Missing Ohio Family--3 murdered

[Duchess]

I'd like to know what the young girl was able to tell law enforcement but, they won't share that with us...or will they?

[Lady Cop]

I'd like to know what the young girl was able to tell law enforcement but, they won't share that with us...or will they?

they haven't yet, but i am guessing that if she KNEW, and told what she knew, they would be found/recovered by now.

[Lady Cop]

a little info on one of the missing victims, Stephanie Sprang.
i have no idea if these are of any consequence other than as a point of interest. i don't know who her associates might be.


2007 - OVI
2001 - DRIVING UNDER SUSPENSION
2000 - OBSTRUCTING OFFICIAL BUSINESS
1998 - DRIVING UNDER FRA SUSPENSION
1998 - VICIOUS DOG/FAILURE TO CONFINE

AKAs:
1996 - Kupiec
1998 - Glancy
2000 - Thompson
2001 - Cochran
2007 - Sprang

[Lady Cop]

10TVNews
HOWARD, Ohio — Search efforts for three missing people continued in Knox County late Wednesday night, and investigators were examining new pieces of recovered evidence, including a blue sweatshirt.

One of the missing, Kody Maynard, was last seen wearing a similar piece of clothing, 10TV reported.

Authorities did not say if they believed the sweatshirt belonged to Maynard.

[Lady Cop]

NBC4

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio --

Eight days after being reported missing, sources confirm that the bodies of missing Knox County boy and two women have been found dead.

The bodies were found in the northwest part of the county above Apple Valley Thursday, sources told NBC 4.

According to the Knox County Sheriff's Office, Thursday's regularly-scheduled news conference was rescheduled for 4 p.m.



i am hearing they were actually found wed. night. but family not notified until today. he fucking had to kill a 10-year-old boy?! may he die screaming.

[Duchess]

I hope they tell us how this all came about. I'd be interested in knowing some details.

[Lady Cop]

presser live here any minute, right now.
chopper is hovering over site where bodies evidently still are.


bodies being loaded into hearses.

http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/breaking_live_stream/

[BlueTiki]

he fucking had to kill a 10-year-old boy?! may he die screaming.

General Population. Please. General Population.

[Lady Cop]

hoffman told the sheriff where the bodies were through his lawyer.
i can barely imagine how, but they were in plastic garbage bags in a hollow tree! what the hell!?
were they dismembered?
the young girl who was rescued from basement was in the house when they were all killed.

3 hearses just left scene.

[Lady Cop]

the coroner will have a presser on Sat.
photos below are of tree, it has been cut down.
they NEVER would have been found if he hadn't told his lawyer where they were. positively machiavellian.
Jesus Christ.

10 News:

The Licking County coroner was performing autopsies on Friday to determine how the three were killed.

Knox County Sheriff David Barber said that investigators went to the site, located near Fredericktown, based on information they received from Hoffman.

Neither Barber nor Knox County prosecutor John C. Thatcher would say whether Hoffman, 30, confessed to the crime.

The bodies were found inside a hollow tree that was nearly one mile into the woods. Investigators said the area is so densely wooded that they believe Hoffman dragged the bodies to the tree.

Detectives believe that Hoffman, an experienced tree trimmer, used harnesses to haul the bodies up to a hole at the top of the tree and dropped them down to the base, Ramos reported.

The bodies were found lodged near the bottom of the tree and investigators had to cut a hole to remove them, Ramos reported.

Herrmann's dog was found stuffed in the tree, 10TV News reported.

[Lady Cop]

more shots of the tree, the hole LE cut out to access the bodies, then the tree was cut down. 60' beech tree.
stunning in its evil.
hoffman had to know about this hollow tree and plan in advance.

[Duchess]

I'm not giving that guy any credit, I don't want my words to be taken as such but, that was pretty fuckin' ingenious.

[IMaDick]

being a criminal does not always equate to dumb, in fact if left up to man against man brain against brain most would get away, it's technology that most often captures these bastards.

without the forensic tools even some of those who are caught would get off in court.

what pisses me off is we still have to pay big dollars to prosectute and then big dollars for years and years and years to keep these sick fuckers alive, free health care, dental, college,food and all the other amenities of the living, while the dead victims and their families continue to struggle pay taxes,and many times become unstable due to the crimes which were perpetrated upon them.

justice is supposed to be sure and swift.

