KODY MAYNARD - 11 yo (2010) Killed with Mother and her friend - Howard (NE of Columbus) OH

cindmo wrote:

kiwimom wrote:OMG Sarah saw her mother and brother murdered That poor child. I'm so upset Kody and the others were killed. What a monster. He should be hung from the tree he put them in. Nobody on this planet should bother spending one more second thinking about him or helping him with his 'rights'. Just get rid of him.

Do we know why he took Sarah? I can guess, but I haven't heard it reported....?

In one of the articles it said Sarah was under his control from Wednesday. It seems she was always his target. That begs the question why he didn't just abduct her? Why go to the home and kill the others?

kiwimom wrote:

cindmo wrote:

kiwimom wrote:OMG Sarah saw her mother and brother murdered That poor child. I'm so upset Kody and the others were killed. What a monster. He should be hung from the tree he put them in. Nobody on this planet should bother spending one more second thinking about him or helping him with his 'rights'. Just get rid of him.

Do we know why he took Sarah? I can guess, but I haven't heard it reported....?

In one of the articles it said Sarah was under his control from Wednesday. It seems she was always his target. That begs the question why he didn't just abduct her? Why go to the home and kill the others?

Maybe he thought he could keep her in his basement and LE would be looking for the whole missing family...very, very sad. Reminds me of the Shasta Groene case.

I removed Sarah from the topic title as she has been "Found".

TomTerrific0420 wrote:I removed Sarah from the topic title as she has been "Found".

Thanks Tom, I forgot to do that. Welcome back. LYLAB

my heart just hurts over this tragedy.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/world/50706565-68/hoffman-authorities-ohio-tree.html.csp


By ANN SANNER

The Associated Press
Published Nov 19, 2010 07:41AM
Updated 5 minutes ago Updated Nov 19, 2010 07:41AM

Mount Vernon, Ohio • Three people who vanished from a blood-spattered home more than a week ago were found dead inside a hollow tree Thursday, days after the teenage daughter of one of the victims was rescued — bound and gagged — from the basement of an ex-convict who worked as a tree trimmer.

Authorities said all three were murdered in the home, though they didn’t indicate how, and the ex-convict gave information that led investigators to the bodies in garbage bags in woods in central Ohio. He remained jailed on kidnapping charges and was the only suspect in the killings, Knox County Sheriff David Barber said.

“The tragedy today is just devastating,” said Knox County Prosecutor John Thatcher. “The results aren’t what we wanted them to be.”

The mother, her daughter and son and a family friend were reported missing after the mother failed to show up for work at a local Dairy Queen on Nov. 10. A day later, a deputy found what authorities called an unusual amount of blood inside her home, and her pickup truck was found near the campus of Kenyon College.

During the weekend, a SWAT team found 13-year-old Sarah Maynard in the basement of a home occupied by Matthew Hoffman, an unemployed tree trimmer who spent six years in a Colorado prison. He was charged with kidnapping the girl and has appeared in court but didn’t enter a plea.

Investigators wouldn’t discuss details of Maynard’s ordeal, but they have said she is doing well, under the circumstances.

“We’re inspired by Sarah’s bravery,” Barber said.

A day after finding Sarah, authorities conceded that the others were likely dead.

Still, volunteers and authorities on the ground and in the air continued to search ponds, vacant buildings and bike trails for Maynard’s mother, 32-year-old Tina Herrmann; Herrmann’s 10-year-old son, Kody Maynard; and her friend, Stephanie Sprang, 41.

It was unclear how well Hoffman knew the four, but the sheriff suggested that the defendant had been watching them.

The sheriff said authorities first questioned Hoffman the day after Herrmann failed to show up for work. Police found him sitting in his car near a bike trail near where Herrmann’s pickup truck was found, Barber said.

Hoffman’s former girlfriend claimed he choked her, pushed her against a wall and pinned her neck with his forearm during an argument at his home on Oct. 24, according to a police report. The woman didn’t want to press charges.

Hoffman was sentenced to eight years in prison in Colorado for arson and other charges. The conviction stemmed from a town-house fire set to cover up a burglary.

Hoffman returned to Ohio after he was released in 2007.

Snipped from above

"Hoffman’s former girlfriend claimed he choked her, pushed her against a wall and pinned her neck with his forearm during an argument at his home on Oct. 24, according to a police report. The woman didn’t want to press charges."

Well she damn well should have.

