Viable Suspect: Terry Hobbs - #2

[zencompass]

If it sounds like a terrifying position to be in - it is.

 

[Userid]

People are known to look the other way or stay silent about domestic violence, especially in an area where there is poverty and/or
the working poor. There is no place that the battered woman can go to that the batterer or the small town wouldn't know about.

When domestic violence is status quo (whether physical or verbal) people are hardwired to not report -believing that it would be worse for the
woman if they reported. We all know cases where it was worse - whether fatal or not.

I see your general point; I'm not saying you're wrong or that what you describe doesn't ever happen.....I just think that, the extenuating circumstances (i.e. the death of three innocent children) in this particular situation would force the hand of anyone privy to such knowledge to come forward -- even more so with the belief that PH and AH would be in imminent danger, since the supposed abuse had already come to a head with the death of SB (and MM/CB). Anyone with a normal functioning set of emotions would feel a sense of urgency to report this information in order to ensure that the same fate would not befall anyone else (PH and AH) within that same household; let alone to ensure that the guilty party (which has been in question for at least a decade now) be held responsible for a death of a loved one. That's all I really have to say about it.

 

[Limaes]

All these years later it is still astounding that TH was never interviewed at the time.

When PH & TH left to go to CI, Stevie was not home to eat his dinner. The fact that portions of green beans were found at autopsy means he did eventually go home and was there long enough to eat it. I fully believe TH saw him.

It has been some time since I have done research, but if I recall correctly, PH stated that Stevie was wearing jeans when she seen him but another witness stated he was wearing red shorts when he seen him later in the afternoon. The fact that his jeans were found at the scene leads me to believe that when PH was giving LE a description of Stevie and what he was wearing, TH knew he was wearing red shorts and very late that evening when he was putting the boys in the water, he took Stevie's jeans with him. He needed PH to keep believing that Stevie never came home after she left but the green beans say otherwise.

The cops should have picked up on this very early on. If they did, TH could well have become the rightful prime suspect in the first week.

 

[zencompass]

Great points Limaes !

I didn't think of that.

I still cannot fathom why he was never interviewed - most parents/step parents talk and talk and talk to the police because they
desperately want to help find out who did this. Yet T.H. never went to talk to them. It was all so strange.

 

[Cher Lockhomes]

I can't help but reiterating this point and I will once again use Brent Turvey's words.

Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis
von Brent E. Turvey page 515

Too often, the author has observed or been asked to examine child homicides where police have focused on stranger suspects and failed to investigate suspects within the victim's home or family. The rule in all child homicides is simple; Investigate and eliminate the family and household members first, including caretakers. Then friends. Then neighbors. Essentially those with access to, and who spend time with, the child need to be eliminated first. If the resources exist, other detectives should be working a parallel investigation on the possibility of a stranger's having committed the offense (with the first attention paid to local area registered sex offenders, recently paroled child molesters, etc.). Failure to do this, for whatever reason, results in an imbalanced investigation and a lack of certainty regarding any suspect who is accused.

I underlined the last sentence, because this is exactly what has happened in this case. How the WM3 were ever convicted without these standard procedures, I simply don't know. The tension, potential grounds for an act of revenge and other dynamics existed in at least two of the families, the third we don't know anything about. Biological fathers, relatives, the Mothers, no one can be counted out. This has got to be one of the most outrageous investigations in criminal history. Well done wmpd, and Arkansas!!

 

[zencompass]

wow Cher - what a post!

 

[Userid]

All these years later it is still astounding that TH was never interviewed at the time.

When PH & TH left to go to CI, Stevie was not home to eat his dinner. The fact that portions of green beans were found at autopsy means he did eventually go home and was there long enough to eat it. I fully believe TH saw him.

It has been some time since I have done research, but if I recall correctly, PH stated that Stevie was wearing jeans when she seen him but another witness stated he was wearing red shorts when he seen him later in the afternoon. The fact that his jeans were found at the scene leads me to believe that when PH was giving LE a description of Stevie and what he was wearing, TH knew he was wearing red shorts and very late that evening when he was putting the boys in the water, he took Stevie's jeans with him. He needed PH to keep believing that Stevie never came home after she left but the green beans say otherwise.

