma City. "Every time the phone rings I think, ‘This could be it. This could be the one.’
"I think about the day she comes home all the time. I just picture her walking through that front door with a big smile and hugging her daddy.”
Waiting for her
Aja’s bedroom remains as it was the day she left with her mother, supposedly for an overnight birthday party. Barbie dolls she played with in the bathtub rest atop a toy chest, her favorite miniature horse sits atop a dresser and a stuffed wiener dog lays on her tiny bed with a inscription stitched on its side: "I love you this much.”
A Disney castle toy stove sits against the wall.
"This is where she’d turn on the stove and say, ‘Daddy, I’m cooking breakfast,’” Johnson said. "She’s something else. ... I know wherever she’s at, she’s missing her daddy and wants to come home.”
Tonya Hobbs was supposed to have supervised visits only, but Johnson allowed her to take Aja to the party. He never imagined she would instead take Aja and her sister to see Lester Hobbs, who had reportedly threatened to harm Tonya and the girls only months earlier.
In August, Tonya Hobbs filed a request for a protective order in Lincoln County.
She wrote, "My husband has threatened to hit my daughters in the head with a hammer and kill them. He also threatened to kill me if I left him.”
The court dismissed the request when neither Tonya nor Lester Hobbs appeared for the hearing.
By January, Lester Hobbs’ freedom appeared to be in jeopardy. He was ordered to appear in Lincoln County District Court on Jan. 25 on a DUI charge, and his criminal past seemed to be catching up with him. In 2001, state Corrections Department records show, he was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in Cleveland County.
"Lester wanted to see those kids one last time,” said Johnson, trying to piece together the tragedy. "For whatever reason, she trusted him, and it cost her her life.”
On the night before the discovery of Tonya Hobbs’ body, she and Lester Hobbs were seen arguing by the older daughter, Miller said.
"(She) told me Lester was yelling at Tonya,” Miller said. "He had found the numbers of some guys in her cell phone, and became angry. He even called a few of them, and one turned out to be a cousin.
"She misses Aja a lot,” Miller said of the older daughter. "I just tell her, ‘Pray.’ I truly believe Aja is still alive.”

 

[sarx]

So, CPS/DHS had nothing to do with her be placed in the Father's custody? This was not my understanding, but I don't know enough on this to say definitively, but I know that there are several on here that do.

I caution against using media clips as a fact statement, they write stories, they spin things to get their readership/viewer stats up.

 

[RubyRed]

I have to say I am finding that article a little hard to believe. They had pictures and school reported it as well. And they are saying DHS ignored it. I don't think so. MOO