GUILTY OH - Two women & child killed, 13yo abducted, Apple Valley, 10 Nov 2010 #7

[Leila]

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/11/18/Bodies-found-are-3-missing-Ohioans/UPI-84811290126303/

I do not know how reliable this news source is? But it is the first I have read of the bodies being dismembered.

Could be poor reporting. If not, possibly the Topix posts were true. This person is a beast, I do not care how much remorse he may feel, ever!

"The bodies of Tina Herrmann, 32; her 11-year-old son, Kody Maynard; and family friend Stephanie Sprang, 41, were found dismembered "in a wooded area inside of garbage bags in a hollow tree" near Fredericktown"
UPI News

I wouldn't be surprised if this turned out to be true. :frown: I'm thinking of the logistics of putting three bodies into a hollow tree, and I can't see how an intact body would fit without it being dismembered?

 

[MCDRAW]

Per twitter: The tree has been cut down.

 

[Tikki]

I wouldn't be surprised if this turned out to be true. :frown: I'm thinking of the logistics of putting three bodies into a hollow tree, and I can't see how an intact body would fit without it being dismembered?

Also I don't think he could carry all of them intact, SS weighed I think 130 lbs? I think this is why he needed the bags, to make several trips? jmo

And this may sound strange, but when I saw this I wondered if he had heard about Zahra and this gave him ideas? But seems like it was planned before that came out, sick minds maybe think alike? jmo

 

[Leila]

Idk, the tree hollow sure didnt look very big in that pic upthread. I hope it actually was big enough and that he did need a hoist.

I think the fact that he placed the three bodies into a hollow tree is a big clue in regards to this being a premeditated homicide. A hollowed out tree is not that common. He had to have scouted out wooded areas looking for a hollowed out tree in advance. I can't see him killing Tina, Kody, and Stephanie and then going out to look for a hollow tree.

 

[Wil.J]

Wil J. - am I correct in my assumptions (from limited pictures I have seen) that the Herrmann residence is a "more remote" location than Stephanie Sprang's neighborhood?

This link is the map (sorry, I can't remember who originally posted it), and you will see that SS's house is not too far from the TH family residence (although the Hermann residence is somewhat more remote).

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...0958,-82.40208&spn=0.001809,0.003264&t=h&z=19

In my mind, the significant thing is that the place where they were found was about 12 miles away (more or less NW) from the SS and TH homes.

 

[gxm]

Sorry! I just hope LE is checking on the poster who said to look in the trees.He mentioned climbing and dropping them into a tree, very weird!

ETA The poster could not have been part of LE because this was said way before they knew where the bodies were.

Good point. Now I'm wondering when the comments were posted. Were they posted before MH was arrested, or after? IMO, to be that close to the truth, the person had to have been told by MH, or maybe MH had fantasized out loud about "how to hide a body" and it's someone who had heard his twisted ramblings. Though you'd think they would have just gone to the police. It's just too close, and creepy, for coincidence.

 

[jazzelwood]

No way this was random...he planned this and if he hadn't given up the bodies -- they never would have been found. Now -- WHO ELSE HAS HE DONE THIS TO?? How many other bodies are out there....

I hope I linked this right. The quote is from the article link.

http://www.10tv.com/live/content/lo...n-knox-county-missing-found-tree.html?sid=102

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.

Fast Eddies said he was a crappy tree trimer

 

[nao]

If you layed 3 bodies on a tarp you could slide it very easily. A decent tarp wont shred and you can haul alot of weight and they really do slide easy. A landscaper gave me this tip when i was clearing brush and branchs with a wheel barrow, using the tarp cut the clean up time by 3/4, and you can slide an amazing amount of weight. jmo

 

[mikeysmommom]

He climbed up the tree so the top part had to have been hollow.I wonder if he made the hole bigger?I guess LE could tell when they examine the tree.Might have cut it down to examine it for evidence.What a sick and depraved mind!!!

 

[Leila]

Yes, I am sure that they would have been found eventually.

Cadaver dogs can even detect a body under concrete. It all depends on if they would have taken cadaver dogs to that location (and I think they would have).

Just the other day (Tuesday and/or Wednesday?) EMA had 80 dogs out searching. Prior to that, there were several times that dogs went out searching (not as many at a time, though).

I'm not sure of this, but wasn't this the area where a local reported either seeing a dark, speeding truck and/or the parked light-colored truck? It's been hard to keep it all straight due to MSM messing up so many of the so-called details.

And just given not finding them closer to the homes, it's my opinion that they would have branched out in ever-widening circles. They weren't going to give up.

I'm wondering about something................is it deer-hunting season in Ohio right now? I'm originally from upstate NY and I remember that deer season opens about a week prior to Thanksgiving. The hunters hope for light snow to be able to track the deer.

I think it's possible that hunters might have found something eventually.

