Conor Merrick | Editor-in-Chief | cpm2022@jagmail.southalabama.edu
Image Source: Mobile County Sheriff’s Office
A manhunt for recent South graduate Zachary Hobbs ended in Mobile Monday Sept. 15.
Hobbs has been charged with kidnapping, assault and murder after taping his father, Charles Hobbs to a chair and torturing him. His bond was set at $1,090,000, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
Hobb’s motivations for the crime are still in question and are still being uncovered, according to investigators who spoke to WKRG.
Hobbs tortured his father by burning him, stabbing him, and forcing needles under his fingernails.
“Took a soldering iron and burned his arms and legs, stabbed him with sharp objects, needles under his fingernails and on his arms and different parts of his body,” Monroe County Sheriff Tom Boatwright explained to WKRG in an interview,
The ordeal began Wednesday Sept. 8 at Charles Hobb’s home in Uriah and lasted two days, ending after Hobbs kicked over the chair his father was taped to, leaving him able to unbind himself and call 911. Charles Hobbs was rushed to the hospital Friday and remained there until he died the morning of Sept. 14 due to his injuries.
Zachary Hobbs was an art student at South Alabama and graduated in spring of 2021, according to graduation records. He also worked for Jaguar Productions as an office assistant, an on campus media group, starting in 2019, according to Hobb’s professional website and LinkedIn.
Neighbors told FOX10 news they were shocked to hear about the crime as he was a quiet person who mostly kept to himself. Hobbs will appear in court again in October for his preliminary hearing.
The Vanguard will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.
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