Oklahoma Teen Accused in 5 Killings

Police arrested a teenager suspected of killing five people in the same Tulsa, Oklahoma neighborhood since November. The victims were found within blocks of each other. Together they comprise a third of the city's homicide victims this year, 4 were killed in the last two weeks.

Joshua Julius Anderson,19, was already being held on a Muskogee County rape charge when Investigators added five complaints of first-degree murder yesterday.

Sgt. Mike Huff said the investigation shows that Anderson, 19, was "terrorizing a neighborhood" and that the deaths were motivated by robbery, disputes and drugs.

"Five dead people in a matter of months is a lot," Huff said. (tulsaworld.com)

Anderson is accused of killing Evaristo Tovias on Nov. 5, Christopher Moderow, and David Gilbert on Jan. 24.

Police believe Anderson killed Christopher Moderow with a .22 caliber pistol Jan. 23; $3 was taken off the body, police said. The next day, police say, he shot and killed David Gilbert after arguing with him at a store.

Anderson is also accused in police affidavits of killing a woman and her adult son -- identified in police reports as Rose Mary and Herbert Hobbs -- who were found dead Friday in their burning home at 504 N. Quaker Ave.

The mother and son were are both believed to have been shot, but their bodies were so severely burned that the medical examiner has yet to confirm their causes of death, Huff said. While being interviewed by detectives, Anderson admitted to killing the Hobbses, police reports show.

The first of the five killings came when gunshots were heard Nov. 5 outside a house in the 1000 block of East Haskell Place. Moments later, Anderson entered the house with a shotgun and told a witness, "We need to get out of here," a police report indicates.

Police allege that Anderson assaulted Moderow before shooting him several times with a .22-caliber revolver.

Authorities believe that Anderson then stole $3 from Moderow as he lay dead in the street.

The next morning, on Jan. 24, police received a call about 7:40 a.m. about a man who was lying in the road in the 1500 block of East Independence Street.

It first appeared that the victim, identified as Gilbert, might have fallen on the icy street and suffered a head injury. But an autopsy revealed that Gilbert died from a .22-caliber bullet wound, police reported.

Witnesses told police that Anderson had had an altercation with Gilbert at the R&R Food Store, 800 N. Peoria Ave., and later said he shot Gilbert in revenge, police reports show.

The Hobbses' bodies were found in the burned rubble of their house after the fire was discovered about 1 a.m. Friday.

After detectives had developed Anderson as a suspect in the three previous killings, police served a search warrant Friday evening and arrested him on a first-degree rape warrant out of Muskogee County.

While being interviewed by detectives, Anderson admitted to killing the Hobbses, police reports show.

Anderson reportedly told police that he went to the home wearing a bandana over his face and that when he knocked on the door, Rose Mary Hobbs answered.

Anderson, holding a pistol, entered the house and held the Hobbses at gunpoint as he tied them up, police allege.

He took their money and left but returned a short time later and witnessed the son attempting to cut his mother's restraints, according to the police report. He then shot them both, police allege.

Anderson and his brother A.C. Anderson, 30, returned to the house, poured gasoline on the bodies and the house's interior, and started a fire in an attempt to destroy evidence, police allege.

Officers took A.C. Anderson into custody Saturday afternoon on arrest warrants for domestic assault and battery and injury to property. The U.S. Marshals Service put a hold on him on a federal charge of ammunition possession by a felon.

The investigation into the killings is continuing, Huff said Monday.

"We have them (the Anderson brothers) off the streets, so anybody who has any information about crimes they may be associated with -- they should go ahead and please give us a call," he said.

"This investigation has a lot of facets, multiple witnesses in each case, and takes a lot of coordination to move it forward."

(sources - AP, Reuters, tulsaworld.com)