Investigators continued to piece together the case against Matthew Hoffman on Friday as more information was released about where the bodies of two women and a boy were recovered.The bodies of Tina Herrmann, 32; her son, Kody Maynard, 11; and family friend Stephanie Sprang,41, were found Thursday afternoon in a wooded area of the Kokosing Wildlife Preserve.The Licking County coroner was performing autopsies on Friday to determine how the three were killed.Knox County Sheriff David Barber said that investigators went to the site, located near Fredericktown, based on information they received from Hoffman.Neither Barber nor Knox County prosecutor John C. Thatcher would say whether Hoffman, 30,confessed to the crime.The bodies were found inside a hollow tree that was nearly one mile into the woods.Investigators said the area is so densely wooded that they believe Hoffman dragged the bodies to the tree.Detectives believe that Hoffman, an experienced tree trimmer, used harnesses to haul the bodies up to a hole at the top of the tree and dropped them down to the base.
The bodies were found lodged near the bottom of the tree and investigators had to cut a hole toremove them.Hoffman has not been charged with murder, but was being held on $1 million bond, accused ofkidnapping Herrmann's daughter, Sarah Maynard.Sarah Maynard, 13, was found alive on Sunday, bound and gagged, inside Hoffman's Mount Vernonhome.Hoffman's mother visited her son in jail for the first timeon Wednesday night, and that the visit may have played a part in his decision to reveal thelocation of the bodies.She said that her son told her that he was "relieved" when authorities raided his home because"Sarah would be able to go home."Thatcher said additional charges are expected to be filed in the coming weeks, after autopsiesare done and the investigation is complete.The tree where the bodies were found was cut down on Friday afternoon.
Poster's Note: To add to the already macabre details of this gruesome scene, the accused also allegedly killed the family's dog and also placed it in the same tree.

The following speaks a little more about Matthew Hoffman

Hunt for Missing Ohio Family: Bodies Found Believed to Be Theirs
November 18, 2010 04:39 PM EST

The hunt for a missing Ohio family sounds like it will have a tragic ending. Bodies found in Knox County, Ohio...those of two women and a boy, are believed to be them.

According to FOXNews, the bodies are believed to be those of Tina Hermann, her son Cody, and her friend Stephanie Sprang. These three, along with Hermann's daughter Sarah Maynard, went missing on November 10. Sarah was found alive on Sunday November 14 at the home of 30-year-old Matthew Hoffman, who has been charged with her kidnapping and is presently in jail on $1 million bond.

Since an "unusual" amount of blood was found inside the Hermann home following the disappearances, investigators have said it was becoming less and less likely that they would find the remainder of those missing still alive.

There have been way too many cases in the news recently of people disappearing and being found dead. It is starting to make people wonder if they are even safe in their very own homes, as clearly these people were not.

Matthew Hoffman was described by neighbors as a very strange person who often eavesdropped on them when they were outside of their homes. Some even said Hoffman went so far as to climb up into tall trees to try to listen in on conversations, apparently thinking no one could see him.

Another neighbor was quoted as saying that Matthew Hoffman didn't go to the grocery store, so he would kill squirrels and eat them.

Matthew Hoffman has already spent eight years in jail for prior convictions. He recently broke up with a woman he had been dating, who had a son. His only known connection to the deceased and the young girl he kidnapped are that his parents live not far from their home.

Did Matthew Hoffman stalk these people while visiting his parents? Did he seek revenge against a family with a young son when his girlfriend broke up with him? He clearly sounds like an incredibly disturbed individual, who perhaps should not have been let back out on the streets after serving his jail sentence.

A press conference is being scheduled for this evening by authorities in Ohio. It is likely they will announce at that time that they have confirmed the identity of these bodies.

Mentions autopsy

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/11/20/ohio.family.autopsy/?hpt=T1

Sorry for all the posts but I was finding some good articles so I thought I would share



Coroner: 2 Ohio women, boy stabbed and dismembered
(AP) – 5 hours ago

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio (AP) — Two women and an 11-year-old boy were stabbed to death and dismembered before their remains were put in garbage bags and lowered into a hollow tree, a coroner said Saturday, the latest gruesome details of the murders that have stunned this tiny town.

Preliminary autopsy reports show that Tina Herrmann, her son, Kody Maynard, and her friend Stephanie Sprang were stabbed multiple times with a knife in the back and chest Nov. 10, Knox County Coroner Jennifer Ogle said.

"They were then placed inside large plastic garbage bags and later lowered into the hollow of a large tree," Ogle said in a statement. It's unclear exactly when they died or when their remains were put in the tree. There were no signs of sexual assault.

The remains of the family dog — a miniature pinscher named Tanner — were found in the tree with the bodies, said Joe Pejsa, a family friend.

The victims disappeared Nov. 10 along with Herrmann's daughter, 13-year-old Sarah Maynard, who was found bound and gagged several days later in the basement of an unemployed tree-cutter, Matthew Hoffman. Hoffman is accused of kidnapping the girl and keeping her in the basement of his home in Mount Vernon, about 10 miles west of Howard in central Ohio.

