by Robert Scott
Luckily, the wildlife officer was very familiar with the area and explained in detail to the others how to get to the location that Hoffman had indicated. Without his help, the exact spot might have been very difficult to find, since to the investigators one tree looked very much like another in the area.
Detective Light, who had come on the trip as well as the others, continued, “Officers had to drive the winding path for approximately one half mile, then walk into the woods a short distance.” There they found what they were looking for: “A tree with a large opening, approximately thirty to forty feet up was pointed out.”
It was actually Public Defender Avery Dyer who first spotted the tree in question. It was a beech tree with a large hole about forty feet off the ground, as Detective Light described.
Special Agent Dietz noted, “The tree was approximately seventy feet tall and had obviously living branches and leaves at the top. Mr. Crunkilton indicated based on information provided to him by Mathew Hoffman that the beech tree was the likely location of the missing victims’ bodies. The tree was solid and intact, although approximately forty to fifty feet above the ground, the main section of trunk divided and a large opening was visible. This opening appeared to provide access to the main trunk of the tree which appeared to be hollow.”
At this point, Dyer knelt down so that Special Agent Dietz could stand on Dyer’s back and peek into a small hole more than five feet off the ground. This was a separate hole from the much larger one forty feet off the ground. With the aid of a flashlight, Dietz was able to confirm that the tree was indeed hollow, with an interior space of about thirty inches in diameter.
The interior was littered with bark chips, but Dietz could also make out three small sections of plastic bag material, which appeared to be similar to the trash bags Matthew Hoffman had purchased.
It appeared that Hoffman had led them to the right place.
* * *
At that point, crime scene agents Ed Lulla, Gary Wilgus and George Staley were called to the scene. The Ohio BCI&I special agents had been told to standby at the Knox County Sheriff’s Office until the other agents located the tree. Around 1:00 PM, they got the call that the tree with the plastic trash bags had been found. The agents headed out immediately and arrived at the scene around 1:50 PM.
Once there, the trio of BCI&I agents were briefed by the others, and began their precise measurements. The beech tree was eleven feet, six inches in diameter near its base, and thirty feet up to its lowest branch. From there, it extended approximately another thirty feet up to its crown. Special Agent Staley stood next to the tree to provide scale as another agent photographed the tree. Staley was dwarfed by the large beech tree.
The small opening into which Agent Dietz had peered measured three inches wide by six inches tall, and was located five feet, six inches off the ground. A professional tree trimmer was called to the scene to make the actual cuts into the tree, as the agents did not want to accidentally harm the evidence in any way. The tree expert was a man named Jan Laymon.
Once Laymon arrived on scene, the agents and investigators stood nearby while he started making his cuts with a chain saw. After there was a wide enough opening, Special Agent Wilgus began to remove the plastic bags from the interior of the tree. He noted, “Due to their location deep inside the tree, two additional cuts in the tree had to be made to reach all of the plastic bags.”
Lieutenant Rohler continued, “Special Agent Gary Wilgus carefully and respectfully removed the large trash bags from the hollow beech tree and placed them on a tarp. Numerous garbage bags were removed.”
Detective Sergeant Roger Brown added, “The agents removed the trash bags from the tree as I took photographs” of the gruesome contents, which Special Agent Wilgus confirmed “contained various dismembered body parts including the heads of Kody Maynard, Stephanie Sprang and Tina Herrmann. The remains of a small dog was also found inside one of the garbage bags, along with bloodstained towels, clothing, a hat and shoes. Upon examining the backs and torsos [of the victims], numerous deep lacerations were observed.”
At some point later, Knox County Coroner Jennifer Ogle arrived on scene and the trash bags were opened for her inspection. Once all the garbage bags had been opened and the body parts identified, they were placed in official-issue body bags and released to employees of Snyder Funeral Homes to be transported to the Licking County Coroner’s Office for autopsies. The Licking County Coroner’s Office would be aasisting Ogle in her task.
TWENTY-FIVE
“My Heart Is So Heavy”
The news of the discovery of the bodies in the tree had, of course, hit the victims’ families the hardest. Tracy Herrmann, the wife of Tina’s brother Jason, later spoke of how she broke the news to her children. “I had both kids on my lap and held them while I told them the news. Madison, my eight-year-old, was crying and I was full of tears. My five-year-old, Alex’s, little bottom lip quivered but he refused to cry. He just kept wiping my tears, trying to stay strong for Mommy and his sister.
“I know that Kody was protective of his sister, Sarah, too,” Tracy said. “They had a close bond, and Sarah had even written Kody a note for his lunch the day they went to school for the last time, telling him how proud of him she was. I am sure both kids were brave and fought all they could for each other. Against Matthew Hoffman they didn’t have a chance.”
Lisa Robey, the girlfriend of Tina’s brother Bill, asked a question that was on many people’s minds: “Why?” Why had Matthew Hoffman chosen to kill and dismember these three individuals? She added, “It is a question that has no answer, because no answer will ever be good enough. And no answer will ever change what happened. All we can do is turn this one over to God and pray. We pray that Sarah will be able to once again find precious love for herself that every girl needs. And will someday be able to hold her head high and grow into the beautiful strong woman we all know she is destined to be.”
