Alondra Hobbs, on the left, and Alivia Hobbs-Jordan, on the right. (Screengrabs via WSB-TV; WXIA)
New details and clues have emerged as investigators pore over the circumstances that led up to a 7-year-old girl being abandoned in an Atlanta-area closet for so long that she became mummified.
Alondra Hobbs, 27, stands accused of felony murder and cruelty in the second degree over the death of her daughter, Alivia Hobbs-Jordan. She was arrested and charged in late June, a spokesperson for the DeKalb County Police Department previously told Law&Crime.
In a recent series of interviews with local media outlets, neighbors suggested the defendant long had something sad on her mind.
Earlier this year, Hobbs expressed a desire to kill herself, one unidentified neighbor told local ABC affiliate WSB.
“Everybody like, ‘Why you want to kill yourself?’ She never said,” the neighbor told the TV station. “But she never let you in her apartment. Never.”
And, while several other neighbors have previously said they never saw the young girl, the neighbor who recalled the defendant’s alleged suicidal tendencies said they did see Alivia Hobbs-Jordan a few times – but then her mother began offering an excuse for her absence.
“She used to tell us like that other people got her, like the daddy side,” the neighbor told WSB. “Or like her family. She’ll be like, ‘The daddy side of the family have her.’”
The line about the girl’s father watching over her was allegedly repeated to family members as well.
“We had no clue,” the victim’s aunt, Latriece Robinson, told local Fox affiliate WAGA. “The baby was supposed to be with the dad’s mom in Albany. That’s what she kept telling us, but she was here staying with my sister. She was staying in the back with a guy.”
Instead, investigators now allege in two warrants, Hobbs put her daughter, who had autism, in a stroller, shut her in the closet, and left the apartment “with no intention of returning,” Law&Crime previously reported.
“Even though she had autism, but that was my baby, you know, I would’ve never thought my daughter would do something like this,” Hobbs’ mother, Tammy Blassingame, who was previously identified by her maiden name, Matthews, said earlier this week.
The little girl was discovered on June 25 after a macabre call from a disconnected cellphone indicated a dead child had been found inside the closet of an apartment in Decatur, Georgia. Police allege she was likely placed in the closet sometime between Feb. 28 and June 25.
One man told local NBC affiliate WXIA that he was the one who made the discovery – choosing to remain nameless.
“She looked like a real mummy,” he said. “You could tell it was a young girl by what she had on and by her hair.”
According to the anonymous man, he happened upon the scene around 4:00 p.m. on June 25 and saw the door to the apartment “wide open,” the TV station reports. Then, as he got closer, he said he noticed an awful “stench.” The man went inside to investigate, finding the lights off, all the furniture still in its place, with objects strewn about the countertops as if someone had “left in a hurry.”
Investigating further, the man told WXIA, he noticed another open door. Then, he said, he saw a human arm hanging out of the closet.
“I had to stand there for like a minute or two before I realized what it was,” the man told the TV station. “It’s a dead child.”
Robinson has tried to find some reason less nefarious, than the alleged murder by her sister, as the cause of what happened at Hidden Valley Apartments unit 29.
“Alivia wasn’t supposed to be in no closet,” Robinson told WXIA on Monday. “She deserved to live a little longer than she did. What really happened? Because, maybe, she has something going on. Maybe somebody could have killed the baby. And maybe she had nothing to do with and she probably was scared to come forward.”
The defendant’s mother, for her part, says she has no interest in discussing the case with her daughter – because she could have come to the family for help with whatever occurred.
“Justice should be served,” Blassingame told WXIA. “I’ve never seen a casket that little.”
A GoFundMe was set up by Alivia Hobbs-Jordan’s grandmother to help with the wholly unexpected funeral expenses.
“All proceeds contributed will go towards all funeral expenses,” the fundraiser reads. “Please continue praying for us during this time. Any resources or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all for everything.”
It is unclear if the girl was alive when she was placed in the closet; police have yet to reveal her exact cause of death.
On Wednesday, Hobbs appeared in court for the first time after some setbacks because the defendant was in the hospital, WXIA reported. Her attorney, Ryan Bozarth, waived the reading of the warrants. The judge overseeing the proceedings reportedly said they could not set bond and transferred the matter to a superior court.
The defendant is currently detained in the DeKalb County Jail.
Marisa Sarnoff contributed to this report.
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