E220: SERIAL KILLER – Jorge Avila-Torrez

This week Beth and Wendy discuss the case of Jorge Avila-Torrez who killed two little girls in his hometown of Zion, Illinois when he was a teenager. He initially got away with it, and went on to kill one woman, and assaulted three others in Arlington, Virginia. This case was suggested to us by Olivia G.

This episode was researched & scripted by Wendy & Beth Williams and edited by Minnie Williams.

Thanks for listening! This is a weekly podcast and new episodes drop every Thursday, so until next time… look alive guys, it’s crazy out there!

Shout Outs

Beyond the Rainbow, True Crimes of the LGBT (podcast)

Military Murder (podcast)

American Nightmare on Netflix (docuseries)

The Godmother (podcast)

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Footnotes

Articles/Websites

Nicholas, J.B. (09/19/2018). Ex-Marine ‘Serial Killer’ Sentenced To 100 Years For Mother’s Day Murders Of 2 Girls. Oxygen. Retrieved 01/16/2024 from https://www.oxygen.com/crime-time/jorge-avila-torrez-ex-marine-sentenced-100-years-for-murder-laura-hobbs-krystal-tobias

Martin, Andrew. (11/25/2011). The Prosecution’s Case Against DNA. The New York Times. Retrieved 01/17/2024 from https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/magazine/dna-evidence-lake-county.html

Walker, Christopher. (03/09/2021). Man who won $7M lawsuit for false murder charges jailed again locally. Times Record News. Retrieved 01/17/2024 from https://www.timesrecordnews.com/story/news/crime/2021/03/09/jerry-hobbs-jailed-again/6922957002/

FindLaw. (08/28/2017). United States v. Torrez. Retrieved 01/17/2024 from https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-4th-circuit/1872283.html

Hinkel, Dan. (05/09/2015). 10 Years After 2 Girls Killed In Zion, Families Still Await Justice. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 01/18/2024 from https://archive.ph/TlpPk#selection-1827.0-1827.67

Newton, Jim. (09/18/2018). ‘You Are A Serial Killer’: Jorge Torrez Sentenced to 100 Years For 2005 Murder of Two Girls In Zion. News-Sun. Retrieved 01/18/2024 from https://archive.ph/20200204121834/https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/ct-lns-zion-murders-torrez-plea-deal-st-0919-story.html#selection-755.0-755.99

Hinkel, Dan. (08/19/2011). ‘I know someone set me up’. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 01/21/2024 from https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2011-08-19-ct-met-torrez-20110819-story.html

Zapotosky, Matt. (04/23/2014). Ex-Marine in death-penalty case said he feels no remorse for slayings of two girls in Illinois. The Washington Post. Retrieved 01/21/2024 from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/ex-marine-in-death-penalty-case-said-he-feels-no-remorse-for-slayings-of-two-girls-in-illinois/2014/04/23/bf2b59ae-cb0c-11e3-93eb-6c0037dde2ad_story.html

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Virginia. (04/24/2014). Former Corporal Sentenced To Death In Barracks Murder. Justice.gov. Retrieved 01/21/2024 from https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/former-corporal-sentenced-death-barracks-murder

Jaffe, Harry. (09/11/2012). Predator in the Ranks: Inside a Real-Life NCIS Murder Case. Washingtonian. Retrieved 01/21/2024 from https://www.washingtonian.com/2012/09/11/predator-in-the-ranks-inside-a-real-life-ncis-murder-case/

History

Morton, Barry. (06/20/2013). The Big Con: John Alexander Dowie and the Spread of Zionist Christianity in Southern Africa. Academia. Retrieved 01/14/2023 from https://www.academia.edu/6779053/The_Big_Con_John_Alexander_Dowie_and_the_Spread_of_Zionist_Christianity_in_Southern_Africa_Paper_Presented_at_the

Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (07/16/2014). Zion. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 01/14/2023 from https://www.britannica.com/place/Zion-Illinois

Stover, Rebecca. (06/27/2022). Zion, IL: Utopia on the Prairie. University of Illinois, University Library. Retrieved 01/14/2023 from https://www.library.illinois.edu/hpnl/blog/zion-il-utopia-on-the-prairie

Sonnenschein, Carol. (1990). Zion City, Illinois: A Case Study of Commitment within a Religious Utopian Community Utopian Community. Loyola eCommons. Retrieved 01/20/2023 from https://ecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4638&context=luc_theses

Encyclopedia of Chicago. (n.d.). Zion, IL. Retrieved 01/20/2023 from http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1399.html

Wikipedia. (01/05/2024). Zion, Illinois. Retrieved 01/20/2023 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zion,_Illinois

Illinois Newspaper Project. (n.d.). A Twentieth Century Church-State (in Illinois). Retrieved 01/20/2023 from https://www.library.illinois.edu/illinoisnewspaperproject/theocrat/

BestNeighborhood.org. (n.d.). Race, Diversity, and Ethnicity in Zion, IL. Retrieved 01/21/2023 from https://bestneighborhood.org/race-in-zion-il/

Podcasts

Crímenes de Terror. Episodio #60 Jorge Avila-Torrez, “El Asesino de Illinois.”
https://podcasts.apple.com/ch/podcast/episodio-60-jorge-avila-torrez-el-asesino-de-illinois/id1569547950?i=1000569331402&l=fr

Military Murder. SERIAL KILLER: Jorge Avila Torrez [Part 1].
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/serial-killer-jorge-avila-torrez-part-1/id1485570562?i=1000574610182

Military Murder. SERIAL KILLER: Jorge Avila Torrez [Part 2].
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/serial-killer-jorge-avila-torrez-part-2/id1485570562?i=1000576097107

The FOX True Crime Podcast w/ Emily Compagno. Catching A Serial Killer: Connecting The Crimes Of Jorge Avila-Torrez.
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vRk9YTTUxMzE5OTY5MzI/episode/NDA3ODE1OWUtYjJmYi0xMWVkLWJkODAtYzcyNjk0ZGYzNzc4?ep=14

Latina She Served with Liz Hensel. Crime Junkies? Where you at?! My conversation with Margot from the Military Murder Podcast.
https://podcasts.apple.com/dk/podcast/crime-junkies-where-you-at-my-conversation-with-margot/id1539185991?i=1000585865117

Video

Deadline: Crime with Tamron Hall. S3E6: Capital Predator.

Music

“Abyss” by Alasen: ●https://soundcloud.com/alasen●https://twitter.com/icemantrap ●https://instagram.com/icemanbass/●https://soundcloud.com/therealfrozenguy●
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

“Born Again” by Jorge Hernandez
https://youtu.be/DLHtFN_hr_s
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

“Starz” by Yung Kartz
https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Yung_Kartz
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

“Ice Flow & “Furious Freak” by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3791-furious-freak
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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