[Lady Cop]

what absolute unspeakable horror.
and the little girl probably witnessed this. it has been reported she heard bathtub water running.

Coroner: 2 Ohio women, boy stabbed and dismembered

(AP) – 2 hours ago

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio (AP) — Two women and an 11-year-old boy were stabbed to death and dismembered before their remains were placed in a hollow tree, a coroner said Saturday, confirming the fears of many in this tiny Ohio town where the three went missing.

Preliminary autopsy reports show that Tina Herrmann, her son Kody Maynard and her friend Stephanie Sprang were attacked with a knife and stabbed multiple times in the back and chest, Knox County Coroner Jennifer Ogle said.

"They were then placed inside large plastic garbage bags and later lowered into the hollow of a large tree," Ogle said in a statement.
"The most challenging and heartbreaking thing I have had to do as coroner is discuss these findings with the families of the deceased victims."

[Satan Herself]

I was thinking the same thing then I realized cadaver dogs would hit on the tree...? *Eyeballs LC*

[Lady Cop]

I was thinking the same thing then I realized cadaver dogs would hit on the tree...? *Eyeballs LC*

thinking what? that they would never have been found?
the tree was a mile into the woods quite some distance (20 miles) from the homes and park where clothing was found, so there would have been no reason for the dogs to have been brought to the area.

[Lady Cop]

i wouldn't expect any movement in this case for some time, not even murder charges yet.


NBC4
MOUNT VERNON, Ohio --

Attorneys for Matthew Hoffman have waived his right to a preliminary hearing scheduled fo Tuesday. Hoffman is being held in the Knox County Jail on a $1 million bond. He is charged with the kidnapping of Sarah Maynard and is the lone suspect in the killings of Kody Maynard, Tina Herrmann, and Stephanie Sprang.

By waiving the preliminary hearing, the case against Hoffman will move from Mount Vernon Municipal Court to Knox County Court of Common Pleas. Knox County Prosecutor John Thatcher said he may present additional charges against Hoffman within four to six weeks.

Family and friends are preparing to hold funeral services for the victims. Visitation for Tina Herrmann and Kody Maynard are open to the public on Tuesday between 2-4pm and 6-9pm at Peace Lutheran Church in Gahanna. Their funeral will be at 11:30am Wednesday at the same location.

Visitation for Stephanie Sprang will be held Tuesday from 2-4 pm and 6-8 pm at Flowers-Snyder Funeral Home in Mount Vernon. Sprang's funeral will be a private family service.

Signs of support for the victims and their families are on display across Knox County.

[Cracker]

I knew this story wouldn't end well. There are some messed up people in the world. I hate it that taxpayers in that state will have to pay for his trial and for his care now. He needs some range justice. It is much more cost effective and allows people to move on with their lives. I wouldn't want to sit on that trial and hear the evidence if I knew I was going to vote to kill him. Just kill him.

[Lady Cop]

GAHANNA, Ohio (AP) — The family of a mother and son who were stabbed to death and whose remains were found in a tree in central Ohio are thanking the nation for its "outpouring of love, prayers and support."

The statement was released to the media Tuesday by relatives of Tina Herrmann and her 11-year-old son, Kody Maynard, as a visitation service started at a church in Gahanna, a Columbus suburb.

The remains of Herrmann, her son and another woman were found last week in a hollow tree trunk in a wildlife preserve about a 20-mile drive from Herrmann's home in Howard.

The discovery came after a weeklong search. Herrmann's daughter had been found four days earlier, bound and gagged in the basement of a nearby home.

The homeowner has been charged with kidnapping.


COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Authorities are investigating what they call a suspicious fire that broke out at a central Ohio home where two women and an 11-year-old boy were stabbed to death before their remains were placed in a tree.

Eastern Knox County Joint Fire District Chief Larry Stimpert says firefighters were sent Monday night to the Howard home of Tina Herrmann, where they found the porch on fire.

Stimpert says the fire was quickly contained. He says it burned the porch and melted some siding but didn't extend inside the home.

The cause of the fire is being investigated. No one was home at the time.

