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In this article:
- Matthew Hoffman, dubbed “The Leaf Killer,” killed three people in 2010. He also kidnapped and raped a 13-year-old girl before being caught four days later.
- Hoffman always had a strange love of leaves and trees. In fact, his entire home was filled with leaves and he stuffed his victims into a hollow tree.
- Despite being raped and having her brother and mother viciously murdered, Sarah Hermann was willing to courageously stand up to her killer in court.
Trigger warning: mentions of violence and sexual assault.
Many serial killers have a signature. The so-called “Beltway Snipers” who committed a series of murders in the Washington D.C.-Baltimore area were known for leaving tarot cards behind at the scene of the crime.
Ed Gein was known for using body parts from his victims to make furniture for his home. Keith Hunter Jesperson, a serial killer who wreaked havoc around Portland in 1990, was known for drawing crude smiley faces on confession letters that he sent to media outlets.
However, one serial killer who murdered three people and kidnapped a little girl in 2010 in Ohio had a particularly strange calling card: leaves.
Yes, when Matthew Hoffman was finally captured, the police discovered that rooms of his house were lined wall-to-wall with leaves. The floors of other rooms were likewise covered completely in leaves, all of which were believed to have been collected within a matter of days.
But Matthew Hoffman’s love for leaves didn’t end there. He had been also working as a professional tree trimmer just a short time before committing his atrocious crimes and, in fact, was known to have always had a love of trees and leaves.
Yes, the twisted mind of this sick man managed to corrupt something as wholesome and beautiful as nature. It was this obsession that earned him the nickname “The Leaf Killer.”
This article will detail the horrific crimes of Matthew Hoffman in mid-November of 2010 that victimized the Hermann family and their friend Stephanie Sprang. While most of this story is about the tragic deaths of three people and the sexual abuse of an underage girl, there is a glimmer of optimism towards the end.
Sarah Hermann, the girl who was kidnapped and raped by Hoffman, showed her outstanding bravery and strength by refusing to let this vicious killer intimidate her.
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Who Was Matthew Hoffman?
Now, there is not a whole lot known about who Matthew Hoffman was before he committed a series of despicable crimes in November of 2010. For the most part, he seemed to have been a fairly normal-seeming person up until the few months before the crimes. He was born in 1980 in Warren, Ohio to his parents Robert and Patricia Hoffman.
He was a quiet kid who sometimes came across as strange to others, but no one really believed he was dangerous. And, not that it was any indication of what he would do later in life, but he had a major fascination with trees and leaves.
Previous to the crimes that he committed in 2010, Hoffman was arrested in 2001 for first-degree arson, burglary, and theft after setting a condominium ablaze in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.
After he was released from prison, things started to get even weirder.
Hoffman’s neighbors reported that he started trapping and killing squirrels, sometimes grilling them and eating them. They also reported that he would spend hours up in a tree in his backyard, watching them from his perch.
At the time, Hoffman was also working as a professional tree trimmer. It was clear that his obsession with trees and nature was getting a bit strange. Still, no one could have predicted what he would do in 2010.
The Murders
On the night of November 9, 2010, Matthew Hoffman positioned himself in the woods across from the home of Tina Hermann in Apple Valley, Mount Vernon, Ohio after parking his car a mile away and walking there.
The house was relatively isolated and there were few neighbors in the area. He set up his sleeping bag and camped there until the next morning. Hoffman waited until the two kids in the house, Kody Maynard and Sarah Hermann, went off to school.
Then, once their mother Tina Hermann went out to the store, Hoffman broke into the house and waited.
As soon as Tina returned from the store, Hoffman dragged her into a bedroom and stabbed her several times with a hunting knife, killing her. What Hoffman did not predict, however, is that Tina’s friend Stephanie Sprang was coming to meet Tina at her house that day.
So, Stephanie, who had no idea there was a murder going on inside, entered the house and found herself being brutally stabbed in the chest by Hoffman. Hoffman continued to stab her many times after she was dead.
After the two murders, the family dog began to bark wildly, so Hoffman decided to kill the dog as well. He then dragged all three of them to the bathtub, dismembered them one by one, and put their bodies in trash bags.
Just after attempting to clean up the mess, the two kids, Kody and Sarah, arrived home from school.
As soon as they walked through the door, Hoffman sprung on the children and stabbed Kody, an 11-year-old boy, in the back of the head, killing him immediately. He then stabbed Kody many more times after he was dead.
Hoffman then chased Sarah, a 13-year-old girl, up into her room and tied her up with the cord from the fan in her room.
The Kidnapping
After killing the other members of her family, Matthew Hoffman gagged Sarah Hermann and threw her in the back of Stephanie Sprang’s Jeep next to the trash bags containing the dead bodies.
Hoffman drove the Jeep to his own car, a Toyota Yaris parked a mile from the family’s home and transferred Sarah into that car. He then drove back to his own home and locked Sarah in a bathroom while he hid the bodies of her family.
Afterward, Hoffman was exhausted from a day of bloodthirsty murder, so he decided to take a nap. Not wanting Sarah to escape, he tied her to himself while he slept. Sarah looked around the house in horror as she saw that his walls were lined with bags of leaves and his floor was covered completely in leaves as well.
