KODY MAYNARD - 11 yo (2010) Killed with Mother and her friend - Howard (NE of Columbus) OH

Hard to believe the family does not want to seek the death penalty If anything/anyone deserves it, this monster and those involved in Zahra's death certainly do IMO

sometimes i think the families may not want the DP because it is such a long drawn out process - the many appeals, stays of executions, etc. they may just want to know that the killer is going to be in prison (hopefully solitary) for the rest of their life. I don't think i could handle the court appearances through the years.

'I stabbed him in the chest... I could not kill her': Chilling
confession of burglar who murdered two women and a boy and raped teenage
girl

8th February 2011



Murderer: Matthew Hoffman's grizzly confession
contained details of how he stabbed and dismembered two women and a boy
and kidnapped and raped a teenage girl.

Extracts of murderer and rapist Matthew Hoffmann's disturbing
confession have been released to the public, in which he details how he
dismembered the bodies of his victims and disposed of them in a tree.
The
grizzly confession was given to the police so that Hoffmann, from Ohio,
could escape the death penalty and give the victim's relatives some
closure.
It reveals details of how he only intended to burgle
the house, as well as shocking details of how he murdered the two women
and the 11-year-old boy.
The 30-year-old claimed he did not
mean to hurt anyone and picked the house at random because it had an
open garage and no neighbours close by.The house, which belonged to Tina Herrmann, was targeted by Hoffman
in November and ended in a frenzied knife attack on Miss Hermann, her
friend, her 11-year-old son and even their dog.
Though the
13-year-old girl was spared, he kidnapped her and raped her several
times over four days, keeping her bound and gagged in his leaf-lined
basement.The details of his crime, for which Hoffman will spend the rest of his
life in jail, emerged on Monday after the Columbus Dispatch obtained his
confession.
In the four-page document,
offered days after the crime to avoid the death penalty, he said: 'I did
not enter the house to kill those people. I did not know a single one
of them. I did not plan for any of this to happen. I did not want to
kill anyone.'Hoffman entered the house of Miss Herrmann, 32, and
her two young children on 9 November, 2010 after sleeping rough across
the street the night before.According to his confession, he noticed the cars were gone and slipped through the garage door simply to steal any valuables.



Evil: Matthew Hoffman in court in Knox County
where he admitted carrying out the brutal killing spree that left three
people dead
'There was a certain amount of excitement in being in someone else's
home without them being there,' he said. 'I was looking for anything of
value that could be carried out easily.'I did not find anything
of any real value. I was getting ready to leave as I had been there
approximately an hour, but someone pulled into the driveway.'Hoffman hid in a bedroom when he was confronted by Tina Herrmann.Armed
with a blackjack and knife, which he claimed he brought 'for a certain
amount of intimidation', the two fought and he knocked her to the bed
face down.He hit her a couple of time in the head with the blackjack but nothing happened.









Survivor and victim: The 13-year-old girl
was discovered bound and gagged in a Mount Vernon basement. Tina
Herrmann's body was found in a tree












Killed: The bodies of Kody Maynard, 10, and 41-year-old family friend Stephanie Sprang were found wrapped in garbage bags
He said: 'I tried to just knock the first woman out so I could escape but this was not working. It was not doing the job.
'A second woman showed up and things quickly spiralled out of control. They kept escalating and I was panicking.'

The second woman was Miss Herrmann's friend Stephanie Sprang, 41, who started yelling at him.
Grabbing his knife, he stabbed Miss Herrmann in the back twice as she lay face down on the bed.



Prisoner: Police gather evidence from Hoffmann's
House in Mount Vernon, Ohio, where he held the 13-year-old girl captive
in his basement, repeatedly raping her, for four days

Miss
Sprang ran screaming into another room. Hoffman found her and stabbed
her several times in the chest, then he returned to Miss Herrmann and
stabbed her several more times.
'I could tell that both women were now dead,' he said in his confession.
'At this time I was in a total state of shock. I wandered around the
house slowly coming to the realization of what I had done and how bad it
was.

'During this time I killed the dog because it would not stop
barking.
'I decided to process the bodies and dispose of them inside of a tree
that I knew was hollow.'



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





Grisly discovery: The beech tree in the Kokosing Lake Animal Preserve shows the square cut that police made to find the bodies

After dismembering the bodies, using garbage bags from within the
house to place them inside, he was loading them into the Jeep when the
children came home from school.

He
said: 'I confronted the children, and the girl instantly ran to a
bedroom. I stabbed [11-year-old Kody Maynard] in the chest a couple
times.'
But when he was face-to-face with the 13-year-old girl,
who has not been named for legal reasons, he said: 'I could not bring
myself to kill her.'
Considering
several options, including disposing of the bodies in a nearby pond or
burning the house down, the unemployed tree cutter decided to put them
in the tree.
The 30-year-old then took the girl back to his home near down town
Mount Vernon, Ohio, where he held her hostage for nearly four days.

