Message Board

[Admin]

Toddler raped before death

Mom's boyfriend charged in sex assault of 17-month-old; more charges possible

By Theodore Decker
The Columbus Dispatch
Thursday, July 20, 2006

As her 17-month-old son lay limp — his eyes rolled back in his head — on the couch downstairs, Billie Hilleary awakened Tuesday night to a flurry of apologies.

They came, she said, from her boyfriend, John M. White.

"He came up and woke me up and said, 'He's not breathing! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!' and just kept saying, 'I'm sorry' over and over again," the 22-year-old mother said yesterday.

By night's end, Hilleary was told that her son, Jaydon Hoberg, had died. She also learned from police that he had been raped, and that White had admitted to the sexual assault.

White, 27, sat in protective custody at the Franklin County jail yesterday, charged with the rape of a child younger than 13, a first-degree felony. He is due to appear this morning in Franklin County Municipal Court.

Franklin County Coroner Brad Lewis said last night that his office had completed a daylong autopsy on Jaydon's body, but he won't release the results until today. He said the delay would allow police to investigate further and meet with Jaydon's family to discuss the results.

Police said earlier yesterday that more charges might be filed after the autopsy if it revealed that the assault led to Jaydon's death. They said they were treating the case as a rape-murder and obtained a warrant for White's DNA.

Medics and police were first called around 7:40 p.m. to White's apartment at 1289 Weybridge Rd., in a complex near Kenny and Henderson roads, just north of Upper Arlington.

Medics found Jaydon, Hilleary and White there. A neighbor said White was cradling the child in the doorway while Hilleary screamed.

With Hilleary in the ambulance, medics rushed the boy to Children's Hospital, where he died at 8:19 p.m. White, she said, followed in a car.

Hilleary, who said her son has the last name of his father, Daniel Hoberg, said she met White while the two stocked shelves at the Georgesville Road Wal-Mart. Hilleary grew up in Newark, and much of her family and Hoberg's family remain there. Daniel Hoberg couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.

White and Hilleary dated for a few months before Hilleary decided to move in with him in February, she said.

She said that during that time, she never noticed any problems with how White treated Jaydon, who was her only child, or his own 5-year-old daughter, Gwendolyn, who lived with them part of the time but wasn't there when Jaydon was injured.

Neighbors said they often saw White in front of the apartment, playing with the children.

"He wasn't abusive to none of us," Hilleary said.

Hilleary said that on Tuesday, she went upstairs to rest before her night shift at Wal-Mart. She heard Jaydon and White playing downstairs before she drifted off to sleep, only to be awakened an hour later.

"He said that he fell asleep with Jaydon and when he woke up, Jaydon's head was down in the cushions and he wasn't breathing," she said.

Hilleary said she ran downstairs to find Jaydon on his back on the couch, wearing his diaper. He was in just a diaper when she had gone upstairs, she said, and she saw nothing to indicate an assault. But he was limp and appeared lifeless, she said.

She said she was in utter disbelief when detectives first told her that the 24-pound Jaydon had injuries suggesting that he had been sexually assaulted, and later, that White had admitted to it.

"He seemed like he was good with kids," she said.

White is from Columbus but also had lived in Georgia and New York at times, she said. He had one prior run-in with the law in Franklin County, when he was charged with burglary in 1998. White pleaded to a lesser charge and served 100 days in jail, records show. There were no criminal records found in Georgia or New York.

White declined an interview request yesterday.

Franklin County Children Services confirmed yesterday that the agency had received a call about Jaydon after he broke his leg this year.

The agency investigated in May and deemed the break to be an accidental injury, closing the investigation in June without opening a case, said Kay Marshall, spokeswoman for the agency.

Marshall said the identity of the caller who made the referral is kept confidential by the agency.

Hilleary sought appropriate medical care for Jaydon's broken leg and took him to doctors four times in the two weeks after he broke it, according to the agency.

No allegations or concerns of sexual abuse were raised at the time, Marshall said. The investigator who visited the home saw no signs of trouble, according to the agency.

Jaydon, Hilleary said, loved to give kisses and wave goodbye. He favored Winnie the Pooh.

"He always brought a smile to my face, no matter how I was feeling," Hilleary said.

"I just keep wondering why (White) did it," she said. "What was going through his head to make him do that?"

[deb]

Again a little child ( 17 months ) raped and killed, this crime is just the worst. I hope THIS MONSTER goes to prison for LIFE. Little Jaydon did not deserve to die. Please email or write your Senator and Gov. Taft tell them we are sick of this crime and to pass a law to deter it. Death would speak loud and clear. Someone please do something to help our children. Law's pass yet crime does not stop!

[Admin]

Agency Looked at Dead Child's Previous Injury
Jul 19 2006 11:36PM
Reported by Patrick Bell/WBNS 10TV

Franklin County Children Services was no stranger to the home of Jaydon Hoberg, a 17-month-old boy who died Tuesday night under suspicious circumstances.

Investigators with FCCS found Jaydon had been seriously injured just two months ago. But he was never taken out of the home.

Columbus Police say Jaydon Hoberg died Tuesday night after he was sexually assaulted. A coroner's report expected Thursday could lead to murder charges for John White, the boyfriend of Jaydon's mother.

"I want him to get the death penalty for what he done," the boy's mother, Billie Hilleary, told 10TV.

Neither she nor her boyfriend had ever been in legal trouble. But Franklin County Children Services confirmed to 10TV that case workers investigated previous injuries to the little boy in May 2006.

In a statement, the agency stated: "The investigation was related to a broken leg that was deemed to be an accidental injury."

Children Services went on to say that a caseworker "...asked about the possibility of sexual abuse, and was told there were no suspicions of that nature."

Tuesday night, after Jaydon died at Children's Hospital, John White was taken into custody and later charged with rape. According to a search warrant, White told medics he had just been napping with the little boy. White said when he woke up, he found Jaydon unconscious with his head stuck or wedged underneath a pillow.

An open 911 line caught part of the conversation with a paramedic.

"How long ago did this happen, sir?" the paramedic asked.

"I don't know how long," White responded. "He was under there on his face. Then I woke up. It was probably about a minute and a half, and I was trying to work on him. Then I went and got his mom."

The baby's mother recalled what White then told her.

"He said, 'he's not breathing. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.' And he just kept telling me he's sorry."

Hilleary then looked at the boy and realized how serious the situation was.

"He was just laying there. He was limp. His eyes were rolled back in his head."

According to a search warrant police obtained, doctors at Children's Hospital discovered what they believed to be evidence of sexual assault. Detectives later collected physical evidence from John White by taking genital and oral swabs from him, as well as fingernail scrapings.

Children Services also said at the conclusion of its May investigation, a letter was sent to Jaydon's mother. It informed her that the case was being closed and help would be available if she ever needed it in the future.

[Admin]

Trial coverage of Jaydon's case can now be found in our "Trial Watch" Forum.

[gagbry]

This has to be such a sick man & to just live in prison for what he has done is not enough. this man deserves to die & have those he has caused pain to, watch him take his last breath. this is just crazy & beyond comprehension for me. 17mths? what kind of sick man can do this?