A Disturbing Discovery in the House of Leaves | Forensic Files

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our website. [music] Valerie Haythorne managed a Dairy [music] Queen fast food restaurant in
the small city of Mount Vernon, Ohio. [music] One of her employees was 32-year-old
Tina Herman, a good friend and one of the most reliable people Valerie knew. Tina loved her job and her colleagues,
and she had never missed a shift [music] or abandoned her responsibilities. So when she failed to show up for work
on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 10, 2010, [music] Valerie noticed immediately.
She tried calling Tina, but there was no answer. Growing uneasy, Valerie [music] drove to
the house that Tina shared with her boyfriend Greg Borders and her two children from a previous relationship,
13-year-old Sarah and 11-year-old Cody Maynard. Although Tina worked in Mount Vernon,
she lived about 9 miles outside town in the planned community of Apple Valley. Something of a resort area, Apple Valley
surrounds a 511 acre reservoir named Apple Valley Lake. With rolling hills, tree dotted landscapes, and lakefront
homes, it seemed like an idilic place to raise a family. Tina's house sat on a somewhat isolated
stretch of a street called [music] King Beach Drive with a large wooded area across the road.
When Valerie arrived, the inside lights were on and Tina's blue 2004 pickup truck was parked in the driveway, but no
one answered the door. She left a note before leaving. [music] Later that evening, still having heard
nothing from Tina, Valerie [music] called the county sheriff's office to request a welfare check.
A deputy arrived at Tina's house at around 8:00 [music] p.m., but by then the scene had changed. The lights were
now off and Tina's truck was gone. [music] The deputy rang the doorbell, but no one
answered. With nothing appearing out of place and the missing truck possibly indicating
the occupants were simply out for the evening, the deputy left, returning [music] a few hours later at 11:15 p.m.
This time, the lights were on and Tina's [music] truck was back in the driveway,
suggesting the family had returned home. The following day of Thursday, November
11, Tina again failed to [music] show up for work. Valerie Haythorne called the sheriff's
office immediately. Deputies contacted Tina's [music] children's school and discovered that
although Sarah and Cody had attended classes the [music] previous day, they'd been absent on Thursday without
explanation. The school had called the family home to check on them, but received [music] no
answer. This was a possibly concerning development. Not [music] only was Tina unaccounted for, but her two children
were as well. Meanwhile, just a [music] few doors down from Tina's home, another disappearance
was beginning to unfold. [music] 41-year-old [music] Stephanie Spring was one of Tina
Herman's best friends. The two women lived on the same street [music] just a few houses apart. They did almost
everything together, often helping each other out by babysitting for one another. [music]
When Tina failed to show up for work, her manager and friend Valerie Haythorne called Stephanie's house. [music] She
was sure that if anyone knew Tina's whereabouts, Stephanie would. But to Valerie's shock, Stephanie's family
informed her that they had no idea where she was, bringing the total number of missing [music] persons to four.
Stephanie and Tina had made plans to go house hunting together on Wednesday afternoon before Tina's shift. At 12:46
[music] p.m. that day, Stephanie had called her partner, Ron. They spoke for nearly 4
and 1/2 minutes, [music] and that was the last time Ron heard from her. Stephanie was usually home by 400 p.m.
to greet her two [music] younger children after school, but she never returned. None of her three children, aged 20, 17,
and nine, had heard from her. Ron texted Stephanie [music] asking what's up and assumed her phone's battery had died
when he received no reply. When Stephanie still hadn't returned by Thursday morning, her loved ones grew
worried. Their concern deepened when they learned that Tina Herman was also missing.
A sheriff's deputy had since driven by Tina's house again, [music] noting that her truck was once more gone.
By that afternoon, Valerie Haythorne's worry had grown too great to wait any longer. She and Ron arranged to meet at
Tina's house. The front door was locked, so Valerie walked around to the back, removed a fly screen, opened a window,
and climbed inside. The kitchen was silent and still, [music] but otherwise appeared normal.
The curtains were drawn. A few [music] cups and water bottles sat on the dining table. Bags of groceries lay on the
floor, and one of the [music] cabinet doors was open. Valerie moved through the kitchen
towards the living area and was immediately confronted by a shocking sight. The living room carpet was covered in
blood. [music] Upon arriving at the scene, authorities quickly sealed off the home and
conducted a room by room search. Large amounts of blood were spread throughout. Streaks from the major stain in the
living room led down the hallway and into the bathroom as if a wounded person had been moved and dragged along the
floor. A second large stain found in Tina Herman's bedroom suggests that another
victim had been attacked there with the drag marks indicating they too had been pulled into the bathroom.
In 13-year-old Sarah's bedroom, investigators found another large stain and drag marks along with blood swipes
on walls and doorways consistent with someone wearing gloves. The bathroom contained the heaviest
concentration of blood smeared across the bathtub, shower walls, and toilet [music] with diluted pools in the tub.
Scattered nearby were garbage bags, Clorox bathroom cleaner, and other cleaning supplies.
The bathtub's rim was covered in bloody prints matching the gloved smears found throughout the home.
A pair of shore grip gardening gloves lay in the sink. Another set of gloves was discovered in the living room.
A gallon jug of motor oil was discovered in the hallway with a trail leading to a
bedroom. Motor oil had also been deliberately poured over many of the blood stains on
the home's carpets. It appeared the oil had been used in an attempt to conceal blood evidence and
[music] maybe as a possible accelerant as well. Footprints of blood and motor oil were
found throughout the home belonging to two separate pairs of shoes. One set was believed to be the
perpetrators, while the smaller prints matching a size 7 and 1/2 airwalk shoe likely belonged to [music] one of Tina's
children. These prints were found on the lenolium leading to the garage and inside the
garage itself. Also in the garage, investigators discovered a Jeep Cherokee belonging to
Tina's neighbor and friend, Stephanie [music] Sprang. Friends and family said it wasn't
strange for her car to [music] be there, as she sometimes parked it in Tina's garage when she visited.
As for Stephanie, Tina, Sarah, and Cody, none of them were anywhere to be found.
Investigators [music] now had to grapple with four missing individuals and a gruesome crime scene
that suggested at least one, if not more, murder. Whatever had happened to Tina,
Stephanie, Sarah, and Cody was estimated to have occurred in the midafter afternoon on Wednesday, November 10.
That morning, Sarah and Cody had caught the school bus as usual, and after seeing her children off, Tina had gone
grocery shopping and filled her car with petrol before driving back home. The bags of groceries she purchased were
