Viable suspect: Terry Hobbs #1

[Compassionate Reader]

As I've said before, TH is my #1 suspect, but I wouldn't say he's 100% guilty. He should be investigated before anyone else because there's so much circumstantial and anecdotal evidence supporting his guilt. Then, if he's cleared, investigate others.

 

[Ausgirl]

I still see good reason to doubt the Hicks' motives for throwing Terry under the child abuse bus, for reasons that have already got people ruffled here. I'm not all about particularly caring if I'm disagreed with. I still look at that whole thing side-eyed, and would do so, even if it supported my own pet theory (which I don't actually have..). Amanda and Pam have both reconciled with Terry on and off over the years, which makes me wonder also. It's easy to see them as weak and under his will.. yet, it's not like they wouldn't have had bulk support to get away from him forever, if they wanted to.

Now, people can choose to see that as reasonable questioning, or get all up in arms and start bleating 'sympathiser!" just because I have not drunk their particular brand of koolaid - frankly, I don't give a damn.

But I hope people reading here don't get to thinking that a person cannot possibly disagree with the popular consensus, or they'll get tarred "emotionally invalid" or some such BS. That would be a shame.

 

[Cher Lockhomes]

Did CB ask if he could see Amanda, and then watched the Muppet babies with her for 25 minutes ? That is a fact. To then speculate that CB wanted to see Stevie, even though PH told him where Stevie was, is evasive logic. Facts are not my opinion. That the origin of this evasive logic, emotional invalidity is, that is my opinion. My opinion bears as much weight as the opinion of anyone else. I do not come to my conclusions because someone else does not share my opinion. That is a misrepresentative accusation.

 

[Ausgirl]

Cher, you just suggested other posters were emotionally invalid because they don't agree with you. LOL. It might be your opinion, but that's all it is - and it's against TOS besides, just FYI, to attack other posters with crap like that. Get over yourself?

Back to the topic: I actually have always thought the Muppet Babies thing was more about wanting to avoid his own dad by hiding out at the Hobbs place. He asked for Stevie "a lot", which i took to mean emphatically, and instead of chasing after, though he obviously wanted Stevie, he went to watch cartoons. And to judge by the beating he took from his dad that day, he had every reason to want to avoid JMB.

So there's another POV, which could also make sense. Nothing "evasive" about it.

 

[Compassionate Reader]

I've always thought that, after her parents died, PH was such an emotional wreck that TH was a "port in a storm." I could be wrong, but I just think both PH and AH are very fragile people easily influenced by someone like TH, especially with her parents dead.

 

[Ausgirl]

If they're that fragile, they could equally be swayed by other people with a revenge agenda also, just sayin.

Which could feasibly discredit witness testimony also, should this somehow ever reach trial stage.

 

[Cher Lockhomes]

Cher, you just suggested other posters were emotionally invalid because they don't agree with you. LOL. It might be your opinion, but that's all it is - and it's against TOS besides, just FYI, to attack other posters with crap like that. Get over yourself?

Back to the topic: I actually have always thought the Muppet Babies thing was more about wanting to avoid his own dad by hiding out at the Hobbs place. He asked for Stevie "a lot", which i took to mean emphatically, and instead of chasing after, though he obviously wanted Stevie, he went to watch cartoons. And to judge by the beating he took from his dad that day, he had every reason to want to avoid JMB.

So there's another POV, which could also make sense. Nothing "evasive" about it.

OK Ausgirl, have it your way. My "crap" is as much worth as your "crap". You and I are just not compatible. I'll move on, I don't want to bore other members with this "crap".

 

[Userid]

Did CB ask if he could see Amanda, and then watched the Muppet babies with her for 25 minutes ? That is a fact.

Here's another fact: that CB asked for SB, before he asked if he could watch Muppets with Amanda. Why ignore this?

 

[Userid]

I still see good reason to doubt the Hicks' motives for throwing Terry under the child abuse bus, for reasons that have already got people ruffled here. I'm not all about particularly caring if I'm disagreed with. I still look at that whole thing side-eyed, and would do so, even if it supported my own pet theory (which I don't actually have..). Amanda and Pam have both reconciled with Terry on and off over the years, which makes me wonder also. It's easy to see them as weak and under his will.. yet, it's not like they wouldn't have had bulk support to get away from him forever, if they wanted to.

Now, people can choose to see that as reasonable questioning, or get all up in arms and start bleating 'sympathiser!" just because I have not drunk their particular brand of koolaid - frankly, I don't give a damn.

But I hope people reading here don't get to thinking that a person cannot possibly disagree with the popular consensus, or they'll get tarred "emotionally invalid" or some such BS. That would be a shame.

