Viable suspect: Terry Hobbs #1

[Lethalmatthew]

Hey everybody First of all, I want to compliment you for the great discussion. Despite the differences of opinion, everyone remains civil to each other, which is great!
I read the wmpd interview with TH from 2007, and I noticed some odd things:
- TH claims he had never heard of Robin Hood Hills prior to May 5th 1993

Q: What did you know about Robin Hood (Hills)?

A: Didn't know a thing about it.

Q: Ever heard of it before that day?

A: Not a thing.

Really? He has lived in West Memphis since 1987 and had never heard of the patch of forest that is not even a mile away from his own house and approxamitely 500 yards from his wife's work? I'm sorry, I don't buy that for one second. IMO, it's exactly something the perpetrator would say: 'I didn't even know the area, so how could I have dumped the bodies there?'

- TH is downright lying about major events on May 5th. He claims that he was with Dana Moore around 18:00 when they met JMB and decided to call the police. This is in contradiction with Moore's statement, JMB's statement and the police loggs (Regina Meeks was the first officer who responded to the missing juvenile report, which was around 20:00). He also claims that he started searching the Robin Hood area round 18:00-18:30, along with a lot of 'neighborhood' people' and David Jacoby. Jacoby said in his interview, however, that it was almost getting dark when they first started searching, which couldn't have been until way after 19:00.

Now, TH can claim all he wants that it is such a long time ago, but I think that the day your stepson (whom you helped raise for 7 years) disappeared and was found murdered the next day, would be etched in your memory, JMO.

 

[Compassionate Reader]

I put this in GK's thread, but I'm putting it here, too. Does anyone else find it exceedingly odd that the wmpd never collected hair and blood samples from TH? They collected JMB's and TM's, but not TH's! How's that for incompetence?!

 

[Cher Lockhomes]

CR, take a look at page 14, this thread, posts #343 and #345.

 

[Lethalmatthew]

- TH claims he had never heard of Robin Hood Hills prior to May 5th 1993

Q: What did you know about Robin Hood (Hills)?

A: Didn't know a thing about it.

Q: Ever heard of it before that day?

A: Not a thing.

Really? He has lived in West Memphis since 1987 and had never heard of the patch of forest that is not even a mile away from his own house and approxamitely 500 yards from his wife's work? I'm sorry, I don't buy that for one second. IMO, it's exactly something the perpetrator would say: 'I didn't even know the area, so how could I have dumped the bodies there?'

I have to correct myself here. Pam Hobbs said in her WMPD interview (two days prior to the TH interview) that she had never heard of Robin Hood Hills before the murders, either. Guess they just weren't really interested in their neighborhood or something. It's still possible that TH was lying here, though.

What do you guys think of TH's nickname for SB: frog legs? Is it charming or repulsive?

 

[Cher Lockhomes]

Lethalmatthew, excellent question !! I don't know if you have read up on the background to this name, but you can find it here:

The Dimensions interview pages 62-162 Exhibit 17

http://callahan.8k.com/hobbs_pasdar/hp_38/hp_38_6.pdf

Make your own opinion.

My answer to your question, after reading this I had a very evil association to the picture of the hogtied bodies being removed from the ditch, the water, the angled legs, the naked bodies, like frogs in a pond. JMO, but because of these pictures I find the name "repulsive" .

 

[Lethalmatthew]

Thank you for the link. The comparison between the nickname and the bodies at the crime scene is indeed very chilling. I personally think the nickname is quite repulsive. It seems kind of condescending in a way. So if SB swam well the first time he was in the water, why didn't TH call him a duckling or something. Seems a whole lot nicer than to compare your stepson to a frog. I could be reading too much into it, I don't know.

 

[zencompass]

I agree with you wholeheartedly! Lethalmatthew: First of all, I want to compliment you for the great discussion. Despite the differences of opinion, everyone remains civil to each other, which is great!

 

[Userid]

What do you guys think of TH's nickname for SB: frog legs? Is it charming or repulsive?

Completely irrelevant.

 

[Compassionate Reader]

CR, take a look at page 14, this thread, posts #343 and #345.

Thanks for the refresher! When threads get this long, things are often overlooked.

 

[Compassionate Reader]

I find the nickname abhorrent! There's a sadistic practice called "frog gigging" that I associate with the nickname for some reason. I agree that being an excellent swimmer is not justification for such a repulsive nickname.

 

[Lethalmatthew]

Completely irrelevant.

I have to disagree. Since TH is a viable suspect in this case, the relationship between him and his stepson has to be scrutinized. The nickname that TH gave to SB can perhaps shed some light on that relationship. While a repulsive nickname is by no means an indicator of guilt, it is an extra indicator of a poor father-stepson relationship, JMO

 

[Userid]

Scrutinizing every bit of pointless minutia, like a childhood nickname, could do more harm than good and lead you astray.

The nickname was adopted by the whole family. It was meant as a term of endearment. Is JMB guilty in your book because he called his son "Worm-ser"? That's an even worse nickname!

It's a waste of time to explore and over-analyze such things.

 

[Compassionate Reader]

I have to disagree that "Worm-ser" is worse than "Frog leg" since the NBA player, Dennis Rodman, was called "The Worm" for his ability to rebound. He was popular in the '90's. Although I understand your point about dissecting minutia, I believe that, in the case of TH, we need to dissect anything and everything we can. The wmpd failed to investigate, but we can rectify that, at least to a degree.

 

[Userid]

That would be true, if there were any indication that CB was nicknamed after Dennis Rodman, but you know as well as I that there isn't. The Byers' explained that he was named such because he couldn't sit still, so your justification as to why it's a better nickname has no merit for me; and has nothing to do with the argument.