the ones found on the kitchen floor, and a receipt inside one of the bags was [music] timestamped around 12:00 p.m.
It seemed likely that Tina had been attacked shortly after returning home, as no one had heard from her since
Stephanie Sprang had then driven to her friend's house, planning to take them both to see an apartment Tina was
interested in. Investigators believed that when Stephanie arrived, she too was attacked.
The asalent remained in their house for several hours until midafter afternoon when school ended and Sarah and Cody
returned home. Then they were confronted, too. From the outset, investigators had a
possible suspect. When Valerie Haythorne first raised the alarm about Tina Herman's disappearance,
she'd explained that she was concerned because Tina had said she was planning to break up with her living boyfriend,
Greg Borders. The couple had been experiencing some issues and Tina had started searching for a place to move
out alone with her kids. As the investigation at King Beach Drive continued, Greg Borders arrived at the
scene. He explained that he had been away for the past couple of days and hadn't seen
Tina since going to bed on the night of Tuesday, November 10, the day before she
went missing. Because he worked early shifts and had a long commute, he'd left the house at
3:40 a.m. on Wednesday. [music] Greg worked roughly 60 mi away at a retail corporation's distribution center
and had spent the entire day there. He said that instead of [music] returning home that night, he had stayed
at a friend's house. Because Greg had Thursday off, he and his friend had planned to play golf. As
the friend lived near the golf course, it was easier to stay there instead of making the long drive home.
Greg had last spoken to Tina on Wednesday morning over the phone. Their final communication was a text she
sent shortly afterwards letting him know she had fed their dog, a miniature pincher named Tanner, who was also
missing from the property. Greg admitted that he and Tina had decided to break up. Living together
hadn't been very comfortable, though it hadn't been hostile either. He explained that his cell phone had
been switched off earlier that day and that he'd only learned about the law enforcement presence at his house after
a relative contacted him. Upon receiving that news, [music] he rushed home immediately.
Greg gave investigators permission to search the house and agreed to be examined for injuries.
They found no scratches or other wounds on his hands, arms, or torso. Although Greg had initially appeared to
be a possible suspect, his alibis for the past 2 days checked out. Investigators also interviewed Ron,
Stephanie's [music] partner, as well as Stephanie's ex-husband and Tina's ex-husband.
All were cleared of any involvement in the events on King Beach Drive. Sand dogs and watercraft were [music]
dispatched to search Apple Valley Lake for any trace of the missing four, but nothing was found.
Investigators checked bank accounts, credit cards, and cell phones for signs of activity, [music]
but there were none. Tips from the public about suspicious individuals or potential evidence in the
surrounding woods were investigated, but nothing proved relevant to the case. As nightfell on the first day of the
crime scene investigation, a county sheriff's deputy was on a routine patrol in Mount Vernon.
At 6:55 p.m., while driving past the parking lot for a recreational area known as the Kakosing Gap Trail, he
spotted a blue 2004 Ford pickup [music] truck. It was Tina Herman's. The vehicle was located about a 20inut
drive southwest of Tina's home in Apple Valley. Investigators quickly arrived and
searched the surrounding area, but found no sign of Tina or the others. This would be the second biggest clue
investigators had so far. The first was found in Tina's garage and had been noticed for looking out of
place. a Walmart plastic bag containing two 6x8 ft tarpolins, an opened pack of 55 heavyduty garbage bags, and a
receipt. The receipt showed that the tarpollins and garbage bags had been purchased at a
Walmart store in Mount Vernon in the early hours of Thursday, November 11, along with a turkey sandwich and a
t-shirt. This was [music] significant because the attack was believed to have occurred
about 12 hours earlier, [music] meaning the bag could not have been left there by Tina or her children.
It seemed likely that after assaulting his victims, the perpetrator had gone to buy supplies to cover up the crime,
[music] then returned to the King Beach Drive address. The perpetrator revisiting the house
after the attack would also explain why it had appeared occupied at certain times with lights on inside and Tina's
pickup truck in the driveway. The perpetrator must have moved Tina Herman's truck to the Kakosing Gap Trail
parking lot for some [music] reason. Since motor oil had been poured on various surfaces throughout the home,
[music] investigators considered whether the perpetrator had planned to return once more to set the house ablaze, only
to be thwarted by Valerie Haythorne discovering the crime scene first. Detectives contacted the Mount Vernon
Walmart and learned that the perpetrator had paid with cash, so no credit card information was available.
However, they were able to review the store's security footage from the time of the purchase to try and identify the
customer. Detectives [music] quickly honed in on one individual seen in the footage, a white male appearing
to be between 25 and 40 years old, who left the store at 12:09 a.m. carrying a shopping bag containing garbage bags and
tarpolins. He was [music] tall, around 6'1 with brown hair and a partially receding
hairline. He wore a camouflage print shirt and glasses. Tracking him across the security
cameras, detectives [music] saw him walk to the parking lot, get into a silver Toyota Yarus with a visible [music] dent
on its rear passenger side, and drive away. Armed with this new [music] lead, investigators obtained records for all
silver Toyota Yaruses registered to male drivers in the Knox County area. It didn't take long to find a Yarus
owner who looked remarkably like the man in the security footage. Matthew Hoffman was a 30-year-old who
had renewed his driver's license just 2 weeks earlier. His new license photo showed a man with short brown hair with
a receding hairline. He wasn't wearing glasses like the suspect was, but license photos from
earlier years did show him with glasses on. Most remarkably of all, in the new photo, he was wearing a camouflage
t-shirt that looked identical to the one worn by their suspect. Investigators had two possible addresses
for Matthew Hoffman on file. One was his mother's home in Apple Valley on Apple Valley Drive.
This address was just half a mile from Tina Herman's home. The other address was about 10 mi away
in Mount Vernon. It was a rundown house that Hoffman had purchased cheaply the previous year.
Records showed that Matthew Hoffman had a checkered past. Although he'd grown up
in Ohio, he relocated to Colorado as a young adult in the year 2000. His grandmother lived in the resort city
of Steamboat Springs, and Hoffman joined her there. He found work as a plumber's assistant,
but began committing crimes in his spare time. Hoffman stole several large wooden and
metal signs that stood on the outskirts of Steamboat Springs, welcoming visitors
to the town. He also burgled a condo that his plumbing company had performed some
