The Girl in the Leaves (22 page)

THIRTY-FOUR

The
Today
Show

The Knox County Board of Commissioners drew up a resolution to ��Commend the Knox
County Sheriff, Knox County Prosecutor and Knox County Public Defender regarding the
horrific tragedy which recently befell Knox County.”

The resolution went on to state that the commissioners commended the investigation
for rescuing Sarah Maynard and for the swift capture of Matthew Hoffman. The commissioners
also commended “Sheriff Barber, Prosecutor John Thatcher and Public Defender Bruce
Malek for enduring difficult press conferences before an audience of mass media. The
dignity and respect that they displayed towards the victims and their families was
both professional and compassionate.”

The resolution thanked Emergency Management Director Brian Hess for organizing and
coordinating all the search efforts, and victims’ advocate Diana Oswalt for her efforts
in counseling the family survivors. Last, the resolution thanked every citizen volunteer
who helped in the search effort.

Even an attorney from Utica, Ohio, sent a letter to Prosecutor John Thatcher and Public
Defender Bruce Malek, praising them for their common sense in the matter. The letter
stated, “I’ve always said that there is more common sense in small towns than elsewhere
and your handling of this case is a good example of the application of some good old
small town common sense. I surely understand that both of you were and may continue
to be subjected to pressures and criticism from the public and other sources but at
very least you can find comfort in knowing that you did the right thing in some very,
very difficult circumstances.”

* * *

Some people call the time after these types of events a period of healing—but for
Larry and Sarah, it was more a time of trying to come to grips with what had happened.
With scars that ran deep and wide, they knew it was not going to be an easy task.
Larry had nightmares almost every night, and they were usually the same. His children
were missing and he didn’t know if they were cold or hungry. They were missing somewhere
“out there,” but he didn’t know where the “there” was. He’d wake from his nightmares
in a sweat, only to discover that reality was even worse than the nightmare.

As for Sarah, up until the sentencing, she would talk to her dad about what happened.
Larry said, “She would always start at the beginning and go all the way through the
story. It wouldn’t vary. She would never just talk about one part of it. It was always
the full event from beginning to end. I would just let her go on in this manner for
as long as she needed to. I knew that she had to handle things this way.

“Then after the sentencing of Matthew Hoffman, it was like turning off a faucet. She
stopped talking about it altogether. It was as if she was determined to put it in
the past. She didn’t want to waste any more energy on him. She focused on school and
friends. She focused on her new family life in a new home.”

Larry continued to avoid calls from news reporters and television talk shows. Bit
by bit the media frenzy that had surrounded his house dissipated. This, at least,
was a relief for him and his family.

Many television news programs and talk shows, however, were eager to interview Sarah
and Larry Maynard on their shows. In the end, Sarah and Larry decided to be interviewed
live on one show—the
Today Show
in New York. They liked the show and trusted anchor Meredith Vieira to conduct a
fair and respectful interview. Larry said, “She came across as a nice person. Someone
who would treat us with respect. She had a good reputation in the business and we
liked the format.”

In February 2011, Larry and Sarah took off for New York City. Neither one had ever
been there before, and they spent some time before the interview seeing the sights
and downtown Manhattan, including the Empire State Building. Just being in the heart
of the city was exciting for Sarah.

Later, sitting side by side on the television set of the
Today Show
, Larry wore a blue dress shirt and Sarah looked sophisticated in a black dress and
white sweater. Her hair was elegantly styled, and she looked very different from the
girl who had been rescued on a bed of leaves in Matthew Hoffman’s basement.

Before the interview began, the show ran a segment about the events of November 2010,
including photos and video clips of the story as it had developed. Then Meredith Vieira
began the interview by stating, “Sarah, I think that you are an incredibly brave young
lady given everything that you have gone through. And I want the audience at home
to know that this is something you wanted to do, you wanted to come forward and speak
out.” Vieira said that she knew Sarah was seeing a grief counselor in Ohio, and then
asked why Sarah wanted to be on the show that morning.

Sarah said, “To let people know how I could survive what he did to me. So I just listened
to everything he told me to do . . .” and then her words trailed off.

Vieira picked up with, “And you got through it.” Then she asked how Sarah had stayed
strong through her days of captivity.

Sarah replied, “Just hoping someone would find me so I wouldn’t have to live with
him—or stay with him there.”

Vieira then said that she knew Matthew Hoffman had bound her hands and feet. And he
also stated in his confession that he made hamburgers for her to eat. Vieira asked,
“Was he trying to befriend you, or was he constantly threatening you?”

Sarah answered, “No, I think that in that letter [Hoffman’s confession] he was just
trying to make people think that he felt good about himself. To think that he fed
me and stuff, and he didn’t. He didn’t let me shower or do any of that stuff.”

Vieira asked if Hoffman had kept her down in the basement the whole time, and Sarah
said that was basically the case except for short periods in the closet and bathroom
when she’d first been taken to the house. Then Vieira asked Larry if it had been a
nightmare for him during those four days, not knowing where his son or daughter were,
or any of the other missing people. Larry replied, “Oh, yeah! It’s still a nightmare
every day knowing that part of your family’s not with you.”