The cops should have picked up on this very early on. If they did, TH could well have become the rightful prime suspect in the first week.

Lot of misinformation here:

First, the "leafy green substance" was never definitively linked as being green beans. Just stating a fact: it could very well have been, but let's not pawn speculation as bona fide fact.

OB. Jr. is the one who stated the boys were in red shorts; also said they were wearing green back packs. His witness sighting is either completely wrong, or he's trying to imply that the boys were running away (to lead police away from himself and the victims). SB was never wearing red shorts that day and the only person to claim he was, was OB Jr. -- who also mistakenly claimed the boys had green back packs on.

So in other words, neither proves anything, in all honesty

 

[zencompass]

The glaring omission to not interview T.H. is a red flag.

The fact that he didn't approach the police and talk, talk, talk about anything and everything to do with his stepson is more than odd. It is extremely suspicious.
I have never heard of any parent distancing himself away from a murdered child like T.H. did.

I know you don't want to look at T.H. as a viable suspect but his behavior demonstrated that he had narcissistic rage. That coupled with him being
a parent and avoiding the police is highly suspicious.

That a basic and crucial standard was not followed, as Cher pointed out, is very difficult to explain away. It makes no sense, just like T.H. avoiding
the police.

 

[Userid]

^ It's not that I'm against looking at him as a viable suspect; it's just that, I think he gets blown out of proportion. For instance, MM's father was also barely investigated, as were the biological fathers of CB & SB....does that mean that the WMPD were protecting them too? The only father that was ever investigated was JMB.

Also, THdid speak to the WMpD. He was interviewed together with PH and if memory serves he even provided certain samples like hair and fingerprint samples. Granted, he wasn't interviewed at length like JMB, but it's not like he wasn't interviewed at all the way some supporters imply.

 

[Cappuccino]

^ It's not that I'm against looking at him as a viable suspect; it's just that, I think he gets blown out of proportion. For instance, MM's father was also barely investigated, as were the biological fathers of CB & SB....does that mean that the WMPD were protecting them too? The only father that was ever investigated was JMB.

Also, THdid speak to the WMpD. He was interviewed together with PH and if memory serves he even provided certain samples like hair and fingerprint samples. Granted, he wasn't interviewed at length like JMB, but it's not like he wasn't interviewed at all the way some supporters imply.

MM's father was out of state that night and so was Christopher's biological father. Steven's father was in Arkansas but not in W Memphis. Once the police had established that there was no reason to investigate them further. TH is the only one who never provided an alibi, which is why he was called into the police station in 2007 to be interviewed after the DNA results came back. Up till that point everybody, including the WM3 and their supporters, had completely over looked him.

 

[Userid]

MM's father was out of state that night and so was Christopher's biological father. Steven's father was in Arkansas but not in W Memphis. Once the police had established that there was no reason to investigate them further. TH is the only one who never provided an alibi, which is why he was called into the police station in 2007 to be interviewed after the DNA results came back. Up till that point everybody, including the WM3 and their supporters, had completely over looked him.

He provided an alibi: he was with Jacoby. You probably don't agree with said alibi, but he did provide one.

Do you have sources to the information pertaining to the biological fathers? I know MM's father was supposedly on the road. Still though, the point remains: every father should have been thoroughly investigated, not just TH. JMB was the only one who was. There is zero evidence that TH was "protected" by the WMPD: he was questioned (albeit, not thoroughly) and provided hair and print samples.

 

[Cappuccino]

He provided an alibi: he was with Jacoby. You probably don't agree with said alibi, but he did provide one.

Do you have sources to the information pertaining to the biological fathers? I know MM's father was supposedly on the road. Still though, the point remains: every father should have been thoroughly investigated, not just TH. JMB was the only one who was. There is zero evidence that TH was "protected" by the WMPD: he was questioned (albeit, not thoroughly) and provided hair and print samples.

He provided that alibi in 2007. He wasn't asked for an alibi in 1993, and I never said the police protected him, I said they over looked him just like everybody else did until the DNA results came back. Incidentally, David Jacoby wasn't interviewed till 2007 either, and even then it was a brief telephone interview.

