Three Missing Found Dead In A Hollow Tree

Almost ten days after they had been reported missing, the police found the remains of Tina Hermann, her son Kody Maynard and Stephanie Sprang, a family friend. Their bodies were stuffed into plastic garbage bags and hidden in a hallow tree. Only a few days before, authorities found the fourth missing person, the 13-years-old Sarah Maynard, bound and gagged in the basement of a unemplyed tree-trimmer, Matthew Hoffman, who eventually led the police to the three bodies.

Tina Hermann, aged 32, her two children, Sarah Maynard, aged 13, and Kody Maynard, aged 11, along with a 41-years-old family friend were reported missing on November the 10th, after the woman did not show for work. The next day, while searching her home, a deputy found what was called an unusual amount of blood inside the womanʼs house, while her pickup truck was discovered near the the campus of Kenyon College. And Matthew Hoffman was the first suspect the authorities had questioned, after he was found sitting in his car near a bike trail close to the place where the pickup was spotted.

The next weekend police searched Hoffmanʼs house in Mount Vernon, some 40 miles northeast of Columbus, where they found Sarah in the basement of the house. The police did not give any details about the ordeal the girl had been true, but they mentioned that she was doing well and that her bravery inspired them. They also believe that Sarah was home when her mother and brother were killed, but they could not say if the girl actually witnessed the killing or not.

After finding the girl, the authorities concluded that the other three missing persons were dead, but volunteers and police continued to look up for them anyway, both on the ground and from the air, searching the ponds, vacant buildings and bike trails in the area. And they eventually found their remains in a wildlife preserve in Fredericktown, some 15-mile drive from Hoffman’s home and about a 20-mile drive from the Herrmann home, inside the trunck of a hallow tree. According to the police, a part of the tree had to be cut down for the bodies to be recovered and taken to the coroner’s office in neighboring Licking County. The results of the autopsy are expected no eralier than Saturday, investigators said.

Meanwhile, Matthew Hoffman remains in police custody on charges of kidnapping the Maynard girl, but he is also the only suspect in the three murders. The 30-years-old man had already appeared in court but had not enter a plea. He has already spent six years behind bars in a Colorado prison for arson and other charges. He was released three years ago and returned to Ohio. Investigators are now trying to discover the motive that led to the horrible crime. They think that Hoffman had been watching the four for several months before killing them, especially as his home was only ten miles away from that of the victimʼs.

Hoffmanʼs neghbors told the media that he used to collect leaves on walks through the park, but he also sometimes he would sit up in a tree and listen to other people talking. His former girfriend said that at times he became aggressive and even choked her, pushed her against a wall and pinned her neck with his forearm during an argument. But she chose not to press charges, although she said she was afraid he would kill her.

On Thursday night, before the bodies were found, hundreds gathered at a vigil at Apple Valley Lake, and the water became sprakling with the floating candels that symbolized a community in pain but strong in its solidarity. And on Friday they created a small memorial around a tree in the side yard of the home where the three were killed: three purple, star-shaped balloons, flying above artificial flowers and electric candles. Someone also left a card addressed to “Sarah and families,” along with 11 pink roses and a single white one.