Jaydon Hoberg
February 9, 2005 - July 18, 2006

Interestingly, Jaydon had suffered a broken leg which brought CPS
into his life. Though the broken leg was found to have been an
accident, the CPS worker, obviously suspicious for some reason, 
asked about sexual abuse and was told that nothing of that nature was taking place. CPS had investigated Jaydon's broken leg only two
months before his death:

Billie Hilleary has never been in any legal trouble and John White
apparently was arrested and convicted of a misdemeanor charge of
theft in 1998 for which he served 100 days in jail.

After Jaydon died, John White was arrested and charged with the
rape of Jaydon. John told paramedics that he had been taking a nap
on the couch, which Jaydon and when he woke up, he found Jaydon
to be unconscious and that his head was stuck under a pillow. Part of
that conversation was heard on an open 911 line"

Billie said she looked at her son and realized how serious the situation
truly was:

A search warrant was given and the doctors taking care of Jaydon at
Children's Hospital found evidence of a sexual assault. Evidence was
collected from John White, genital swabs, oral swabs and fingernail
scrapings were taken. In July of 2006 John White was charged with
the rape.

Billie and John had met while both worked at Walmart, stocking 
shelves. In February of 2006, she and Jaydon moved into his home.
On the day of the sexual assault, Billie had laid down to get some rest
before she had to go in to work:

Only one hour later, John woke Billie up with the news that Jaydon
was not breathing. Jaydon was taken to Children's Hospital and the
doctors were unable to revive him:

When Billie called 911, she told them that her sons head face down
in the cushion of the couch and that he was not breathing. She told
them that she had been living with John White for about five months
following the separation from Jaydon's father. John eventually
confessed to raping Jaydon after blood and semen were found in his
diaper. Jaydon's death was ruled a homicide by asphyxiation:

Helen Lake, the police officer working at the hospital that night said
that she separated Billie and John. Billie was crying and John was not.
Helen wanted to take their statements and she said that John was 
emotionless:

Assistant County Prosecutors Dan Hawkins and David Zenyen said
that they were going to show John's two hour, taped confession at
trial:

John was handcuffed while outside the hospital and taken into police
custody. Billie would be told later that he had admitted to raping her
son. John White was charged with the rape of a child, which is a 
felony and is punishable by life in prison without the possibility of
parole. Billie hoped he would get more than that:

On December 9, 2007, John White plead guilty to the rape of a child
and was facing trial for the felony. Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty in this case.

John's attorney used the defense that he had not intended to kill
Jaydon while he was raping him:

So, we have ANOTHER messed up lawyer who believes that as long
as you don't MEAN to kill a child while you are raping him, that
makes the situation different? WRONG...I believe if you kill a child
while abusing them, you should NEVER get out of prison. It's just
sad that the world isn't run in such a way to stop rewarding those
who commit these kinds of crimes.

Prosecutors David Zeyen and Dan Hawkins said that Ohio's lethal
injection was the only sentence appropriate for what John had done
to Jaydon.

In December of 2007, a panel of three judges decided against the
death penalty in this case. John M. White, who was 28 at the time,
was found guilty of aggravated murder and murder and rape of a child under the age of ten years old. A sentence of life without the
possibility of parole was handed down. The decision was not a
unanimous one, though. Judges Eric Brown and John A. Connor
voted for the life sentence and Judge Timothy S. Horton voted for
John to get the death penalty.

Deliberations took about three and a half hours due to their inability
to vote unanimously to give John death. The case for death had been
heard because John had waived his right to a jury trial.  The trial took
four days and during that time is when J. Scott Weisman use the
defense that John had not intentionally killed Jaydon. John denied 
that he had ever hurt his own child, a six year old daughter. Family
members and even Billie said that John was a wonderful father. John's
family also testified that he had only been in trouble one time before
this incident and that he suffered from long term depression due to
abuse he was given by his stepfather.

The judges ruled that the killing was committed with purpose since
John SHOULD have know that the outcome of the attack on Jaydon
was not going to be a good one. Kevin Mulrane and J. Scott Weisman
plead their client guilty to the rape charge before trail and that carried
a mandatory life sentence in prison.

Billie says that Jaydon loved to give kisses and wave goodbye to
people. Jaydon also love Winne The Pooh:

A funeral service for Jaydon James Hoberg, 17 months, will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Newark Chapel of Henderson-Van Atta Funeral & Cremation Service, with Pastor Mark Stone officiating. Burial will follow in Cedar Hill Cemetery. 

Jaydon died July 18, 2006, at Children’s Hospital in Columbus. He was born Feb. 9, 2005, in Columbus. 

He is survived by his father, Daniel Arthur William Hoberg (fiancee Celeste Morgan), of Newark; mother, Billie Rae Hilleary, of Columbus; paternal grandparents, Alice and Charles Lees, of Newark; maternal grandparents, Theresa Lees (Fred) and Raymond Hilleary, all of Newark; paternal great-grandparents, Robert and Susan DeBoard, of Newark, and Lunda Lee Sr. and Patty Hoberg, of Newark; maternal great-grandparents, Dorothy Biddle, of Newark, and David (Rose) Cocanour, of Baltimore; uncles, Dustin Hoberg, of Newark, and TJ Hilleary, of Columbus; great-aunts, Sue (Mark) Toothman and Patty (Dave), all of Newark, and Diana (Kenny) Moore of St. Louisville; great-uncles, Robert (Melissa) DeBoard, Jason (Monique) DeBoard and David (Darla) Cocanour, all of Newark, and Steve (Renee) Cocanour of Hilliard; many cousins, including Andrew Taylor Hoberg, Amy Roberts, Erin Morgan and Nevaeh Leigh Hoberg; and his loving babysitters, Kathy, Denise and Autumn. 

He was preceded in death by his maternal great-grandparents, Mabel and Paul Toma and Grandpa Biddle; and maternal great-great-grandmother, Thelma Vannest. 

Friends may call from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at the funeral home, 59 N. Fifth St. 

Originally published July 19, 2006 

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