The Girl in the Leaves

by Robert Scott

  Many television news programs and talk shows, however, were eager to interview Sarah and Larry Maynard on their shows. In the end, Sarah and Larry decided to be interviewed live on one show—the Today Show in New York. They liked the show and trusted anchor Meredith Vieira to conduct a fair and respectful interview. Larry said, “She came across as a nice person. Someone who would treat us with respect. She had a good reputation in the business and we liked the format.”

  In February 2011, Larry and Sarah took off for New York City. Neither one had ever been there before, and they spent some time before the interview seeing the sights and downtown Manhattan, including the Empire State Building. Just being in the heart of the city was exciting for Sarah.

  Later, sitting side by side on the television set of the Today Show, Larry wore a blue dress shirt and Sarah looked sophisticated in a black dress and white sweater. Her hair was elegantly styled, and she looked very different from the girl who had been rescued on a bed of leaves in Matthew Hoffman’s basement.

  Before the interview began, the show ran a segment about the events of November 2010, including photos and video clips of the story as it had developed. Then Meredith Vieira began the interview by stating, “Sarah, I think that you are an incredibly brave young lady given everything that you have gone through. And I want the audience at home to know that this is something you wanted to do, you wanted to come forward and speak out.” Vieira said that she knew Sarah was seeing a grief counselor in Ohio, and then asked why Sarah wanted to be on the show that morning.

  Sarah said, “To let people know how I could survive what he did to me. So I just listened to everything he told me to do . . .” and then her words trailed off.

  Vieira picked up with, “And you got through it.” Then she asked how Sarah had stayed strong through her days of captivity.

  Sarah replied, “Just hoping someone would find me so I wouldn’t have to live with him—or stay with him there.”

  Vieira then said that she knew Matthew Hoffman had bound her hands and feet. And he also stated in his confession that he made hamburgers for her to eat. Vieira asked, “Was he trying to befriend you, or was he constantly threatening you?”

  Sarah answered, “No, I think that in that letter [Hoffman’s confession] he was just trying to make people think that he felt good about himself. To think that he fed me and stuff, and he didn’t. He didn’t let me shower or do any of that stuff.”

  Vieira asked if Hoffman had kept her down in the basement the whole time, and Sarah said that was basically the case except for short periods in the closet and bathroom when she’d first been taken to the house. Then Vieira asked Larry if it had been a nightmare for him during those four days, not knowing where his son or daughter were, or any of the other missing people. Larry replied, “Oh, yeah! It’s still a nightmare every day knowing that part of your family’s not with you.”

  Vieira mentioned how Matthew Hoffman’s confession stated that it was just a burglary gone bad, to which Larry reiterated his belief that it was not. “A thief steals, a murderer kills,” he said, adding that if Hoffman had been there merely “to burglarize the house, why did he stake it out the way he did? Why did he purchase a knife online a week prior to making an entrance into the house?” Larry was sure that Hoffman’s motive for entering Tina’s home was not to burglarize it, but rather to kill because he was angry at the way things had turned out in his life. Especially about losing his job and losing his girlfriend. And Larry also believed that Hoffman had seen Sarah in the past, and intended all along to kidnap her. And to that end, he was able and willing to kill anyone who got in his way.

  Vieira then mentioned to Sarah that she’d seen photos of Hoffman’s house filled with leaves, and the strange drawings in the bathroom. She asked, “Did he say anything about why the house was filled with leaves?”

  Sarah answered, “He told me that someone helped him bag the leaves. He said he wanted to make my bed comfy. So he just put leaves there so I could sleep on them.”

  Vieira said to Larry, “You know that the sheriff has said that Sarah is the epitome of bravery.”

  Larry replied, “Definitely. You know, she’s even an inspiration to me. As her father, I’m supposed to be the teacher of the children, but I think she’s taught me far more than I could possibly ever teach her about life.”