Stephanie’s father, Steve Thompson, would later say, “My heart is so heavy, my mind is blank. My trust in everyone is shaken. I know my daughter is at peace, and I’m glad that she doesn’t have to see the change in all of us.”
* * *
By 5:00 PM on the evening of Thursday, November 18, it was finally time to share with the world the sad news regarding what had befallen Tina Herrmann, Kody Maynard and Stephanie Sprang. Sheriff David Barber held another news conference, sounding tired and saddened by the turn of events. Barber began by saying, “It’s been a long week for Knox County and this community. It’s been a long week for the families of Sarah, Kody, Tina and Stephanie. Today, this investigation took a major turn. We have discovered the remains of Kody Maynard, Stephanie Sprang and Tina Herrmann.
“The discovery of those bodies was the result of information produced by Matthew Hoffmann. The bodies were located in a wooded area inside garbage bags in a hollow tree off of Yankee Street, which is not far from Fredericktown here in Knox County.” He went on to say that the three recovered bodies had been turned over to the Knox County Coroner, and to assure people that Hoffman remained in the county jail.
Barber also took the time to thank his fellow law enforcement agencies. “It’s been a long week, a very stressful week, for this entire county and particularly for law enforcement. My office could not have come to the point we are at today but for the outstanding assistance provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, BCI&I, the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the Mount Vernon Police Department, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office, the Central Ohio Child Abduction Response Team and the tremendous amount of volunteers that we had.
“As the sheriff of this county for eighteen years, I have never experienced a case this big and this tragic. And in my entire law enforcement career I have never experienced anything like this. It’s reassuring to know that w
hen something like this happens, and God forbid we should ever have to go through anything like this again, that I can depend upon all the agencies and then some. There were even more people waiting in the wings to help out with this tragedy.
“There’s a lot more to be done in this case. We were optimistic a few days ago that there was a remote chance that these folks were still alive. This is a homicide investigation now. It is the homicide of three individuals. As the homicide investigation progresses, it will be turned over to the Knox County Prosecutor’s Office.”
At that, Sheriff Barber stepped aside and Prosecutor John Thatcher began to address the media. He said, “As happy as we were with Sarah’s rescue on Sunday, we have to deal with this tragedy now. I want to express my deepest condolences to the Maynard, Herrmann and Sprang families. I also want to express my gratitude to all the people who helped in the searches. It was a phenomenal thing to watch. I want to keep Sarah in my prayers and hope that she can recover and overcome this.
“As the sheriff said, this investigation is ongoing. I’ve been able to be involved in the investigation—and as it continues, I’m sure it will be an excellent job, as was done in the last week. When I get the final report from the law enforcement agencies, and there’s been time in the prosecutor’s office to analyze all the evidence, we’ll review that and prepare an indictment, containing additional charges. Then we’ll present that to a grand jury within the next four to six weeks. At this time I can’t speculate on what those charges might be without knowing what the evidence is.”
After reminding journalists that Matthew Hoffman was still being held in jail on a one-million-dollar bond and that a preliminary hearing would be held the following Tuesday, Thatcher threw the floor open to questions. The first one was prescient: a reporter asked, “Was the death penalty ever on the table and used as a tool to get a confession? In other words, ‘We will take the death penalty of the table if you tell us where those folks are?’”
Thatcher did not want to discuss this aspect at that point and said, “One thing I cannot comment on is whether any such deal took place.”
Another person wanted to know the timeline by which Hoffman had gotten word to the authorities about the remains. Sheriff Barber answered, “As far as the timeline goes, we received information through Matthew Hoffman’s attorney early today where the victims’ remains were located.”
A reporter asked whether the families of the victims had been kept in the loop about the developments. Barber replied, “We have kept the families in the loop. When the case took the direction that it was headed today, we contacted them with crime victim advocates for all the families. The Knox County Sheriff’s Office and all the agencies—we express our deepest condolences to the families.
“We’re a small community here, and we became close to the victims’ families. We have to look out for the needs of the survivors. That was part of the reason we needed to go in the direction we headed in today. At least these three families know that they’ve been found. They’re not missing anymore. And at least the process of resolution can now start for them.”
A reporter wanted to know what condition the bodies had been found in.
Barber would not describe the condition of the bodies, but said only that they had been inside trash bags and placed inside a hollow tree.
“Did this have anything to do with Matt Hoffman being a tree trimmer?”
Barber replied that called for speculation, and he would not go into that.
“Were the victims’ bodies covered with the same clothing that you had mentioned them wearing the other day?”
“Yes, they were.”
“Is Hoffman the only suspect right now?” Barber confirmed that he was and said there was no indication that anyone else had been involved.
Someone asked if Barber had yet met with Sarah. He said, “We did not meet with her this morning, but rather with her father and stepmother.”
“How did they react?”