Authorities say Hoffman provided information that led investigators to the bodies in a wildlife preserve in rural Fredericktown, where Amish buggies are a familiar sight. The 60-foot-tall American beech tree was chopped down Friday out of respect for the victims' families. The tree was too large to be transported out of the area, wildlife officials say, so its pieces were left in a mound in the preserve.

Hoffman is the only suspect in the killings. His attorney has declined to comment.

Nobody knows how the killer managed to put the bodies in the tree, though wildlife officials say beech tree trunks are typically hollow. Hoffman's former co-workers at a tree-trimming business say he had his own climbing equipment.

The disappearances and subsequent discovery of the bodies have unfolded like a horror movie in Mount Vernon, where people banded together to form search parties in hopes of finding the victims.

Pejsa, the uncle of Herrmann's former live-in boyfriend, Greg Borders, said he was the first person allowed inside the home after investigators cleared the scene. He cleaned blood off the bathroom walls with bleach so that his nephew wouldn't have to see it.

"It was terrible," he said. "Everything led back to the bathroom."

Pejsa answered the door at Herrmann's home on Saturday, where he was moving out furniture with Borders, who did not want to be interviewed. A memorial of flowers and balloons was growing on the front lawn near a tree that Pejsa says Kody used as second base when he played kickball.

The bodies were found at the base of the tree, and authorities had to cut away part of the trunk to get them out, Pejsa said he was told by investigators.

Nobody knows why the four were targeted, and authorities have not speculated on a motive. But the sheriff has suggested that Hoffman, who spent six years in a Colorado prison for arson and other charges, had been watching them for some time.

In the months before they died, Pejsa said, Borders and Herrmann suspected somebody was watching them. Several months ago, they saw a man dressed in camouflage sitting on a tree stump across the street, staring at their home. He said Borders couldn't say for sure if the man on the stump was Hoffman, but he believes it was him.

"There would be knocks at the door and people would take off," he said.

Pejsa said the family has been moving some of the furniture out of the home and has hired a company to gut some of the rooms.

"Greg has no intention of coming back to this place," he said.

Herrmann's manager at Dairy Queen, Valerie Haythorn, told The Associated Press that when she drove by last week after Herrmann missed a day of work, the lights were on at Herrmann's home and her truck was in the driveway. Thinking all was well, Haythorn kept driving.

When Herrmann missed a second day, Haythorn drove back to the house — and this time she went inside.

"It was enough blood there that I knew there was a problem," she said. "Nobody cut their finger in that house."

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

A Knox County mother, her son and a family friend, whose disappearance sparked a frantic week-long search, died of multiple stab wounds. Preliminary autopsy results released yesterday showed several stab wounds from a knife to the back and chest of each victim — Tina Herrmann, 32; her son, Kody Maynard, 11; and Stephanie Sprang, 41. The bodies then were dismembered, said Knox County Coroner Jennifer F. Ogle. The three apparently were killed inside Herrmann’s home in Apple Valley on Nov. 10. Authorities think tree-climbing equipment was used to scale a 65-foot-tall hollow beech tree in the Kokosing Lake Wildlife Area, with garbage bags containing the remains then lowered into the cavity of the tree. Small, nonfatal wounds also were noted. The autopsies found no signs of sexual assault, pending further investigation, Ogle said in a statement. “The most challenging and heartbreaking thing I have had to do as coroner is discuss these findings with the families of the deceased victims,” Ogle said. Funeral arrangements for Herrmann and Kody have been set for 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at Peace Lutheran Church, 455 Clark State Rd., Gahanna. Calling hours will be at the church from 2-4 and 6-9 p.m. Tuesday. Funeral arrangements for Sprang had not been announced yet. The bodies were discovered Thursday afternoon after attorneys for suspect Matthew J. Hoffman directed authorities to the tree in an area north of Fredericktown. The body of Herrmann’s small dog also was found in the tree. Herrmann’s daughter, 13-year-old Sarah Maynard, also disappeared on Nov. 10 after she and her brother arrived home from school. She was found bound and gagged in the basement of Hoffman’s Columbus Road home last Sunday. She is with relatives, and authorities credited her with helping them to make a case against Hoffman. Hoffman, 30, is being held at the Knox County jail on a kidnapping charge under a $1 million cash bond. He has not yet been charged with the killings. The final coroner’s report will be completed once the full forensic report is completed by Dr. Jeff Lee of the Licking County coroner’s office. That usually takes six to eight weeks.

