Jury trial reset for Bay Area man accused of killing missing wife on Valentine’s Day 2023

A Solano County Superior Court judge again has rescheduled a jury trial for a Fairfield man accused of killing his wife on or about Valentine s Day then burning her body in Fresno County Gregory Grant Hobson on Monday was scheduled to appear in Department for a trial confirmation but court records show Judge Janice M Williams vacated Hobson s previously scheduled July trial in the Justice Center in Fairfield and reset it for a m Sept She also scheduled a pretrial matter in the scenario a trial management conference for a m Sept The trial is expected to last an estimated five weeks During the morning court proceeding Chief Deputy Populace Defender Oscar Bobrow represented Hobson Chief Deputy District Attorney Bruce Flynn represented the DA s Office Gregory G Hobson of Fairfield Fairfield PD photo The trial date comes more than months after Hobson s preliminary hearing on charges related to the disappearance and death of Anu Anand Hobson also of Fairfield his wife of years Evidence presented during the hearing revealed a bloody tote bag that forensic analysis indicated had the victim s blood on it the couple did not notify their children before they left the area and the victim s body was burned which a judge deemed was sufficient cause to find that a crime was committed Related Articles East Bay man sentenced on federal gun charges charged in record-setting million jewelry heist from Brinks truck en journey from Bay Area to Pasadena Nicaraguan national charged with assaulting ICE agents in San Jose Fremont police chief announces retirement after years Who should pay for Prop California s new tough-on-crime law Hobson who has no prior criminal record remains without bail in the Stanton Correctional Facility in Fairfield Judge John B Ellis who presided over the first days of the preliminary hearing in December called the defendant a danger to the region and a flight pitfall denying bail for Hobson During a later hearing Bobrow persisted in his appeal to another judge Barbara A Zuniga citing the couple s lengthy marriage Hobson s son testifying that his father did not exhibit violent tendencies and Hobson returning to Fairfield after the alleged killing Zuniga however recalled the son testified that his father exhibited angry outbursts and cited destruction of evidence the burning of his wife s body He does pose a threat to the society she added ordering Hobson to return for a held-to-answer arraignment two weeks later To patronage her eventual decision Zuniga also cited previous California cases and clarified the definition of sufficient cause compared to probable cause and the nature of circumstantial evidence to aid a conviction She also made detailed references to prior hearing testimony particular of which she had read before she presided over the proceeding They included Hobson s belief that his wife as trying to poison him with eyedrops in his water and his suspicions that his wife was cheating on him and disclosed Zuniga If he determined out who it was he d kill them Additionally she noted that Hobson s phone usage was tracked to cellphone towers in the area where his wife s charred remains were discovered DNA analysis of blood determined on recovered items and a determination that the burned body was indeed his wife s The fact that her body was burned and that she had disappeared demonstrates consciousness of guilt noted Zuniga noting a tote bag belonging to Anu was soaked with blood She admitted investigators still do not know at the time how Anu Hobson died Anu Anand Hobson of Fairfield Courtesy photo Fairfield Police Department Crime scene findings and DNA analysis dominated the second day of the preliminary hearing on Dec During the morning session on that day in Department a Fairfield Police Department crime scene investigator stated the charred remains supposed to be those of Anu Hobson and pieces of a gas can were ascertained in early March in a dirt area east of Interstate near Kamm Avenue in Fresno County A DNA analyst testified that the testing of a few cotton swabs yielded DNA a human being s unique genetic fingerprints belonging to Anu Hobson swipes taken from inside a black tote bag uncovered less than a mile from her remains and swipes taken from a hydraulic lift in the Hobson family garage in Fairfield The DNA expert also noted that a swipe taken from the lower back area revealed the charred remains were those of a female Crime scene investigator Amy Tudi-Akaka testified and repeated information presented during the hearing s first day on Dec that she and other Fairfield investigators traveled to Fresno County on Feb after receiving word from law enforcement leaders there who revealed they discovered evidence that would be of interest to you in solving the alleged crime Tudi-Akaka reported Flynn who led the prosecution at the time that she photographed the tote bag and used swabs to collect DNA from inside the tote bag which she mentioned contained a reddish-brown substance suggesting blood Tudi-Akaka noted her return to the Kamm Avenue area southwest of Fresno on March when Fairfield investigators aided by Fresno County Sheriff s Office deputies decided to comb the area in search of Anu Hobson s body On that day investigators uncovered remains presumed to be Hobson s about feet east of where the black tote bag was ascertained and Tudi-Akaka drove part of the way there in a department sedan During one of the hearing days Fairfield Police Detective Dennis Chapman noted Dr Arnold Josselson a forensic pathologist in Fairfield performed an autopsy on Hobson s remains on March An external exam did not yield the cause of Hobson s death However Josselson stated Chapman that his internal examination manifested two specific injuries including hemorrhage to the front of the scalp and damage to part of the right jaw During the afternoon session Wednesday Chapman revealed he recorded interviews with the Hobson children on March asking them if there was a history of violence between their parents They commented they had no recollection of violence between their mother and father However Sara Hobson informed Chapman that he was consistently irritable and punching walls Upon cross-examination Bobrow got Chapman to reveal that Sara communicated the detective that she never saw her father be violent toward anyone in the home Court records show the Hobsons were last seen Feb in their silver-colored Toyota Tacoma spotted on roadway surveillance cameras a day later near Elk Grove Boulevard in Sacramento The couple was announced missing on Feb Though Anu Hobson was not discovered at the time Fairfield investigators revealed that based on evidence collected thus far police believe she has been killed Gregory Hobson was arrested on Feb near the intersection of Walters Road and East Tabor Avenue in Fairfield and later pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder If convicted of first-degree murder at trial he faces years to life in state prison