Sword and Scale - Episode 106

Episode Date: January 21, 2018

So many leaves...It doesn't happen often, but the intersection of Psychosis and Psychopathy is a scary place.  A place where all things that are good, break down and all that's left is pure darkness.Matthew Hoffman lived in such a place...See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. Welcome to Season 5 Episode 106 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. We're back! And before we kick off this new season, we want to thank each and every one of you for continuing to spread the word about sword and scale. If it weren't for you, continuing to tell your friends, family, and co-workers about us, we could have never reached this new amazing milestone of 1.5 million listeners. We have some incredible new surprises in store for you later on in this coming year that

we're very excited about. If you want to be the first to know about them, sign up for our Patreon at patreon.com slash sword and scale. If you sign up at the $5 level, you'll get our premium show Sword and Scale Plus, hosted by me of course. And there's 20 episodes already in there that you'll get instant commercial free access to, along with a whole lot more perks.

But right now, let's get right into this first episode of season five, a story which I know you've been waiting for for a while now. If you've got your detective caps on, try and figure out who you think did it. Sit tight though, this one's gonna get weird. you The man sat still. His gaze was fixed on the floor of the interrogation room. His hands were cuffed and folded across his lap. For hours on end, he'd been sitting like this, hardly moving, hardly speaking, either overcome with emotion or completely

devoid of it. Was he listening to any of the questions? What was he thinking about? Was he thinking about anything at all? What did he remember? And then, without lifting his head, the man mumbled, his voice barely above a whisper. People will think I'm a monster. I am a monster. If I've done what you guys said I've done, then I am a home.

A home which has been the stage for something awful. Something that this community wants to forget. Three murders in arson and a homicide investigation growing cold tonight the crime scene is about to be destroyed. Cruise with the city of Dallas are working to demolish an oak cliff house at the center of a violent crime. It was the scene of an infamous crime. The Fort Bragg home where an army special forces doctor killed his wife and two young children.

Tomorrow, the McDonald House will be demolished. It's not even a year since the body of 12-year-old Tia Sharp was found in the attic of 20 the lindons in New Addington near Croydon. But the demolition of the place where she was sexually assaulted and murdered has begun. For many communities affected by violent crime, it's just too difficult to separate a house

from a crime that took place in it, so they tear the house down. But this is not always the case. Many of these homes stay standing in spite of their sinister pasts, and sometimes they take on new residents. I was a little lary at first. I didn't know if I would be able to live there, but once I got in there and was looking at the house and everything, it didn't bother me after we moved in. The first couple of nights, I was a little restless sleeping because I thought I kept hearing things,

but I wasn't hearing things. It was just in my head. But, I mean, we all adjusted to it well. You know, it wasn't the house is fault. You know, and I just kept telling myself it was the monster that did what he did. We spoke with a resident of Howard, Ohio, whose house has a particularly gruesome history. My name is Bonnie, Montjotory, and I moved in the house January 19th of 2013. We asked Bonnie how she had come to live in this house. Actually, I applied for Habitat for Humanity.

They were building a new house over on King Road. And I didn't get that one. In 2012, I applied in April and October of 2012 they called me and said that they had some good news and some bad news and she told me about the house and then the bad news is what had happened which I had already known what had happened and she told us already known, what had happened. And she told us that we could come and look and make a decision if we wanted to purchase it or not.

So that's what we did. After moving in, several people would stop by wanting to talk to her and wanting to see the house. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Oh yes. We were bombarded with news people. They were there videoing us talking with us. We even had some people come from England that did a TV show on the house in us. So yeah, we were the first year, year and a half, we were there, we had a lot of people.

But a lot of the people that drove by and slowed down, if we were outside, they would stop and talk to us and tell us that they were happy to see people living there and how beautiful we kept the yard and the flower gardens and all of that. Bonnie feels that houses like this should not be torn down. I think that they ought to, you know, fix it like they did this one and make it a happy home for somebody else like they did us.

Our neighbors are absolutely amazing. They all came and welcomed us and told us that they were happy that we bought it and was going to make it a happy place. And they could see kids running around there again. And so I think that's what needs to be done to other places that bad things happen at. Bonnie's family has given this home a new life, but the story you're about to hear is not about her family. It's about the family who lived there before them. In the fall of 2010, the house where Bonnie now lives with her family was the home of 32-year-old Tina Herman, her live-in boyfriend, Greg Borders, and her two kids, 11-year-old Cody Maynard and 13-year-old Sarah Maynard.

The kids got their last name from their father, Larry Maynard, who lived at a different address. By November of 2010, Tina and her boyfriend Greg had been separated for a few weeks. Their house was in danger of foreclosure, and they'd been arguing quite a bit. According to Greg, quote, We were both going to go our separate ways. We were a fairly civil, a civil as you can be living in the same house when you're broken up."

On Wednesday, November 10th, Greg woke up early to get ready for work. He saw Tina, Cody, and Sarah around 4am, and then he left. On his drive to work, Greg spoke with Tina on the phone. According to Greg, Tina was upset because he was going to be spending the night at a friend's house, and they were arguing about who would take care of their dog that night. Their phone call ended just before 5am. At 11.30am, Tina texted Greg to say she'd fed the dog. Adding what Greg interpreted to be a sarcastic, you're welcome. About 20 minutes later, Tina sent a text message to one of her co-workers about a house she was looking at.

Apparently, she was thinking of moving out. This is a last-sex message I got from Tina that was the last time anybody had heard from her. I might get that that house go see it tomorrow. Yeah, and that was November the 10th at 11.51. The rest of the day went by and nobody heard anything else from Tina Herman. Later that day, Tina did not show up for her shift at the dairy queen in Mount Vernon, Ohio. It was unusual for Tina to miss a shift without notice, but her co-workers probably figured she was busy with the kids or had gotten her schedule mixed up. A single missed shift isn't too alarming, and her kids had made it to school that day.

Maybe she thought that she was off that day, you know? Sure. And maybe her phone died or something. You know, we weren't really thinking the worst case scenario at that point. Tina was supposed to be at work by 4pm. When she didn't show up, a couple of her co-workers drove over to her house to check on her. Tina's truck was in the driveway and the lights in the house were on, but nobody came to the door.

So, we went up to the door, kind of peaked around because you know how the front window is like that sheer curtain. You know, kind of looked around and didn't look like anything out of place other than the air mattress on the floor, which Tina had been sleeping in the living room because they weren't staying together at night and stuff like that. So Tina would sleep on the air mattress? Yep. Who would sleep in a bed, they'd agree? Um, look at. And, um, because the bed is his, as I said, the couches are yours, you can sleep on the couch.

