Summary

In Mount Vernon, Ohio, a guy, Matthew J. Hoffman, stalked a young girl and her family. He waited until the girl and her brother were home from school, went into the house and murdered the girl』s mom, brother, and a family friend. He then kidnapped and locked her in his basement. He chopped up the bodies of the family members and hid them in a nature area north of town. The cops found the girl after a few days, in his basement, tied up on a bed of leaves. It took days of interrogations before Hoffman finally admitted where he hid the bodies of the family members. Hoffman found guilty of holding a 13-year-old girl hostage after killing her family and stuffing their dismembered bodies in a hollow tree had an obsession with trees and leaves, police documents show.Known Victims: Tina Herrmann, 32 years old (was also struck with a blackjack)Kody Maynard, 11 (Herrmanns son)

Stephanie Sprang, 41

Sarah Maynard, 13 (Herrmanns daughter; abducted, held captive, and sexually assaulted repeatedly; was rescued four days later)The caseOn November 10, 2010, he randomly selected the Apple Valley, Ohio house of Tina Herrmann because it was more secluded and the garage door was always left slightly open. Hoffman bade his time, sleeping in the nearby woods.Finally, he sneaked into the home after the residents left, remaining inside for an hour until Tina and neighbour Stephanie Sprang unexpectedly returned. Surprised, Hoffman murdered both, and then attacked Tinas two children, 13-year-old Sarah and 11-year-old Kody, when they stumbled upon the scene. He also killed a dog that was in the house because it barked loudly. He later claimed that he hadnt planned to kill anyone but had brought the knife and blackjack[1] he used for intimidation purposes. Killing Kody, Hoffman then held Sarah captive and took her and the bodies to his Mount Vernon home, tying Sarah to a bed of leaves in the basement. Next, he dismembered the bodies of his fatal victims, taking and disposing of the parts the next day into a hollow, 60-foot tree in the Kokosing Wildlife Area using his tree-climbing equipment. That same day, he was approached by deputies as he sat in the same parking lot where Tina Herrmanns pickup truck was discovered. However, Hoffman was let go when he claimed that he had a girlfriend and was waiting for her to get off of work. For four days straight, he kept Sarah tied to the bed and sexually assaulted her repeatedly.Investigating authorities eventually classified Hoffman as a suspect of the Herrmann home invasion and abductions, raiding his home on November 14 as he slept on his couch. He was arrested, and Sarah was safely recovered from the basement. The two police officers from Mount Vernon, Ohio, who first entered Hoffmans home in November 2010 discovered mounds of leaves so high they feared that bodies could be buried underneath them."So much runs through your mind: What if someone is hiding under that pile? Or in this case, I thought, Is that where hes hiding the bodies," Mount Vernon Police Detective Craig Feeney told the Columbus Dispatch.In his incarceration, Hoffman wrote a four-page confession letter about his crimes and revealed the location of his victims bodies to police. He also made claims that he intended to rob Tina Herrmanns house, was happy when Sarah was rescued by authorities, and treated her nicely, cooking her hamburgers and letting her play video games and watch movies, specifically Iron Man and Iron Man 2. The latter claim was proven false by Sarah and was also greeted with horrified shock from the general public. He confessed to investigators that he had made the bed of leaves and covered it with blankets. He told investigators that the little girl "liked that bed, it was extremely comfy and I wanted to sleep on it." While holding the girl hostage, he gave his victim the book "Treasure Island" to read and watched the movie "Iron Man" with her, according to his confession. He also admitted raping the girl, who was found by police wearing "a white plastic bag that had holes cut out for her legs that she was wearing like a makeshift diaper," according to case files. Moments after her rescue, the girl told police that she was late for school and asked if they could take her to school. Unaware that Hoffman had murdered her mother and brother, the girl told police that she feared Hoffman had killed her dog. Hoffman would later confess to killing the dog because it would not stop barking.The girl also told police that the "suspect cut her finger with a knife, usually gagged her and that he was going to release her before Christmas," according to the records.As for his initial motivation to rob the Herrmann house, it is disbelieved by Sarahs father Larry, and it is widely believed that the crimes were mere acts of random violence. He was charged with 10 counts that included aggravated murder and rape, eventually found guilty, and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on January 6, 2011. He had been able to avoid the death penalty by revealing where the bodies of his victims were located. Hoffman remains incarcerated to this day.

