A Mississippi teenager charged with targeting an elderly couple had been hired by the victims to help with household chores — just one of many unsettling details emerging in a case that has rattled the small town of Mendenhall.
Cordarius Hobbs, 17, faces two counts of capital charges following the June 3 incident that claimed the lives of Bill Blair, 74, and his wife Carol, 71.
The couple had graciously offered the teen work doing odd jobs around their home, according to testimony from family members during a July preliminary hearing.
“The man would’ve given you the shirt off his back, his wife is the same, and they’re just great people. It’s just a tragedy.”
An incident report obtained by Fox News Digital from the Simpson County Sheriff’s Department describes Hobbs as a “troubled juvenile” already known to local law enforcement as a suspect in other area crimes.
“When we first arrived [on the crime scene] I and other Deputies and Investigators believe the suspect could be a troubled juvenile known to us as Cordarius Hobbs who is also suspected of many other home burglaries as well as auto theft in this immediate area,” the officer’s incident report states.
The events unfolded when contractors arrived at the Blair residence around 10 a.m. to install a generator. They discovered a car parked outside with an open door and several guns piled on the seats.
When no one responded as they worked, the crew called Simpson County authorities at 11:30 a.m. for a welfare check.
Officers arriving at noon were met with gunfire, triggering a nearly two-hour standoff. Hobbs eventually fled the home and was apprehended after a chase. He was unarmed when caught.
Inside, investigators found Carol Blair in a bedroom, shot three times in the back of the head. Her husband was discovered on the kitchen floor with three gunshot wounds to his face.
Billy Newsome, Hobbs’ grandfather, maintains his grandson’s innocence and questioned the timeline of events.
“My grandson used to work for the man, why you gone rob a man that you work for,” Newsome said. “Why you gone stay there that long and you know the police out there, and then you gone wait until everybody gets there to run, it just ain’t adding up, something just ain’t right here.”
Defense attorney Zachary Vaughn argues there is insufficient forensic evidence directly connecting the teenager to the scene.
“There was nothing to say he’s a principal, he’s the one that pulled the trigger on these things. One of the things alone was, one of the victims was shot twice on one side of the head and once on the other. I think that’s pretty compelling that somebody else may have been in there.”
During the standoff, a sheriff’s deputy was shot but recovered at home. Hobbs was also shot by a state trooper while fleeing — a non-life-threatening wound that required brief hospitalization.
Prosecutors have charged Hobbs as an adult with two counts of capital offense charges, one count of burglary, four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, four counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, and two counts of aggravated assault over 65 years old.
Jason Busby, a friend of the couple, described them as “selfless” pillars of the Mendenhall community — a town of just 2,200 residents located about 40 miles south of Jackson.
“Everybody around here is still in shock. They were just good people,” Busby said.
Hobbs remains jailed in Rankin County. A request for bond was denied.
The charges remain allegations. The case has not been proven in court.
A 17-year-old Mississippi teen charged with capital murder in the shooting deaths of an elderly couple was already a suspect in "many" home burglaries and car thefts in the same area, according to an incident report obtained by Fox News Digital.
Cordarius Hobbs allegedly broke… pic.twitter.com/DvuM1zB9ve
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