Man accused of Zion murders convicted in Virginia
A former Marine accused in Illinois of killing two young Zion girls in 2005 was convicted in Virginia Tuesday of first-degree murder in a 2009 slaying of a fellow service member.
Jorge Torrez, 25, now faces a possible death sentence for what prosecutors say was just one among a series of violent, stalking attacks on young women.
Included in those attacks, authorities say, were 8-year-old Laura Hobbs and 9-year-old Krystal Tobias. Illinois prosecutors say Torrez attacked and killed the two girls in a Zion park in May 2005. Prosecutors are still waiting to put Torrez on trial for that murder, which authorities say took place when he was only 16.
"I'm happy to hear he was convicted in Virginia," said Lake County State's Attorney Mike Nerheim, who added his office will be sending the chief of the Lake County Felony Division to Torrez's sentencing hearing when it takes place April 21.
"Regardless of the outcome of the sentencing hearing, my intention is to bring (Torrez) here to face trial on our charges," Nerheim said. "I want to do everything in my power to make sure justice is done in Lake County on this case."
A jury in U.S. District Court in Alexandria convicted Torrez of killing Navy Petty Officer Amanda Snell in July 2009. Both lived in the barracks on Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington County.
The jury began deliberating Monday afternoon and returned its verdict late Tuesday morning. Prosecutors are expected to ask for a death sentence at Torrez's sentencing hearing.
If Torrez is sentenced to death, it would be the first capital punishment handed out at the federal courthouse in Alexandria since 2007.
Torrez is currently serving a life sentence for abducting three women in Arlington, raping one of them repeatedly and leaving her for dead.
After Torrez was arrested in the Arlington abductions in 2010, DNA evidence connected him to the slayings in Illinois and to Snell's murder. Torrez lived eight doors down from Snell in the barracks.
Jurors also heard recordings of a confession Torrez made to an inmate who was acting as a confidential informant.
Defense lawyers argued that there was a lack of evidence, and the confession was just boastful talk between inmates.
Jerry Hobbs, the father of Laura Hobbs, was initially charged with his daughter's death and spent five years in custody in Lake County jail until DNA evidence exonerated him. Hobbs said he was coerced into a false confession when questioned after the attacks.
After his release, Hobbs sued Lake County authorities for about $8 million.
• Daily Herald news services contributed to this report.