Vieira mentioned how Matthew Hoffman’s confession stated that it was just a burglary
gone bad, to which Larry reiterated his belief that it was not. “A thief steals, a
murderer kills,” he said, adding that if Hoffman had been there merely “to burglarize
the house, why did he stake it out the way he did? Why did he purchase a knife online
a week prior to making an entrance into the house?” Larry was sure that Hoffman’s
motive for entering Tina’s home was not to burglarize it, but rather to kill because
he was angry at the way things had turned out in his life. Especially about losing
his job and losing his girlfriend. And Larry also believed that Hoffman had seen Sarah
in the past, and intended all along to kidnap her. And to that end, he was able and
willing to kill anyone who got in his way.

Vieira then mentioned to Sarah that she’d seen photos of Hoffman’s house filled with
leaves, and the strange drawings in the bathroom. She asked, “Did he say anything
about why the house was filled with leaves?”

Sarah answered, “He told me that someone helped him bag the leaves. He said he wanted
to make my bed comfy. So he just put leaves there so I could sleep on them.”

Vieira said to Larry, “You know that the sheriff has said that Sarah is the epitome
of bravery.”

Larry replied, “Definitely. You know, she’s even an inspiration to me. As her father,
I’m supposed to be the teacher of the children, but I think she’s taught me far more
than I could possibly ever teach her about life.”

Turning to Sarah, Vieira asked why Sarah wanted to be in court on the day that Matthew
was sentenced. Sarah answered, “I wanted to tell him that I wasn’t scared of him.
I just wanted to get on with my life.”

Vieira then asked, “What keeps you strong, Sarah, and so positive?”

Sarah replied, “Just making my life go on and not thinking of what happened in the
past.”

Vieira said to Sarah, “We’ve learned about your mom and brother, that your mom was
a real hardworking lady and put you and Kody above everybody else. What do you want
people to know about your mom and your brother?”

For the first time in the interview, Sarah smiled. She had been very serious up to
that point. Sarah said, “My mom, she took really good care of us and made sure we
had food and heat and clothes. And Kody, he was just a really good brother, even if
we fought a lot.”

Vieira replied to that, “Well, that’s what brothers and sisters do. I know they’d
be proud of you. You really are an incredible young lady.”

THIRTY-FIVE

A New Beginning

As time passed, Sarah got a little better every day, though it was not all a straight
line to recovery. As Larry said later, “She had good days and bad days. She would
have nightmares that someone was trying to break into the house and take her away
once again. I had to reassure her that was not going to happen, and I was here to
protect her.”

Sarah gave up softball, even though she was so good at it. It was just too painful
to watch and be a part of. It reminded her not only of the life she had known and
lost, but of Kody as well.

Sarah went to a new school now, with no one she had known from before, which was a
double-edged sword. In some ways it was good, since there was no ever-present reminder
of what had happened. No link to the everyday school life she had known right up until
the afternoon of November 10, 2010, when everything suddenly stopped. On the other
hand, Sarah was still a young teenage girl in a new school, a traumatic experience
for any kid. Moving somewhere new, without the friends that she had grown up with,
was difficult. And despite Sarah’s positive attitude and her desire to succeed in
her new surroundings, to not just hide in the shadows and become the “girl those bad
things happened to,” for some students she would still always be “that girl.” The
girl who had been kidnapped. The girl whose brother and mother and neighbor had been
murdered, dismembered and stuffed into a hollow tree. The girl who had been all over
the news.

When Sarah began going to school in Hamilton Township, she decided to take up volleyball
instead. And being athletic, she was very good at it. She liked being part of the
team and commented on how each player had to assist the others. Just being on the
team was a bonding experience and helped Sarah adjust to her new environment.

Sarah went to counseling sessions on a weekly basis, and they did help. So did keeping
in touch with Diana Oswalt, the victims’ advocate at the Knox County Prosecutor’s
Office. And Sarah also had something else going for her. She had some inner strength
to carry on, way beyond her years. She was determined not to be destroyed by what
happened to her and her family. Larry had always spoken of Sarah as being a “bubbly
girl.” What surprised everyone was that she was such a strong girl as well.

The “bubbly” aspect about her did help Sarah make new friends at her new school. Instead
of being withdrawn, she was still outgoing and popular. Larry said, “There were times
we still had to talk over the past. I would say she was seventy percent bubbly most
of the time now, as opposed to ninety percent before this all happened. She was just
basically an optimistic girl. She always believed in her possibilities for the future
and didn’t sit around moping about things. She was determined to live more for the
future than the past.”

Sarah said that her dream was to become a pediatrician. She loved kids and enjoyed
her new younger brothers: AJ was five, and Payton only sixteen months old. It was
a new start, even with them. Sarah had been the older sister to Kody; now she was
the older sister to AJ and Payton. She fell into the role more naturally than might
have been expected under such trying circumstances. Sarah was always goal-oriented,
and being the big sister once again was important to her.