This is just so sick, it's bad enough to kill but to dismember also, sick. This fruit-loop needs to die, he can't be "fixed" to live in the public and there's no reason he needs to be taking up space in a prison somewhere.
God Bless Sarah, I'm afraid nothing will ever be normal or safe for her again. Also sending prayers to all the families, God Bless them all.

In the days ahead of his 30th birthday, not much was going right in MatthewJ. Hoffman's already troubled life.He and his girlfriend, who accused him of choking her during an argument at his home on Oct. 24,had broken up. She feared she might die.A few days later, he lost his part-time tree-trimming job at Fast Eddy's after creeping out hissupervisor and overselling his experience.Money was a constant concern. Besides the bills accompanying day-to-day life, he owed $2 millionin restitution for setting fire to a condominium complex in Colorado.Even his dog had run away.But all that still doesn't explain how an odd man became a mass-murder and kidnapping suspectwith 13-year-old Sarah Maynard tied up in his basement.Criminologists say triggers such as a job loss or the end of a relationship can ignite a buriedfuse that burns into violence, even murder.In his jail cell in Mount Vernon, the most-reviled man in Knox County cried last Sunday, theevening of his arrest. He threatened to harm himself and is under suicide watch, with deputieschecking on him every 10 minutes.Hoffman, who turned 30 on Nov. 1, had not gone out of his way to cultivate many friends overthree decades. He basically kept to himself.A friend described him as intelligent but without a lick of common sense; a man who wasphysically strong at 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds and imbued with a personality that embraced risk.He was the type to catch a squirrel in his attic, clean it, fry it and eat it.Hoffman would turn back flips off picnic tables without prompting and once strung a tow strapbetween two trees in his backyard and repeatedly tried to cross it like a tightrope walker.During a parade once, he dashed from the curb and ran back and forth beneath the undercarriageof a giant moving truck as others watched in disbelief.And the trees. There always were trees in Hoffman's life. He built a tree house as a teenager.He climbed trees for both his avocation and recreation.He even would climb a tree in his yard and peer at his neighbors, one of whom described him as a"real weirdo." Neighborhood kids would join Hoffman in swinging from ropes he tied in thetrees.In search of taller conquests, the friend said, Hoffman would tell tales of clambering up treesthroughout Knox County with his tree-climbing gear.He knew the woods and remote spots of Knox County well. In the months before buying his109-year-old house on Columbus Road, he was a nomad, living out of his car and pitching a tent insecretive spots amid the trees.On Thursday, the bodies of Tina Herrmann; her 11-year-old son, Kody Maynard; and family friendStephanie Sprang were pulled from a hollow beech tree at the Kokosing Lake Wildlife Area north ofFredericktown.Hoffman's friend, who asked not to be named, said he was not surprised that the bodies of thosesnatched from Apple Valley were found inside the 65-foot-tall tree.Early last week, the man told the sheriff's office that searchers should be looking up trees, in trees, follow the trees. Thefriend said Hoffman was a strategic thinker. He doubted that Hoffman just stumbled across thetree.Matthew John Hoffman is the son of Robert and Patricia Hoffman. He grew up in the Warren area innortheastern Ohio, moving with his mother to Knox County in 1997 when his parents divorced.Alice Morelli recalled the 14- to 16-year-old Hoffman who lived next door to her in TrumbullCounty. He always appeared unhappy and acted strangely, she said."He was really lost. He was on a bad path."The youth would jump off his roof onto a trampoline. Morelli's dog hated him, barking at himwildly on sight. Hoffman responded to the dog with an unemotional stare, she said.Hoffman and his buddies spent time in the woods and built a tree house. He and a friend got introuble with the police in 1997 when they were found on the roof of Lakeview High School. Hoffmansaid he just wanted to see whether he could get up there.After moving to Apple Valley, Hoffman attended East Knox High School, graduating in 1999, whilestudying industrial electricity at the Knox County Career Center.Hoffman soon headed west, traveling to Steamboat Springs, Colo., and landing a job with aplumbing contractor.Then, the man with no rap sheet turned criminal. In a bid to cover up his 2000 burglary of acondominium complex, he sprinkled 10 gallons of gasoline and set it ablaze. The fire sent 16 peoplerunning from their condos and caused $2 million in damage.Hoffman fled back home to Knox County, where his mother and stepfather lived in Apple Valley.But Steamboat Springs police suspected Hoffman in another crime as well, the theft ofwelcome-to-the-city signs, and he agreed to return to Colorado to clear up the matter. Police thenarrested him and charged him with the arson, as well.Charles Feldmann, who prosecuted the case, said last week that Hoffman "struck me as someone whohad a horrific appetite, a premeditated appetite, to cause that kind of damage and the potentialloss of life."Hoffman was sentenced to eight years in prison and served six years. After his parole, hereturned to Ohio in 2007, where he reported to local parole authorities.Hoffman's friend in Knox County tried to reintroduce him to life on the outside. At aMcDonald's, his friend had to explain a "McChicken" to him. Hoffman appeared bulked up and betterread.The ex-convict stayed out of trouble and was released from parole in October. He had paid about$4,800 of the $2million in restitution he owed for the arson.But Hoffman struggled to find work, signing on a while as a truck driver and sometimes stayingwith his mother, Patricia Hedglin, in Apple Valley, about a third of a mile from where the twochildren and two women vanished Nov. 10.He reportedly worked as a tree-trimmer for a Columbus company for a time, but company officialscould not be reached to confirm his employment.The friend described Hoffman as a tightwad, reluctant to spend what little cash he had. He tooka big plunge in late 2009, getting a loan to buy his deteriorating house at 49 Columbus Rd. for$37,500.Tylor Ackley, 25, seemed dumbfounded that Hoffman, who had been so good with neighborhood kids,is accused of kidnapping a girl."We'd see him out and about, climbing trees with the kids next door," said Ackley, who livesbehind Hoffman's house. "They always left their back door open, and there'd be kids running in andout."Nicole Martin, 16, lives two doors from Hoffman's house. Her aunt and cousins' house issandwiched between. She'd spend summer afternoons climbing trees with Hoffman and the other kids,swinging on ropes he tied onto high limbs.But something was odd about him, she said."He was weird," Nicole said. "It's just weird to know that he's been next door and he could dosomething so horrible."Hoffman's friend never saw it coming."The guy was kind of off, a little weird, but I chalked a lot of it up to being in prison," thefriend said. He never knew Hoffman to be violent. As an outdoorsman, he had knifes, but the friendnever knew him to have a gun."I can't fathom him killing anyone. But, something had to snap ... maybe he's living in afantasy world, stuck in his imagination? I sense he is happy with the outcome, that he causedturmoil and is infamous."