  Turning to Sarah, Vieira asked why Sarah wanted to be in court on the day that Matthew was sentenced. Sarah answered, “I wanted to tell him that I wasn’t scared of him. I just wanted to get on with my life.”

  Vieira then asked, “What keeps you strong, Sarah, and so positive?”

  Sarah replied, “Just making my life go on and not thinking of what happened in the past.”

  Vieira said to Sarah, “We’ve learned about your mom and brother, that your mom was a real hardworking lady and put you and Kody above everybody else. What do you want people to know about your mom and your brother?”

  For the first time in the interview, Sarah smiled. She had been very serious up to that point. Sarah said, “My mom, she took really good care of us and made sure we had food and heat and clothes. And Kody, he was just a really good brother, even if we fought a lot.”

  Vieira replied to that, “Well, that’s what brothers and sisters do. I know they’d be proud of you. You really are an incredible young lady.”

  THIRTY-FIVE

  A New Beginning

  As time passed, Sarah got a little better every day, though it was not all a straight line to recovery. As Larry said later, “She had good days and bad days. She would have nightmares that someone was trying to break into the house and take her away once again. I had to reassure her that was not going to happen, and I was here to protect her.”

  Sarah gave up softball, even though she was so good at it. It was just too painful to watch and be a part of. It reminded her not only of the life she had known and lost, but of Kody as well.

  Sarah went to a new school now, with no one she had known from before, which was a double-edged sword. In some ways it was good, since there was no ever-present reminder of what had happened. No link to the everyday school life she had known right up until the afternoon of November 10, 2010, when everything suddenly stopped. On the other hand, Sarah was still a young teenage girl in a new school, a traumatic experience for any kid. Moving somewhere new, without the friends that she had grown up with, was difficult. And despite Sarah’s positive attitude and her desire to succeed in her new surroundings, to not just hide in the shadows and become the “girl those bad things happened to,” for some students she would still always be “that girl.” The girl who had been kidnapped. The girl whose brother and mother and neighbor had been murdered, dismembered and stuffed into a hollow tree. The girl who had been all over the news.

  When Sarah began going to school in Hamilton Township, she decided to take up volleyball instead. And being athletic, she was very good at it. She liked being part of the team and commented on how each player had to assist the others. Just being on the team was a bonding experience and helped Sarah adjust to her new environment.

  Sarah went to counseling sessions on a weekly basis, and they did help. So did keeping in touch with Diana Oswalt, the victims’ advocate at the Knox County Prosecutor’s Office. And Sarah also had something else going for her. She had some inner strength to carry on, way beyond her years. She was determined not to be destroyed by what happened to her and her family. Larry had always spoken of Sarah as being a “bubbly girl.” What surprised everyone was that she was such a strong girl as well.

  The “bubbly” aspect about her did help Sarah make new friends at her new school. Instead of being withdrawn, she was still outgoing and popular. Larry said, “There were times we still had to talk over the past. I would say she was seventy percent bubbly most of the time now, as opposed to ninety percent before this all happened. S
he was just basically an optimistic girl. She always believed in her possibilities for the future and didn’t sit around moping about things. She was determined to live more for the future than the past.”

  Sarah said that her dream was to become a pediatrician. She loved kids and enjoyed her new younger brothers: AJ was five, and Payton only sixteen months old. It was a new start, even with them. Sarah had been the older sister to Kody; now she was the older sister to AJ and Payton. She fell into the role more naturally than might have been expected under such trying circumstances. Sarah was always goal-oriented, and being the big sister once again was important to her.

  But there were some unforeseen circumstances for Larry. He said, “People who had been my friends started to drift away. They didn’t know what to say to me, so they stopped coming by or calling. It was almost like we had some kind of disease that they didn’t want to catch. I would wonder if they felt, ‘If we get too close to him, maybe the same thing could happen to us.’ I knew that was crazy, but it felt like it anyway. Matthew Hoffman had taken away my family, and now he was taking away my friends. I hated him with every ounce of my body. He was pure evil.”

