Jorge Avila-Torrez

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Jorge Avila-Torrez
Born (1988-08-18) August 18, 1988 (age 33)
Zion, Illinois, U.S.
Conviction(s)Murder
Criminal penaltyDeath (federal)
168 years' imprisonment (Virginia)
100 years' imprisonment (Illinois)
Details
Victims3 murdered
Span of crimes
2005–2009
CountryUnited States
State(s)Illinois, Virginia
Date apprehended
February 2010
Imprisoned atUnited States Penitentiary, Terre Haute

Jorge Avila-Torrez (born August 18, 1988)[1] is an American serial killer and rapist, known for a double murder of two girls in his hometown of Zion, Illinois. He was later connected to the crime via DNA evidence, after having already been convicted of a slaying at Joint Base Myer–Henderson Hall, as well as other sexually-inspired crimes.[2]

Hobbs/Tobias murders[]

On Mother's Day in May 2005, eight-year-old Laura Hobbs and nine-year-old Krystal Tobias went out to play together on their bicycles, but failed to return by nightfall. Their families, police, and volunteers searched for the girls all night, but to no avail.[2] The following day, Hobbs's father, Jerry, found their bodies in Beulah Park Forest Preserve.[3] Both girls had suffered 31 stab wounds to the necks and faces,[4][5] with their eyeballs removed from the eye sockets. In addition, they were sexually assaulted, which investigators failed to notice in the preliminary investigation.[2]

Upon discovery, authorities immediately focused on Jerry Hobbs, as he was an ex-convict who had moved to the city in the summer of 2005 from Texas, in an effort to reconcile with his girlfriend and three children, following an incident where he chased off a man attempting to court her with a chainsaw.[2] They arrested him for possession of a knife, and after a lengthy interrogation, he confessed to the murders.[4] He spent the following five years in a Lake County jail awaiting trial, despite his defense team and a private laboratory finding that semen samples from Laura's body did not match Jerry in 2008.[2] At the time, the 16-year-old Jorge Avila-Torrez lived in the neighborhood, and was acquainted with the girls, as he was friends with Krystal's older half-brother.

Virginia crimes[]

Murder of Amanda Snell[]

Shortly after the double murder, Avila-Torrez joined the Marines in order to evade suspicion.[4][5] He was stationed at Joint Base Myer–Henderson Hall in Arlington County, Virginia, neighboring his future victim—a 20-year-old Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class named Amanda Jean Snell, a Naval Military Intelligence specialist.[2] In 2009, he strangled Snell in the barracks area.

Virginia rapes and arrest[]

In February 2010, Jorge stalked and attempted to abduct three women in northern Virginia while they were returning home from a Saturday night-out. He bound them with electrical cords in their Ballston apartment, before taking one of the victims to his SUV.[6] He drove to a secluded area, where he repeatedly raped and choked her, keeping her mouth covered with packing tape.[2] He then left the woman for dead to lie in the snow near a highway in Prince William County. Through this case, the authorities quickly located and subsequently arrested Avila-Torrez.[6]

Trials and imprisonment[]

After his arrest, Avila-Torrez was housed with 37-year-old Osama El-Atari, a former restaurateur jailed for defrauding several banks of $53 million.[6][7] In exchange for a lesser sentence, El-Atari had agreed to carry a wiretap on him, and during one of their recorded conversations, he asked Jorge if he feels any remorse. In response, Avila-Torrez replied in the negative and directly implicated himself in all three murders.[6] In his 2014 federal jury trial, backed by the jailhouse confession, El-Atari's testimony and the DNA evidence, Avila-Torrez was sentenced to death for the Snell murder, in addition to receiving 168 years of imprisonment on the state level for his other crimes.[2][7] At the time, he was the first person to receive a federal death penalty since 2007.[4]

Following these trials, he was extradited to Lake County and held in the county jail, after his initial housing in the Red Onion State Prison. By that time, Jerry Hobbs had been officially exonerated and successfully sued various law agencies in Lake County, but was again jailed in Archer City, Texas following a police pursuit for various small crimes, receiving several years' imprisonment in 2016.[2] As for Avila-Torrez, he was again put on trial for the murder of the two girls that same year. His defense attorney, Jed Stone, attempted to dismiss the DNA evidence as "substandard and weak", additionally pointing out that El-Atari's testimony should be discarded, as he was found murdered during an unrelated robbery in Maryland that February.[7] Stone also noted that Jorge's abusive childhood was a contributing factor for his murderous inclinations. After negotiations between the prosecutors and Stone, he secured a guilty plea from his client, in exchange for 100 years' imprisonment and a transfer from Red Onion State Prison, which he called "an evil, racist facility".[5] At his sentencing, presiding Justice Daniel Shanes told Avila-Torrez that he was a serial killer, and if he has even a spark of goodness, it is so far out of his reach that it is unattainable. Currently, Jorge Avila-Torrez is detained in USP Terre Haute, awaiting execution.[3]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator". Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i JB Nicholas (September 19, 2018). "Ex-Marine 'Serial Killer' Sentenced to 100 Years for Mother's Day Murders of 2 Girls". Oxygen.com.
  3. ^ a b Lee Filas (September 18, 2018). "Guilty plea brings closure to notorious Lake County child killings". Daily Herald. Archived from the original on February 4, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d Gregory Harutunian (January 2, 2019). "Zion double murder still resonates for prosecutors". Lake County Chronicle.
  5. ^ a b c Jim Newton (September 18, 2018). "'You're a serial killer': Jorge Torrez sentenced to 100 years for 2005 murder of two girls in Zion". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on February 4, 2020.
  6. ^ a b c d Tom Jackman (September 20, 2018). "Convicted killer, already facing death penalty, admits slaying two girls in Illinois in 2005". The New Zealand Herald.
  7. ^ a b c Lee Filas (September 1, 2016). "Attorney tries to block evidence in Jorge Avila-Torrez trial". Daily Herald. Archived from the original on February 4, 2020.
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