An unemployed tree-trimmer arrested after a teenage girl was found bound and gagged in his basement pointed the way to the bodies of her brother, mother and another woman, stuffed into garbage bags and hidden in a hollow tree, authorities said on Thursday.
The three victims and the rescued 13-year-old disappeared more than a week ago from a blood-spattered home. Authorities said all three were killed there, though they did not say how, and that the tree-trimmer, Matthew Hoffman, gave investigators information through his attorneys that led them to the bodies in woods in central Ohio.
Knox County Sheriff David Barber said part of the hollow tree had to be cut away to remove the remains.
Hoffman, an ex-convict who spent six years in a Colorado prison on arson and other charges, remained jailed on charges of kidnapping the girl, Sarah Maynard, and is the only suspect in the killings, Barber said.
The 30-year-old has appeared in court, but has not entered a plea.
Knox County Public Defender Bruce Malek, who is representing Hoffman, said he could not comment on Thursday.
Sarah, her mother, Tina Herr-mann, her 11-year-old brother, Kody Maynard, and family friend Stephanie Sprang were reported missing after Herrmann failed to show up for work at a local Dairy Queen on Nov. 10.
A day later, a deputy found what authorities called an unusual amount of blood inside her home and her pickup truck was found near the campus of Kenyon College. Hoffman was questioned that same day — Barber said police found him sitting in his car near a bike trail where the pickup was found.
A police commando team found Sarah over the weekend in the basement of Hoffman’s home in Mount Vernon, about 64km northeast of Columbus. Investigators would not discuss details of her ordeal, but have said she is doing well, considering the circumstances.
“We’re inspired by Sarah’s bravery,” Barber said.
He said Sarah was home at the time of the killings, but added, “What she saw, I can’t speak to that.”
The remains were found in a wildlife preserve in Fredericktown, about a 24km drive from Hoffman’s home and about a 32km drive from the Herrmann home.
Barber declined to speculate on a motive. It was unclear how well Hoffman knew the four, but the sheriff suggested that the defendant had been watching them. He lived about 16km from Herrmann’s home — a split-level house surrounded by a big yard, trees and two country roads — but his mother and stepfather own a home less than a kilometer away.
Hoffman’s former girlfriend claimed he choked her, pushed her against a wall and pinned her neck with his forearm during an argument at his house on Oct. 24, according to a police report.
Hoffman’s Colorado convictions stemmed from a town house fire set to cover up a burglary.
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