But there were some unforeseen circumstances for Larry. He said, “People who had been
my friends started to drift away. They didn’t know what to say to me, so they stopped
coming by or calling. It was almost like we had some kind of disease that they didn’t
want to catch. I would wonder if they felt, ‘If we get too close to him, maybe the
same thing could happen to us.’ I knew that was crazy, but it felt like it anyway.
Matthew Hoffman had taken away my family, and now he was taking away my friends. I
hated him with every ounce of my body. He was pure evil.”

And both Larry and Sarah were very wary of strangers now. Their presumption of safety
had been destroyed. If a man could break into Tina’s house in a “safe neighborhood,”
then what location was safe? They viewed the world through different eyes now, experienced
it in a different way.

Larry said, “Sarah would see some guy, and say, ‘Dad, he looks creepy.’ She was just
very, very aware of her surroundings. I would not let her walk to school alone. Either
I or my wife would take her there every day. We lived in a different world now.”

* * *

Another new start for both Sarah and Larry was the creation of the Tina Rose B. Herrmann
and Kody Alexander Maynard Healing Hearts Memorial Fund (HHMF). On the
Today Show
, Larry said of the foundation, “It’s strictly a nonprofit organization developed
to help victims of violent crime such as Sarah. We think it’s going to be a really
good organization to try and help other families that may possibly go through the
same ordeal Sarah and the rest of our family has gone through.” Larry said, “We wanted
something good to come out of this tragedy. And it was also a way of remembering Tina
and Kody and what good people they were. Kody had told me he wanted to be a Coast
Guard helicopter pilot someday. He wanted to help people and rescue people. I’ve wondered,
how many people he could have rescued in the future. Matthew Hoffman put an end to
that. It’s as if Hoffman killed those people who might have been saved by Kody, as
well.”

In May 2011, Tina’s friend, Teresa Partlow, organized a raffle for the HHMF foundation.
Teresa said, “Tina was a really, really good friend. She was always there to listen
and always willing to help. I’m doing what I can to honor my friend.”

Larry and Sarah discussed what kind of event could raise money for the Memorial Fund.
As it turned out, Barbara Herrmann, Tina’s mother, had a brother who was a hot air
balloon enthusiast. They suggested having a hot air balloon festival in Ohio to raise
money, and both Larry and Sarah thought it would be a good idea.

The Fairfield County Foundation also thought this was a good idea, and teamed up with
Healing Hearts for a balloon festival in the summer of 2011. The festival would feature
balloon launches and tethered balloon rides. And there would be a Sunset Glow Flight
where the balloons would be illuminated in the darkness. The purpose was not only
to remember the victims but also to raise money for HHMF.

Barbara Herrmann said, “We want to say to any victim of violence, it’s enough going
through it and surviving, but there are avenues you can turn to. It will be an honor
to remember Tina and Kody. Their deaths were a tragedy, but from this tragedy, we
hope we can help others.” She added, “They touched so many lives when they were alive.
Now they’ll be able to touch people after they’re gone. I also want to help people
because it helps me.”

On August 5, 2011, in Carroll, Ohio, the first annual hot air balloon festival took
place, with eleven balloons rising into the skies. Funds were raised through sales
of balloon rides, games and food. Even Sarah and Larry took a balloon ride, and Sarah
was very excited by the event. A huge smile spread across her face as the balloon
ascended into the air, and central Ohio spread out below her. It was as if she was
leaving the troubles that haunted her back on the ground. For a little while she could
soar above all of that.

Larry said later, “It was good for her. It showed me the happy girl that was so much
a part of the way she always was. Sarah’s doing her best, and getting better every
day. She’s determined not to let things get her down.”

Tina’s mother, Barbara Herrmann, said of her granddaughter, “She’s a real live wire.
Just like her mother. But all of this is still fresh in her mind. It’s only been eight
months since it happened.” Barbara related, “This whole event was to bring something
good out of something so evil. Tina’s and Kody’s legacy will live on through this.”

* * *

After the summer ended and a new school year began for Sarah, it was amazing how well
she adjusted to her new environment. She joined school activities and made lots of
friends. Viewed from a distance, Sarah would look like any fourteen-year-old girl.

The psychological scars were still there, of course, but they were not overpowering.
The resilience she showed was remarkable. And Sarah was lucky, in the sense that even
though she had lost her mom and brother, she still had a good family who loved her
and wanted the best for her. It was as normal a situation as could be possible, under
the circumstances. Life went on in a rhythm that was both soothing and nurturing,
a life that mirrored those of many others in their Ohio neighborhood. Sarah escaped
the stigma of being “that tragic girl.” She was just Sarah, and intent on being just
Sarah.

She could still laugh and she could still dream. Larry talked about maybe moving to
Florida someday with the family. That would put even more distance between what had
happened and what the future might hold. Sarah often talked about becoming a pediatrician.
Just like her mom, Tina, she loved children and wanted the best for them. Larry said,
“The sky is the limit for Sarah. She’s very bright and not afraid to go after what
she wants in life. I’m so proud of her.”