A Mississippi teenager accused of fatally shooting an elderly couple who had hired him for handyman work had already been linked to a string of burglaries and vehicle thefts in the area, authorities said.
Cordarius Hobbs, 17, was familiar to law enforcement in Simpson County before his arrest in the June 3 killings of Billy Blair, 74, and his wife, Virginia Carol Blair, 71, at their Mendenhall home, according to an incident report obtained by KSMP-TV.
“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 Simpson County Sheriff’s Department report said.
Hobbs had been hired by the Blairs to handle tasks around the house and help maintain their property, members of his family previously said.
The killings were discovered after three contractors arrived at the Blairs’ home around 10 a.m. to install a generator and noticed a car door standing open with several guns on the seats, according to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
The contractors requested a welfare check at about 11:30 a.m., and when officers reached the property roughly 30 minutes later, they were met with gunfire, the reports said.
The confrontation led to an armed standoff that lasted nearly two hours with a gunman investigators believed to be Hobbs, police said.
Officials said Hobbs fled at some point during the standoff but was later taken into custody.
Carol Blair’s body was found in a bedroom curled in the fetal position with three gunshots to the back of her head. Her husband was found on his back in the kitchen, with three gunshots to his face.
Hobbs’ grandfather, Billy Newsome, previously confirmed that his grandson was called to work that day, but refuses to believe he could be responsible.
“My grandson used to work for the man — why are you going to rob a man that you work for?” Newsome asked.
“Why are you going to stay there that long and you know the police out there, and then you go and wait until everybody gets there to run? It just ain’t adding up … something just ain’t right here.”
Hobbs’ attorney, Zachary Vaugh, also argued that there’s a lack of direct forensic evidence connecting the teen to the slayings.
“When you have an officer say there’s no one that can identify him at the time of the shooting, I just don’t see how that adds up,” he said.
Hobbs is charged with two counts of capital murder and one count of burglary, in addition to 10 other charges. He was denied bond.
Just days after the Blairs’ murders, the suspected killer’s brothers, Cortavious and Cortavion, allegedly tried to kill a Covington County, Mississippi, deputy after a traffic stop led to both allegedly firing their weapons at officers, The Post previously reported.