During
that time he sexually assaulted her, kept her hands and feet bound with
duct tape, and forced her to sleep on a bed of leaves.[b]EXTRACT FROM THE CONFESSION[/b]

'Once I had finished processing the bodies, I moved the Jeep into the garage to load up the bodies.
'I
still had a couple of bags to load into the Jeep when I heard the
children come into the house. ... I confronted the children, and the
girl instantly ran to a bedroom.
'I stabbed the boy in the
chest a couple times. I ran into the bedroom after the girl to make sure
she was not on the phone for help.
'I saw the girl was not on the phone, and I could not bring myself to kill her.'


The
confession focused mainly on the four days he spent at his home with the
girl, during which time he said he cooked her burgers and slept with
his arm around her.

The basement itself, the Columbus Dispatch
reported, was covered with leaves held to the walls with plastic bags,
reflecting Hoffman’s obsession with nature.
The man drew the
attention of police the day after the murders when he returned to
Herrmann's home to burn it down. Authorities were already at the house,
having been alerted to a crime there by a neighbour.
Items found
in Miss Herrmann's home led them to surveillance video at a Walmart of
Hoffman buying trash bags and tarps. On a Sunday morning, four days
after the murders, police stormed Hoffman's home and found the young
girl.
Hoffman later showed police where he had hidden the bodies,
along with the family dog. Using a rig-and-pulley system, the Dispatch
reported, he concealed them in a 60-foot tree in the Kokosing Wildlife
Area near Fredericktown.
Father of the two children Larry Maynard described the killer as a 'monster'.



Hideout: Hoffman slept rough the night before
the frenzied attack and watched Tina Herrmann's house, pictured, before
attempting to burgle it

During
his trial, the raped girl said in a statement read out in court by a
prosecutor: 'This is so sickening, to know you even had the guts to do
this.'
Read more

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1354984/Matthew-Hoffmann-Confession-burglar-murdered-3-raped-girl.html#ixzz1DQxv85Ze

Knox County sheriff honored

Jun 5, 2011


Barber


MOUNT VERNON -- Knox County Sheriff David Barber earned a national award for his efforts in the most difficult week of his career.

Barber was honored recently in Washington, D.C., during National Missing Children's Day. He received the 2011 Missing Children's Law Enforcement Award.

"This is probably the most humbling, almost overwhelming, recognition to happen in my career," Barber said.

The state attorney general's office nominated Barber for his leadership and decision-making in the aftermath of a triple homicide and abduction in Apple Valley.

Matthew Hoffman killed and dismembered Tina Herrmann, 32; her son, Kody Maynard, 11; and a family friend, Stephanie Sprang, 41. He left their remains in a hollow tree at the Kokosing Nature Preserve near Fredericktown.

A SWAT team found Sarah Maynard, 13, bound and gagged in Hoffman's basement Nov. 14.

"The whole tragedy changed this county forever," Barber said. "The one thing it brought home is there truly is evil everywhere.

"Hoffman pleaded guilty to 10 counts, including aggravated murder, gross abuse of a corpse, burglary, kidnapping and rape. He was sentenced to three life terms in prison with no possibility of parole.

"There is no doubt in my mind that she (Sarah) was going to be killed," Barber said. "He couldn't keep her forever, and he wasn't going to let her go."

Barber had to keep his wits about him as national media descended on his rural county.

"At times, it was very overwhelming. They just camped out," he said. "There was so much pressure to be on their shows right in the midst of the investigation. That was not going to happen."

Barber even turned down Oprah Winfrey in his focus to find Sarah, who now is staying with her father and stepmother in the Columbus area. Barber has kept in touch with her.

"She's a very resilient little girl," he said. "I kind of refer to her as my hero."

http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20110605/NEWS01/106050302

Jul 16, 2011 from: http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011107160312

Attack survivor inspires balloon fundraiser

LANCASTER -- One family's tragedy might end up benefiting future victims of violent crimes.

Tina Herrmann and her son, Kody Maynard, were murdered by Matthew Hoffman at their home in Knox County in November. A family friend, Stephanie Sprang, also was killed.

On Aug. 5 and 6, the Healing Hearts Memorial Fund will host the initial Fairfield County Hot Air Balloon Festival to raise money for survivors and families of violent crimes in the victims' names.

The festival will be at the Fairfield County Airport and also is meant to be part of the family's healing process, said Kim Donnelly, a cousin of the Herrmann family.

Tina Herrmann's daughter, Sarah, who survived the attack on her family, was the inspiration to form the fund.

Police who raided Hoffman's home found Sarah bound and gagged in the basement on a bed made of tree leaves.