Eventually, Hoffman awoke, went back to the Hermanns’ house, stole the family truck, and planned to use it to retrieve gas cans that he would use to burn the home down. The truck, however, stalled out, so Hoffman had to abandon it in a parking lot.
Hoffman chained Sarah up in a crawlspace for around three days. The room was covered in leaves, dark, cold, and wet. Hoffman repeatedly raped the little girl. He only fed her rotten food. He fashioned a diaper out of a trash bag that he taped to her body and didn’t let her clean herself.
It was only after three days of being in this crawlspace that police raided the home and discovered Sarah in that appalling condition.
The Arrest and Aftermath
Matthew Hoffman finally became a suspect after he was found sitting in his own car by the abandoned Hermann family truck.
On November 14, 2010, police raided his home and discovered Sarah locked up in the crawlspace. They were not able to untie her until they took pictures of her for evidence.
Once she was finally freed, she asked the police to take her to school, fearing that she would miss out on her studies. This is the kind of incredible person that Sarah Hermann is.
After being arrested, Matthew Hoffman still refused to give up the locations of the bodies of the other three people. It was only after law enforcement brokered a deal that involved taking the death penalty off the table that Hoffman revealed the location.
Sometime after he killed them, he took their bodies out to a remote place in the woods where he climbed a large, hollow tree with an opening about 35 feet up in the air. He used this opening to dump the bodies into this hollow tree, where they surely would have never been found if Hoffman didn’t tell law enforcement.
The liar and monster that Matthew Hoffman is, he tried to tell interviewers that he treated Sarah Hermann with dignity and respect, playing video games, reading books, and watching movies with her.
He said that he cooked meals for her and tried to make her a “comfortable” bed of leaves. All of this was a lie.
In regards to these claims, Sarah Hermann said, “I think he was just trying to say that in his letter to make people think that he felt good about himself, for him to think he fed me and stuff. He didn’t. He didn’t let me shower or do any of that stuff.”
During Hoffman’s trial, Sarah Hermann requested that she make a statement to him in court; however, she was advised not to. According to her, “I wanted to tell him that I wasn’t scared of him. I just wanted to live my life.”
In January 2011, Matthew Hoffman pleaded guilty to 10 counts and was sentenced to life without parole.
I have read this story over and over again, and none of it makes sense, other than suggesting maybe that is a sign of mental illness combined with stupidity. It was all planned the knife purchase, the trash bags, the killings and the body disposal, even the dog had to die. It needs to be said that he denied three people the right to live, but will not kill himself as an act of remorse. So does this tell us he’s not as crazy as he wants us to believe?
It’s quite obvious that Joseph doesn’t do his homework or proofreads his articles too well. Directly in the paragraph where he describes the actual murders he calls Tina by The KILLER’S last name in one particular sentence. Come on dude you’re getting paid to type and write public articles. And his description of how police tracked the killer down is not accurate as well. If you want to see an accurate depiction of what really happened then go on YouTube EWU channel. They even have the interrogation video.
I’m with Killua. I wanted to learn more about the crime scene and this article came up. I thought it was written by a child at first. Very bias and non informative. Two thumbs down.
I had a rant here, but it was a little too mean-spirited. Sarah’s last name is Maynard, you idiot. The rest of the article is just garbage. Quit writing; you’re not good at it and never will be.
So much of this article is factually incorrect. Firstly he didn’t camp outside the home. He was out camping the night before and passed their home on the way back the following day when he saw the garage door was open at the bottom and took an opportunity. He didn’t plan to kill, his intention was robbery and arson like his previous convictions but Tina came home earlier than he expected. He attempted to knock her out multiple times but failed, Stephanie walked in and he panicked so killed them both, whilst dismembering their bodies the kids came home. They saw the blood and then him appear in the hallway and both ran, Sarah managed to get to her room and that’s when he killed Kody. He then kidnapped Sarah who he bound and gagged in the basement. Sarah was unaware at this point whether her family were alive or not but knew they were hurt because of the blood and the gurgling noises she heard from her brother. He went back to the scene and continued dismembering the victims including Kody and put them into bags and hid them in a hollowed out tree. He sexually assaulted Sarah but he was convinced they had a connection, he allowed her to shower, play video games, watch films together and would buy her burgers to eat. Whilst under arrest he wrote a 10 page confession letter telling authorities the details of what happened and where to locate the bodies. All of this is public record. Plus it’s all information easily obtained if you’ve ever actually watched any of the documentaries on this or even accessed a reputable site for correct information.
Didnt plan to kill but brought a knife and berserker killed three people. Are you shitting me? Of course in his words…..he just went there to rob them. I work in the mental health field and have an Autistic son that is in his 20s. Matt seems to probably be high on the Autism spectrum, and his family seems to have failed this guy. He is definitely mentally ill and should NEVER be let out.
Stop giving this monster any type of free reign or wiggle room for what he did, you fucking idiot. This prick needs to be abused ritually day after day in prison for what he’s done. You’re not actually shedding a tear for this asshole are you?