Wow. There were so many red flags that he needed some kind of psychiatric help his whole life. If his family didn't ever get help, it's a tragedy he didn't at least finally get help while he was in prison. All prisoners should be assessed and given medication and therapy if needed IMO and continuing that should be a condition of release. The guy was obviously mad as a rabbit.

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/faith_values/stories/2010/11/26/horrific-killings-raise-perplexing-issue-of-evil.html?sid=101

Horrific killings raise perplexing issue of evil
Psychologists, clergy struggle to explain Knox County crime
Friday, November 26, 2010 02:54 AM
By Meredith Heagney
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Many people, upon hearing about the horrific violence inflicted on two Knox County women and an 11-year-old boy, have asked the simple, but perhaps unanswerable, question: How could anyone do this?

Each detail about the deaths of Stephanie Sprang, Tina Herrmann and Herrmann's son, Kody Maynard, was more awful than the last. Their killer not only stabbed them to death, but also dismembered them and stashed their bodies in a hollow tree.

The police could explain the chain of events, and the coroner could provide the autopsy reports. But no one could answer the real question on everyone's mind:

How could anyone be so evil?

Throughout history, people have tried to answer that question. Religion, psychology and criminology all have their theories, but a definitive answer is elusive.

Now, it is Knox County suspect Matthew J. Hoffman's turn under the microscope.

Those who study killers say their profiles often contain common threads. The killers might have been mistreated themselves. They might abuse drugs or alcohol. Their childhoods might have been so dysfunctional that they didn't develop morals. They might have a severe mental illness or another biological block to empathizing with others. They often live in a fantasy world where victims are pawns, not people.

Those psychological answers don't satisfy, of course, so clergy members try to make sense of the senseless. They have a hard time, too.

This weekend, Monsignor John K. Cody of St. Christopher Catholic Church in Grandview Heights preached a homily on evil, in light of the Knox County killings.

"I don't know what was in this poor guy's mind," Cody said Monday, "but it's incontestable that what he has perpetrated on this family and on society was genuinely evil."

The Judeo-Christian view of evil says it exists because of the decisions of humans to reject God, going back to the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis, Cody said.

"The world is a mess because we very quickly choose that which is not generous and loving and considerate, but we choose for ourselves, or we choose selfishly," Cody said.

Many believers struggle with the idea that a good, all-powerful God "allows" evil to flourish, said the Rev. James Childs, who teaches systematic theology at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Bexley.

But God loves human beings enough to grant them freedom, and sometimes they use it tragically, he said.

Jewish tradition also acknowledges that humans have a choice between their good and bad inclinations, said Rabbi Howard Apothaker of Temple Beth Shalom in New Albany.

