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 younger 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.

Dr. Ogle added that before the autopsies began, she met with the victims’ family members to answer their questions and offer support to them. Ogle said, “My priority was the family. I wanted to make sure I’d taken good care of explaining things to them before I spoke about the victims to other people. People react differently to grief, each experiencing loss in their own way, and as death investigations proceed, the bereaved require different answers as they process their loss. Some people need all the forensic details in order to get closure. Some people can move on without all the details.”

Ogle added that she hoped the autopsies would help in the prosecution of the case. “We’re not in a hurry at this point. It’s critical to get every detail right in coming up with a cause of death and to be able to provide family and loved ones with the answers they need.”

Asked by a reporter how the case had affected her, she answered, “It would be impossible not to be emotional about this. We’re all emotional about this, but we approach it in a scientific way, not allowing our emotions to get in front of us.

“Our entire community has been wounded in this tragedy, and words can’t describe the sorrow felt by all. Knox County is one of the warmest, kindest and most beautiful communities I’ve ever witnessed. I firmly believe that no one person can ever take that away from us. The story of Sarah Maynard’s rescue will forever be remembered as an example of extraordinary detective work and bravery.”

A follow-up question asked if this particular case had affected her differently from past cases. Without hesitating, she said, “Yes.”

* * *

Farther away, Larry, Sarah and the rest of the Maynard family huddled inside their home, determined not to speak with the media clamoring outside their door. To Larry it felt as if all of the planets had fallen on his head. He was dazed to the point of inertia. He couldn’t eat. He could barely sleep, only dozing off on the couch once in a while. Even though it seemed like the walls of his house were closing in on him, he couldn’t stand the thought of going outside and facing the media onslaught. The last thing he wanted at that point was to be besieged by questions. It was his wife, Tracy, who had to answer the phone. Soon she even stopped doing that. Most of the calls were from news agencies badgering them for information.

A neighbor was sent out on runs to bring in food for the family. All she would say to reporters was that when she saw Sarah, the girl looked physically well.

In fact, Sarah was showing a remarkable resilience. One of Larry Maynard’s neighbors told a reporter, “When Sarah first arrived at her dad’s house, she smiled and waved. It brought tears to my eyes. My daughter has played with Sarah on past visits.”

And another neighbor said, “When Sarah’s ready to face the world again, she’ll have friends.”

At that time, however, Larry had a sign placed on his front door that stated, “We are not ready to talk at this time.”

Greg Borders, who had also said very little to reporters, met with one after the news broke about the recovery of the bodies. He said, “When the police let me back into that house for the first time, I was numb. Once it hit me, I had to get out of the house. I’ll never go back to that house!”

Greg’s uncle told a reporter, “Tina was very compassionate and caring. She would give you the shirt off her back. Those kids came before anyone else.”

In the Apple Valley area, Stephanie Sprang’s uncle, Chris Thompson, thanked the volunteer searchers for all their efforts and said, “We’re going to need time to deal with this.” And friends of Stephanie spoke once again about how close Tina and Stephanie had been. They said the two were nearly inseparable, and that they were both hardworking mothers who’d loved their children.

* * *

Grief and shock now ran rampant throughout the area. On the Facebook page dedicated to the victims, were one posting after another by individuals who’d known them, and many more by people who had never met them. One posting stated, “My heart is broken. God put your loving arms of comfort around Sarah and all those in mourning.”

A makeshift memorial to the victims had sprung up around a large tree near the house on King Beach Road. Friends and people who didn’t even know the victims brought stuffed animals, flowers and other mementos. They also brought purple ribbons to remember Tina, Stephanie, Kody and Sarah. In fact, by now the tree was festooned with numerous purple ribbons blowing in the breeze. There were dozens of balloons, flowers, candles and baseballs. Someone had written on one baseball, “We love you Kody!”

A man named Mike Page, who had dated Stephanie Sprang seven years before, showed up with an armload of purple ribbons. He told a reporter, “Stephanie is going to be sadly missed. I don’t think for anyone it’s sunk in yet.”

And at the Dairy Queen where Tina had worked, the sign that had been there all week was altered. Instead of “Pray for our missing families,” the word “missing” was now removed so that it stated, “Pray for our families.” The Dairy Queen also donated a dollar from every Blizzard sold to a fund to help Sarah and Stephanie Sprang’s children. The store sold 2,532 Blizzards in a very short period of time.

As the sun went down on the cold evening of November 19 members of Stephanie’s and Tina’s extended families gathered at Apple Lake for a memorial service and vigil. Many friends and volunteers were there as well. They lit small tea-light candles encased in cupcake holders like small boats. These candles were then set adrift on the waters of the lake. They glowed in the dark with tiny bright points of light.

The Reverend Lee Cubie of the Howard United Methodist Church addressed the crowd. “We’re here tonight to show that we can raise a light in this world that is greater than any darkness or gloom that may over come us.”