 

[zencompass]

David Jacoby signed an Affidavit swearing to the fact that there were periods of time where he did not know where Terry Hobbs was. Terry Hobbs was not with
Jacoby during those times.

http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/d_jacoby_declaration.html

 

[zencompass]

T.H. knew that if he stayed out of sight - the old adage would apply - "out of sight, out of mind". It worked.

He was completely overlooked.

 

[Userid]

He provided that alibi in 2007. He wasn't asked for an alibi in 1993, and I never said the police protected him, I said they over looked him just like everybody else did until the DNA results came back. Incidentally, David Jacoby wasn't interviewed till 2007 either, and even then it was a brief telephone interview.

(With regard to the bolded) And you know this how? Again, He and PH were interviewed on at least one occassion that I know of, together (there were probably more we simply don't know of). The questions that were asked at this meeting have never been released.

Jacoby spoke multiple times with law enforcement officials in person. We can't confirm if he was interviewd or not at the time of the murder. No record of it on Cally's doesn't mean it didn't happen; the records on cally's were simply all the people who visited the WMPD office could grab.

 

[Userid]

David Jacoby signed an Affidavit swearing to the fact that there were periods of time where he did not know where Terry Hobbs was. Terry Hobbs was not with
Jacoby during those times.

http://callahan.8k.com/wm3/d_jacoby_declaration.html

You'll find similar holes in every one of the WM3's alibis.

 

[Cappuccino]

(With regard to the bolded) And you know this how? Again, He and PH were interviewed on at least one occassion that I know of, together (there were probably more we simply don't know of). The questions that were asked at this meeting have never been released.

Jacoby spoke multiple times with law enforcement officials in person. We can't confirm if he was interviewd or not at the time of the murder. No record of it on Cally's doesn't mean it didn't happen; the records on cally's were simply all the people who visited the WMPD office could grab.

David Jacoby has confirmed that nobody spoke to him until 2007. He's said that directly to me and others when asked, we're not all dependent on Cally's. So on the off chance that the WMPD did ask TH for his alibi in 1993, they certainly didn't do anything to verify it. And as zencompass has pointed out, when David Jacoby was interviewed, he didn't back up TH's alibi.

The police completely over looked TH in 1993. They just completely forgot about one of the victim's step fathers.

 

[Cappuccino]

You'll find similar holes in every one of the WM3's alibis.

That's a disingenuous response. We're not discussing the strength of alibis, we're discussing whether or not the police looked at TH properly in 1993, there are plenty of other threads to discuss the alibis of the wm3 if you want to do that. The fact is, TH was over looked. As Mike Allen, who was one of the detectives involved in the case, said in 2007 - "Terry Hobbs was not a suspect in 1993, and he's not a suspect now." He was never eliminated as a suspect because he was never treated as one.

 

[Userid]

David Jacoby has confirmed that nobody spoke to him until 2007. He's said that directly to me and others when asked, we're not all dependent on Cally's. So on the off chance that the WMPD did ask TH for his alibi in 1993, they certainly didn't do anything to verify it. And as zencompass has pointed out, when David Jacoby was interviewed, he didn't back up TH's alibi.

The police completely over looked TH in 1993. They just completely forgot about one of the victim's step fathers.

They took hair and print samples, did they not?

When did you ask Jacoby these questions? Was it after their tiff? Funny how the WMPD would talk to his wife Bobbie but not him.

 

[Userid]

That's a disingenuous response. We're not discussing the strength of alibis, we're discussing whether or not the police looked at TH properly in 1993, there are plenty of other threads to discuss the alibis of the wm3 if you want to do that. The fact is, TH was over looked. As Mike Allen, who was one of the detectives involved in the case, said in 2007 - "Terry Hobbs was not a suspect in 1993, and he's not a suspect now." He was never eliminated as a suspect because he was never treated as one.

Disingenuous? Um, no -- sorry. Simply fact (unless you think facts are "disingenuous").

TH's alibi is no worse than DE, JB, JM, and even JMB's to a point -- this is a bona fide fact.

One quick example being, JB's Uncle claiming DE wasn't even with JB when JB cut his lawn; and that is just one example, and is a direct comparison to DJ saying TH wasn't in his presence when he said he was.