AJA DANIELLE JOHNSON - 7 yo (2010) - Geronimo/Davenport OK

Norman detectives seized 15 items from Lester Hobbs’ 1992 Toyota
Paseo including knives, rope sections and hand tools, according to a
search warrant that was filed in Cleveland County District Court.
Norman Police Detective Lori Burks sought warrants on March 29 to
search Hobbs’ car and the land adjacent to the vehicle. District Judge
Lori Walkley signed both warrants around 7:30 p.m. that day.
Police needed the warrants after a Norman man found Hobbs’ and Aja
Johnson’s bodies with the car in a wooded area northeast of Oklahoma
Highway 9 and 108th Avenue SE.
State and federal authorities had been searching for Hobbs, 47, and
Johnson, 7, since late January. They were last seen Jan. 23 in Geronimo,
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation officials said.
OSBI agents believe Hobbs killed Johnson’s mother, 37-year-old Tonya
Hobbs, that night then kidnapped the child. Tonya Hobbs was Hobbs’
estranged wife.
An Amber Alert was issued on Jan. 25, investigators said.
Court records show Burks returned both search warrants Thursday
afternoon.
The warrant for the vehicle revealed:
> At 5:42 p.m. March 29, a Norman police dispatcher
confirmed the car found in the field belonged to Hobbs and Tonya Hobbs.
> Detectives began searching the vehicle and property
later that evening.
> During their vehicle search, investigators seized two
pairs of shoes, drink containers, bags and assorted papers.
Another warrant used to search the land shows:
> Detectives found a knife and note on the vehicle’s
dashboard.
> Police took crumpled paper, an empty water bottle, red
mechanic’s rag and elementary notepaper with writing from the field.
After the bodies were recovered last month, Richard Goss, agent in
charge of the OSBI office in Lawton, said agents had investigated at
least 367 leads that were reported to the Lawton office.
OSBI agents worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S.
Marshal’s to find Hobbs and Johnson, Goss said. The Geronimo Police
Department and Comanche County Sheriff’s Office also investigated the
case.
The State Medical Examiner’s office identified Hobbs and Johnson on
March 31. Hobbs’ and Johnson’s bodies were badly decomposed and possibly
had been disturbed by animals.
According to Johnson’s and Hobbs’ preliminary autopsy reports, their
deaths were “violent, unusual or unnatural.” Cause and manner of death
still are being determined.
Norman police still are investigating Johnson’s and Hobbs’ deaths.
Detectives are waiting for complete autopsy reports from the Medical
Examiner’s Office. The reports are expected to be ready in two to five
weeks.

NORMAN, OK -- There are some strange findings in the search warrants released in the death of Aja Johnson. The 7-year-old and her stepfather Lester Hobbs were found dead in Cleveland County two weeks ago. Authorities believe Hobbs killed Aja's mother and took Aja. They believe he then killed Aja and himself. Hobbs was found dead in his ex-wife's car. Aja was found dead outside the car.

Search warrants list what was found on the front seat of the car which includes three sections of rope, two knives and 15 articles of clothing.

Outside the car, investigators found things such as elementary notepaper with writing, a red plastic candy bag, a plastic measuring cup and an automobile engine coolant reservoir.

Aja's father, J.J. Johnson, says he believes he knows what happened.

"A coolant reservoir is where the overflow of the antifreeze goes. I noticed he had a large knife on top of that car. I figured he used that to cut that container off with that and poured it into some soda pop or something and gave it to Aja."

Investigators are waiting on toxicology reports from the medical examiner's office to determine exact cause of death.

http://www.kfor.com/news/local/kfor-news-search-warrents-release-aja-story,0,2542646.story

Accused murderer, kidnapper
Lester Hobbs killed himself by drinking antifreeze, report says

The man who kidnapped and killed 7-year-old Aja Johnson took his own life by consuming antifreeze, the state
medical examiner's office said Friday. But Aja's father, J.J. Johnson of Oklahoma City,
said he is more interested in finding out how his daughter died.

"Aja's the one I care about," Johnson said Friday.Johnson
said he was told weeks ago that Lester Hobbs cut the antifreeze container out of the engine of the stolen
car he had been driving, and that this container was found at the scene.The
state medical examiner's office reported that Hobbs committed suicide
by acute ethylene glycol intoxication."It was stated that there
was a suicide note at the scene and the vehicle radiator overfill jug
that had been removed from the engine compartment was lying
approximately 30 feet from the vehicle and empty," medical examiner
pathologist Dr. Chai Choi wrote in the report. Toxicology tests showed
ethylene glycol in his femoral artery, liver and urine. There was also a
trace of alcohol in his urine.The decomposed bodies of Hobbs and
Aja were found March 29 in woods southeast of Norman.
Hobbs' remains were inside the white Toyota Paseo that state agents said
he used in Aja's abduction. Aja's body was near the car, covered with a blanket.
At the time the bodies were found, it had been more than two months since Aja's mother,
Tonya Hobbs was found dead in Lester Hobbs' mobile home. While the
cause and manner of death of Aja Johnson are listed as pending, the
autopsy report indicates her neck likely was cut.Tonya Hobbs,
Aja's mother and Lester Hobbs' estranged wife, was found dead Jan. 24
inside Lester Hobbs' motor home in Geronimo, about 100 miles southwest
of Oklahoma City. The discovery of her body led to a statewide
manhunt for Lester Hobbs and Aja.

Read more: http://newsok.com/accused-murderer-kidnapper-lester-hobbs-killed-himself-by-drinking-antifreeze-report-says/article/3459655#ixzz0nM5PPYZL

The Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth has
released a report detailing years of abuse before seven-year-old Aja
Johnson was kidnapped and murdered by Lester Hobbs earlier this year.
The commission says Hobbs threw firecrackers into her room to awaken
her, destroyed her new clothes, slashed her bed and beat her with a
flexible ruler. DHS officials say they do their utmost to protect
children in custody rulings, but keeping them safe is not easy very
often.