Julie Arthur was there with her sixteen-year-old daughter, Paige, and said, “This is Knox County. We support each other. It doesn’t matter if you knew them. They were mothers. They were children.”

* * *

On Friday, November 19, 2010, Chief Forensic Pathologist C. Jeff Lee, who was working with Jennifer Ogle and Robert Raker on the case, began the autopsy process. The task was formidable, given the state of the body parts. Lee noted that besides the remains in the official body bags, there were “several black plastic trash bags containing portions of three dismembered bodies intermingled with clothing, towels and personal possessions.” It was even difficult to differentiate which clothing had been worn by Tina Herrmann and which by Stephanie Sprang.

After that was sorted out, Lee noted that the upper part of a gray hooded sweatshirt that had belonged to Tina revealed three cuts, as did the upper portion of her back. The upper right portion of the front of Tina’s T-shirt also showed a three-inch cut and a one-inch cut.

Lee stated, “The well-developed, adult female body [Tina] is disarticulated at the neck, across the upper abdomen, bilateral shoulder joints, bilateral hip joints and bilateral knee joints.” A plain gold ring was present on the second finger of the right hand, and there was no polish on the nails.

Several postmortem wounds were identified, including two abrasions near the right eye and jagged wounds on the posterior scalp and back of the neck. There were a few incised wounds near the left shoulder. But what really stood out was a fourteen-inch vertically oriented incised wound running from the upper portion of the chest to the lower part of the torso. This was most likely the fatal wound. There were smaller incised wounds lower on the torso, and wounds on the hands and fingers, as well as some wounds on the left thigh. Actual deep stab wounds were catalogued later in the report.

Tina’s heart was determined to be of a normal size and shape, but there was an incised wound to the aorta. The lungs had suffered stab wounds as well, with three stab wounds to the upper right lung, and two in its lower portions. There were three stab wounds to the left lung. There were no fractures to the skull, though there was a hemorrhage near the parietal bones.

Stephanie’s autopsy was much the same as Tina’s had been. She too had suffered from several deep knife wounds, as well as additional nonfatal wounds. She also had abrasions and perimortem bruises on her body. Not unlike Tina, Stephanie’s body had been dismembered at the joints and showed a certain amount of sophistication in the cutting technique.

Kody’s autopsy revealed seven deep stab wounds to the torso, including one on the right upper chest, described as a “gaping stab wound passing downward, backward and to the left through the subcutaneous tissue.” There was a similar wound to the left lung. The left part of his abdomen had sustained a stab wound one inch in depth. And there were four stab wounds to the back, all of them about one and a half inches deep. Lee also noted that there appeared to be blunt force trauma to the head, and as with the other bodies, “postmortem dismemberment with an attempt at concealment.”

From the victims’ bodies, it was evident that Matthew Hoffman knew how to kill someone with a knife. In all three cases, the cause of death was stabbing, not blunt force trauma or other means.

* * *

Gary Ludwig, a supervisor with the wildlife division of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said that the tree in which the bodies had been found was being cut down to keep it from “becoming a sightseeing thing.” The last thing the department wanted was curious people tromping out to the site where Hoffman had disposed of his victims’ bodies.

Even after the recovery of the bodies, some people were skeptical that Matthew Hoffman had committed the crimes by himself. A man named Joe S contacted Detective Sergeant Roger Brown and said that he’d worked with Hoffman a month previously. Joe discounted other descriptions of Hoffman as a total loner and related, “Matt and [a] friend drove to Charles Mill to get paid for a job. They were paid by check. The store cashed their checks for them. I am just curious as to who his friend was. He was a big husky guy. They were driving a Chevy S-10, and the bed was wooden, I believe.” Joe also said he recalled the husky guy talking about having been in Colorado.

Joe went on to say that he didn’t think Hoffman seemed very strong; according to him, Hoffman looked more like a junkie. Joe was certain that the husky man had helped Hoffman in all the crimes.

Most other opinions, however, especially in law enforcement, agreed that Matthew Hoffman had been the sole killer of Tina, Kody and Stephanie. They knew he had a penchant for breaking into people’s residences, as his Colorado crime had shown.

And they also knew that Hoffman had plenty of upper-body strength and that he worked out. There was even an unexpected connection between Hoffman and Stephanie Sprang in that regard: police learned from Steve Mullins, owner of Body Basics gym in Mount Vernon, that Matthew Hoffman had been a member there and Stephanie Sprang had been on the cleaning crew. Mullins noted that Hoffman would generally come in shortly before closing time, and Stephanie and the cleaning crew would come in after hours when the gym was already closed. Mullins didn’t know whether the two had ever crossed paths, but the information renewed speculation that Matthew Hoffman might have met, or at least seen, Stephanie before the crimes were committed on November 10.