THIRTY

The Grand Jury

Even though Matthew Hoffman had signed a confession, the investigators were not through gathering evidence against him. He and his attorneys had waived his scheduled court hearing, but Hoffman still awaited sentencing, and both the investigators and Knox County District Attorney’s Office wanted as much physical evidence as possible to support the case against him.

Another search warrant was requested for Hoffman’s residence on Columbus Road, which stated the desire “to enter and search the residence and any outbuildings for certain evidence and trace evidence including shoes, blood evidence and stolen property.” Judge Paul Spurgeon signed the request at 9:06 AM on November 24, 2010.

From this second search came an array of new items seized from Hoffman’s house, including a set of fifteen golf clubs and bag, a metal jewelry box, a signed baseball, an Ohio State football and a flash drive. The items also included two chain saws, a bow, a green bag containing gas can and oil can tools, a blue plastic tub and items that had been burned and melted in a backyard fire pit. The investigators believed that some items were stolen from houses other than Tina’s house, and other items came from her house on King Beach Drive.

Detective Craig Feeney went with a helicopter pilot of the Ohio State Highway Patrol and took aerial photos of the scene where the three bodies had been found in the hollow tree. These area photos were taken to KCSO as part of the evidence.

The actual charges against Matthew Hoffman now comprised ten felony counts: the aggravated murders of Tina Hoffman, Stephanie Sprang and Kody Maynard (“aggravated” because the murders had occurred while engaged in a burglary); the aggravated burglary of Tina Herrmann’s residence; the kidnapping and sexual assault on Sarah Maynard; tampering with evidence; and three charges concerning the abuse of corpses.

The prosecution was doing everything possible to make sure that all the charges would be factored in by a judge at sentencing. BCI&I sent a report to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office detailing all of the items and DNA evidence they had collected. There were fifty items submitted by Detective David Light, ranging from the duct tape and ropes used to bind Sarah, to the blanket she had been sleeping on in Hoffman’s basement. They also contained Sarah’s clothing collected at the hospital, a leather sap, a SOG brand knife, and two pairs of Hoffman’s boots and shoes from his residence.

Items recovered from Tina Herrmann’s home included a pair of cloth gloves Hoffman had used, and numerous swabs containing blood samples as well as swatches of blood-soaked carpet.

As far as DNA evidence went, there were samples from Tina, Kody and Stephanie. There was also a sexual molestation kit pertaining to Sarah. Prosecuting Attorney John Thatcher compiled a lengthy potential witness list and submitted it to Judge Spurgeon. For KCSO, the list contained the names of Detective David Light, Sheriff David Barber, Lieutenant Gary Rohler, Detective Sergeant Roger Brown, Captain David Shaffer, Detective Tom Durbin, Detective Doug Turpen and Deputy Charles Statler. From BCI&I there were Special Agents Joe Dietz, Ed Lulla, Ed Carlini, Daniel Winterich, Gary Wilgus, Mark Kollar and George Staley. Forensic scientist Brenda Gerardi was listed, as well as FBI Special Agent Kristin Cadieux. From the Mount Vernon Police Department there were Sergeant Troy Glazier and Detective Craig Feeney. Dr. Jennifer Ogle of the Knox County Coroner’s Office was listed as was Dr. Jeffrey Lee of the Licking County Coroner’s Office. As far as civilians went, there was Valerie Haythorn, Tina’s friend and manager at Dairy Queen, and Sarah Maynard.

For his part, Hoffman’s public defender Bruce Malek felt “there is no need for a preliminary hearing in this case. Under these circumstances, we don’t feel that he [Prosecutor Thatcher] has any reason to go forward with a hearing.” The defense reasoning was that Hoffman had already confessed to his crimes and written out a statement.

Malek, moving in a different direction, added that Hoffman had recently been taken off a suicide watch and that “he’s doing about as well as someone could be expected, who has just come off a suicide watch. He has not been released into the general population at the jail.” The reason for that was the concern that some inmates would be more than happy to inflict “jailhouse justice” upon Hoffman.

Victim Assistant Director Diana Oswalt from the Knox County Prosecutor’s Office was keeping in constant contact with Sarah and Larry Maynard, willing to provide counseling or simply to listen. Her office stated that the mission of the Victim Assistance Program was “to provide crime victims with information and emotional support necessary to make their way through the process of seeking justice.” Oswalt said of her job, “Mostly I would just listen to victims, about their concerns. Some want to talk a lot, and others are very quiet. Either way is all right. People deal with the situation they were in, in their own way.”

The other important aspect of Oswalt’s job was to let Sarah and Larry know what they could expect from the upcoming case against Matthew Hoffman as it went through the judicial system; as its mission statement stated, the Victim Assistance Program sought to “ensure that the victim’s rights are enforced and protected by making every effort to personally and promptly inform the victims about charges filed, hearings scheduled, the outcomes of those hearings, and dealing with the aftermath of those procedures to move forward with their lives.”

Oswalt also let the Maynards know that they had a right to the reasonable return of property that was stolen, the right to communicate with the prosecutor and the right to freedom from intimidation. They also had the right to make a statement at sentencing and the right to receive information about the perpetrator after sentencing. There was even a schematic illustrating at which proceedings Sarah might be called upon to testify; these included the preliminary hearing or grand jury setting, and the actual trial. In Sarah’s case, the prosecution was going the grand jury route, which would bar the news media from attending the proceedings.

On days when Sarah would not be called to testify, Oswalt could attend the proceedings and inform Sarah and Larry afterward of what had occurred; this would save the Maynards from having to appear personally in court, where they would undoubtedly be besieged by reporters. Neither Sarah nor Larry wanted to be in the limelight. As much as possible, they were trying to reconstruct normal lives, especially for Sarah.

* * *

The actual grand jury indictment of Matthew Hoffman didn’t come until after the new year, on January 3, 2011. Part of the document read, “The indictment alleges that Hoffman purposely caused the deaths of Tina R Herrmann, Ms. Herrmann’s son Kody Maynard, and her neighbor Stephanie Sprang on November 10, 2010. He committed the murders while he was committing the offense of Aggravated Burglary in Herrmann’s residence.”

Prosecutor John Thatcher said that he had called the special session of the grand jury because of the seriousness of the crimes. Grand juries in Knox County usually met only once a month, but this situation had demanded a response far beyond the routine. Thatcher added that the grand jurors listened to six hours of testimony before coming back with the indictment. In essence this grand jury hearing was Matthew Hoffman’s trial pertaining to guilt, not sentencing, which would come later. The grand jurors returned a bill of indictment that found Hoffman guilty of all charges. John Thatcher wanted to make sure that all the i’s were dotted and all the t’s crossed in the legal proceedings.

Most family members were waiting until actual sentencing to speak to the press, though Stephanie Sprang’s father, Steve Thompson, did make a short statement after the indictment, saying simply, “We don’t want to say anything that might affect the outcome of the arraignment. We want to see Hoffman get everything he deserves.”