ZION, Ill. - Two second-grade girls who disappeared while riding bikes together were found dead Monday, both stabbed multiple times and left to die off a bicycle path in a park, authorities said.
A resident walking through a wooded nature area in the park discovered the bodies of 8-year-old Laura Hobbs and 9-year-old Krystal Tobias at about 6 a.m. Police identified the girls at a news conference Monday afternoon.
The parents of one of the girls had reported her missing about 8:50 p.m. Sunday, about two hours after she was expected home, Deputy Police Chief Clyde Watkins said. The parents of the other girl called shortly afterward, and authorities with rescue dogs began searching.
Discovered Monday morning
A resident walking through a wooded nature area in Beulah Park discovered the bodies around 6 a.m., Watkins said.
"The cause of death appears to be stab wounds, and we have found no evidence of sexual assault," said Richard Keller, the Lake County coroner. "The investigation is ongoing."
"The time of death was sometime during the night or early morning, but it may have been earlier than that, it's hard to say." Keller mentioned that a light rain had fallen Sunday night, and said there were cool temperatures in the area overnight.
Zion Police Chief Doug Malcolm said there were no leads on suspects yet. "It's a broad investigation; we're going everywhere," he said. "There"s a lot of conjecture and a lot of rumors. ... There's no solid leads we're focusing in on. We have evidence technicians " the best in the business, I might add. No stone will be unturned."
A SMALL TOWN STUNNED:
The killings stunned this town about 45 miles north of Chicago, prompting police and school officials to escort children directly onto buses at the end of the school day Monday. Dozens of anxious parents waited until their children emerged from the front doors of the school, then put their arms around their kids or clutched their hands as they walked to their cars.
Constance Collins, superintendent of the Zion Elementary School District 6, said the girls were in the same class at Beulah Park Elementary School.
"They were best friends," said Laura Unrein, who lives near the park. "When one left, the other left. They were always together."
SAFE, QUIET NEIGHBORHOOD:
Brent Paxton, a Lake County Board member who lives across the street from the nature area, said the neighborhood is generally safe and quiet, and his three young children play in the park.
"Obviously, if it was a random act, somebody just picking up kids in the park, I would be very concerned about that," Paxton said.
The park features a paved bike path, a ravine and trails made by mountain bikes.
Jim Goetz, who lives across the street from the park, told the Chicago Tribune that he last saw the missing girls about 9 a.m. Sunday. Goetz said they rode their bicycles to his house to play with his 7-year-old daughter.
"I'M IN SHOCK"
At one point, Goetz told the newspaper, he scolded the children for drawing in chalk on his garage and made them clean it off. After about an hour, Goetz said, the two visiting girls got on their bikes and rode away, saying they were going to ride by the ravine in Beulah Park.
About 8 p.m., Goetz said, a relative of one of the girls came by looking for them. The relative told Goetz the families were contacting the police to report the children missing, Goetz said.
"I'm in shock. I'm in utter disbelief," Goetz told the Tribune. He said the girls were "very outgoing and very friendly."
Social workers and a crisis intervention team were called in Monday to help students.
Jeanette Ortiz said she is worried because her 11-year-old son plays and rides his bike in the same park. "I"m going to have to tell him that he needs to be careful no matter where he goes," she said.
Zion, along Lake Michigan, was founded in 1901 by a religious faith healer as a utopian community. It has about 22,000 residents but retains a quiet, at times rural feel despite being on the edge of both the Chicago and Milwaukee metropolitan areas.
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I bet those drugs that never hurt anyone else but the user were involved
I've been through Zion many times. It was not drug related at all (how many little girls carry money on them? and why would they not have just been robbed as opposed to murdered).
IF they catch him I already know his make up. But i'll reserve judgement until i'm proven right.
tard - I mean the murder was ON drugs, not that he killed the girls FOR drugs - geeeeesh
Quote:
Pyschos don't need drugs to commit their special crimes , the crime itself is their drug of choice in many cases .
Well the girls were not sexually assaulted ..... that throws a kink into the profileing. My first inclination is to think someone on drugs just went ape and killed them for whatever reason people on drugs kill. My second thoughts would be a family member, maybe a school mate. I'd say they were after one girl, and killed both because they were together and had to.
I'm almost bet my left nut whoever did it has a criminal past
The girls were last seen riding bicycles on Sunday afternoon, Malcolm said. One of the bikes was recovered near the spot where their bodies were found, shortly after 6 a.m. Monday by a man taking a walk in Beulah Park, a spot that neighborhood parents warn children to avoid.
"It's out of sight of many adults who might possibly be around the kids or monitoring them," Collins said. "We try to keep them in the open."
Malcolm promised that "no stone will be unturned" in the investigation.
"Right now there's no solid leads that we're focusing in on," Malcolm said. "It's a heinous crime. It's a crime against not only those kids, but against all of us."
Hollabaugh said the girls were seen playing in the park about 5:30 to 6 p.m. Sunday.
"I know she didn't come home for dinner and we got worried, and her brothers and sisters went out looking for her," Hollabaugh told Chicago television station WLS. "They didn't find her, and then, about 9 o'clock, they called the police."
Keller estimated the time of death at 1 to 2 a.m. Monday, but said that estimate could be affected by rain and cool temperatures in the area. Each girl had been stabbed at least twice, he said. Malcolm said the bodies were found about 100 yards off a bicycle path in a wooded area on the north end of the park.
You can never be too careful with your kids. After reading this ...... I'm undecided on a theory. Not sounding like a typical molestor/rapist murder, and if were school mates it'd be sloppy and they'd have leads. Drugged out weirdo still has a strong chance of being the culprit.
Tard - everyone wears clothes ......... not everyone does drugs to mess their minds up. You made the connection with cigarettes, not me.
Two missing children found...