  And both Larry and Sarah were very wary of strangers now. Their presumption of safety had been destroyed. If a man could break into Tina’s house in a “safe neighborhood,” then what location was safe? They viewed the world through different eyes now, experienced it in a different way.

  Larry said, “Sarah would see some guy, and say, ‘Dad, he looks creepy.’ She was just very, very aware of her surroundings. I would not let her walk to school alone. Either I or my wife would take her there every day. We lived in a different world now.”

  * * *

  Another new start for both Sarah and Larry was the creation of the Tina Rose B. Herrmann and Kody Alexander Maynard Healing Hearts Memorial Fund (HHMF). On the Today Show, Larry said of the foundation, “It’s strictly a nonprofit organization developed to help victims of violent crime such as Sarah. We think it’s going to be a really good organization to try and help other families that may possibly go through the same ordeal Sarah and the rest of our family has gone through.” Larry said, “We wanted something good to come out of this tragedy. And it was also a way of remembering Tina and Kody and what good people they were. Kody had told me he wanted to be a Coast Guard helicopter pilot someday. He wanted to help people and rescue people. I’ve wondered, how many people he could have rescued in the future. Matthew Hoffman put an end to that. It’s as if Hoffman killed those people who might have been saved by Kody, as well.”

  In May 2011, Tina’s friend, Teresa Partlow, organized a raffle for the HHMF foundation. Teresa said, “Tina was a really, really good friend. She was always there to listen and always willing to help. I’m doing what I can to honor my friend.”

  Larry and Sarah discussed what kind of event could raise money for the Memorial Fund. As it turned out, Barbara Herrmann, Tina’s mother, had a brother who was a hot air balloon enthusiast. They suggested having a hot air balloon festival in Ohio to raise money, and both Larry and Sarah thought it would be a good idea.

  The Fairfield County Foundation also thought this was a good idea, and teamed up with Healing Hearts for a balloon festival in the summer of 2011. The festival would feature balloon launches and tethered balloon rides. And there would be a Sunset Glow Flight where the balloons would be illuminated in the darkness. The purpose was not only to remember the victims but also to raise money for HHMF.

  Barbara Herrmann said, “We want to say to any victim of violence, it’s enough going through it and surviving, but there are avenues you can turn to. It will be an honor to remember Tina and Kody. Their deaths were a tragedy, but from this tragedy, we hope we can help others.” She added, “They touched so many lives when they were alive. Now they’ll be able to touch people after they’re gone. I also want to help people because it helps me.”

  On August 5, 2011, in Carroll, Ohio, the first annual hot air balloon festival took place, with eleven balloons rising into the skies. Funds were raised through sales of balloon rides, games and food. Even Sarah and Larry took a balloon ride, and Sarah was very excited by the event. A huge smile spread across her face as the balloon ascended into the air, and central Ohio spread out below her. It was as if she was leaving the troubles that haunted her back on the ground. For a little while she could soar above all of that.

  Larry said later, “It was good for her. It showed me the happy girl that was so much a part of the way she always was. Sarah’s doing her best, and getting better every day. She’s determined not to let things get her down.”

  Tina’s mother, Barbara Herrmann, said of her granddaughter, “She’s a real live wire. Just like her mother. But all of this is still fresh in her mind. It’s only been eight months since it happened.” Barbara related, “This whole event was to bring something good out of something so evil. Tina’s and Kody’s legacy will live on through this.”

  * * *

  After the summer ended and a new school year began for Sarah, it was amazing how well she adjusted to her new environment. She joined school activities and made lots of friends. Viewed from a distance, Sarah would look like any fourteen-year-old girl.

