Former convict charged with killing daughter, her friend

? A man 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, who was recently released from prison, had led police to the bodies just off a wooded bike path early Monday, claiming he spotted them while searching for his daughter, the girl’s grandfather, Arthur Hollabaugh, told The Associated Press.

Hobbs, 34, was questioned through the day about the deaths of Laura Hobbs, 8, and Krystal Tobias, 9.

Both girls had been beaten and stabbed repeatedly in the woods and left to die, Lake County Coroner Richard Keller said.

Lake County State’s Attorney Michael Waller said in announcing the charges Tuesday that he could not discuss possible motives for the killings, but prosecutors said more details would come out when Hobbs appears in bond court this morning.

Hollabaugh said the family would not be able to afford an attorney. The public defender’s office said Tuesday that it had not been asked to take the case.

Outside the Tobias home, Krystal’s 15-year-old brother, Alberto Segura, said he had never met Hobbs but knew Hobbs was searching with his own family the night his sister was killed.

“We never thought a father would do that to a daughter,” Segura said. “They were just babies.”

Residents of Zion, Ill., gather around a memorial Tuesday for Laura Hobbs and Krystal Tobias at the Beulah Park Nature Area.

Hobbs has an extensive criminal history dating back to 1990 in Texas, including prior arrests for assault and resisting arrest, according to state Department of Public Safety records.

Before being released April 12, he had served two years in a Texas prison for chasing neighbors with a chain saw during an argument with Laura’s mother, Sheila Hollabaugh, according to Wichita County, Texas, Assistant District Attorney Rick Mahler.

No one was hurt in the 2001 incident, and someone subdued Hobbs by hitting him in the back with a shovel, Mahler said.