So she, we peaked her end and see anything. We have been screen door knocked on door like three times. When I thought it was weird and I even said that's the battle. I'm like that's where her dog isn't going crazy. She has a crazy ass dog. No, no, no, ankle biteers. No, ankle biteers. I mean he won't bite too big, he will go crazy and jump all over you and bark and bark and bark and bark and logically thinking what dog they always lock it up when they leave and it's always locked up in the back and Sarah's bed on that back right bedroom and it's always locked up in there but what dog

here's somebody knock on the door and doesn't go absolutely ballistic because I can't go see who it is and I was like last year for dog isn't barking and she's like what was the dog at and I'm like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was like, well, I was two welfare checks at the residence that evening. Deputy extracts staff had gone there twice, trying to get an answer at the door. And as it find if anybody was home, they did not receive an answer at the door. The next morning, Thursday, November 11th, one of the co-workers drove by Tina's house again. And she noticed that Tina's truck was no longer parked in the driveway. At this point, Tina's co-workers attempted to contact Tina's best friend, 41-year-old Stephanie Sprang. But then they discovered something very unusual.

Tina was supposed to work at 4 that day as well. But once again, she didn't show up. Then on Thursday, both of her children were absent from school, and Tina didn't show up at work again. Tina's manager went back over to the house, and this time, she gained entry into the house through an unlocked window. When she did not get the answer at the house, she actually removed a rear window screen, raised the unlocked window and entered Miss Herman's residence. Do you know what this report was she had when she went inside the residence? Yes, she advised that she observed blood stains in the room

and hallway carpeted in in the bathroom, at that time she then notified the sheriff's office. Police arrived at the residence to discover for themselves what Tina's manager had seen. Stephanie Sprank's car was parked in the garage, but there was nobody inside. Police say this case is suspicious and there were signs of violence in the

Herman residents. Police discovered blood stains in multiple rooms of the house. As to the amount of blood in the home, Knox County Sheriff David Barber stated, quote, that one thing I can say about it is that it's an unusual amount. It isn't from someone stubbing their toe or cutting their finger, you know, or peeling an apple or something like that." When officers entered the house, they found beer cans strewn about. Just inside the door, the vinyl floor of the foyer displayed multiple blood stains. That was only the beginning. There appeared to be at least three locations of attacks where there's blood splatters

in different rooms and also blood pools. In the living room, blood was spattered on the west wall, and a large portion of the carpet was soaked through with blood. The carpet stain was about 2 feet by 2 feet, and according to a report by BCI Special Agent Gary Wilguss, it was sufficiently large enough to suggest that the bleeding individual remained at that location for a period of time before being moved. The stain had been covered in motor oil, slightly distorting its natural color, almost making it look like prop blood in a low-budget horror film.

The trail of blood branched out from the large carpet stain, as though a large bloody object had been dragged out of the living room, down the main hallway and into the bathroom. There were numerous blood stains found throughout the rest of the house, on the stairs, on the walls, in the basement, and in the garage. Another large stain, similar to the one found in the living room, was discovered on the floor of Tina Herman's bedroom. Lying next to the bed, there was a green and white plaid comforter, also stained with blood and motor oil. The dresser, the walls, the closet door were spattered with blood. Again, there was a trail of blood leading out of the bedroom down the hallway and into

the bathroom. And Sarah's room, investigators discovered another large blood stain coated in motor oil. The walls and curtains were speckled with blood spray, and there was yet another trail of blood leading to the bathroom. The house's main bathroom where three blood trails converged was covered in blood. You know, they observed the blood stains on the living room and hallway carpet, a parent drag marks in the blood stain on a hallway carpet to go in the direction of the bathroom in a large amount of blood around the tub and toilet area. A cheerful, floral, patterned shower curtain looked entirely out of place above the floor,

covered in bloody footprints. Blood was streaked down the outside of the tub. The toilet was covered in bloody fabric prints, indicating that the attacker may have been wearing gloves. Blood was smeared throughout the inside of the tub and splattered all over the shower walls. Mixed in with some of the blood were pieces of body fat. Whatever happened in this house was no accident. As Sheriff Barbara would later state, four people left that house, not under their own power. Aside from all the blood,

there was no sign of Stephanie, Tina, Cody, or Sarah. Shortly after the police were called to the house, an organized search began for the four missing individuals. Knox County Sheriff's Deputies were searching for two women and two children ages 10 and 13. Police say they've been missing us since Thursday. We are encouraging the public to anything that they come across, whether it's a trash bag, whether it's clothing, something that just looks out of place. Don't touch it, don't disturb it. Please call the sheriff's office. We'll have people come out, evaluate

it, see if it is pertinent to this investigation. On November 11th, the day after Tina, Sarah, Cody and Stephanie went missing, investigators discovered Tina's truck parked on the campus of nearby Kenyan College in Gambier, Ohio. At approximately 6.55 p.m., Dempere and Phillips had gone to the Cucose and Gap trail parking lot on layman road. He observed a blue Ford pickup truck. Around 1015 PM, the campus was put on lockdown. Students and faculty were told to stay indoors until further notice. Overnight, the Bureau of Criminal Investigations found a pickup truck belonging to one of the

missing women at Kenyon College at the Brown Family Environmental Center. overnight the Bureau of Criminal Investigations found a pickup truck belonging to one of the missing women at Kenyan College at the Brown Family Environmental Center. Kenyan College is in Gambia about 50 miles north east of Columbus. Knox County Sheriff's Deputies searched a home near the school where officers say there were signs of his struggle. Police told the school the vehicle was believed to be connected with a crime scene. The school was placed on lockdown around 11 last night and an email was sent to students saying a potentially dangerous situation person was in the vicinity. The lockdown will stay in effect for about another hour. During the lockdown, investigators stopped a man who was sitting in a silver Toyota