Yes, this also makes me weary of these accusations. AH has no recollection of ever being abused by TH (West of Memphis). PH, also, has no recollection. PH up-and-down relationship with TH makes those allegations even more suspect, like you say. What's the status of their relationship now, anyone know? Are they on friendly terms again?

 

[zencompass]

Yes I do believe T.H. is a viable suspect and I thanked Ausgirl previously for starting this thread as it started a great discussion about it. There are as many frustrations as anomalies associated with this case and it is so easy to get caught up in both! I know I sure have. I think most folks on this thread agree that T.H. was never investigated and he is a viable suspect. The only viable suspect? I don't think so. J.K.M. is certainly one and it looks like from reading interviews of others on Callahan's that there were others other than J.K.M. which sure look suspicious but weren't followed up. I really want to know that if theoretically Damien, Jason and Jessie were out of the picture, who do you think certainly should have been followed up on? I really do want to know.

One thing I do know for certain is that everyone, everyone on this thread and the other threads in West Memphis section care about what happened to Stevie, Michael and Chris and sure we will never agree on certain things but that's what a discussion is about and with a discussion clues can come out of which were never focused on before and should have been or perhaps were missed. (How's that for a run-on sentence C.R.?)

So yes I do believe T.H. is a viable suspect and I also believe there are other viable suspects. I just feel so frustrated that this case has not been reopened and the evidence examined with new eyes. I just feel strongly that there are answers in that evidence we as a public have not been shown. We all want this case solved and truly solved because what we all care about the most is not being right but justice for those three little boys. This is just my opinion.

 

[Lethalmatthew]

Yes, this also makes me weary of these accusations. AH has no recollection of ever being abused by TH (West of Memphis). PH, also, has no recollection. PH up-and-down relationship with TH makes those allegations even more suspect, like you say. What's the status of their relationship now, anyone know? Are they on friendly terms again?

Pam's accusation don't always make sense to me, either. She claims in her Pasdar declaration that Amanda had told Jo Lynn that TH had put his finger in her 'booty'. A doctor in Blytheville supposedly confirmed this. If this is true, why didn't Pam report TH to the police? How can she leave Amanda with a man who she knows abuses her daughter? A sister of Pam saw how TH forced Amanda to caress his genitals when she was just 8. The sister did give a reason for why she didn't go to the police: because she didn't want Terry to go to jail :facepalm: so yeah, I don't believe all the accusations are true, but there are many more things that point to TH's guilt, IMO.

 

[Ausgirl]

OK Ausgirl, have it your way. My "crap" is as much worth as your "crap". You and I are just not compatible. I'll move on, I don't want to bore other members with this "crap".

Flat out calling other posters emotionally invalid and such, is crappy behaviour. You said outright that you meant it to be insulting, because apparently people who don't agree with your every golden word "deserve" to feel insulted. And we're just meant to suck this up - why? Because you're so awesome? Okay.

Your opinions on TH, on the other hand, are every bit as valid as anyone else's (whether they agree with anyone else or not..). I enjoy your posts, even if there's bits I disagree with.

So maybe we can just get past the tantrums and get on with discussing the case, yeah?

 

[Ausgirl]

Pam's accusation don't always make sense to me, either. She claims in her Pasdar declaration that Amanda had told Jo Lynn that TH had put his finger in her 'booty'. A doctor in Blytheville supposedly confirmed this. If this is true, why didn't Pam report TH to the police? How can she leave Amanda with a man who she knows abuses her daughter? A sister of Pam saw how TH forced Amanda to caress his genitals when she was just 8. The sister did give a reason for why she didn't go to the police: because she didn't want Terry to go to jail :facepalm: so yeah, I don't believe all the accusations are true, but there are many more things that point to TH's guilt, IMO.

Yup, I'm with you there. And there sure are plenty of other reasons.

TBH I would hope the Hicks family would not be called to testify if TH ever did go to trial, because there's abundant cause for their testimony to be pulled apart on the stand, and I think that could actually damage a case against him, rather than help it.

Someone made a post upthread a bit, saying we don;t know what evidence the cops might still be sitting on.. (paraphrasing there..). Because of the dubious behaviours of several members of the WMPD over this case and other things, I've actually wondered how much evidence never came to light, just because it didn't support the guilt of the WM3. We'll probably never know. But I would not put it past some of them to have (deliberately or accidentally) overlooked something truly important. I hope the voices of the masses calling for justice to be done properly, will help get this case re-opened. And while I'm making wishlists - re-investigated by LE other than the WMPD, to boot.