"If people couldn't choose to be evil, there would be no morality at all," he said. "They'd be like lions and bears," or any other beast that we assume lacks free will.

Some Christians believe that evildoers literally are possessed by the devil, but many theologians reject that view because it disregards personal responsibility.

Psychologist William Friday of Whitehall, who is a Christian, said he allows for the possibility of a "spiritual attack" on someone's psyche by demonic forces that might contribute to their evil deeds. But he acknowledged that many of his fellow psychologists would roll their eyes at such an idea.

"This is very hard for the scientific level to accept, that there are supernatural realities that are not scientifically verifiable and testable," Friday said.

Douglas Linder, who teaches in the law school at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, said killers tend to lack the ability to imagine what they're putting their victims through.

He thinks it's misguided to blame the devil for the actions of humans.

"We've always fallen back on language like that to deal with behavior we have a hard time understanding," he said.

Most people who perpetrate evil are not evil people at their core, said Bob Stinson, a forensic psychologist with a practice in Westerville. But a combination of mental illness, substance abuse and a warped childhood can be a deadly combination.

Stinson allows, however, that there is "a small percentage of people who find it very gratifying to do mean, evil things."

Those people cannot be helped, he said, only contained.

Ohio Man Charged With Murdering 3 Victims Found in Tree

Jan 4, 2011 – 3:37 PM

An ex-convict who was already charged with kidnapping a 13-year-old
girl has been indicted on charges of aggravated murder in the deaths of
her mother, her little brother and a family friend, whose dismembered
remains were found in a hollow tree.

The victims' bodies were found in central Ohio nearly two months ago after suspect Matthew Hoffman allegedly told police where to look.

The indictment returned today by a Knox County grand jury charges
Hoffman with aggravated murder, burglary, kidnapping, rape, tampering
with evidence and abusing a corpse.

If convicted, the 30-year-old unemployed tree trimmer could face life in
prison without parole. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty,
because of the wishes of the victims' families, The Associated Press reported.

The indictment alleges Hoffman murdered the victims during a Nov. 10 burglary at Herrmann's home in Howard, about 60 miles northeast of Columbus.

Hoffman was previously charged with kidnapping after Herrmann's 13-year-old daughter was found in the basement of his Mount Vernon home on Nov. 14. The girl was wounded, tied up and gagged, police said. The indictment alleges she was also raped.

During a Nov. 18 news conference, Knox County Sheriff David Barber said investigators found the victims' bodies based on information received from Hoffman.

Authorities have yet to offer a motive in the case. Barber previously
said Hoffman had been watching the family but did not elaborate.

Hoffman, an ex-con who served prison time in Colorado for arson and
other charges, is being held in the Knox County jail on $1 million bond,
the AP reported.

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/04/matthew-hoffman-charged-with-murdering-3-victims-found-in-tree/

for Sarah - I pray she will recover from this but I have to wonder how? How do you recover from something like this? Is she now with family members? STAY STRONG SARAH

i think i read she is with her father? i hated seeing all the charges, i was so hoping he hadn't had time to brutalize her -

Hard to believe the family does not want to seek the death penalty If anything/anyone deserves it, this monster and those involved in Zahra's death certainly do IMO

sometimes i think the families may not want the DP because it is such a long drawn out process - the many appeals, stays of executions, etc. they may just want to know that the killer is going to be in prison (hopefully solitary) for the rest of their life. I don't think i could handle the court appearances through the years.

'I stabbed him in the chest... I could not kill her': Chilling
confession of burglar who murdered two women and a boy and raped teenage
girl

8th February 2011



Murderer: Matthew Hoffman's grizzly confession
contained details of how he stabbed and dismembered two women and a boy
and kidnapped and raped a teenage girl.

Extracts of murderer and rapist Matthew Hoffmann's disturbing
confession have been released to the public, in which he details how he
dismembered the bodies of his victims and disposed of them in a tree.
The
grizzly confession was given to the police so that Hoffmann, from Ohio,
could escape the death penalty and give the victim's relatives some
closure.
It reveals details of how he only intended to burgle
the house, as well as shocking details of how he murdered the two women
and the 11-year-old boy.
The 30-year-old claimed he did not
mean to hurt anyone and picked the house at random because it had an
open garage and no neighbours close by.The house, which belonged to Tina Herrmann, was targeted by Hoffman
in November and ended in a frenzied knife attack on Miss Hermann, her
friend, her 11-year-old son and even their dog.
Though the
13-year-old girl was spared, he kidnapped her and raped her several
times over four days, keeping her bound and gagged in his leaf-lined
basement.The details of his crime, for which Hoffman will spend the rest of his
life in jail, emerged on Monday after the Columbus Dispatch obtained his
confession.
In the four-page document,
offered days after the crime to avoid the death penalty, he said: 'I did
not enter the house to kill those people. I did not know a single one
of them. I did not plan for any of this to happen. I did not want to
kill anyone.'Hoffman entered the house of Miss Herrmann, 32, and
her two young children on 9 November, 2010 after sleeping rough across
the street the night before.According to his confession, he noticed the cars were gone and slipped through the garage door simply to steal any valuables.