Visitation services are being held Tuesday for Herrmann and the other two victims killed at the home. Their remains were found last week in a hollow tree trunk in a wildlife preserve about 20 miles away.

[Lady Cop]

A tearful goodbye for Knox County victims
Wednesday, November 24, 2010

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Two lines of mourners visited two families yesterday to pay respects to the three victims of a heinous homicide case.

In Gahanna, 13-year-old Sarah Maynard, the sole survivor of a seemingly random kidnapping that took the lives of her mother and brother, received hugs at Peace Lutheran Church.

Mourners joined her to say goodbye to Tina Herrmann, 32, and 11-year-old Kody Maynard.

The two will be buried together today in Reynoldsburg.

Many of the same people stopped by during calling hours at the Flowers-Snyder Funeral Home in Mount Vernon to comfort the family of Herrmann's friend Stephanie L. Sprang, 41. There will be a private family burial for her today in Mount Vernon.

The bodies of Herrmann, Kody and Sprang were found Thursday at the bottom of a hollow beech tree in Knox County. They had been missing since Nov. 10, when the three and Sarah disappeared from Herrmann's Apple Valley home.

Sarah was later found bound in the basement of Matthew J. Hoffman, 30, who is being held in lieu of $1 million cash bail on kidnapping charges.

Yesterday, those who loved the three tried to remember the positive memories instead of their final moments.

No child should have to say goodbye to her mother and her brother in the same day. But that's what Sarah did, just nine days after she was freed and brought home to other family members.

As she stood in a receiving line yesterday, Sarah was surrounded by family, including her dad, Larry Maynard, friends said. One of those giving his condolences was Knox County Sheriff David B. Barber, who had called Sarah the "epitome of bravery" after she was found.

"They're surrounded by family and they're doing the best that they can," said Michelle Rutherford, a longtime friend of Sarah's stepmother.

"I'm sure tomorrow's going to be a lot worse, but they're keeping their heads up."

Friends walked out of the church yesterday clutching sunflowers, one of Herrmann's favorite flowers, and baseballs, for Kody's favorite sport, with his name, birth and death dates.

"I wrote, 'We miss you, and always will miss you,'" said Keisha Frazee, 11, whose mother, Teresa Partlow, had worked with Herrmann at the Dairy Queen in Mount Vernon.

"When I pull into work, I expect to find her truck there," Partlow said.

Partlow and co-worker Beverley Healy remembered her as a joker who was full of energy and life.

In a statement, the Herrmann and Maynard families thanked "the nation for the outpouring of love, prayers and support that you all continue to provide," including those who have donated money at a Fifth Third bank account to support Sarah Maynard.

"To the residents of Knox County who grieve with us as well, we would like to share that all of you who are touched by this tragedy, whether directly or indirectly, are in our hearts and prayers."

Other than the size of the crowd in Mount Vernon, the farewell to Sprang wasn't that different from calling hours for any other mother, daughter or friend. Loved ones said it was testament to the fact that she was an ordinary person who was visited by a horrific act of violence.

Photos on a screen faded in and out, pictures that could have been in anyone's family album - a toddler bundled in a puffy winter coat, a little girl in a frilly dress, and pictures of an older girl, then a young woman in a series of graduation caps, a long white wedding gown and with family in front of the Christmas tree.

The only real hint that something was different was the occasional whisper of disbelief about how the mother of three came to be lying in that closed silver casket adorned with white and pink flowers.

"She was a beautiful person inside and out," said family friend Jessie Lucas. "It's unreal that somebody could do something like this to her, to a family. The whole community is hurting and pulling together."

Friends from the golf course where Sprang once worked said her smile and positive disposition were infectious.

"Her laugh was unmistakable, just loud and always full of joy. You always knew what hole she was on because you could hear that laugh," said Shannon Beheler, one of Sprang's golfing partners.

The immediate family didn't comment during the visiting hours, sticking close to one another.

Nancy Thompson, 54, a relative, said nothing has really sunk in yet. But she said the community support seems to be lending the family strength.

She gestured toward the constant flow of people walking through the funeral home doors.

"It kind of restores your faith in humanity," she said.

tree at the murder house.
and mourners.