Four days later, investigators used information provided by Hoffman through his attorneys to find the dismembered remains of Tina Herrmann, 11-year-old Kody and Sprang in garbage bags stuffed into a tree.

Hoffman pleaded guilty in January to the killings and kidnapping and rape and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

For the benefit, each day will start with a 6 a.m. balloon launch for the public to watch. There also will be a launch at 6 p.m.

From 6 to 8 p.m., people can go up about 30 feet in a tethered balloon ride. Both evenings also will feature evening flights with the balloons illuminated. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted for the tethered balloon rides.

"We're working with the Fairfield County Foundation," Donnelly said. "People can apply for a grant, and the foundation and our board will review the applications to see who will get the money."

But the weekend is also about having fun, she said.

"This is meant to be a family event," Donnelly said. "We're going to have about 10 or 12 balloons, concessions and a silent auction."

There also will be a balloon secured to the ground that children can play on.

The balloon festival will be in Fairfield County because several members of the Herrmann family live here. In fact, a family member owns the Keller Farms balloon that often flies over the county. That balloon will be a part of the evening flyover when the balloons are lit up.

"People definitely don't want to miss that," Donnelly said. "It is really beautiful seeing all the balloons glowing."

For those who have never had a balloon ride, Donnelly said they are in for a treat.

"It's pretty cool," she said. "I was a little leery at first of what I was getting into. But then I started to enjoy it. It's real quiet and tranquil. It's fun to fly over housing developments and see people wave and holler to you."

Knox County killer wanted to save tree where he hid bodies

Saturday May 12, 2012 5:53 AM

Matthew Hoffman said little about the two Knox County women and the little boy he stabbed and
dismembered. But when it came to a beloved climbing tree, he demanded that it be saved.


Hoffman, 31, specified that he didn’t want the tree in which he had hidden the bodies in November 2010 to be
harmed, according to the sheriff who investigated the case.

The tree fetishist cut a deal with prosecutors that month to avoid the death penalty by pleading
guilty to murdering Tina Herrmann; her 11-year-old son, Kody Maynard; and friend Stephanie Sprang
and abducting Herrmann’s 13-year-old daughter. Hoffman was sentenced to three consecutive life
sentences and will never be eligible for parole.

Part of that agreement was a specification from Hoffman that the tree in the Kokosing Lake
Wildlife Area north of Fredericktown not be harmed, Sheriff David Barber and detective David Light
said during a presentation yesterday.

Hoffman had scaled the tree and lowered the bodies into it from an opening 45 feet up.To recover
the remains, a hole had to be cut in the tree, where the bodies of the three, plus the body of the
family dog, were pulled free. Photos were shown to Hoffman, proving that the tree was fine, Light
said.

“I’m not sure if Matthew’s ever been told, but a couple of days later, we cut that tree down,”
Light said during a session at the Two Days in May conference on victim assistance put on by the
Ohio attorney general’s office.

At the time, Gary Ludwig, a supervisor with the wildlife division of the Ohio Department of
Natural Resources, said the tree was cut down out of respect for the family and so that it wouldn’t
become “a sightseeing thing.”

Heidi Hetzel-Evans, an agency spokeswoman, said yesterday that nobody in the office was aware of
any deal between Hoffman and prosecutors pertaining to the tree.

“We don’t manage our forest resources based on negotiations with suspects,” she said.

Hoffman had worked briefly as a tree trimmer before the murders, and he apparently had an
obsession with trees. He was an avid climber, and leaves were piled on his living-room floor and
stuffed into plastic bags that lined the walls of his home just outside Mount Vernon.

“This is the devil himself,” Barber said, showing a photo of Hoffman. “If you ever envisioned
what a monster looks like, this is it.”

The only survivor of the murders was Herrmann’s daughter, Sarah Maynard. Now 15, she lives with
her father, stepmother and half-brothers, and helps with the Healing Hearts Memorial Fund, which
was started by her family to help others affected by violence.

Sarah spent four days held captive by Hoffman before she was rescued. She was found tied up in
the basement of Hoffman’s home, laying on a bed of leaves covered with blankets and, inexplicably,
a prom dress taken from Herrmann’s home.

“Creepy, that prom dress,” Barber said.

Hoffman is imprisoned at the Allen Correctional Institution in Lima in protective custody.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/05/12/knox-county-killer-wanted-to-save-tree-where-he-hid-bodies.html

I hope someone tells this POS that the tree was chopped down.

I might suggest an all-wood casket for this asshat.

TomTerrific0420 wrote:I might suggest an all-wood casket for this asshat.

Good one Tom. Yeah but it should be rotten, worm infested wood to reflect the creeps soul.

TomTerrific0420 wrote:I might suggest an all-wood casket for this asshat.

Perfect. And make sure he knows what tree was used.