Disturbing missing persons case in Ohio.

[Pudge]

This originally started out as four missing on Wednesday, with a truck belonging to one of the women located on Thursday. Yesterday the 13 year old daughter was located bound and gagged in a man's (connection to the victim and other three unknown) home. The brother to the girl, the mother, and the mother's friend have yet to be located.

Sheriff: 3 Missing People Could Be Dead | WBNS-10TV, Central Ohio News


MOUNT VERNON, Ohio — The Knox County sheriff announced on Monday that a special tip line was established for information about three people who have been missing since last week.

Sheriff David Barber said that authorities want to remain optimistic that Tina Herrmann, 32; her son, Kody, 11; and a friend, Stephanie Sprang, 41, are alive.
Barber added that "there is a possibility" that the three were killed.
His comments were made one day after a 13-year-old girl who was also missing was found alive, bound and gagged in the basement of a Mount Vernon home.
Matthew Hoffman, 30, was arrested and charged with Sarah Maynard's kidnapping. The 13-year-old was removed from Hoffman's home after authorities swarmed the location on Sunday morning.
Barber said that Sarah Maynard was released from a hospital and was at home with family members.
Investigators tracked Hoffman down with the help of a receipt for a tarp that was purchased at a Walmart store in Mount Vernon, 10TV News reported.

[dadyswat]

This one doesn't look good. I just wonder if the girl was able to give them much help but if she could I think they would be further along.

[Pudge]

This one doesn't look good. I just wonder if the girl was able to give them much help but if she could I think they would be further along.

I have to wonder if there's more than one suspect considering there were four taken. I can't imagine one person could take and deal with four all alone.

[dadyswat]

Unless he wacked them right up front and was dealing with the bodies.

[Pudge]

Unless he wacked them right up front and was dealing with the bodies.

True.

I've been listening to Knox Co on a website I use at work for scanning out of the area freq's. Knox County, Ohio (OH) Live Police, Fire, and EMS Scanners on RadioReference.com

I'll be interested to see if at any point they ask for outside agencies for help searching. If so, I'll go if I'm able.

[dadyswat]

I was following the news last night and today it sounded like there is still one car unaccounted for, is that right? If so I'll bet that's the key.

[Pudge]

I was following the news last night and today it sounded like there is still one car unaccounted for, is that right? If so I'll bet that's the key.

I'm not sure. I had been following it on onn's site and they had photos of vehicles, but were asking the public to remember if they'd seen those vehicles anywhere within the timeframe they went missing. I don't remember seeing if any were unaccounted for.

I had to learn about the entire incident from the internet when at work. I later spoke with one of my county's Deputies and he said, "Oh, we got a BOLO on that". So, if there is one vehicle still out there, or any LE info being shared I probably won't see it at briefing tonight when I go in unless the right dispatcher was working when a TTY was sent.

[Pudge]

I was following the news last night and today it sounded like there is still one car unaccounted for, is that right? If so I'll bet that's the key.

They did post some new info just a little while ago on Cleveland's ABC station.

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio - Search crews found more possible clues Wednesday in the case of three missing people from Knox County.
According to Lisa Kelley, a volunteer from Columbus who is assisting with the search, her team recovered a tennis shoe, burnt hair clip, white sheet and a purple sweatshirt near a creek. Kelley said investigators took the items away to be processed.
The creek is not far from 30-year-old Matthew Hoffman’s home. He’s been arrested and charged with kidnapping after 13-year-old Sarah Maynard was found bound and gagged in his basement.
During a news conference Wednesday updating the status of the investigation, Knox County Sheriff David Barber said he is not sure yet whether the items found by searchers are relevant to the disappearance of 32-year-old Tina Herrmann; her 10-year-old son, Kody Maynard; and her 41-year-old friend, Stephanie Sprang. They haven't been seen for a week.
Sheriff Barber said search efforts are continuing throughout the county, and tips continue to come in regarding the case. He said some of the tips have been helpful in the investigation.
The sheriff released these descriptions of what the missing people were last seen wearing:
Tina: White ballcap, tan hoodie, dark-colored sweatpants, tennis shoes
Cody: Black shoes, jeans, gray T-shirt, blue zippered hoodie
Stephanie: No information yet

Searchers find new items near suspect

[dadyswat]

That doesn't sound good. I think they should all realize that these people are dead and now it's a matter of finding the remains. I guess the guy was had for arson before so that may be his way of trying to dispose of the evidence.

[Captain America]

Fox News is reporting that they have received word from the Knox County S.O. the bodies of the missing have been found dead. Rest in peace. May justice be swift.

[dadyswat]

I just saw on the local news site but it didn't say much.

[Pudge]

May they rest easy.

Press conference scheduled at 4 was all I got. Couldn't find much on Fox's mobile version. I'll look more when I get home.

[Buttercup]

May they rest in peace.

[Pudge]

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio (AP) —
An unemployed tree-trimmer arrested after a teenage girl was found bound and gagged in his basement pointed the way Thursday to the bodies of her brother, mother and another woman, stuffed into garbage bags and hidden in a hollow tree, authorities said.

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.

"The tragedy today is just devastating," said Knox County prosecutor John Thatcher. "The results aren't what we wanted them to be."

Knox County Sheriff David Barber said part of the tree had to be cut away to remove the remains.

"The tree was hollow to a point," the sheriff said, adding it would be speculation to understand how the remains were put into the tree.

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 Thursday that he could not comment.

Sarah, her mother, Tina Herrmann, 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 near where the pickup was found.

A SWAT team found Sarah over the weekend in the basement of Hoffman's home in Mount Vernon, about 40 miles 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."

A day after finding Sarah, authorities conceded that the others were likely dead. Still, volunteers and authorities on the ground and in the air continued to search ponds, vacant buildings and bike trails for Kody, 32-year-old Herrmann and 41-year-old Sprang.

The remains were found in a wildlife preserve in Fredericktown, about a 15-mile drive from Hoffman's home and about a 20-mile drive from the Herrmann home. The rural site is about a quarter mile from two churches, and an Amish horse-drawn buggy passed after three white hearses had driven away.

An officer remained at the site with a sheriff's cruiser and an Ohio Department of Natural Resources vehicle as darkness began to fall.

At the Herrmann home Thursday, three purple, star-shaped helium balloons had been left in the yard and two bouquets of flowers were resting against a tree. County Coroner Jennifer Ogle said the bodies have been taken to the coroner's office in neighboring Licking County and that results would be released from her office as early as Saturday.

Sheriff: Suspect Led Authorities to 3 Bodies in Knox County - WJW

[lewisipso]

Unbelievable.

[Pudge]

COLUMBUS, Ohio - 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 earlier this month.
Eastern Knox County Joint Fire District Chief Larry Stimpert said 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 did not extend inside the home.
He says the fire is being investigated. No one was home at the time.

Chief: Suspicious fire at home where 3 slain



Things that make you go "hmmmmm"

[Five-0]

Wouldn't mind knowing the whereabouts of Matthew Hoffman's friends and family during the times of this "incident".

[Pudge]

Wouldn't mind knowing the whereabouts of Matthew Hoffman's friends and family during the times of this "incident".

Agreed. Makes you wonder what numbskull thought that they may try to help get rid of evidence after the fact.