Yaris by a bike path near the college. He wasn't acting out of the ordinary, but because of the lockdown, a sheriff's deputy decided to question him. Yes, there was a one male inside the silver Toyota. And Deputy Phillips actually made contact with him at that time, and told him that he could not park there. He asked the male for his driver's license. And while he was there, he also observed the cam applied time coding on the floor in the Silver Toyota. The man explained he was just waiting for his girlfriend to get off work. He advised that he was waiting on

his girlfriend Sarah to get off work at the Kennedy Inn. The deputy took down the man's information and let him go, thinking little of the interaction. Back at the Herman residents, investigators were combing through the house for clues, pointing to where the perpetrator might have gone. In the garage, they discovered a Walmart bag containing two tarps and a box of heavy-duty garbage bags. Yes, it contained a package of fruit, super tough, black contract to grade 55 gallon trash bags, and the package was open and some of the trash bags had been removed. Also in the bag, there was one Ozark Trail 8x10 Silver and

Brown Heavy Duty tarp, which was still in the package and one Ozark Trail 6x8 Silver and Blue all-purpose tarp. Without the package was still folded. Investigators reviewed security footage from a nearby Walmart store until they came across the man who'd purchased the tarps and garbage bags in addition to an orange shirt and a turkey sandwich just after midnight on the morning of red was, the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of red was the person of the person of red was the person of red was the identity of the man caught in the security cameras at the Walmart would make sense, at least on some level. It would help us to connect the dots and answer a lot of our questions.

The man would be someone driven by greed, jealousy, or vengeance. Someone with a close connection to Stephanie Sprang or the family of Tina Herman. But not all crime is rational. Not all crime is sane. The man on the Walmart security tapes was not one of those, quote, unquote, usual suspects. He was not the jilted ex-boyfriend or the estranged father. In fact, the man on the tapes, with somebody whom the missing family had never met. The cameras caught the man leaving the Walmart store in a silver Toyota Yaris.

Not coincidentally, the man who was stopped and interviewed during the lockdown at Kenyan College also drove a silver Toyota Yaris. BNV records were searched from all owners of a silver Toyota Yaris in Knox County. During that search, it was discovered that a man, Hugh J. Hoffman, only Toyota, the silver Toyota Yaris, and his physical description is his date of birth is November 1st 1980, he's 6'1 and 185 pounds with brown hair, slightly receding hairline, and wearing glasses in some of his B&B focus. The man on the security tapes was identified as a 30-year-old tree trimmer named Matthew Hoffman. The man on the security tapes was identified as a 30-year-old tree trimmer named Matthew

Hoffman was born on November 1, 1980 and raised by his parents Robert and Patricia Hoffman in northeastern Ohio. According to the Columbus dispatch, Matthew exhibited some odd behaviors as a teen. Reportedly, when his neighbors dog would bark at him, Matthew would simply stare back at it, showing little to no emotion. According to that neighbor, he was really lost. He was on a bad path. Matthew was a daring, adventurous kid.

He liked to attempt various stunts, such as jumping off his roof onto a trampoline. In 1997, he and a friend were found by police after climbing onto the roof of a nearby high school. Matthew was also fond of nature. He once built a tree house and spent a lot of time out in the woods with his friends. In 1997, Matthew's parents divorced, and he moved to Knox County, Ohio with his mother. He graduated from East Knox High School in 1999 and decided to leave Ohio to find work out west. Matthew ended up hired by Barnes Plumbing and Heating in Kessel Rock, Colorado.

Scott Barnes, the company owner, would characterize Matthew as a little on the strange side. It was during this time when he was just 19 years old, that Matthew Hoffman's criminal history got its start. While installing a garbage disposal at a townhouse in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Matthew stole a set of house keys. On the night of August 27th, 2000, Matthew returned to the townhouse to steal animal trophy mounts, bear rugs, and other items. To cover his tracks, Matthew doused the townhouse with ten gallons of gasoline and set the eight-unit building on fire. Although none of the building's residents died in the blaze, the fire caused over $2 million

in property damage. Matthew drove off in the homeowners' Chevy Suburban and ditched it in a parking lot about a mile away. Matthew then fled to Ohio, but he agreed to return to steamboat springs in the following month after police asked to question him about the disappearance of the city's wooden welcome signs. As it turns out, the signs had been found in a motel room where Matthew had been living. In an interview with police, Matthew confessed not only to stealing the welcome signs, but also to setting the fire.

In 2001, he was convicted of assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, and arson, and was sentenced to prison for eight years. Hoffman served prison time before, in Colorado, for arson, convicted at age 19 for torching a townhome complex to cover a burglary. Following Matthew's conviction, the owner of the townhome told a local media outlet, it's his life he messed up. That is what he should be grateful for, that he only messed up his own life. Maybe he will come out of prison a better person, I don't know. After serving six years in prison, Matthew was released on parole. In 2007, he transferred his

parole to Ohio. As far as anyone could tell, Matthew wanted to have a somewhat normal life again. He was behaving, making restitution payments for his arson damages, and trying to find some work. For some period of time, he worked as a truck driver. In 2009, Matthew bought a house on Columbus Road in Mount Vernon. His neighbors found him a bit strange. He spent a lot of time outside climbing trees with the neighborhood kids. He just was different.

He was odd. He just climbed trees, they're all washed up. It was kind of weird. He was always climbing trees and stuff like that. He was a nature person, but he just like collected leaves and weird things. He was just a god. He really wasn't weirdo. Like he sat in the trees.

If you look back here in the tree, there's a hammock where he would sit and watch people. He's just different. He was very, I want to say paranoid. Like, you could tell he was nervous around people and he was at very social. Matthew had also developed some strange eating habits. He quick-witted a grocery store and was like eating the squirrels outside. He was catching them and then taking them in the house, killing them and eating them.

As one of Matthew's friends would put it, quote, the guy was kind of off, a little weird, but I chalked a lot of it up to being in prison." In the fall of 2010, Matthew got a part-time job as a tree trimmer. Matthew loved trees. According to the company's office manager, Matthew was quiet, unassuming, polite, clean shavin'. Nothing that would ever make you say, ew.

