Murder Victims' Family React To Arrest

Tuesday, February 6th 2007, 10:28 am

By: News On 6

Police believe theyâ€™ve captured the man responsible for a Tulsa murder spree. Bond is set at nearly $200,000 for 19 year-old Joshua Anderson. Heâ€™s jailed on several felony complaints including five counts of first-degree murder. News on 6 anchor Tami Marler reports on Andersonâ€™s past.

Police believe Joshua Anderson first killed Evaristo Tovias in November, Chris Moderow on January 23 and the very next day, witnesses identified him as David Gilbert's killer. Eight days later two bodies, a man and a woman, were found burned beyond recognition in a suspicious fire.

Chris and Brandon Hobbs learned about the fire from a relative.

"She informed me that the house had burned down and my grandmother and my dad were in the house,â€ said Brandon Hobbs. â€œAnd initially we thought it was a freak accident in the house.â€

That was hard enough for them to swallow, but as the investigation unfolded they learned their loved ones last moments were filled with terror and brutality.

"Your mind wants you to figure out exactly how the story went, so I wonder, but I just try not to think about it," Hobbs said.

Police say 19-year-old Joshua Anderson admitted to robbing and killing Rosemary Hobbs and her son Herbert, then returning with his brother, A.C. Anderson, and torching the house.

Muskogee authorities know Joshua Anderson all too well. His most recent charge, first-degree rape in November, but his records go back to at least 2003 when he was charged at age 16 with shooting with intent to kill. Anderson was jailed on kidnapping charges three days before his 18th birthday, but pled to a misdemeanor. A 2005 shooting charge was dismissed when the victim failed to show up for court, then changed his testimony.

Rosemary and Herbertâ€™s family members choose to remember their loved ones at their best, rather than dwell on the horror of their deaths.

"Both of them would do anything, anything for family members," said Hobbs.

"My uncle and my grandmother, they were wonderful people. And like Brandon was saying, I try not to imagine what their final moments were like,â€ Chris Hobbs said. â€œIt must have been frightening. Had this guy not been on the streets, they wouldn't have had to deal with it."

The Hobbs familyâ€™s story gets even worse; Brandonâ€™s mother died unexpectedly a year ago. They finally had enough money to place her tombstone last month, now theyâ€™re planning two more funerals.

Rosemary Hobbs leaves behind eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Herbert had five kids and six grandkids.