Evil: Matthew Hoffman in court in Knox County
where he admitted carrying out the brutal killing spree that left three
people dead
'There was a certain amount of excitement in being in someone else's
home without them being there,' he said. 'I was looking for anything of
value that could be carried out easily.'I did not find anything
of any real value. I was getting ready to leave as I had been there
approximately an hour, but someone pulled into the driveway.'Hoffman hid in a bedroom when he was confronted by Tina Herrmann.Armed
with a blackjack and knife, which he claimed he brought 'for a certain
amount of intimidation', the two fought and he knocked her to the bed
face down.He hit her a couple of time in the head with the blackjack but nothing happened.









Survivor and victim: The 13-year-old girl
was discovered bound and gagged in a Mount Vernon basement. Tina
Herrmann's body was found in a tree












Killed: The bodies of Kody Maynard, 10, and 41-year-old family friend Stephanie Sprang were found wrapped in garbage bags
He said: 'I tried to just knock the first woman out so I could escape but this was not working. It was not doing the job.
'A second woman showed up and things quickly spiralled out of control. They kept escalating and I was panicking.'

The second woman was Miss Herrmann's friend Stephanie Sprang, 41, who started yelling at him.
Grabbing his knife, he stabbed Miss Herrmann in the back twice as she lay face down on the bed.



Prisoner: Police gather evidence from Hoffmann's
House in Mount Vernon, Ohio, where he held the 13-year-old girl captive
in his basement, repeatedly raping her, for four days

Miss
Sprang ran screaming into another room. Hoffman found her and stabbed
her several times in the chest, then he returned to Miss Herrmann and
stabbed her several more times.
'I could tell that both women were now dead,' he said in his confession.
'At this time I was in a total state of shock. I wandered around the
house slowly coming to the realization of what I had done and how bad it
was.

'During this time I killed the dog because it would not stop
barking.
'I decided to process the bodies and dispose of them inside of a tree
that I knew was hollow.'



Hollow tree: Police suggest that the killer used
a harness to raise the bodies to a hole at the top of the tree and dump
them inside





Grisly discovery: The beech tree in the Kokosing Lake Animal Preserve shows the square cut that police made to find the bodies

After dismembering the bodies, using garbage bags from within the
house to place them inside, he was loading them into the Jeep when the
children came home from school.

He
said: 'I confronted the children, and the girl instantly ran to a
bedroom. I stabbed [11-year-old Kody Maynard] in the chest a couple
times.'
But when he was face-to-face with the 13-year-old girl,
who has not been named for legal reasons, he said: 'I could not bring
myself to kill her.'
Considering
several options, including disposing of the bodies in a nearby pond or
burning the house down, the unemployed tree cutter decided to put them
in the tree.
The 30-year-old then took the girl back to his home near down town
Mount Vernon, Ohio, where he held her hostage for nearly four days.

During
that time he sexually assaulted her, kept her hands and feet bound with
duct tape, and forced her to sleep on a bed of leaves.EXTRACT FROM THE CONFESSION

'Once I had finished processing the bodies, I moved the Jeep into the garage to load up the bodies.
'I
still had a couple of bags to load into the Jeep when I heard the
children come into the house. ... I confronted the children, and the
girl instantly ran to a bedroom.
'I stabbed the boy in the
chest a couple times. I ran into the bedroom after the girl to make sure
she was not on the phone for help.
'I saw the girl was not on the phone, and I could not bring myself to kill her.'


The
confession focused mainly on the four days he spent at his home with the
girl, during which time he said he cooked her burgers and slept with
his arm around her.

The basement itself, the Columbus Dispatch
reported, was covered with leaves held to the walls with plastic bags,
reflecting Hoffman’s obsession with nature.
The man drew the
attention of police the day after the murders when he returned to
Herrmann's home to burn it down. Authorities were already at the house,
having been alerted to a crime there by a neighbour.
Items found
in Miss Herrmann's home led them to surveillance video at a Walmart of
Hoffman buying trash bags and tarps. On a Sunday morning, four days
after the murders, police stormed Hoffman's home and found the young
girl.
Hoffman later showed police where he had hidden the bodies,
along with the family dog. Using a rig-and-pulley system, the Dispatch
reported, he concealed them in a 60-foot tree in the Kokosing Wildlife
Area near Fredericktown.
Father of the two children Larry Maynard described the killer as a 'monster'.