repairs in, storing the burgal items in the condo owner's car before driving away in the car and leaving it somewhere
for safekeeping. Hoffman knew that he'd left his fingerprints all over the condo and
believed he had to cover his crime. He returned to the residence and used 10 gallons of gasoline that he'd purchased
at a Walmart to set it ablaze. The fire spread across the entire condominium and the 16 individuals who
lived there had to run for their lives. Luckily, all survived and were unharmed,
[music] but eight units within the condominium were burnt, and the damage was estimated at $2 million.
It didn't take long for investigators to realize where the fire had started. When they found the car that Hoffman had
stolen filled with items from the burntout condo and his fingerprints, [music] they questioned him and obtained
a full confession. Hoffman pleaded guilty to a range of charges, including breaking and
entering, property theft, motor vehicle theft, and reckless endangerment of lives.
He was [music] sentenced to 8 years in prison. While incarcerated, Hoffman became known
as a model prisoner. He completed some studies as well as a victim awareness program.
Hoffman was granted parole 6 years into his sentence and was permitted to return
to his home state of Ohio for his parole period. [music] He was back in Knox County by
2007, 3 years before the attack at Tina Herman's home. [music] He found work as a tree trimmer,
purchased a house, and got a girlfriend. That relationship had recently ended and
his girlfriend had moved out. About 3 weeks earlier, on Sunday, October 24, she had returned to
Hoffman's home to collect some of her belongings, and the two got into an argument.
Hoffman's girlfriend would later file a police report stating that when she tried to leave, Hoffman pushed her over
a chair, knocked her to the ground, and began to choke her. [music] She struggled to fight him off for about
2 minutes, after which point he let go. She left and reported the incident to the police, though she later declined to
press charges. [music] Investigators looking into Hoffman reviewed a report from a past domestic
violence incident, as well as another record of a more recent run-in with the law.
Sheriff's Deputy Aaron Phillips was the officer who had discovered [music] Tina Herman's Ford pickup truck abandoned at
the Kakosing Gap Trail parking lot. At the [music] time, Deputy Phillips noticed just one other vehicle nearby. A
silver Toyota Yarus parked about 200 yd away. A man was visible in the driver's seat
and the car had a noticeable dent on the rear passenger side. Deputy Phillips approached the man,
finding his presence unusual. The lot was technically closed at that hour, and the deputy wasn't sure why he
was there. He asked [music] to see the man's license, which identified him as Matthew Hoffman.
Hoffman was cooperative, answering questions politely. When Deputy Phillips saw Hoffman's
license listed his mother's address in the Apple Valley area, he asked if it was near King Beach Drive.
Hoffman explained it was his mother's address and that he actually lived in Mount Vernon.
When asked why he was sitting in the car, Hoffman replied that he was waiting for his girlfriend to finish her shift
at a nearby hotel. Deputy Phillips informed Hoffman that the parking lot was closed and that he
would need to leave. Hoffman complied and drove [music] away. The interaction was recorded in Deputy
Phillips notes, which became available to other investigators when they ran Matthew Hoffman's name a few days later.
>> [music] >> One detail that had seemed insignificant to Phillips immediately alarmed the
investigators working the King Beach Drive case. Hoffman had said he had only just
started dating his girlfriend and didn't know her surname, but her first name, he said, was Sarah.
[music] The evidence against Matthew Hoffman was mounting, and his troubling reference to
Tina's [music] 13-year-old daughter, Sarah Maynard, made locating him urgent. [music]
Investigators were granted a search warrant for Hoffman's house. A team [music] of investigators joined by
members of the county sheriff's office and the Mount Vernon Police Department [music] SWAT team arrived at the
residence. Given the possibility that four missing people were being held inside, they
opted for a no knock entry using a battering ram. After the front door was forced open,
one [music] of the investigators tossed in a flash grenade as a distraction. Then the team swarmed in.
Matthew Hoffman was discovered asleep on a couch in the living room. He was told to show them his hands, but
he failed to do so, either because he was groggy upon being woken or as a deliberate act of defiance.
"What's going on?" Hoffman asked. [music] "You tell me," one of the officers replied.
Investigators approached and forced Hoffman down on the floor before arresting him and removing him from the
property. With their suspect secured, the team turned their attention back to his
house. [music] There was something bizarre about it that was immediately noticeable. [music]
The floor of the room that sat to the right of the front door had a tarp spread out across it. And the tarp was
almost entirely covered by dead leaves. Piles and piles of them had been strewn across the floor and almost up to the
window sills. They were about 3 ft tall at their highest [music] point. Some plastic bags
were scattered about as well. The rest of the house was equally odd and in a general state of disarray.
A large trampoline had been pushed up against a wall. There was [music] disused exercise equipment piled up in a
corner of another room. There wasn't much in the way of furniture, and [music] various
belongings were scattered messily throughout the house. One bedroom [music] upstairs looked to
have been set up as a cannabis growing operation, though it was inactive. Inside a freezer, officers found two
dead squirrels stacked alongside some popsicles. Strange drawings were painted on some of
the walls and other surfaces. One showed a middle-aged man with a tap emerging from his mouth.
Another [music] depicted a tree trimming truck. There was a giant peace sign on the door
as well as stars and random names scribbled on the walls in marker. The investigators used sticks to poke at
the leaf pile near the front door to make sure nothing untoward was hidden beneath.
There was nothing but leaves inside. [music] That wasn't the only room featuring a bizarre tableau.
In the bathroom, more than 110 plastic bags stuffed with dead leaves had been stacked on top of one another.
They lined every wall of the room surrounding the toilet, covering the mirror, and reaching up to the ceiling.
[music] Another room also had a wall covered in similar bags. The leaves seemed to be the home's
consistent decorating theme. Throughout the house, there were bags full of them and loose ones lying on the
floor. Investigators searched every room and the attic, but found no trace of Tina,
Sarah, Cody, or Stephanie. Then one patrol officer noticed a basement door hidden behind a cabinet.
He shoved the cabinet out of the way and another investigator slowly proceeded down the basement stairs.
To the immediate left of the stairs was another room. It had a large wide hole in its block
wall that was big enough for a person to step through. There was enough light in the space for
the investigator to make out another enormous pile of leaves in the small room. Several blankets have been placed on top
of the pile, and on top of those was a person lying down. The investigator shone a torch on the
