Before the 2010 murders, Hoffman had served a significant prison sentence in Colorado. In 2000 he committed burglary and vehicle theft in Steamboat Springs and then set fire to a townhome in an effort to conceal evidence. The blaze destroyed or damaged multiple homes and caused losses reported near two million dollars.
After returning to Ohio, Hoffman worked at times as a tree trimmer and bought a house near Mount Vernon. Neighbors later described him as eccentric and intensely interested in trees and leaves, although such observations were made after the crime and should not be treated as predictors of violence.
On November 10, 2010, Hoffman entered Tina Herrmann’s home during what he later described as a burglary. Herrmann, 32, her son Kody Maynard, 11, and family friend Stephanie Sprang, 41, were killed by stabbing. Herrmann’s 13-year-old daughter was abducted.
Hoffman dismembered the three bodies and concealed them in garbage bags inside a hollow beech tree in rural Knox County. The family dog was also found with the remains.
The surviving child was taken to Hoffman’s Mount Vernon home and held captive in the basement. She was bound and gagged, sexually assaulted and held there for nearly four days.
A major break came from retail evidence. Investigators traced tarps and heavy-duty trash bags found at the crime scene through product codes to a Walmart purchase, then used surveillance video and vehicle records to identify Hoffman.
On November 14, officers executed a search warrant at Hoffman’s home. They encountered piles of leaves several feet deep in the living room, more than one hundred bags of leaves in the bathroom, and a cabinet blocking a basement door. Behind it they found the kidnapped child alive.
On November 18, Hoffman directed authorities to the hollow tree containing the three victims’ remains. Prosecutors later said investigators likely would not have found the precise location without his information.
In January 2011 Hoffman pleaded guilty to ten felony counts, including three aggravated murders, aggravated burglary, kidnapping, rape, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse. Judge Otho Eyster sentenced him to life imprisonment without parole on the murder counts plus additional terms.
The death penalty was not pursued after consultation with the victims’ families. As of 2026, Ohio DRC lists Hoffman at Toledo Correctional Institution, offender A645571.