However, it soon became clear to his new employer that he had oversold his qualifications. On top of that, according to the company's owner, he made the supervisor feel uncomfortable. That fall Matthew lost his tree trimming job, but that wasn't his only problem. He'd only paid back about $5,000 of the $2 million he owed in restitution for the fire in Colorado. And his girlfriend

had just broken up with him after Matthew allegedly choked her in an argument. My friend dated him and she just broke up with him like two weeks ago and he had choked her and she had marks on her from where he had choked her. On November 1, 2010, Matthew turned 30 years old. His life was headed in a downward spiral. He'd lost his job. His girlfriend left him. His car wasn't the process of being repossessed, and even his dog had gone missing. Matthew Hoffman was losing control. On Wednesday, November 10, 2010,

Tina Herman, her close friend Stephanie Sprang, and her two kids Cody and Sarah Maynard all went missing from Tina's house in Howard, Ohio. In addition to finding numerous blood stains in the house, investigators found a Walmart bag containing tarps and trash bags that would lead them to their suspect. After reviewing security footage from the closest Walmart store, investigators identified their suspect as 30-year-old Matthew Hoffman, a man with seemingly no connection to the four missing persons. At 5.20am on Sunday, November 14, Knox County Detective David Light requested a warrant

to search the home and property of Matthew Hoffman. The search warrant requested two search-any-outbuildings there and to enter and search a motor vehicle in Silver, 2008, Toyota, Yaris. Because of the nature of the case, Detective Light requested that officers be allowed to enter the residence without knocking. Based on the amount of blood involved, in fact, there were three parents that were attacked be allowed to enter the residence without knocking. The objective of the Excus George Horn is residents if they have to come to the National Council.

Yes, I do. And as they were requested, they sent Judge Wade that condition that they provided you with that. Yes. Judge Paul Sturgeon granted the search warrant and officers prepared to storm the residents. One of Matthew's neighbors watched as authorities arrived at the house and rammed the front door. I came out looking out the window and I looked and there was two sheriff cars blocking the road here and they've pretty seen all kind of sheriff cars and started pulling up and the squad team came and then the blast

I heard it was they blasted the door and went in. Swat officers tossed a flash grenade into the home as they stormed in. From the outside, Matthew Hoffman's home had appeared as normal as any other home on the block. There was a cement walk-up leading to the small deck out front. The house itself had two stories, tan-siding and green shutters, nothing out of the ordinary. But when police entered the home, what they found was anything but normal. Their first priority was to locate Matthew, whom they found lying on a couch. According to Mount Vernon Police Detective Craig Feney, who was one of the first officers

to enter the house, quote, we plowed our way through the smoke and saw something on the couch. We yanked him to the floor and he said, what's going on? I said, you tell me, but he was done talking and quote After cuffing Matthew and taking him out of the house the officers on scene started to look around As the smoke cleared officer saw that the living room floor was almost entirely covered with leaves In the center of the room a tarp was spread out underneath

a heaping three foot pile of leaves. Investigators then moved a cabinet that was blocking a doorway, opened a door, and headed down a flight of stairs. The basement was unfinished. Metal pipes stuck out of concrete walls. The wooden ceiling joists were exposed, and the floor was covered with leaves. According to a police report, at the bottom of the stairway, just to the left was a hole

cut through the block wall leading into a dark room where blankets and bedding had been placed on the leaf covered floor. As they got closer to the makeshift bed of leaves, officers could see that there was a young girl lying on top of the leaves and blankets. Her hands and feet were bound with duct tape and yellow rope. Detective Craig Fini asked if she was okay. The girl told him that she was okay, but that she was late for school. Officer Troy Glazier would later report the following. She had a white plastic bag that had holes cut out for her legs

that she was wearing as a makeshift diaper. It appeared she had probably urinated in her jeans because they were wet from her waist to about halfway down her knees. The girl was identified as Sarah Maynard, one of the missing persons. We told her she was safe and no longer in danger. She made some comment that she believed that the suspect had killed her dog. She did not ask about the other three missing persons. We asked her if there had been anyone else if the residents besides her and the suspect that she knew of. She said no. She believed it was just the

two of them. The officers untied Sarah and let her out of the house. In his basement, they found Sarah bound and gagged on top of makeshift bed of leaves. Authorities say she'd been imprisoned and repeatedly assaulted for four days. The officers then continued to search the house, looking for any signs of the other three missing persons. They returned upstairs to check the massive pile of leaves in the living room for evidence. Detective Craig Feney would later state, quote,

�I�ve seen a lot of crazy cases, but this guy, wow, who has a 14 by 14 tarp in their living room with leaves piled 3 feet high. He would also state, � so much runs through your mind, what if someone is hiding under that pile? Or in this case I thought, is that where he's hiding the bodies? Using poles, they poked at the pile of leaves to figure out if anything or any one was hidden underneath. But there was nothing. Just leaves. There were leaves everywhere. On one of the living room walls, there were bags of leaves stacked from floor to ceiling. The living room decor, if you can call it that, raised a lot of questions. Unfortunately, the rest of the house didn't offer many answers.

Matthew's freezer contained two unskinned squirrels and some red popsicles. Some walls and doors of the house were covered with childlike drawings and doodles. The kitchen floor displayed a large hand-drawn peace sign with the word peach drawn across the front. Apparently, Matthew Hoffman did not excel at spelling. The kitchen wall was covered in drawings of stars, stick figures with spirals for heads, and a bunch of other indeterminate shapes and squiggles. The names Chloe, Courtney, and Scotty were also edged into the wall, although it was not clear what those names meant to Matthew.

There were some drawings on the bathtub, but somehow those drawings might have been the most normal aspect of Matthew's bathroom, where investigators discovered over a hundred shopping bags packed with leaves lining the walls. Investigators recovered a multitude of evidence from the house, including pieces of rope, sections of duct tape, a camera containing photos of Sarah Maynard, blankets, a prom dress, a non-human bone, and a large serrated knife branded as jungle primitive. According to a police report, the knife did possess a question to Reddish stain on the black handle. The question to Reddish stain was not tested as it would consume the entire stain.

There was a lot of evidence, but still no sign of Tina Herman, Stephanie Sprang, or Sarah's 11-year-old brother Cody Maynard. Hoffman's home was a house of horrors. Mysteriously filled with leaves, leaves filling the living room, bags of leaves floor to ceiling in the bathroom, a pea sign scribbled on a door and a knife, dead squirrels in the freezer, but no trace of the other victims. By the time Sarah Maynard was rescued, she had been forced to stay on a bed of leaves in Matthew Hoffman's basement for nearly four days.

He, uh, your kid never held you for four days. It had to be very scary for you. How did you stay strong through all of that Sarah? Just hoping some would find me. So I wouldn't have to live with them again or stay there with them. You know we have seen pictures of his home they've been released Sarah and they're just disturbing images of doodles on the wall and those bags and bags of leaves. Even the bed that he had you on supposedly was made out of leaves.

