Opinion ID: 3001217
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Contina Gray’s Statement to the Police

Text: In April 2005, Hobbs’s former girlfriend, Contina Gray, told Oberle that Hobbs had admitted his involvement in Hardges’s murder to her. Specifically, Gray said Hobbs told her that he met Hardges at CB Motors to conduct No. 06-3371 3 a drug deal; that they went to 1006 Russell Street, where Hobbs made Hardges open the door so that his own fingerprints did not appear at the scene. As Hardges walked up the rear staircase of the house in front of him, Hobbs told Gray he shot Hardges. Hobbs said that Hardges fell backwards down the stairs, and that he shot Hardges several more times on the landing. Hobbs told her that he disposed of the gun in the area of Forest Hill and Molleck Street. Gray said she was living with Hobbs at the time of Hardges’s murder, and that she recalled that, on the night of the murder, Hobbs borrowed her car and went out. When he returned, he seemed very nervous and wanted to watch the local news. He also asked for a plastic bag for the clothes he was wearing. Since Gray’s television did not get the local news, Hobbs and Gray went to Gray’s mother’s house. On the way, they stopped the car and Hobbs threw the plastic bag containing his clothes into a ravine. Gray said that she and Hobbs watched the news which reported that there had been a shooting on Russell Street and that the victim was still alive. Gray recalled Hobbs becoming so nervous that he could not sleep that night. The next day, Hobbs called Gray’s mother twice to ask about any news updates on the shooting. During the second call, Gray’s mother told Hobbs that the victim had reportedly died. Gray stated that after that call, Hobbs seemed more normal. After the meeting with Gray, Oberle checked the ravine where Gray said Hobbs had discarded the clothes he wore the night of the murder. Oberle found a bag containing a sweatshirt matching the description that Gray had provided of what Hobbs was wearing the night of the murder. 4 No. 06-3371 Oberle noted that several other details reported by Gray had not been publicly released, including where the murder occurred (the rear stairwell of 1006 Russell Street), that Hardges had been shot multiple times, and that the murder weapon had been located at the precise location that Gray stated Hobbs told her he discarded it. Oberle reported these details to the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office at various meetings between April and August 2005, and an assistant state’s attorney advised him that there was probable cause to arrest Hobbs for Hardges’s murder, but that the State’s Attorney’s Office hoped for a confession before charging Hobbs.