TomTerrific0420 wrote:The Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth has
released a report detailing years of abuse before seven-year-old Aja
Johnson was kidnapped and murdered by Lester Hobbs earlier this year.
The commission says Hobbs threw firecrackers into her room to awaken
her, destroyed her new clothes, slashed her bed and beat her with a
flexible ruler. DHS officials say they do their utmost to protect
children in custody rulings, but keeping them safe is not easy very
often.

Keeping them safe is impossible for authorities if the mother offers up her child to the abuser time and time again.
Tonya Hobbs took Aja to visit this piece of scum and this time he killed them both.

Department Of Human Services spokesperson Beth
Scott confirms Yolanda Hunter is retiring from DHS.Family members
said Hunter is the case worker who worked on the Kelsey Briggs and Aja
Johnson cases.Investigators said Kelsey Briggs died from child
abuse in 2005 after DHS workers placed her back in her mother's care.
Aja Johnson was kidnapped by her stepfather, Lester Hobbs, in January of
this year. Their bodies were found in a wooded area of Norman in March.Kelsey's
family members said they repeatedly warned Hunter that Kelsey should
not be in her mother's care. Aja's father, J.J. Johnson, said he warned
Hunter that Hobbs was abusing Aja and threatened to hurt her.Both
families claim Hunter ignored their warnings."She didn't care
about the kids," said J.J. Johnson. "She didn't care about nobody. It
was just a job. She was there to collect a check every month and that
was it."He said he doesn't blame Hunter entirely for his
daughter's death, but he said she could have done something that might
have prevented it.Scott said Hunter is on paid leave until she
retires on July 1."She calls herself a servant of the people of
Oklahoma. I don't believe so. I don't believe that," J.J. Johnson said.
"Every month she takes that check, she takes it knowing that she did not
do a good job for the state of Oklahoma and the children of Oklahoma."

At the behest of House Speaker-designate Kris Steele, state lawmakers have embarked on a review of the state's system for handling child abuse and neglect.

It is not the first time an in-depth look has been taken at the child welfare system, and it surely won't be the last.

As is sometimes the case, this review was prompted by the shocking death of a child - in this case, a 7-year-old girl who disappeared in January and was later found dead in a wooded area near Norman. Aja Johnson's stepfather, Lester Hobbs, also was found dead at the scene. The body of the girl's mother, Tonya Hobbs, had been found shortly after the girl's disappearance.

"The thing that stood out to me is that there is a long track record of DHS involvement in the life of Aja and her family," said Steele, R-Shawnee. "Did the state of Oklahoma do everything possible to try and protect this child? I'm not insinuating that did not occur. I'm just wanting to make sure."

A report compiled after Aja's death found that there had been nine referrals about her situation to the Department of Human Services in the three years prior to her death.

That was also the case with 2-year-old Kelsey Smith-Briggs of Meeker, who died in 2005 as a result of child abuse. DHS had had multiple contacts with her family. Her mother and mother's husband were convicted of charges related to Kelsey's death. Reviews of the circumstances connected to her death led to reforms in child-welfare investigations.

Back in 1995, the
shocking death of 2-year-old Ryan Luke of McAlester, which led to convictions of his mother and grandfather, also led to intense scrutiny of the system and various reforms.

There is a clear pattern here. Horrific child-abuse fatalities that some observers feel could have been prevented lead to reviews of what went wrong, and in most cases some improvements, if only incremental, result.

Perhaps that is the only way much improvement will occur in a state that has chronically underfunded such an important function. Witnesses speaking before the House study panel detailed such problems as high turnover rate and lack of experience among investigators, who carry heavy caseloads for low pay. "There's only so much of that they can stand," said Trent Baggett, executive coordinator of the state's District Attorney's Council.

A federal lawsuit over similar issues is pending, brought by a national child advocacy group. It is similar to other previous lawsuits over troubled state systems, including corrections, juvenile justice and developmental disabilities, which have resulted in massive changes in Oklahoma. If plaintiffs prevail, a major overhaul could be in store for child-welfare services.

If not, it may take another tragic, preventable death to spark outrage anew.

Bill might prevent another brutal child murder

Published: April 30, 2011

Tuesday April 26 was a great day for Oklahoma's children. The state Senate joined the House of Representatives in unanimously passing House Bill 2136. The bill will bear the name of 7-year-old Aja Johnson, who was brutally murdered by her stepfather, Lester Hobbs, last year. This important legislation requires the Department of Human Services to perform criminal background checks through both the OSBI and FBI on any adult living in a home where a child will be placed for reunification.

While this won't save every child, had it been in effect in Aja's case the measure would have revealed that Hobbs had served time for a felony assault. It might have given pause to the DHS in placing Aja in the home Hobbs shared with Aja's mother, who was also murdered by Hobbs.

Under House Speaker Kris Steele's leadership, the unanimous vote to approve HB 2136 sends a strong message that people are tired of defenseless kids being murdered in homes under DHS supervision.

It's too late for one little girl. With HB 2136, perhaps it won't be too late for another.

Hobbs killed himself after murdering Aja Johnson in March 2010, two months after he killed Johnson's mother.

I LOVE this bill, and while it hasn't passed yet (of course there is some maneuvering going on about the cost of it) I really think it will. The news last night reported the measure would cost the state an extra $200,000, which I think is a small price to pay. However, DHS here in Oklahoma has had to take a 5 million dollar cut back this year alone, so let's just all keep our fingers crossed and hope and pray this measure is passed.