person and shouted for them to show their hands. The small figure sat up but couldn't
show her hands. They were wearing black work gloves and had been duct taped together, then bound even tighter with
yellow bungee cords. Cords had been wrapped around her ankles as well. The investigator recognized the
individual as 13-year-old Sarah Maynard. Wednesday, November 10, 2010 had started
out like an ordinary day for Sarah. She had breakfast with her brother Cody and then they both caught the bus to school.
They rode the bus home together as well. And as they headed up to their house's front door, everything looked normal.
When they entered, however, they could immediately sense something was wrong. The children always removed their shoes
after returning home, but as they went to do so, [music] they noticed blood by the front door.
The house was also strangely quiet. Their mother, Tina, typically greeted them when they came home.
Sarah and Cody, both called out to their mother. There was no reply. Instead, a large man suddenly appeared
from the hallway and barreled towards them. It was Matthew Hoffman. Stunned and terrified, Cody turned and
went to run out the front door. Sarah managed to slip past Hoffman and raced to her bedroom, slamming shut its
door. She scrambled to find her cell phone and was about to call 911 when Hoffman burst in and grabbed her. He was
holding a large knife. Sarah struggled and the knife cut one of her fingers. Hoffman then cut the electrical wire
from a nearby fan, then used it to bind Sarah's hands together. He threatened to kill her if she made
any noise. Hoffman gagged Sarah with a piece of fabric and carried her down to the
basement. There, he found more rope to tie her legs together and a pillowcase that he
threw over her head. Finally finished with tying and blindfolding her, he carried her back
upstairs and put her on the kitchen floor. The pillowcase slipped off, but Sarah
couldn't see what Hoffman was doing. He was no longer in her line of sight. She could hear him rummaging about and
coming and going. He moved between the kitchen and the bathroom. Sarah could hear water running in the
bathroom and the toilet being flushed repeatedly. Sometimes there were banging noises.
As the hours stretched on, the house became dark and Hoffman switched on some lights. Whenever he returned to the
kitchen to get more supplies, he sounded out of breath. Finally, Hoffman approached Sarah,
warning her again not to make any noise. [music] He blindfolded her again and carried her
out to Stephanie Sprang's [music] Jeep in the garage, placing her in the back seat and covering her with blankets.
[music] Hoffman then backed the Jeep out of the garage and drove for a little while.
He left the car, warning Sarah to stay where she was and not move. She eventually [music] sat up and the
blindfold fell slightly, allowing her to see that he parked the car at a nearby baseball field.
Next to her [music] were some large garbage bags. Hoffman was gone for over an hour. When
he eventually returned, he moved Sarah from Stephanie's Jeep [music] into a smaller car parked nearby.
He'd seemingly left Sarah to retrieve his own car. He then drove her to a house and carried
her inside to the bathroom. It was late at night now, close to 12:00 a.m. Hoffman made sure Sarah was [music]
tightly tied up. Then he left the house, leaving her lying on the bathroom floor.
Sarah was terrified. She drifted in and out of sleep over the following hours, though she was [music] plagued by
nightmares. By the time Hoffman returned, it was morning. [music] When he came to check on Sarah, she
tried to chat to him as a way of hopefully making him sympathize with her. She asked about the drawings on the
wall, and [music] he explained that they were of various characters. When Hoffman took Sarah out of the
bathroom, she saw all the bags of leaves and asked about them. Hoffman replied that they were for insulation.
Sarah then tried to ask about what had happened at her house. She asked Hoffman if he'd broken in and if he'd murdered
her mother and brother. [music] His answer to both was no. Sarah queried what he'd done with her
dog, Tana, as she'd noticed Tana hadn't barked the entire time she'd been there.
Hoffman said he'd let the dog out of the house. He gave her some cereal to eat, but the
milk was off and made Sarah feel sick. That was the only food Hoffman ever provided her with.
At some [music] point, Hoffman blindfolded and gagged her again and put her in a closet. Sometimes he would go
out, leaving Sarah in the house alone, but she was so tightly restrained that there was no possibility of escape.
Eventually, Hoffman created a makeshift bed for Sarah in the basement using dead
leaves. He layered four or five blankets on top and placed Sarah on them. He removed her blindfold, but it was so
dark down there that she couldn't see much. Sarah spent hours and hours in the basement by herself.
Sometimes though, Hoffman would come down to visit her. He would just stand there staring at her and not saying a
word. Then he'd head back upstairs. Whenever he went out, he warned Sarah that someone else would be watching her
and she wasn't to make a sound. Sarah did as Hoffman said. The basement was cold despite the blankets, and she
was stuck there without food or a toilet. She spent the next two days down there
all alone, except for the brief occasions when Hoffman would come down to look at her.
It was difficult to tell how much time was passing due to the dark state of the basement.
On Saturday, November 13, several days after the attack, Hoffman spent more time at home, during which time he
sexually assaulted Sarah. During one visit to Sarah, Hoffman gave her a dictionary and made her look up
the word ransom. He explained that was what he planned to hold her for and he might release her by
Christmas. Sarah's ordeal was finally interrupted early on the morning of Sunday, November
14, when a police officer descended the stairs into the basement and shone a torch in her eyes.
The officers immediately recognized the young girl with long blonde hair as Sarah.
She was still wearing the same jeans, gay hooded [music] sweatshirt, and Doug boots that she'd worn to school several
days earlier on Wednesday, November 10. The officers took photographs of Sarah in the basement as evidence of how they
had found her while speaking reassuringly to the young girl. [music] Then they carefully untied Sarah and
helped her stand. Sarah told the officers that she didn't know where any of the other missing
people were. She seemed dazed and disoriented, telling the police that she had to get to school.
Sarah was taken to a hospital for medical care and told the police about everything that had happened up until
that moment. When asked if she knew who Hoffman was or had ever seen him before the day of
the attack, she said no. She had no idea why he would want to hurt her family. Investigators conducted a thorough
search of Matthew Hoffman's car and house, as well as taking photographs of what they found there. [music]
They uncovered a camouflage shirt identical to the one Hoffman had worn on the Walmart CCTV footage and they
discovered a digital camera that had photographs of Sarah Maynard on it. All of the photos had been taken at
Hoffman's house. Other items of interest found included rope, duct tape, several cell phones,
$1,000 in cash, a weighted blackjack club like the kind used by police, and an SOG brand knife with a sheath.
