MOUNT VERNON, Ohio — Three people who vanished from a blood-spattered home more than a week ago were found dead inside a hollow tree Thursday, days after the teenage daughter of one of the victims was rescued — bound and gagged — from the basement of an ex-convict who had worked as a tree trimmer.
Authorities said all three were killed in the home, although they did not say how, and the ex-con gave information that led investigators to the bodies in garbage bags in the woods in central Ohio.
He remained jailed on kidnapping charges and was the only suspect in the killings, Knox County Sheriff David Barber said.
“The tragedy today is just devastating,” said Knox County prosecutor John Thatcher.
The mother, her daughter and son, and a family friend were reported missing after the mother 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 in Gambier, Ohio.
On Sunday, a SWAT team found Sarah Maynard, 13, in the basement of the home of Matthew Hoffman, an unemployed tree trimmer who spent six years in a Colorado prison. He was charged with kidnapping the teen and has appeared in court, but he did not enter a plea.
Investigators would not discuss details of Sarah’s ordeal but have said she is doing well, under the circumstances.
“We’re inspired by Sarah’s bravery,” Barber said.
A day after finding Sarah, authorities conceded that the others were probably dead. Still, volunteers and authorities on the ground continued to search for Maynard’s mother, 32-year-old Tina Herrmann; Herrmann’s 10-year-old son, Kody; and her friend Stephanie Sprang, 41.
It was unclear how well Hoffman knew the four, but the sheriff suggested that the defendant had been watching them.
The sheriff said authorities first questioned Hoffman the day after Herrmann failed to show up for work. Police found him sitting in his car near a bike trail near where Herr mann’s pickup was found.
Hoffman was sentenced to eight years in prison in Colorado for arson and other charges stemming from a Steamboat Springs townhouse fire set to cover up a burglary. He returned to Ohio after he was released in 2007.