“I think there was a certain sense of relief. And grief as well, because they hoped it would turn out differently than the way it did. I can say that my staff and I are inspired by Sarah. We’re inspired by Sarah’s bravery. After we met with the families this morning, I asked Larry Maynard to convey to Sarah that she was my hero.”
Another question was, “Did all the murders happen in Tina Herrmann’s home?”
Barber responded, “I would say, yes.”
A follow-up question was, “So, Sarah was there when the murders occurred?”
“What she saw, I can’t speak to that.”
“Did the victims appear to be bound in any way?”
“No.”
In answer to a question about how specific Matthew Hoffman’s instructions had been to get to the hollow tree, Barber said, “They were specific—we didn’t have to do much searching.”
At that point the press conference ended. One of the reporters said in a loud voice, “Thank you, Sheriff. Good job.”
After the press conference, the news flashed throughout the community that the bodies of Tina Herrmann, Kody Maynard and Stephanie Sprang had been found. The Mount Vernon News ran a special announcement on their website at 5:55 PM: “Bodies Recovered.”
A WBNS News helicopter had been the first to follow investigators to the Kokosing Lake Wildlife Area and film footage from above the tree line. Then the helicopter news team spotted three white hearses being driven to the area. The image of the three white hearses in the woods was a very powerful one, one that would remain for a long time in many people’s minds.
On the ground, a Fredericktown woman visiting her parents told a WBNS reporter that KCSO deputies had blocked the road at the intersection of Yankee Street and Quaker Road. The woman told the reporter, “Typically, this is a very quiet and very serene area.” She added that her mother had not seen any suspicious activity in the area in the last week, but that it was a very heavily wooded terrain.
Most of the people in the area realized something was happening because of the television news helicopters hovering over the wooded area. Some residents said that in the immediate community, it was more likely to see Amish passing by in their horse-drawn buggies than police activity. All said it was generally a quiet area, and many were shocked that Matt Hoffman had chosen those woods as the hiding place for the bodies.
One woman said, “I’ve been praying for them, but now it’s just terrifying that he was this close.” Another area resident said much the same, adding, “I just don’t understand who could do something like this to women and a child.”
TWENTY-SIX
“Our Entire Community Has Been Wounded”
The Columbus Dispatch of November 19th ran an article that stated, “The discovery of the bodies north of Fredericktown severed the last thin thread of hope among some community residents that the missing still might be alive, although authorities increasingly had counseled against that belief.”
The newspaper also related how some people who knew Matthew Hoffman described him as an experienced outdoorsman who felt at home in the woods. One former friend even said that “Matt camped out for months in the woods before buying his home.”
Trying to learn more about Matthew Hoffman, the newspaper sent a reporter out to talk to as many people as he could find about Hoffman’s life. One friend, who wished to remain anonymous, said that Hoffman was intelligent “but did not have a lick of common sense.” The friend added that Hoffman was very strong and liked to embrace risk; for example, once during a parade, as a large truck moved slowly down the street, Hoffman had dashed from the curb and ran beneath the truck’s bed, near its moving wheels, as bystanders looked on in disbelief. This friend also described Hoffman as a tightwad who was reluctant to spend the money he made as a tree trimmer.
Taylor Ackley, who was a little younge
r than Hoffman and lived down the street from him, agreed that he was “kind of strange.” Ackley, however, was amazed that Hoffman had done the things he was accused of doing. Ackley said, “We’d see him out and about, climbing trees with the kids next door. They [Hoffman and his girlfriend] always left their back door open, and there would be kids running in and out.”
Nicole Martin, age sixteen, lived two doors away from Hoffman and had spent summer afternoons in 2010 climbing trees with Hoffman and the other kids and swinging on ropes he tied to tree branches. She did admit to the reporter, “He was weird. It’s just weird he could be next door and do something so horrible.”
About this weird quality in Hoffman, his anonymous friend related, “The guy was kind off, a little weird, but I chalked a lot of it up to being in prison. I can’t fathom him killing anyone, but something had to have snapped. Maybe he’s living in a fantasy world, stuck in his imagination. I sense that he is happy with the outcome, that he caused turmoil and is infamous.”
* * *
Among those with very little to say at that point was Knox County Coroner Jennifer Ogle, who would be doing the autopsies of the three victims. She did tell reporters, “We will work closely with the investigation team to provide information that will lead to the prosecution of this assault in our community. As a mother and a resident, my heart breaks for Sarah and the families of the deceased.”
Later, Dr. Ogle held her own press conference and let the media know just how daunting a task it was going to be for her and Licking County Coroner Robert Raker. Ogle said, “This is a very complicated and unusual case, but we are using our standard procedures. It can be a very lengthy process. There are numerous rigorous forensic procedures involved. In order to preserve evidence, the bodies were immediately transported from the tree to the Licking County Coroner’s Office.” Because of the difficult task concering bodies that had been cut up after death by Matthew Hoffman, the unusual aspect of two coroners offices becoming inovled had taken place. This was not a normal procedure, but then there was nothing normal about these murders as compared to most.