 

[zencompass]

I do return quite often to the "mosquito factor". Compassionate Reader explained about the mosquitos in a way I could understand:

Compassionate Reader: (Post #306 in this thread)
"I'd like to address the mosquitoes. IMO, the boys were attacked in or near a manhole or drainage pipe. There were several in the area. It was within about 200 feet of the discovery ditch. Then, their bodies were placed in the manhole or drainage pipe. This happened before the mosquitoes were out. Sunset that evening wasn't until 7:50 pm, IIRC. Mosquitoes are attracted to carbon dioxide, among other things. If my suppositions are correct, the boys were only breathing very shallowly after the initial attack; they were unconscious and dying. I don't think that there would have been enough carbon dioxide to attract mosquitoes. Another possibility is that the manhole or drainage ditch might have been recently treated for mosquitoes. And, mosquitoes don't attack dead bodies."

Justiceseeker35 responds to the above and sets out a plausible opportunity for T.H. as a viable suspect here. I hadn't read this before.

Ok this is good, I think we are really getting somewhere. So the timeline is as follows
4:45 pm The Hobb's notice that SB is not back yet from playing (they are the first to note anyone missing)
5:00 TH drives PH to work and is looking around the roads on the way and will continue to search after dropping her off
6:00 is when other parents start to worry about their kids being missing
6:30 was the last sighting around Robin Hood hills
So the kids have to be attacked, incapacitated and hidden before sunset at 7:50 before day light fades and the mosquitos come out. The killer has to be confident he can hide them, bind them and contain them in a place where they can't escape. And I think they have to be in a place where he can check them throughout the evening to be sure they won't be found or escape and do the checking under the pretense of searching for them.
He doesn't even file a report until picking PH up at work at 9:45 pm or tell her SB is still missing.
When the bodies were found the next afternoon it was about 1:45 or 2 pm ish. The rigor showed that it had been about 12 hours since tod. That places the moving of the hog tied children and drownings in the ditch at around 1:30 to 2:00 am. I think this one of those good gaps in time for TH's whereabouts. The search began again at daylight with TH right with them. Plenty of time to move and arrange the bodies during the night and see how his work looked the next day.
The most logical explanation is they were concealed in the man hole. City man holes treated for mosquitos??!! Makes sense to me!

Thank you to both Compassionate Reader and Justiceseeker35 for detailing this.

 

[zencompass]

Compassionate Reader - would you kindly repost the "mosquitoes" information link? It wouldn't copy over for me and it is so interesting! Thank you in advance!

 

[Lethalmatthew]

Yes it's reasonable to assume that the boys didn't enter RHH that evening. Meek testified that the air around the bayou was full of mosquitoes. The Robin Hood Woods is further away from the bayou, so it was probably less infested with mosquitoes. Kim Williams saw SB and MM entering Robin Hood Woods around 6 PM.
Btw, something I just thought off: why were the bikes disposed? If the boys were killed in Robin Hood Woods or in their clubhouse (don't know where that was located), I don't see a reason for the perp to take the bikes and throw them in the bayou. Perhaps the bikes were at an incriminating location (someone's house)?

 

[Userid]

The clubhouse was located in the Blue Beacon Woods, in the area where the bodies were found. VH and AH were very unreliable witnesses, but according to them, the clubhouse was a tree house, located up in the trees. This was corroborated by the investigators when, by climbing on ladders, found unnatural scrapings on the trees, indicative of a structure once existing there. VH once stated that you could see it if you were standing on the Mayfair side of the pipe that crosses the bayou. Now again, I know these 2 are unreliable, but the scrapings do intrigue me and did jive with what both of them told police pertaining to where the fort was located.

Excellent point about the bikes. I agree with your theory that they were dumped because they were transported from another location. I also suppose, though, that they were dumped because they were near the spot where the killer dumped the bodies, and the killer didn't want the bikes to give away the spot where he had dumped the bodies. Sometimes I feel like the killer could have spotted the bikes on his way out of the woods, after disposing of the bodies, and hastily tossed them into the bayou before exiting all together. Another theory I have is that the killer dumped the bikes via the 76 Truck Stop parking lot (there's a trail that leads from the last parking spot of the lot, to the pipe bridge).

 

[Compassionate Reader]

I, too, have had JKM on my radar, but just as an accomplice or maybe even a "helper" in only the cover up. One thing against JKM's involvement in the crime is the lack of sexual predation on CB, SB and MM. As a known pedophile, I don't see how he would have passed up an opportunity to violate three young boys. However, if he were only involved in the cover up and/or disposal of evidence and bodies, that would make sense. Like John Douglas, I tend to see this as a case of a "personal" crime - where the killer had a personal connection to the victims, or at least one of them.

BTW, zencompass, I'll try to write simpler sentences.:shame:

 

[Lethalmatthew]

Compassionate Reader, do you think that JKM and TH may have known each other? If he helped TH in covering the crime up, it's odd that he points to TH as a possible perpetrator in his police interview..

 

[zencompass]

Hi Compassionate Reader - your sentences are always clear! It's mine that tend to (I don't know how they do it!) run on for a paragraph sometimes and other times...