Reply #4: Father arrested, charged in girls' slayings

[MaineDem]

ZION, Ill. - A father was arrested on murder charges Tuesday in the Mother’s Day stabbings of his 8-year-old daughter and the little girl’s best friend, who were killed after they went biking in a park.

Jerry Hobbs III, the father of 8-year-old Laura Hobbs, is accused in the stabbing and beating deaths of Laura and her 9-year-old friend Krystal Tobias. The two, described as best friends who were always together, were discovered in a local wooded area Monday around 6 a.m. by Hobbs and his father-in-law.

Michael Waller, Lake county state's attorney, said few details about the evidence against Hobbs, 34, could be revealed until after his bond hearing Wednesday, but he held a news conference to relieve the community, which he said had been "terrorized and traumatized" by the crime.

If convicted, he said, Hobbs would be eligible for the death penalty.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7791977/