Records showed that Hoffman had ordered the knife online quite recently. Receipts were also recovered that showed
Hoffman had purchased a pair of shore grip gloves, the same as the ones found in Tina Herman's house at a nearby
hardware store almost a week before the crime. 4 days later, he'd bought duct tape and
a second pair of gloves. No trace of the three still missing victims was found, but some of Hoffman's
neighbors were able to provide more information about him and his habits. Dorna Davis lived next door to Hoffman,
and when he'd first moved in with his girlfriend in 2009, she found him friendly enough.
Hoffman's girlfriend had a young son, and Dorn's own son would often go next door to watch television or play
football with him. Dorna felt comfortable with her son spending time at the Hoffman residence,
but that changed around mid 2010 when Matthew Hoffman started behaving strangely.
He seemed irritable and was no longer as friendly. He started setting traps for squirrels that frequented his yard so
that he could kill and eat them. This upset Dorna, who had enjoyed feeding the squirrels with her children.
A turning point came when Hoffman gave Dorna's 14-year-old daughter a lift home from the movies one day. Something he'd
done a number of times without incident. Dorna's daughter told her that Hoffman hadn't driven the main roads home. He'd
taken them through back roads and wooded areas instead. After that, [music] Dorna no longer
allowed her children to have anything to do with Hoffman. Dorna also had the sense that Hoffman
was abusive towards his girlfriend, who had been friendly and outgoing, but had become increasingly reserved and seemed
[music] to sneak out of the house when she wanted to leave. The girlfriend left with her son in October. Hoffman was
fired from his tree trimming job not long after that after he made his supervisor feel uncomfortable.
Unable to pay his bills, his electricity was cut off just weeks before winter. Hoffman appeared to take solace in
trees. Dorner often saw him sprawled out in a hammock he had in a tree. There was
also a large tree on his property that he loved to climb. He would sit high up in its branches [music]
for hours at a time. Neighbors told investigators about Hoffman's habit of taking walks in some
woods nearby. This area was cordoned off for a proper examination. While a large number of investigators
were processing the scene at Hoffman's house, two officers headed into an interrogation room with Hoffman at the
county sheriff's office headquarters. He was repeatedly asked where Tina, Cody, and Stephanie were. He said
nothing and just gazed downwards towards his hands that were cuffed in his lap. Eventually, Hoffman looked up and made
eye contact with the interviewing officers. He raised his hands to his chest and
made a fist with his right hand before wrapping it four or five times against his heart.
Then he cupped [music] both hands together and made a gesture like an explosion.
Heart hurts, one of the officers guessed. I don't understand sign language, Matt.
Hoffman wrapped on his heart again and then made a snapping gesture. When asked if he was saying his heart
was broken, Hoffman gave a small nod. The interrogation went on for hours, but Hoffman refused to speak.
Finally, an agent from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation stepped in to try. Hoffman began speaking to him after
just 15 minutes, telling him that he didn't know what had happened. He'd come home on Thursday to find Sarah Maynard
tied up in his basement with no knowledge of how she'd gotten there. Hoffman admitted that he must have done
something wrong, but hadn't been able to piece everything together. He claimed to
have taken care of Sarah after discovering her despite having no idea who she was.
Investigators didn't believe this story for a second. Hoffman continued to maintain it before
again lapsing into total silence. Detectives concluded the interrogation. They picked it up again the following
day of Monday, November 15, with similar results. Hoffman mostly refused to talk and when
he did speak, he would not do so on the subject of Sarah Maynard and the missing
people. One investigator offered to drive Hoffman to some locations associated with the crime, suggesting that it might
help him remember what had happened. Hoffman agreed, but the drive amounted to nothing.
Meanwhile, members of the police and public were searching Apple Valley and the surrounding area for any trace of
the missing victims. Some people phoned in a tip line to report sightings or possible evidence.
[music] None of these led to the discovery of Tina, Cody, or Stephanie. >> [music]
>> With no trace of them at either Hoffman's house or his mother's home nearby, investigators were beginning to
conclude that all three were almost certainly dead. [music] On the morning of Tuesday, November 16,
an agent from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation took Hoffman into an interrogation room for questioning
again. First, Hoffman insisted on having all recording equipment switched off. Then,
he asked to go to the bathroom. Once there, he asked the agent to remove any recording devices he had on him,
prompting the agent to hand over his two cell phones to another officer outside of the room. Hoffman then told the agent
that he'd had a disturbing dream the previous night. in it. [music] He'd been at a food
processing plant where he opened up a garbage bag and saw human remains inside. Upon waking, his memory of what had
happened slowly started returning to him. Hoffman said he wanted to write his confession down [music] and then the
agent should take him on a drive somewhere. During the drive, Hoffman would pretend
to escape so the agent could shoot him. Hoffman said he wanted things to unfold this way because he couldn't live after
remembering what he'd done. The agent could make Hoffman's confession public once he was dead.
Hoffman added that if the police wouldn't kill him, then he would kill himself in jail.
The agent said he could not agree to this plan, but encouraged Hoffman to relieve his guilt by confessing.
Hoffman clammed up once again. He was placed on suicide watch and monitored closely.
Two more days passed before there would finally be a break in the case. Hoffman told investigators that he would
disclose where Tina, Cody, and Stephanie were if prosecutors took the death penalty off the table. A deal was struck
and at around lunchtime on Thursday, November 18, a team of investigators along with Hoffman's attorney drove out
to a wooded area about 15 minutes drive north of Mount Vernon. The woods were part of a large public
wildlife area with hiking trails and a lake popular with swimmers and fishermen.
The team drove about half a mile along a winding path, then had to walk on foot into the woods.
They found what they had been told to look for by Matthew Hoffman, a tall American beach tree about 60 or 70 ft
high. It had healthy living branches at the top, but the main part of its trunk appeared to be hollow.
This was a common feature of beach trees. There was a large hole in the trunk about 30 to 40 ft off the ground as well
as a smaller hole at about 5 1/2 ft high. A sniffer dog the investigators brought
with them did not alert at the tree which had a [music] thick trunk. But when one of the investigators shone
a torch into the smaller hole, they saw what appeared to be several garbage bags
inside. A tree expert was summoned to cut into the tree with a chainsaw without damaging the evidence inside.