 

[chelle500]

Sorry! I just hope LE is checking on the poster who said to look in the trees.He mentioned climbing and dropping them into a tree, very weird!

ETA The poster could not have been part of LE because this was said way before they knew where the bodies were.

I bet the person who said that wasn't thinking inside a tree. More like in the tree top, if that makes sense.

 

[tfrohning]

I think they knew Sarah was in the house because of a witness they are keeping this witness hushed in the press.

The man had bags of leaves hung from the inside ceiling in his house! Clearly a profound fetish with nature/trees. I'm wondering if on one of his outings in the woods, he saw that hollow out tree and put the bodies in Bags (leaves) and returned them to the dead tree, because in his mind maybe that was going to heal the tree, vindication for that tree (if he is looking at trees as human with feelings)

Why would you have leaves in a bag suspended from the ceiling? It has to be a fetish!

Hmmm maybe alread posted and i just catchup

They Call it Dendrophilia...
Dendrophilia refers to those people who are turned on by trees. Yes, sexually aroused by foliage.

Because trees were ancient symbols of fertility, they presented a visual embodiment of growth. In some old rites, the virile males would go out into the forest and ejaculate on the trunks of the trees, as a symbolic fertilization of Gaia.

An observer of the Mehinaku tribe of South America during the 1960's, had this to say
more at link
http://www.sexscrolls.com/portal/dend.html

 

[Sneechwatcher]

Tanner was in that tree too.

http://www.10tv.com/live/content/lo...n-knox-county-missing-found-tree.html?sid=102

 

[JoeFromLB]

Good point. Now I'm wondering when the comments were posted. Were they posted before MH was arrested, or after? IMO, to be that close to the truth, the person had to have been told by MH, or maybe MH had fantasized out loud about "how to hide a body" and it's someone who had heard his twisted ramblings. Though you'd think they would have just gone to the police. It's just too close, and creepy, for coincidence.

Assuming for the moment the comments were posted before his arrest, could the poster have been MH himself??

I'm getting the idea here that he wants the whole world to know exactly what he did to these people.

 

[mikeysmommom]

Good point. Now I'm wondering when the comments were posted. Were they posted before MH was arrested, or after? IMO, to be that close to the truth, the person had to have been told by MH, or maybe MH had fantasized out loud about "how to hide a body" and it's someone who had heard his twisted ramblings. Though you'd think they would have just gone to the police. It's just too close, and creepy, for coincidence.

It was posted after he was in custody, IIRC it was the night before they found the bodies.

 

[peel]

chances are, he probably knew about the tree from all of his wanderings....he probably squatted in that tree and pretended to be an animal and lurked at any activities outside...

this guy is pure evil mixed with psychosis...

 

[Leila]

I had a hard time sleeping last night -- my mind kept wandering to the located bodies and how they were found.

[WARNING: the next paragraph is not for the faint of heart.]

It is my theory that they were probably dismembered and put in quite a few garbage bags as it would be difficult for a single individual to drag one whole body a mile through the woods. I wonder if the blood found at his house indicated that he had dragged the bodies in garbage bags through the house after dismembering them in the bathroom. It is hard to find a garbage bag that did not leak a little bit if there were fluids in it along with dry trash.

I believe there is a lot LE has not told us, probably due to the gruesome nature of these murders.

May their souls rest in peace.

I agree. Going back to some of the first reports, the sheriff would only says there was something "unusual" in the house in regards to the conditions, and a significant amount of blood. It was the curious wording that has had many here wondering. There was something highly unusual about the inside of the house.

 

[gxm]

I bet the person who said that wasn't thinking inside a tree. More like in the tree top, if that makes sense.

I don't know. Maybe my imagination is getting the best of me but IIRC the commenter said to look inside a hollow tree. And the tone of the comment was rather insistent. Almost like instructions. But if the comments are removed then we won't be able to go back to them to verify any of this.

 

[SmoothOperator]

Maybe MH felt safe in trees.

This may be the case for whatever whacked out reason...I certainly wish he would've climbed his azz in the hollowed out tree and well, made that his final resting place..He could be all safe and happy in his tree and become one with the damn thing..

just makes me sick what absolute criminally sick ppl are everywhere..why in his previous trouble with the law was he never put into a mental facility and medicated? these parents had to know their son was ill..why not anything done?

neighbors from years and years and years ago all have the same statements that there was obviously something wrong with Hoffman..scary wrong!

 

[Leila]

I don't think a searcher would pay any attention to a tree with a hole in it either. I have never heard of anything like this and I have read about many crimes and murders. It is a very scary way to dispose of a body. But I have read about cases where bodies were buried for years before the killer gave up the location from prison, Alice Donovan, which is just sad to me. Families should be able to give their loved ones a proper burial with dignity.

I know Alice Donovan's sister. That was another heartbreaking case, and I'm glad Alice's remains were found after all those years.