by Robert Scott
The restaurant was near the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, and by sheer coincidence, Sheriff David Barber walked in to have lunch that same day. Larry and the sheriff shook hands and spoke for a while. “I have no doubt that Sheriff Barber and his office saved Sarah,” Larry commented later. “They did everything they could to find her, Tina, Kody and Stephanie. They went full blast each and every day. They just didn’t know at the time it was already too late for Kody, Tina and Stephanie. But I’ll always be thankful for what all of those guys at the sheriff’s office did. They were barely going home to sleep. They worked around the clock. It’s what you’d hope a sheriff’s office would do in a situation like this. Even they couldn’t know how hard it would be. Nothing like this had ever happened around here before.”
After lunch, Larry and the reporter went out to Tina’s home on King Beach Drive. It sat empty now, also up for sale, but like Matthew Hoffman’s home, with no buyers. On the outside it looked serene, as if nothing bad had ever happened there. Down the hill, Apple Valley Lake looked pleasant and inviting.
Larry pointed out the porch area that someone had inexplicably tried to set on fire. He also pointed to Sarah’s former bedroom, where she had tried to call 911 before Matthew Hoffman restrained her—the same room where he had knifed Stephanie Sprang to death.
In the front yard, numerous items were still stacked around a tree as a memorial to the previous year’s tragedy. There were stuffed animals, balloons, toys and baseballs. Especially baseballs, in memory of what a good pitcher Kody had been.
Larry said, “The stuff gets picked up every so often and taken away, but then new items appear. This has gone on all year long since November 2010. I guess there’s more now, since it’s almost the one-year anniversary.”
* * *
Around that anniversary time, Larry and his family participated in various events to help raise funds for the Healing Hearts Foundation. One event was at the Blue Jackets Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. There, Sarah met and was photographed with the team mascot, Stinger. Later, a dinner was provided courtesy of the Front Street Restaurant.
Another event was a softball tournament at the Pipesville Road baseball fields where Kody had once played, and where Matthew Hoffman left Sarah in the Jeep with the body bags when he went on his various missions. There was a pitching contest and a home-run derby.
Sarah had also recently spoken to a reporter from WBNS who wanted to know how she was adjusting at her new school and what kinds of things she liked to do these days. Sarah said, “I love volleyball. I serve and play first row and switch out with another girl. It’s a fun sport to communicate with others. And you need skills that you don’t necessarily have in other sports.
“I like music and love to swim in the summertime. Like going to the beach at Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. And shopping. I’d like to get a cell phone for Christmas. She also expressed a wish to go to San Diego, California, someday. She was entranced by the thought of being on its beaches and going to its world-famous zoo.
Asked about how she felt now that nearly a year had passed, Sarah said, “I’m usually pretty happy all the time. But going to the new school was kind of hard. I didn’t know anyone, but I adapted fast. Lots of kids came up to me, asking me if I was the new kid. And they became my friends.”
The reporter noted how observant Sarah was about people around her. She noticed everything, from what they had in their hands, to their clothing and shoes. Sarah agreed that she was now very aware of her surroundings at all times. She wasn’t afraid to be out in crowds, but she had a very heightened sense of awareness at all times in public.
Then the reporter said, “From the moment you got home [on November 10, 2010] you remembered everything vividly, didn’t you?”
At this question, Sarah began to tear up, and the smile disappeared. It was as if she’d been thrust right back to that day and time. She began to cry and her voice quavered. A box of tissues was called for, and she used several of them. It was obvious that, beneath the surface, the memories were still deep and dark. After all, she was still only a fourteen-year-old girl, one who’d experienced a nightmare beyond belief.
* * *
Perhaps the most evocative and heartfelt event commemorating the anniversary of that horrible day was a candlelight vigil held on Apple Valley Lake at sunset on November 10, 2011. As darkness came on, scores of people arrived from all over the area to meet with Sarah and remember Stephanie Sprang, Tina Herrmann and Kody Maynard.
It was a brisk autumn night, and everyone was bundled up against the chill as the breeze blew off the lake. Suddenly, Sarah spotted Sheriff David Barber in the crowd. With a burst of exuberance she ran up and gave him a big hug, and shouted with delight, “Sheriff!” She held him tightly for a moment, knowing how much he and his office had done to rescue her.
Then Sarah, the sheriff, Larry and his family, and everyone else present lit small candles, placed them in small containers and set them adrift on the lake—dozens of small candles bobbing up and down on the ripples. If Kody, Tina and Stephanie were looking down from above, they would have seen a dazzling sight—so many tiny flickering lights of hope in a sea of darkness.
Robert Scott is the author of eighteen true-crime books, which have sold nearly a half-million copies worldwide. He has been featured on such television true-crime channels as truTV, E!, and Investigation Discovery. He is a member of several national journalistic associations. His website is www.robertscotttruecrime.com.
Not long after, Sarah’s baby brother, Kody, was born, and she doted on him.
(LARRY MAYNARD)
In 1997, Tina Herrmann and Larry Maynard had a baby daughter, Sarah.
(LARRY MAYNARD)
Sarah was proud of her little brother, who excelled in academics and sports.
(LARRY MAYNARD)
Stephanie Sprang was a neighbor of Tina Herrmann and one of her best friends. She too went missing on November 10, 2010.
(OHIO DMV)
By 2010, Tina Herrmann (pictured) and her kids lived in the quiet neighborhood of Apple Valley near beautiful Apple Valley Lake.
(LARRY MAYNARD)
Knox County Sheriff David Barber and his team of investigators worked tirelessly on the case.
(ROBERT SCOTT)
Investigators discovered large bloodstains in Tina Herrmann’s home, making them worry about the fate of the missing individuals.
(KNOX COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)
Hundreds of citizen volunteers signed up to help search for Stephanie, Tina, Kody and Sarah. They also held prayer vigils at this town square in Mount Vernon, Ohio.
(ROBERT SCOTT)
Matthew Hoffman of Mount Vernon, Ohio, had been in trouble with the law, even as a young man.
(KNOX COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)
When Hoffman was nineteen years old, he stole this large sign in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and also burned down a condominium complex there.
(ROBERT SCOTT)
On the morning of November 14, 2010, a SWAT team burst into Matthew Hoffman’s house and arrested him there.
(ROBERT SCOTT)
Investigators were able to track Hoffman down as the suspect in the missing persons’ case concerning Tina, Sarah, Kody and Stephanie.
(KNOX COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE)
The officers found Sarah Maynard alive and tied up on a bed of leaves in Hoffman’s basement.
(KNOX COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)
Hoffman had also covered his floors with dried leaves and had bags of leaves stacked up in every room. (KNOX COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)
(KNOX COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)
Investig
ators also found strange images drawn in Hoffman’s bathroom, where he had kept Sarah tied up part of the time.
(KNOX COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)
In exchange for having the death penalty removed, Matthew Hoffman revealed where he had hidden the dismembered bodies of Tina, Kody and Stephanie.
(KNOX COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)
He had placed them in a hollow tree in a nature preserve. A tree cutter had to cut a hole in the tree to remove trash bags filled with body parts.
(KNOX COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)
Larry and Sarah Maynard created a foundation to help other victims of crime—the Tina Rose B. Herrmann and Kody Alexander Maynard Healing Hearts Memorial Fund.
(LARRY MAYNARD)
A memorial had grown over time at Tina’s house where the crimes had been committed. Even a year later, people still placed flowers and mementos there.
(ROBERT SCOTT)
Larry and Sarah attended the foundation’s first annual hot air balloon festival, which raised money for the Healing Hearts fund.
(LARRY MAYNARD )