Did he say anything about why that house was filled with leaves to you? He told me that someone helped him bag the leaves and so that's why he just wanted, he said he wanted to make my bed comfy so he just put leaves there so I could sleep. At the Knox Community Hospital, Sarah Maynard provided the following information to BCI Special Agent Joe Deetz, according to an investigative report. Sarah said that she and her brother were attacked after entering the home on Wednesday, just after arriving home from school. Sarah said she ran into her bedroom where the subject grabbed her and carried her down the basement, where he used available rope to tie her up.

He then left her on the kitchen floor for a period of time before putting her and her mom's friends jeep covered with blankets for a period of time before putting her in her mom's friend's jeep covered with blankets for a period of time before Hoffman transferred her to another car and took her to the house where she was found that morning. She said she was kept tied up most of the time and was locked in a bathroom, a closet, and finally the basement of the house. Over the several days she was captive there. Sarah said that Hoffman had performed oral sex on her and forced her to perform oral sex on him during her captivity. Sarah said that Hoffman acted alone and would not

tell her what happened to her mother and brother, although she suspected that they had been killed. Sarah's hands were bound in work gloves and duct tape. After Sarah was rescued, Sheriff David Barber updated the public on the status of the investigation. We have some good news to report today. We have located and rescued 13-year-old Sarah Maynard at approximately 8 a.m. this morning. She's been under the control of Mr. Hoffman since Wednesday. Matthew Hoffman was brought into custody while the search for the remaining three victims continued. There were a lot of leads coming in,

and although investigators were learning valuable information about their suspect, they still had no idea what Matthew Hoffman had done with Stephanie Sprang, Tina Herman, and Cody Maynard. It seemed like Matthew Hoffman himself might be the only person capable of providing them with that information. Within a couple of hours of Matthew's arrest, Detective Sergeant Roger Brown started interrogating

him at the Knox County Sheriff's Office, but the interview gets off to a slow start. Matthew Hoffman's behavior through the interview is baffling. He doesn't ask to leave. He doesn't ask for a lawyer. He just sits there, silent and motionless, until about 10 minutes into the interview. I don't understand something like this man. Matthew taps his heart with a bald fist and then signals something with his hands. The interrogator struggles to figure out what he's trying to communicate, so he tries one more time. Is that your heart? You're saying heart? Broken.

Your heart's broken. Because of what happened? No. Someone broke your heart. I know you can talk to me, man. What do you want from us? Tell me what you want from us. You got to talk to me.

We talk to a lot of people before we come to see you. So we know you can talk. What's your heart broken? After gesturing, that is heart is broken. Matthew reverts to being still and silent. Hours go by, and Matthew continues to do absolutely nothing. After nearly four hours, detective Sergeant Brown calls it quits. BCI Special Agent Joe Deetz takes his place and tries to get Matthew to talk. After another 20 minutes of silence, it doesn't seem like Agent Deetz is going to have

any luck getting Matthew to say anything. But then Matthew opens his eyes, slowly hide up. It took care of her. I don't know if we know anything else. So I was trying to figure out what had happened. Matthew tells Agent Deats that he found Sarah tied up in his house and knew he must have done something wrong, but he says that he didn't know what happened. After another hour or so, Agent Deats gives up and Matthew Hoffman is returned to his cell. The following day, Matthew sits down for an interview with FBI Special Agent Kristen Kadoo. When Matthew enters the interrogation room, he is wearing a large green padded vest.

Matthew had been placed on suicide watch the night before, and the vest is designed to keep him from harming himself. Agent could do attempts a kinder, gentler approach than the other investigators. At first, it seems like the interview isn't going anywhere. But after a half hour of silence, Agent could do's approach starts to make some headway. Once again Matthew is claiming that he doesn't know anything other than what he's been told and that he doesn't know any of the missing people. Another hour goes by before Matthew speaks again. This time he asks some questions of his own. So did you go to Glantico? I did. So, who did it just training? Yeah. I was there about four months.

That's what you had, did you have to graduate from? To get in. Have you ever been there? About your parents who proud? They're proud of me. Matthew asks Agent Could Do a couple of questions about Quantico. And then starts asking about her personal life. They continue talking like this for a while, tentatively establishing a

rapport. Agent Kadu tells Matthew a little more about Quantico and Matthew tells her that he urinated himself because he was kept in a restraining chair the night before. Agent Kadu then starts to ask Matthew about his feelings. I think I was talking earlier and kind of feeling alone and that's definitely how I felt when I went to Chicago. I knew that one there. I was the only one out of my class sent there. So I had to.

Would you have a purpose? Yeah. E.K. Guy? What's that? Japanese. Oh. It's a purpose. Eki-gui is a Japanese concept, often translated as a reason for being or purpose. Ikigai is the reason we wake up in the morning, and apparently Matthew's Ikigai is important to him.

Matthew slowly starts to open up about his past. He tells Agent Kadoo about his time in Colorado when he burned down a condo building. Matthew tells agent could do even back then. He knew there was something wrong with him. There was something wrong with him. He then even had just got passed over. It just seemed like you did the right thing in terms of pain and to do your time. There's something wrong.

Didn't talk to anybody yet about it. I went prison trying to get help from someone. I mean he's talking about it or... I've tried to avoid the length of the whole thing I hope I... I mean, he's talking about it or... I've tried to avoid the mint health in my whole life. Once you get away, I'll put it as that, then it's permanent, and it's only ever in regression. Matthew says he's been trying to avoid the whole mental health thing, his whole life. Instead of seeking treatment, he has isolated himself and hidden his symptoms. And according to him, that's what caused him to commit arson and Colorado. Agent Kadoo continues to ask Matthew about mental illness, asking him why he didn't want

to seek help. Matthew responds, they don't do anything. They just give you medication. Even if that were true, even if they would have just given him medication. Maybe that medication could have prevented this entire situation. Instead of seeking help, however, Matthew would just wait for his symptoms to go away. It seemed to go like I'm done. But then it's a way of remembering mission, right?

You know what antisocialic medication is? I mean, it doesn't really put it. It doesn't directly address the problem. It's just a powerful way to tranquilize yourself. So Matthew continued to hide his symptoms and slipped through the cracks until this happened. But investigators still did not know exactly what this was. Was it just a kidnapping or was it also a murder case? They'd seen all the blood at the Herman residence, and it seemed unlikely that all of these missing persons were still alive.