Hideout: Hoffman slept rough the night before
the frenzied attack and watched Tina Herrmann's house, pictured, before
attempting to burgle it

During
his trial, the raped girl said in a statement read out in court by a
prosecutor: 'This is so sickening, to know you even had the guts to do
this.'
Read more

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1354984/Matthew-Hoffmann-Confession-burglar-murdered-3-raped-girl.html#ixzz1DQxv85Ze

Knox County sheriff honored

Jun 5, 2011


Barber


MOUNT VERNON -- Knox County Sheriff David Barber earned a national award for his efforts in the most difficult week of his career.

Barber was honored recently in Washington, D.C., during National Missing Children's Day. He received the 2011 Missing Children's Law Enforcement Award.

"This is probably the most humbling, almost overwhelming, recognition to happen in my career," Barber said.

The state attorney general's office nominated Barber for his leadership and decision-making in the aftermath of a triple homicide and abduction in Apple Valley.

Matthew Hoffman killed and dismembered Tina Herrmann, 32; her son, Kody Maynard, 11; and a family friend, Stephanie Sprang, 41. He left their remains in a hollow tree at the Kokosing Nature Preserve near Fredericktown.

A SWAT team found Sarah Maynard, 13, bound and gagged in Hoffman's basement Nov. 14.

"The whole tragedy changed this county forever," Barber said. "The one thing it brought home is there truly is evil everywhere.

"Hoffman pleaded guilty to 10 counts, including aggravated murder, gross abuse of a corpse, burglary, kidnapping and rape. He was sentenced to three life terms in prison with no possibility of parole.

"There is no doubt in my mind that she (Sarah) was going to be killed," Barber said. "He couldn't keep her forever, and he wasn't going to let her go."

Barber had to keep his wits about him as national media descended on his rural county.

"At times, it was very overwhelming. They just camped out," he said. "There was so much pressure to be on their shows right in the midst of the investigation. That was not going to happen."

Barber even turned down Oprah Winfrey in his focus to find Sarah, who now is staying with her father and stepmother in the Columbus area. Barber has kept in touch with her.

"She's a very resilient little girl," he said. "I kind of refer to her as my hero."

http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20110605/NEWS01/106050302

Jul 16, 2011 from: http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011107160312

Attack survivor inspires balloon fundraiser

LANCASTER -- One family's tragedy might end up benefiting future victims of violent crimes.

Tina Herrmann and her son, Kody Maynard, were murdered by Matthew Hoffman at their home in Knox County in November. A family friend, Stephanie Sprang, also was killed.

On Aug. 5 and 6, the Healing Hearts Memorial Fund will host the initial Fairfield County Hot Air Balloon Festival to raise money for survivors and families of violent crimes in the victims' names.

The festival will be at the Fairfield County Airport and also is meant to be part of the family's healing process, said Kim Donnelly, a cousin of the Herrmann family.

Tina Herrmann's daughter, Sarah, who survived the attack on her family, was the inspiration to form the fund.

Police who raided Hoffman's home found Sarah bound and gagged in the basement on a bed made of tree leaves.

Four days later, investigators used information provided by Hoffman through his attorneys to find the dismembered remains of Tina Herrmann, 11-year-old Kody and Sprang in garbage bags stuffed into a tree.

Hoffman pleaded guilty in January to the killings and kidnapping and rape and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

For the benefit, each day will start with a 6 a.m. balloon launch for the public to watch. There also will be a launch at 6 p.m.

From 6 to 8 p.m., people can go up about 30 feet in a tethered balloon ride. Both evenings also will feature evening flights with the balloons illuminated. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted for the tethered balloon rides.

"We're working with the Fairfield County Foundation," Donnelly said. "People can apply for a grant, and the foundation and our board will review the applications to see who will get the money."

But the weekend is also about having fun, she said.

"This is meant to be a family event," Donnelly said. "We're going to have about 10 or 12 balloons, concessions and a silent auction."

There also will be a balloon secured to the ground that children can play on.

The balloon festival will be in Fairfield County because several members of the Herrmann family live here. In fact, a family member owns the Keller Farms balloon that often flies over the county. That balloon will be a part of the evening flyover when the balloons are lit up.

"People definitely don't want to miss that," Donnelly said. "It is really beautiful seeing all the balloons glowing."

For those who have never had a balloon ride, Donnelly said they are in for a treat.

"It's pretty cool," she said. "I was a little leery at first of what I was getting into. But then I started to enjoy it. It's real quiet and tranquil. It's fun to fly over housing developments and see people wave and holler to you."