Once all of the garbage bags were removed from the trunk, investigators opened them up.
Inside was several bloodstained towels, a hat, clothing, and shoes, as well as the remains of Stephanie Spring, Tina
Herman, her 11-year-old son, Cody, and the family dog, Tanner. The three victims had all been stabbed
with a heavyduty serrated blade consistent with the knife found in Hoffman's home.
Their bodies [music] had been dismembered and then hidden inside the tree. Matthew Hoffman provided a detailed
confession. In early November, he'd been feeling angry and destructive after he lost his girlfriend and his job in quick
succession. He had long been someone who enjoyed breaking into other people's homes and
decided to do so once again on the night of Tuesday, November 9. He had previously noticed the house
where Tina Herman and her children lived as it was a short walking distance away
from his mother's home. Hoffman was aware that the house's garage door was broken and couldn't close all the way.
So just before midnight, Hoffman got into his Toyota Yarus and drove from his home in Mount Vernon to Apple Valley.
He parked in the nearby town of Howard, then walked from his car to Tina Herman's home, which was about 2 and 1/2
miles. Hoffman set himself up in the wooded area across the street from the house
and slept in a sleeping bag he'd brought with him. [music] By the time he woke up the following
morning, Tina's boyfriend, Greg Borders, had left for work, and only Tina's Ford
pickup remained in the driveway. Hoffman waited for her to leave, too. And once the coast was clear at around
10:30 a.m., he crossed the street and slid under the partially closed garage door.
Inside the garage was a door that led to the interior of the house. Hoffman kicked his way in, checked that no one
was in the residence, and began looking for easy items to steal, like jewelry and cash. He didn't find much, but got a
thrill out of being in someone else's home while they were gone. He grabbed a purse and put some items of
expensive jewelry in it, a gold necklace, and two rings. Hoffman said he was just getting ready
to leave when Tina Herman returned home at 12:30 p.m. This meant Hoffman had spent about 2
hours lurking inside the residence. Hoffman said that when Tina returned, he was in a back bedroom and consequently
trapped. His only way out without discovery would have been to smash a window and climb out. [music]
Instead of doing that, Hoffman pulled out a large knife that he'd brought with him. Quote, "For a certain amount of
intimidation in case I ran into someone and needed to make an escape." Hoffman was also armed with a blackjack
club. When Tina walked into the room, Hoffman said he forced her to lie face down on
the bed. [music] He claimed his intention was to knock her out and he hit her in the back of
the head a couple of times with the club. Tina did not pass out and Hoffman [music] began to panic.
At that same moment, he claimed a second woman, Stephanie Sprang, walked in and discovered the [music] scene.
She shouted at Hoffman, who said this only made him panic further. He picked up his knife and stabbed Tina.
Then he chased after Stephanie, whom he said had run away into Sarah's bedroom. Hoffman stabbed Stephanie, killing her,
[music] then returned to Tina to stab her further. He claimed that after this, he continued
wandering the house in a days, realizing what a terrible thing he'd done. Still,
he didn't leave. When the family dog started barking repeatedly, Hoffman killed it as well.
Hoffman decided to get rid of the bodies and burn the house down. He said he dragged both women to the bathroom where
he dismembered them and placed their remains in garbage bags. Hoffman described these actions as him
processing the bodies. As he was doing so, Sarah and Cody arrived home from school and called out
for their mother. Hoffman raced towards them, immediately [music] stabbing Cody as he turned to
run from the house. Then he went after Sarah. Hoffman said that he couldn't bring
himself to kill her. Instead, he duct taped her with tape he'd found in the house, though Sarah [music] said they
hadn't had any duct tape, and people who knew Hoffman said he typically kept some
in his car. Hoffman disposed of Cody as he had the two women. When he was done, he placed
the garbage bags in the back of Stephanie's jeep along with Sarah and [music] parked the vehicle in a baseball
field. Hoffman left Sarah and the victim's remains in the Jeep while he walked to
the parking lot where he'd left his Yurus, then drove it back to the field. After driving Sarah to his home and
restraining her there, he napped for a little while. Just after midnight, he went to Walmart
to purchase supplies and headed back to Stephanie's [music] Jeep with the garbage bags still inside.
Hoffman drove the Jeep to the wooded area with the hollow tree, a tree he'd already known about.
At around [music] 2:30 a.m. on Thursday, November 11, he lowered the bags with the remains into the tree. then headed
back to Tina's house to leave Stephanie's Jeep there. His plan was still to burn the house
down, so he took Tina's pickup out to buy gasoline. But he struggled with driving the car,
which he said wouldn't stay in gear. Abandoning his plan, he left Tina's pickup in a parking lot, then walked
back to where he'd left his own car and drove home again. He wanted to try again that night, but
was once again foiled after a deputy spotted him parked near Tina's pickup. Scared that law enforcement must have
discovered the crime scene at King Beach Road, Hoffman decided against burning the house down.
He did start a bonfire in his own backyard, however, where he burnt the shoes he'd been wearing during the
crime. None of his neighbors reported this as they were used to Hoffman doing strange
things. Hoffman also went back to Apple Valley one last time as he'd left his sleeping
bag and a backpack in the woods across from Tina Herman's house. While sneaking around in the woods to
get them, he spotted the heavy police presence over the road. None of them saw him.
A number of Hoffman's claims contradicted Sarah Maynard's account of her ordeal. He claimed he'd made her
breakfast, gave her hamburgers, and let her shower. He'd done her laundry so she
could wear clean clothes, and they watched movies together. He even let her play video games.
Sarah [music] refuted all of this. Hoffman denied sexually abusing Sarah, instead claiming it had [music] been
consensual. This was patently false. Hoffman said he'd intended to slowly give Sarah more and more freedoms before
eventually letting her run away. He claimed that when the police showed up at his house on Sunday, November 14,
he was intensely relieved that Sarah would be reunited with her family. Investigators believed Hoffman was lying
about a number of details in his confession. They queried why he had decided to knock
Tina out [music] instead of simply restraining her before escaping. Hoffman said that had been his ultimate
intention until Stephanie walked in. Investigators also asked why he hadn't left right after killing the two women.
As Sarah and Cody's belongings [music] were strewn across the house, he must have known children lived there and
would be coming home from school soon. Hoffman said he thought school finished later than it actually did.
Crime journalist and author Robert Scott wrote a book about Hoffman's crime titled The Girl in the Leaves.
In it, Scott pointed out how odd it was that Hoffman claimed Stephanie Sprang had tried to escape from him by running