  The psychological scars were still there, of course, but they were not overpowering. The resilience she showed was remarkable. And Sarah was lucky, in the sense that even though she had lost her mom and brother, she still had a good family who loved her and wanted the best for her. It was as normal a situation as could be possible, under the circumstances. Life went on in a rhythm that was both soothing and nurturing, a life that mirrored those of many others in their Ohio neighborhood. Sarah escaped the stigma of being “that tragic girl.” She was just Sarah, and intent on being just Sarah.

  She could still laugh and she could still dream. Larry talked about maybe moving to Florida someday with the family. That would put even more distance between what had happened and what the future might hold. Sarah often talked about becoming a pediatrician. Just like her mom, Tina, she loved children and wanted the best for them. Larry said, “The sky is the limit for Sarah. She’s very bright and not afraid to go after what she wants in life. I’m so proud of her.”

  THIRTY-SIX

  Bright Lights in a Sea of Darkness

  On November 9, 2011, the day before the first anniversary of the tragic events that had occurred one year earlier, Larry Maynard went around Mount Vernon and Apple Valley with a journalist. They drove from Larry’s home up Interstate 270 and State Highway 3 to Mount Vernon, and Larry recalled all the events of his and Tina’s life. He spoke of the good times, and the rough times when he and Tina had broken up, and also the fact that they never lost respect for each other. “She was always a good person,” he said. “And she loved her kids. For her, they were her whole world.”

  As they drove up to Columbus Road, they turned right, and then suddenly there it was—the house where Matthew Hoffman had kept his daughter, Sarah, for four days. Larry had never been there, and he struggled with his emotions as he got out of the vehicle and stood on the sidewalk in front of the house.

  On the outside, it looked so ordinary. It was up for sale now, but no one was buying. Larry stared at it for a while and then said, “Sometimes I can’t believe it all happened. It just seems like a bad dream and someday I’ll wake up and find out that it was just a nightmare. But then I realize, it’s not just a bad dream, and it did happen.”

  Larry walked around the house and gazed down at the basement area where Sarah had been tied up and kept on a bed of leaves. He mused, “A lot of people thought that the leaves were just a sign that he was crazy. But I believe he had another intention in mind. I think that when he was done with Sarah, he planned to kill her and then burn the house down. What could burn more quickly than dried leaves? All the evidence would be gone. He planned to burn it all down and then disappear. And he was an arsonist.
He liked fires. He’d already proved in Colorado that he cared nothing about human life when he burned down that condo with people inside.”

  Farther around the house, a large tree loomed over Matthew Hoffman’s yard. This was the tree where Hoffman had perched for hours, staring down at the neighborhood. The tree was bereft of leaves now, as it had been at this time the previous year, and the cold gray skies of November made its branches look skeletal and foreboding. Larry just gazed at it and shook his head. The thought of Matthew Hoffman up in that tree was beyond words for him.

  As they came fully around the house, something suddenly caught Larry’s eye, and he gasped. He pointed it out to the journalist, and they both walked up onto the front porch of the house. Someone had tied a dead squirrel to the front door handle.

  Later, Larry said, “I don’t know who [did that] or why they did that. Obviously, Hoffman was in prison, so he couldn’t have done it. I reported it to Sheriff Barber, and he said that nothing like that was left there after the crime scene technicians had gone over the house. I have two theories about it. One is that someone left it as a sign to Hoffman, ‘This squirrel shows how crazy you are.’ The other theory is that someone put it there to say to everyone, ‘This house is an evil place. Stay away.’”

  After leaving Matthew Hoffman’s house on Columbus Road, Larry and the journalist had lunch at a Mount Vernon restaurant. As they sat at their table, they could hear the quiet whispers of the other diners, sense the furtive gazes in their direction. Larry was used to this and told the reporter, “People want to say something to me, but they don’t know what to say. They wonder if they should come up and give their condolences. They wonder if they should just keep quiet. It happens every day. I’m always going to be the dad of that girl who was tied up on a bed of leaves. I’m always going to be the dad of the boy who was murdered in his own home.”