Steven Hobbs is being held without bond at the Harris County Jail. Investigators say he is not cooperating. Hobbs is now suspected of being a serial killer.
Sara Sanford and Patricia Pyatt were murdered eight years apart but today, officials offered a startling new revelation that ties these brutal crimes together. Sheriff's homicide investigators say DNA from security guard Steven Hobbs, who is already behind bars, matches evidence recovered from both murder scenes.
"Steven Hobbs is a predator. He's been a predator for at least a decade," said Lt. Rolf Nelson with the Harris County Sheriff's Office. "We know that from the cases that we've got him linked to now. So now we're looking at everything several years before and after just to see if there's anything else that he fits in."
Three months before Pyatt, a mother of five, was found strangled on the banks of the San Jacinto River back in 2002, a woman was raped near the same location. Two days ago, all these years later, she identified Hobbs as her attacker in a photo lineup. This latest charge means he's now accused of beating or raping six prostitutes in the past nine years -- three in this year alone.
Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia said, "This guy had been thinking that no one was going to catch him."
Investigators say Hobbs fits the profile of a serial killer. They are currently looking at roughly 20 unsolved killings that occurred over the past 15 years to see if they fit his MO.
Detectives investigating Wanda Trombley's death in Pasadena were led to Hobbs after authorities learned Trombley had worked as a prostitute. They began to question other women in the area.
Lt. Nelson said, "The prostitutes that were interviewed gave information to the investigators that the suspect was a very large white male, red hair -- very distinctive."
Right now Hobbs is suspected of killing Wanda Trombley but he has not been charged in her murder. He's charged with killing two women.