CB was named Worm-ser because he couldn't sit still (alluding to his ADHD, which again, can be considered worse grounds for a nickname; let alone the nickname itself, but I digress) and SB was nicknamed Frog Leg because the family owned a pool and like every other kid, SB practically lived in the pool. The end.

But, suit yourself, I suppose.

 

[Lethalmatthew]

The nickname was adopted by the whole family.

What is your source on this? This is from Pam's interview with the WMPD in 2007:
'... that's when Terry came home. And one of his first questions to me is: where is frog leg? He named Steve- just gave him frog leg as a nickname'
To me, that doesn't sound like everyone in the family called Steve frog legs, but I could be wrong.

Btw, I noticed another big lie/inconsistency in TH's story of events. This is from the interview with Dimension Films:
TH: I called the police to make a report about 5:30
Pam: I thought you made the report at 9:00?
TH: No. There's paperwork over there saying that I called them between 5:00 and 5:30, I believe, and - to report kids missing - our kid's missing

And this is from the Pasdar lawsuit interview:
A: I know we called from Catfish Island, when I picked her (Pam) up from work
Q: And at that point Stevie was 4,5 hours late?
A: 4:30 to 9
Q: Why didn’t you call the police sooner?
A: I was busy looking and- just thinking that he was playing at some boys’ house.

So what is it, Terry? Did you call the police before you picked Pam up or didn't you? It's hard to not look at him as a suspect when he can't even produce a coherent story about the events of May 5th.
Does anyone know if the Dimension Film interview has been filmed? I would like to watch the part in which they are talking about CB's crush on Amanda and how TH's body language was during that part.

 

[zencompass]

To this day I cannot understand why T.H. did not phone P.H. to even ask if she might know where their son was. A phone call to the other parent is an automatic response especially if the other parent has an idea of where the child is. Tantamount to this is that absolutely the other parent needs to know their child is missing.

Why would T.H. ask D.J. to drive around to look when a simple phone call could have cleared up where the child might be. This was always a red flag to me accompanied of course by the history of rage and violence of T.H. and witnesses placing him in the vicinity of where the boys were around 6:30 p.m.

Having said all of that, I didn't know that the partial denture of T.H. was a possible match to the bite mark until I read other threads. Wow. I have a question though - how and when was it determined that it was a hair possibly matching T.H. at the crime scene? Thank you in advance for answering this!

 

[Userid]

What is your source on this? This is from Pam's interview with the WMPD in 2007:
'... that's when Terry came home. And one of his first questions to me is: where is frog leg? He named Steve- just gave him frog leg as a nickname'
To me, that doesn't sound like everyone in the family called Steve frog legs, but I could be wrong.

Btw, I noticed another big lie/inconsistency in TH's story of events. This is from the interview with Dimension Films:
TH: I called the police to make a report about 5:30
Pam: I thought you made the report at 9:00?
TH: No. There's paperwork over there saying that I called them between 5:00 and 5:30, I believe, and - to report kids missing - our kid's missing

And this is from the Pasdar lawsuit interview:
A: I know we called from Catfish Island, when I picked her (Pam) up from work
Q: And at that point Stevie was 4,5 hours late?
A: 4:30 to 9
Q: Why didn’t you call the police sooner?
A: I was busy looking and- just thinking that he was playing at some boys’ house.

So what is it, Terry? Did you call the police before you picked Pam up or didn't you? It's hard to not look at him as a suspect when he can't even produce a coherent story about the events of May 5th.
Does anyone know if the Dimension Film interview has been filmed? I would like to watch the part in which they are talking about CB's crush on Amanda and how TH's body language was during that part.

Well, if it wasn't adopted by the whole family, I don't think TH would have asked Pam herself "Where's Frog Leg," now would he? If it was given to SB with some sort of sinister/taunting-like motive, I don't think TH would use the nickname in front of PH, let alone asking her directly where is Frog Leg, if the name wasn't acceptable within the entire household. I don't know, to me, stuff like this is just common sense.

I'm not saying "don't investigate TH," but I do think people tend to bend over backwards looking for "signs" pointing to his guilt.

 

[Lethalmatthew]

Having said all of that, I didn't know that the partial denture of T.H. was a possible match to the bite mark until I read other threads. Wow. I have a question though - how and when was it determined that it was a hair possibly matching T.H. at the crime scene? Thank you in advance for answering this!

I believe that one of the investigators hired by the WM3 defense team got some of Terry's DNA from the cigarette butts that were in Hobbs' trash bags outside his house. They compared that DNA with one of the hairs that was found at the crime scene (more specifically, on the ligature of MM). It was a near perfect match. There was only one difference, which could have been caused by a flaw in the testing or by heteroplasmy (a variation in the DNA sequence within a single individual). The creator of jivepuppi.com did an amazing job at explaining how this all works (biology was never my strong suit lol): http://www.jivepuppi.com/heteroplasmy.html
The defense presented this new DNA evidence somewhere in 2007, I believe.

 

[zencompass]

Thank you Lethalmatthew for the great info. It is much appreciated!!

In addition, I read Compassion Reader's information about the T.H. hair and the D.J. hair on page 1 of Random Things About this Case thread, Posts#11, 21 and 24 and Post #27 on page 2 of Random Things About this Case thread. Very informative and so very well explained indeed! Thanks Compassionate Reader for the clarity of this information!!

 

[zencompass]

Was any connection ever made between T.H. and the police officer's son who allegedly ran a meth lab? I am just wondering if T.H. possibly made the police or one officer in particular aware that he "knew" something. I am still baffled at why T.H. was protected by not being investigated.

When the officer (J.S.) ran with the idea given him by Steve J. of a "satanic murder" I thought J.S. was pressured by someone to shine the light away from them but maybe it was to shine the light away from someone who could give information on J.S.'s son and he made sure that could not happen. It's just all very odd. JMO