Nearly five days had gone by since Stephanie, Tina and Cody went missing, but then again, Matthew hadn't killed Sarah. Anything was possible, but investigators desperately needed to get more information out of Matthew. Unfortunately, it was seeming less and less like Matthew was going to give them that information. Matthew keeps claiming that he didn't want to hurt anyone. He says he feels empty, and he warns Agent Cadu that feeling empty is contagious. Then he stops talking, and the interview comes to an end. That evening, Matthew speaks with Agent Cadu one more time, but he doesn't provide any new information.

The next morning, Tuesday, November 16th, Matthew is back yet again for an interview with both Agent Deats and Agent Could Do. This time, however, he has a secret plan. Before entering the interrogation room, Matthew asks to speak with agent Deeds and private at some point. Then as soon as he sits down in the interrogation room, Matthew tells the two agents that he's gonna need a bathroom break at some point during the interview. There you go, two of the steam in here.

And then maybe after you have something like a factory ring. How? The cuff, you know. At the start of this interview, Matthew seems like a completely different person. He's friendly and somewhat conversational. He even makes a bit of small talk with the two agents. After chatting for a bit, agent could do leaves the room. Once he's alone in the room with agent Deats, Matthew starts asking about the equipment in the room.

What is it that can you enter? This thing here? On the floor? Oh yeah, it's connected. Well, that's all, that's just a search. I converted it, converts electrical current to a current that that computer, except that that computer is a CVSA,

which is a CVSA, which is a type of computer that analyzes voice stress. It's kind of one of the newer types of lie detectors that they use. So isn't the microphone... No, no, that's not a microphone. So there's a... Which one? You can tell me like that right there? No, that's just a microphone. See, the electric comes. This here is a microphone. Okay, that's used for this computer when that's being used.

Because voice stress works by recording the voice, and then they run it through the computer, and it shows a line graph on whether they're stressed or the voice or not. But that's not, that's only when that computer's in use, that's not being used now. And I have a, it's the thing that, oh, it's just a strap. Yeah, that's a strap that holds the cord to it when it's done. This is my pocket recorder and it's off. What's it feel like, a grain? That's my gun.

Whatever Matthew wanted to say to Agent Deats, you wanted to make sure it wasn't being recorded. Apparently not satisfied that all the recording equipment was actually turned off, Matthew asks to go to the bathroom, and might have if you went to, you can give it to someone. Okay, I'll just go. I'll just go and get it up on you. Is that what you're going to do? Gary? According to an investigative report, this is what happened. Agent Deats took offman to the restroom located down the hall from the interview room. Agent Deats was alone in the restroom with Matthew Hoffman.

The restroom was a single toilet and sink restroom. Once in the restroom, Hoffman again questioned Agent Deats about any recording devices Agent Deats might have on his person. At Hoffman's request, agent Deats removed his two cell phones and handed them outside to Detective Turpin. Hoffman then told Agent Deats that during the night Hoffman had a dream about being at a food processing plant. Hoffman said he opened a trash bag at the food processing plant and saw cut up body parts

and he got a knot in a stomach and it all came back to him. He said he remembered what he had done and wanted to tell us, but he wanted to reveal the information in a specific way. Hoffman said that he wanted to write the location of the bodies on a piece of paper and then have a legal document created through an attorney that would hold on to the document with the information until after Hoffman was dead and only reveal the contents of the document after Hoffman's death.

Hoffman said once that was done, he wanted Agent Deats to arrange for Hoffman to take another drive outside the building and during that drive Hoffman was going to try to escape and he wanted Agent Deats to agree to shoot and kill him. Hoffman said that after he was dead, the attorney would then reveal the location of the bodies. Hoffman said he could not live with what he had done, and that if this could not be agreed to, then he would kill himself in jail.

Hoffman said he did not want to be injected with thorzing the rest of his life in prison and wanted to end his life. Agent Deet's advised Hoffman that he could not agree to that deal, but urged him to relieve the pain in his gut by telling where the bodies were hidden. Hoffman said that he wanted an agreement that he would try to escape and that police would shoot him in the back and kill him. Hoffman said he was a monster and could not live with what he had done and just wanted to die. He emphasized that he had seen horrible cut up things.

Agent Deats avoided further discussion of any such deal and continued to try to convince Hoffman to reveal the location of the bodies. Hoffman eventually said he made up the story about remembering to try to get himself killed and that he still did not know where the bodies were. Agent Deats and here now, one plus I left a few or anything. Do you want to tell her? No, I was wondering if maybe she had been listening with me. You want to probably see what baby pride is there. So are you probably not going to keep that private. Third conversation, because that's...

This is the only thing that my intention, I'll be honest with you right now, is just to tell Chris what we said. Okay, but I don't tell you this. Okay, if you... Tell us, I will keep that private." Back in the interview room, Matthew continues to play dumb, claiming that he was bluffing in the bathroom. So the bad we do for our lives is good. People think I'm the master.

If I tell you, you guys sit up, turn the night on the monastery. Well, in any of the dumb what you've done, that's not... The interview was eventually brought to an end by the Knox County prosecutor. In total, Matthew Hoffman had participated in roughly 13 hours of taped interrogations. Once he finally started talking, he'd repeatedly claimed that he didn't know what happened to the rest of the missing persons, or where they were located. At times, he seemed genuine, disturbed, but still somewhat genuine. It almost makes you wonder, what if this guy is telling the truth? What if he really doesn't remember anything?

But, as it turns out, Matthew Hoffman knew exactly where his three victims were located. On the morning of Thursday, November 18, 2010, eight days after Stephanie, Tina and Cody went missing. The Knox County Prosecutor's Office reached an agreement with Matthew Hoffman's defense team. Knox County Prosecut prosecutor John Thatcher agreed not to seek the death penalty in exchange for the location of the remaining three victims. Matthew Hoffman's defense team provided them

with a map and directions to a 60 foot tall beach tree located 75 feet back in the woods of the Cocoa Sing Wildlife Preserve in Fredericks Town. Matthew had told them that the tree was hollow, and that he had climbed into a hole at the top of the tree to place garbage bags containing the remains of the three missing victims, and the hermins dog inside the trunk of the tree. At about 150 pm, agents arrived at the Coco Singh Wildlife Preserve. Police reports stated the following.

