HOUSTON – A security guard accused of raping prostitutes is suspected of being a serial killer.
Steven Hobbs, 40, was charged with capital murder last week in the death of Sara Sanford in 2010. On Thursday, Hobbs was charged with murder in Patricia Pyatt's 2002 death.
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Pyatt, a mother of five, was found dead on the banks of the San Jacinto River. Detectives said she was choked with such force that some of the bones in her neck were broken.
Investigators said there may be more victims. Detectives are looking at about 20 other unsolved killings in the past 15 years to see if Hobbs is connected to them.
"Steven Hobbs is a predator," said Lt. Rolf Nelson of the Harris County Sheriff's Office. "He's been a predator for at least a decade. We know that from the cases that we've got him linked to now. Now we're looking at everything several years before and after just to see if there's anything else that he fits in."
Detectives said the investigation that led them to Hobbs began in September when Wanda Trombley, 57, was found dead in a field in Pasadena.
Pasadena police said they learned that Trombley was a prostitute who was known to work the area around Freeport Street and Interstate 10 in east Harris County. Investigators said that when they questioned other prostitutes who worked in the area, they learned that several of them had been attacked by a large white man with red hair who drove a van and worked a as a security guard.
One of the prostitutes said she was assaulted outside a restoration company in the Wallisville area in June.
Detectives said Trombley's body was found about 30 feet from the driveway of a renovation company with the same name of the company where the prostitute said she was assaulted. Investigators said Hobbs worked as a security guard at both locations.
The Harris County District Attorney's Office said Hobbs is responsible for a string of rapes of prostitutes as well. One of the victims said Hobbs, who was a commissioned security guard, wore his uniform during the attack, according to detectives.
DNA also connected Hobbs to a 2002 sexual assault, investigators said. Detectives said Hobbs took that victim to the same place Pyatt's body was found, a week after she was found.
Hobbs has also been charged with one count of kidnapping, two counts of sexual assault and two counts of aggravated sexual assault.
Hobbs was born in Kentucky but grew up in Harris County. According to his attorney, Hobbs holds a degree in criminal justice from Lamar University.
In 2007, Hobbs completed course work at Lone Star College to become a police officer, he apparently never applied for a police job. He was working as a security guard and authorized to carry a gun, when he was arrested at his home earlier this month.
Anyone with information that may connect Hobbs to any sexual assaults or killings is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.