into Sarah's bedroom. Stephanie was very familiar with the layout of the house and would have known
that fleeing to Sarah's bedroom would have trapped her inside as there was no way out from there.
Robert Scott pointed out that Hoffman might have been lying about this and that he had actually dragged Stephanie
into Sarah's room to kill her. While the prosecuting attorney confirmed that they believed Hoffman's essential
claim that the murders and abduction followed from a burglary gone wrong, [music] others have suggested that Sarah
may have been Matthew Hoffman's intended target all along. This is a theory shared by Sarah's
father in Robert Scott's book. If Hoffman had been by the house previously and knew it well enough to
note the broken garage door, perhaps he'd seen 13-year-old Sarah there before. If he went to the house intending to
abduct Sarah, it would explain why Hoffman remained there after deciding there was little worth stealing, hanging
around long enough for Tina to return home. Moreover, the jewelry that Hoffman had
stashed in a purse and supposedly intended to steal was found abandoned in the garage.
Hoffman had previously exhibited concerning behavior towards other young girls, such as when he drove his
neighbor's daughter home through back streets and wooded areas. It seemed likely that whether planned in
advance or not, after realizing that Sarah lived at the King Beach Road residence, Hoffman might have decided to
take her. In an episode of the A&D television network's program, Interrogation Row, a
forensic psychologist, discussed the bizarre state of Matthew Hoffman's home. He described Hoffman's obsessive
collecting of leaves as indicating a desire for camouflage and possibly pointed at Hoffman having a mental
health disorder. It has never been confirmed whether or not Hoffman was diagnosed with any
mental illness. However, shortly after his arrest, he stated that he did not want to be injected with thorazine, a
drug that is primarily used in the treatment of psychotic disorders. [music] Matthew Hoffman was charged with a range
of felonies, including three counts of aggravated murder, three counts of gross abuse of a corpse, aggravated burglary,
tampering with evidence, and kidnapping, and sexual assault. He pleaded guilty to all charges and was
sentenced less than 2 months after committing the crimes. A number of family members and friends
delivered victim impact [music] statements in which they spoke of their devastation and trauma following the
brutal murders and how Hoffman's actions had left them feeling terrified and unsafe.
Stephanie Sprang's daughter, who was 17, said that the pain she was having to endure was unbearable.
I never thought I'd lose her and become completely helpless. Everyone tries to help me, but no one can help like her.
She knew what to say [music] and how to say it. Sarah Maynard was present for the
sentencing as well, facing the man who had killed her mother and brother, then kidnapped her for the first time since
she'd been rescued. She had written a statement of her own, which was read aloud by the prosecuting
attorney. It told of Sarah's grief at losing her mother, her brother, and her dog, as
well as Stephanie, who had always looked after Sarah and Cody whenever Tina needed.
Sarah found herself plagued with fear that somebody else might try to harm her, as well as intense sorrow that she
would never see her family members again. She ended her statement by trying to focus on the good things, writing,
"Some memories of Cody. [music] He was a left-handed pitcher and he was really good. A whole bunch of people always
told him how good a player he was. In life, he wanted to be a helicopter pilot in the Coast Guard.
Some memories of mom. She always made sure we were happy. And she went [music] out and did stuff with Cody and me, even
though she didn't have that much money. She was a really caring woman, and when someone needed help, she would take her
time to go help them. She loved dolphins and sunflowers. One thing she said to me, "Sarah, when I
die, I want you to send me with the dolphins." [music] Sarah's statement concluded by
explaining that while she had started a new school and was very happy there, Matthew Hoffman was about to go to a new
place too, where he would be the one living in fear. The judge sentenced [music] Hoffman to
life in prison without the possibility of parole. In the days after Tina Herman, Cody
Maynard, and Stephanie Sprang were found, a makeshift memorial was established at a tree near Tina's home.
Friends of the victims, as well as members of the public touched by their story, left teddy bears, balloons,
flowers, baseballs, handwritten cards, and candles as momentos for the murdered trio.
Purple ribbons also became a symbol of the public's shared grief with the dozens of them tied to the treere's
branches. Those who had loved the victims spoke about how special they had been.
Stephanie Spring had been someone who always had a smile on her face. She loved singing rock songs, was
vivaceious, and lived life to the fullest. Tina Herman was described as courageous
and energetic. She took delight in life's simple pleasures and loved being a mother.
Cody Maynard was remembered as a gentle and kind-hearted child who adored baseball and other sports. [music]
He had been especially close to his big sister Sarah and was protective of her despite [music] being 2 years younger.
On the night of Friday, November 19, a memorial was held at Apple Valley Lake. Members [music] of the victim's families
along with friends, community members, and volunteers who had helped search for them, lit tea candles, then set them on
the surface of the lake [music] to float away. A reverend from a local church addressed
the crowd, stating, "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 overcome us." In the years after Sarah Maynard's
ordeal, she struggled to return to regular life. Attending school, being in social situations, and making friends
was difficult. The loss of her mother and brother increased the trauma she was already
experiencing from her own victimization. Sarah found some comfort in adopting a new dog named Elsa, who was one of the
police dogs that had helped in the search for Tina, Cody, and Stephanie. Sarah found a way to pay tribute to her
family members by working with the Healing Hearts Memorial Fund, a charity led by Tina Herman's mother that raised
funds for families affected by violence. Sarah's grandmother, Barbara Herman, told the Columbus Dispatch [music] that
Sarah had lost her two best friends. Sometimes Barbara could see her own daughter, Tina, shining through Sarah.
Barbara told the newspaper, "I'm so proud of what she's accomplished. She's our survivor,
[music] and that's what people need to see." In 2019, Sarah featured on a Lifetime
special program called Smart Justice, speaking with [music] kidnapping survivor and child safety advocate
Elizabeth Smart and a panel of other survivors about her ordeal. Sarah, who is now in her 20s and a
mother herself, said that her grief and trauma had changed her in both good and bad ways.
Knowing that you can never say mom again is the worst feeling in the world. Sarah
said they didn't just [music] die. Their lives were brutally taken. At the same time, Sarah believed that
she was a stronger person for surviving and rebuilding her life as she had. Quote,
"It made me become a really strong woman. [music] It made me become a really strong
mother.