Murderer』s background

Due to the lack of sources detailing him, not much information about Hoffmans early life has been revealed, other than that he was born on November 1, 1980. It also appears that an event in his life shaped him into a psychopath. Neighbours later described his behaviour as erratic and strange. According to one of them, he would kill squirrels and eat them. Others say he also used to trap small animals in his yard, set small fires on the lawn and sit in his trees. When his home was searched after his arrest, he also turned out to have had an obsession with leaves, keeping huge piles of them in his house. In 2001, he was convicted of theft, burglary, and first-degree arson after he set a Steamboat Springs, Colorado condominium complex ablaze to cover up a burglary and robbery. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.Obsession With LeavesKnox County Prosecutor John Thatcher said that the hundreds of bags of leaves found in the home were not connected to the murders. "Knox County has never seen a case like this before. It has to rank there in Ohio history as one of the worst homicide cases," Thatcher said.Forensic psychologists said that Hoffmans obsession with leaves and trees were indications of mental illness and delusion. "If trees gave him comfort at all and were familiar at all, that would explain why he would put the bodies in the tree," said Dr James Alan Fox of Northeastern University who has written five books about serial killers.Psychologists called the obsession with leaves bizarre and unique from other convicted murderers. "It certainly suggests that he is likely to be mentally ill, mentally ill as compared to other killers who show up in the news like serial killers or psychopaths," Dr N.G. Berrill, director of New York Center for Neuropsychology and Forensic Behavioral Science. "Serial killers, from a professional point of view, they are not mentally ill. They have character disturbances, but they know what theyre doing is wrong. They take too much pleasure, too much gratification to stop." Berrill said that only Hoffman could explain why he appeared to stockpile leaves. "It would take talking to him to find out what it means," Berrill said. "[Hoffmans delusions are] very elaborate delusions related to trees, what trees produce, being in and around on trees, putting people in trees."Hoffman was an unemployed tree cutter. Neighbours said that there were only two trees near his home. "He couldnt have possibly got that many leaves from that tree so he had to haul leaves from somewhere. I never saw him raking," neighbour Jeannette Columber said. Neighbor Henderson Butcher described his interactions with Hoffman as friendly."He used to play around the trees around there a lot...throw ropes in trees and had like a hammock on there," Butcher said. Other people said that Henderson （參考前文後理，應該是Hoffman而非Henderson，可能是文章之誤）would shoot squirrels to eat. "He was killing the squirrels because he doesnt grocery shop," neighbour Kara Fowler said. "He would actually kill the squirrels and eat them." Matthew Hoffmans Freezer contained only popsicles and squirrels. The released documents show that police taped hours of conversations with Hoffman saying little. It was a bad dream that prompted him to confess. Hoffman told an investigator that hed had a dream about being at a food processing plant. "Hoffman said he opened a trash bag at the food processing plant and saw cut up body parts and he got a knot in his stomach and it all came back to him," according to the case files. Hoffman asked an investigator to allow him to write the location of the bodies on a piece of paper and then shoot him in a faked escape attempt. When police said they wouldnt agree to his terms, he shut up for two more days before telling police where to find the bodies.The home full of leaves is in foreclosure, according to court records. Wells Fargo Bank initiated the proceedings Jan. 28.

Crime scene

Picture: Hoffman, 30, is serving a life sentence for three murders and for the kidnapping and rape of the teen.Picture: Pictures of Matthew Hoffmans home reveal a living room stuffed with leaves, a bathroom lined with more than 100 bags of leaves, and a freezer that contained only a couple of red popsicles and two dead squirrels.Picture: A teenage girl held hostage in Hoffmans basement for days was found bound on this makeshift bed of leaves and blankets. (Courtesy of Knox County Prosecutors Office)Picture: Police found Hermanns 13-year-old daughter in the basement of Hoffmans home. She was bound hand and foot and was confined to a makeshift bed of leaves.Picture: A detectives photo shows the walls in the bathroom of Matthew Hoffmans home in Mount Vernon, covered with plastic bags filled with leaves. Authorities still speculate about the leaves purpose, but at least one suggests that they might have been meant for use as a fire accelerant. (Courtesy of Knox County Prosecutors Office)Picture: Surfaces in Matthew Hoffmans kitchen were covered with doodles, including a giant peace sign on the door.Picture: 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

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