We noticed a large beach tree that had a small naturally developed hole measuring approximately 6.5 to 7 feet high off the ground. With the aid of flashlights we were able to notice trash bags inside the hollow tree. Special agent Gary Wilgous carefully and respectfully removed the large trash bags from the hollow beach tree and placed them on a tarp. All of the bags were removed from the tree. Once several plastic garbage bags had been removed, they were opened and found to contain various dismembered body parts, including the heads of Cody Maynard, Stephanie Sprang,

and Tina Herman. The remains of a small dog was also found inside one of the garbage bags, along with bloodstained towels, clothing, a hat, and shoes. The bags were opened and dismembered body parts of Tina Herman, Stephanie Sprang and Cody main art were identified. A coroner would later discover that the victims had been stabbed to death and dismembered using a serrated knife blade. According to Knox County Sheriff David Barber, Matthew Hoffman had requested that the beach tree not be harmed. He loved that tree, and apparently he cared about it more than he valued human

life. After the bodies were recovered, Matthew was shown photos of the tree so he could see for himself that it had been unharmed. Knox County Detective David Light would later state, I'm not sure if Matthew's ever been told, but after a couple of days later we cut that tree down. In addition to providing the location of the bodies, Matthew Hoffman had agreed to provide a full written confession. The following excerpts are taken from Matthew's confession. You can mind however that murderers tend to stretch the truth. I got to the woods across the streets from the house a little after midnight.

I slept across the streets from the house at night in a sleeping bag. I woke up at daylight. I went back to sleep until around 9 on Wednesday morning. I stayed there until a woman left in a pickup truck. I then went in through the garage door. I kicked the door into the house from the garage. By this time it was approximately 10.30am. Wednesday morning. I looked around the house to make sure no one was there. Even if I did not take anything, there was a certain amount of excitement and being in someone else's home without them being there. 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. I was back in the bedrooms when she entered the house and was unable to exit without breaking a window and trying to jump out. I had brought my knife for a certain amount of intimidation in case I ran into someone and needed to make an escape. When she made her way back into the bedrooms, I confronted her and made her get onto the bed lying face down. I believe that we were in her bedroom. I had a black jack, I was going to try to knock her out. I hit her a couple of times in the head, but this would not knock her out. It was not doing the

job, and I started pantaking. The next thing that I knew her friend came into the bedroom. I have no idea when she got there, what she was doing there, and how she gained excess. The other woman yelled at me. There were now two to deal with, and they did not know what to do. I grabbed the knife that I had put down on the nightstand and stabbed the woman on the bed through her back. Twice. I chased the other woman down, Stephanie, and stabbed her a couple times in the chest. Instead of running out of the house, she had run into another bedroom.

I believe this bedroom was for a girl due to the contents of the room. I then went back to the other bedroom where the first woman was located and stabbed her a couple more times. I could tell that both women were now dead. 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. After a while I came to the conclusion that I was going to dispose of the bodies and burn the house down. I decided to process the bodies and dispose of them inside of a tree that I knew was hollow. I took the bodies into the bathroom and began processing the bodies to dispose of them.

I used garbage bags from within the house and placed the bodies inside. 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. She ran into the same bedroom that the second woman had run into. I saw the girl was not on the phone, and I could not bring myself to kill her. She told me that she thought I was going to kill her, but I told her that I was not going to do that and that everything would be fine. She was suspicious about the spots of blood that were in the bedroom,

but I had already put motor oil on the blood. I told a girl that it was not blood. I told her that I had taste her brother, that he was fine, but some dude, and that I would tie him up after I had gotten her tied up. I had previously found duct tape within the house. I bound her hands, put a pillowcase over her head, and led her into the garage. I was looking for rope, and was going to tie her up more securely. I did find rope and continued to bind her hands and feet.

I then carried her back up into the kitchen. I did not want to harm the little girl, and I do not believe she saw anything. At some point in time I learned her name from a baseball card on the fridge. I then began to process the boy. I took him into the same bathroom where I had done the other two women. Sarah was in the kitchen at this time. I loaded up the bags into the back of the jeep. I gathered a bunch of blankets and placed them on the back back of the jeep. I gathered a bunch of blankets and placed them

on the back seat of the jeep. I carried Sarah down to the jeep and laid her on the back seat on the pile of blankets. I waited until dark to transfer Sarah from the jeep to my car. Once I had Sarah in my car I drove her to my house and dropped her off. I made her bed out of leaves, covered it with blankets, and placed her onto the bed. She liked that bed, it was extremely comfy, and I wanted to sleep on it. I took care of Sarah. She had wet the bed and did so every time she was alone and fell asleep regardless of how long she was asleep. I let her change into some of my clothes after she had showered. I apologized for leaving her so long. I made her breakfast, and at this time Sarah was asking me a lot of questions.

I told her that everything was fine, and it was going to be fine. I was getting extremely tired, but I did not think that I could sleep. I set up a movie, and we watched Iron Man and two. I wanted to sleep, but did not get very good sleep for fear of her leaving. I did not want to keep her tight up at all times, so I let her be free at this time. I slept a little with my arms around her, and did this to ensure that she would not leave, while at the same time, not having to tie her up. That night I built a campfire outside of my house, drank a bottle of wine, and burned

my shoes. I again slept for a couple of hours, and woke up at midnight. I went downstairs to allow Sarah to use the bathroom as I thought this would prevent her from having any accidents. I made breakfast, did laundry again, and had Sarah wash dishes. I explained to Sarah what, Ramson, was by showing her the definition in a dictionary, and told her she was going to be with me for a while. I told her that she would not be harmed in any way, if she complied with everything. I told her that she would most likely be home by Christmas. On Friday, I set her up in a closet room that I could lock from the outside. I told her that she could read Treasure Island or get some sleep.

I was then able to sleep a couple of hours Friday afternoon. Eventually I woke up, let her shower, did laundry, and Friday night we had hamburgers for dinner. She wanted to go to bed early, so I let her get back into her clothes as soon as the laundry was done. I tied her back up, made the bed for her again, and left her for the night. Friday night was the first night I was able to get a good night's worth of sleep. I woke up Saturday. Did laundry, made breakfast whilst she showered.

I did not tie her up all day Saturday. First time I got to spend with her, we talked. I let her play with. I eventually downloaded videos on how to gift head, and I told her that she should try it. We had all sex. I never physically had to force her to do it. I did not ejaculate in her mouth, as she had stated that she did not want to do that Saturday night was the first night that I placed her into a trash bag So that I would not have to wash the blankets and cheats every day I made her bed that night as I had always done and I went to bed also The police came on Sunday morning and they was glad that she was able to be here united with her family. I would not have heard her. I could not heard her. On Saturday when I had time to actually think I planned on giving her more and more

freedom until she ran away. Once she ran away I was going to take off. I did not plan her think too much about what I was going to do once I ran. I did not enter the house to kill those people. I did not know a single one of them. I did not know their names, and I did not know who all lived at the house. I chose the house to break into because there was not any close neighbors, and they noticed the garage door was a jar. I chose the house the day before. I did not plan for any of this to happen.