When 32-year-old Tina Herrmann didn’t show up for work on Wednesday, November 10 2010, her manager immediately alerted the authorities. Soon they found that not only had Tina vanished, but so had her two children – 13-year-old Sarah Maynard and 11-year-old Kody Maynard – and her best friend, 41-year-old Stephanie Sprang.

To make matters worse, there were bloodstains discovered throughout Tina’s home. Soon, clues would lead detectives to a disconcerting scene – a rundown house filled from top to bottom with leaves…

---

Casefile Archives is a series of special bonus releases revisiting the earliest years of the show. The re-run episodes have been completely edited, polished, re-recorded and freshly produced from start to finish to match our current production standards. They are not complete rewrites - our goal wasn’t to alter the cases or reshape the writing, but to preserve the original storytelling while giving the production the refinement it didn’t have when we started the show back in 2016.

Where appropriate, updates have been added, but the core structure and storytelling remain faithful to the originals. Because of this, these re-releases may sound a little different to our recent episodes, but they allow us to bring some of the earliest episodes up to the technical quality listeners expect today.

CREDITS Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Erin Munro Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer

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RESOURCES

Brief Summary

Tina Herman and her children vanished in 2010; Matthew Hoffman was later arrested for their murders after a gruesome crime scene was discovered.

Key points

10-Year Anniversary Release. To celebrate a decade, premium episodes are now available to all listeners.
Four Missing Persons. The disappearance of Tina and her children raises alarm as another friend goes missing.
A Disturbing Discovery. Valerie finds a shocking scene at Tina's home, covered in blood.
Matthew Hoffman Arrested. Deputy Phillips finds Matthew Hoffman in a closed parking lot, leading to his arrest.
Bizarre Discovery at Hoffman's House. Investigators find a house filled with dead leaves and strange decorations.
Sarah Maynard Found. Investigators discover Sarah Maynard bound and hidden in Hoffman's basement.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

The living room carpet was covered in blood.

Describing the shocking crime scene found by Valerie.

7:46WatchJan 26, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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