I did not want to kill anyone, and I tried to just knock the first woman out so that I would be able to escape. This was not working, a second woman showed up, and things quickly spiraled out of control. They kept escalating and I was panicking. I only chose to process the bodies to make their disposal easier. According to Sarah Maynard herself, Matthew's confession was a far cry from the truth. He said during his confession that he admitted that he bound your hands and your feet, but he also said that he made hamburgers for you. How did he act around you? Was he trying to befriend you or was he constantly threatening you Sarah?

No, I think he was just trying to say that in his letter to make people think that he felt good about himself, to spur him to think that he fed me and stuff and he didn't. He didn't want me to shower or do any of that stuff. Did he just keep you down in his basement? Essentially? Yeah. All right. Well, my name is Dr. Angie Barrell, and I'm a forensic psychologist

and direct a group practice in New York City, which is named at the New York Center for Neural Psychology, the forensic behavioral science. We spoke to Dr. N. G. Burrell to attempt to figure out what was going on inside the mind of Matthew Hoffman. As a forensic psychologist, Dr. Burrell has encountered all kinds of bizarre cases throughout his career. However, he agrees that this case is particularly unusual. case was weird because of several elements obviously that could be commented on.

According to Dr. Burrell, some of the elements of this case strike him as classic traits of a psychopathic killing. The killings themselves, for example, demonstrate a lack of empathy, and Matthew's motivations appear to be partially psychosexual in nature. Some of the other evidence, however, demonstrates that something else might have been going on inside the mind of Matthew Hoffman. Matthew's obsession with leaves, for example, complicates things quite a bit. There's something peculiar about it, and I'm necessarily violent. Just this affinity for leaves and entries, I believe when he hacked up some of the bodies, he hit them in trees and he had leaves in his house and kept kept one little girl of victim there. That's a peculiar set of behaviors.

And I don't think that I can recall other crimes where there is a similar dimension associated with the murder or the sexual crime. The dichotomy between psychopathy and psychosis comes up again and again on this show. But for any new or forgetful listeners out there, psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by narcissism and a lack of empathy. Psychosis, on the other hand, is a mental illness often characterized by delusions or hallucinations. A psychopath operates within the bounds of reality, whereas someone suffering from a psychotic disorder might break from reality altogether. Psychopathy and psychosis are not related to each other, but in this story, it seems to Dr. Burrell that there may be elements of both. No, just that it has the combination of both, you know,

elements of the classic kind of psychopathic, psychosexual killer, and the leaf thing, I mean, as well, I mean, that's what people probably write, write most about, because the leaf seems so weird and odd, and it is odd. It's very hot. So it opens the door up to the possibilities we've already discussed, which is that a type of being psychopathic, and there might be some dimensions to this guy, which really suggests a more profound

dimensions to this guy which really suggests a more profound mental illness than really just being kind of like a psychopathic, you know, empathy less with a sadistic killer. We may never know with certainty what drove Matthew Hoffman to kidnap, or kill complete strangers. No diagnoses have been made public. However, the criminal justice system was able to hold him accountable for his actions. Hey, Mr. Hoffman, do you understand everything that's been said here today? Yeah. It's been indicated to me

that you desire at this time to enter a guilty plea to counts one and count two of the indictment, the charges of aggravated murder, the unclassified felony. Is that a quick statement? On January 6, 2011, Matthew Hoffman pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated burglary, one count of tampering with evidence, one count of kidnapping, one count of rape, three counts of aggravated murder and three counts of gross abuse of a corpse. During the sentencing Sarah Maynard chose to confront the man who had kidnapped her,

raped her, and killed two of her family members. She wrote a letter which was read out loud in court by State Prosecutor John Fatcher. in his life too. My mom constantly worked so I never got to see her and I never really talked to my brother Cody. This is so sick of him, Matthew, to know you even had the guts to do this to a family. Stephanie was a great woman too. She watched Cody and I whenever my mom needed her too, all I'm thinking about is how sick

and disgusting Matthew is. You know during the sentencing, you wanted to confront your kid in that per disgusting Matthew is. You know, during the sentencing, you wanted to confront your kidnap her Hoffman. You had a statement written that was read out loud, not by you, but by others. What did you want to say to him? And why was it important for you to face him?

I wanted to tell him that I wasn't scared of him. I just wanted to live my life. What keeps you strong, Sarah? Just. And so positive. Just making my life go on and not thinking about what's happened in the past. Matthew Hoffman was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. At 13 years old, Sarah Maynard, this incredibly strong and courageous young girl, had already suffered more than any human being should ever have to suffer within a lifetime. But human depravity knows no bounds.

The sole survivor of the 2010 Knox County killing says she's been the victim of abuse after her rescue. And she father and stepmother who have been abusing her. Larry and Tracy Maynard are both charged with assault and domestic violence after the murders. Sarah moved in with her father

Larry Maynard and stepmother Tracy Maynard. In 2013, Larry and Tracy were both charged with assault and domestic violence after Sarah reported to police that they had been physically abusing her. Larry and Tracey Maynard were required to receive psychological counseling and complete parenting classes. Sarah, this poor girl, was granted a protection order, and her custody was transferred to yet another family member. The house we talked about at the beginning of this episode,

where a woman named Bonnie now lives with her family, is the same house where Matthew Hoffman kidnapped Sarah Maynard. It's the same house where he killed and dismembered Stephanie Sprang, Tina Herman, and Cody Maynard. I think about it once in a while, but not a whole lot. I mean, when it comes around to that time, you know, I think about Sarah

because she's got to live with us every day of her life now. Bonnie and her family have brought joy and laughter back into the house. But what took place inside can never be washed away. For everyone who knew Stephanie, Tina and Cody, there will always be a void that can never be filled. And as for Sarah, the memories of what happened there will never go away. But in spite of those memories, that house is still a place where Sarah can feel close

to her mom and brother. According to Bonnie, Sarah still stops by the house every once in a while. A house of memories. Memories of the greatest peaks of love and joy, as well as memories of the darkest events imaginable. Sarah has even came back three times to the house and asked if she could sit on the porch and pray. And I told her that she was welcome there anytime she wanted to stop by. you you