The Girl in the Leaves (5 page)

EIGHT

The Girl in the Jeep

As the unknown man hurtled toward them, Sarah just barely managed to slip by him and
run to her own room as Kody turned to run out the front door. She slammed her bedroom
door and scrambled to find her cell phone.

“He was trying to grab both of us, but [it seemed like] he kind of wanted to do one
person at a time. I got by him and ran to my bedroom,” Sarah later recounted. It had
all happened so quickly, her recollections would be just a jumble of images.

Before she could dial 911, the assailant burst into her room and grabbed her. He had
a large knife with him, and in the struggle he cut her finger. Sarah was sure he would
now raise the knife and stab her to death. Instead, he sliced through the electrical
wiring of a fan in the room and bound her hands together with the cord. Then he told
her he would kill her if she cried out.

Sarah remembered, “He was really angry. His voice was like a yell almost. He was telling
me what to do. It was like when someone yells at you, and it’s a command.”

The man found some material to gag her with, and threw her across his shoulder. He
was strong, and he carried her down into the basement, where he found an old sled.
He cut off the rope that was attached to the sled and bound her legs together. He
also put a pillowcase over her head, then hauled her back upstairs and deposited her
on the kitchen floor. Before he put her down, the pillowcase fell off her head.

Sarah could not see what he was doing, because of the position she was in, but she
could hear him rummaging around for something under the kitchen sink. He seemed to
find whatever he wanted, and left the room.

Sarah remembered, “In the kitchen I could see groceries on the floor. It was really
weird, because Mom didn’t do things that way.” Tina kept a clean house, and the kitchen
was now in a state of disarray.

A hundred thoughts raced through Sarah’s mind as she lay on the kitchen floor. What
had happened to Kody? What had happened to her mom? And was this man going to kill
her?

After a while he came back into the kitchen and rummaged around again. She could hear
water running in the bathroom tub, and every once in a while she could hear the toilet
being flushed. The noises from the bathroom seemed to go on and on.

Sarah could see the daylight starting to fade outside the house. The man turned on
lights in various rooms and continued doing something in the bathroom. He was in there
a long time, and occasionally she could hear what sounded like banging noises.

Sarah recalled later, “When he was in the bathroom, he kept coming out, and he was
usually out of breath. He kept opening the fridge. And he kept opening a little cabinet
near the sink where cleaning supplies were kept. He got something out of it, and I
think he went to the living room. But I didn’t know what he was doing. Then he went
back to the bathroom, and I’d hear him turn the water on and off and flush the toilet.
I didn’t know what he was doing, but he did it for a long time.”

Her dog should have been barking, but it wasn’t. What had he done with the dog? Sarah
wondered. Had he let it out of the house, or had he killed it?

Sarah’s shock was beginning to make way for survival mode. She began to wonder what
she had to do to stay alive. Should she try and talk to this man? Should she just
stay silent? None of these questions seemed to have an obvious answer. She would have
to play it by ear, see what he had to say and go from there. For a thirteen-year-old
girl she was suddenly confronted with some very adult decisions to make.

After what seemed like hours, the man came back into the kitchen. He told her not
to struggle or make any noise. If she did, he would kill her. He then blindfolded
her, picked her up once again and took her down some stairs. Even though she couldn’t
see, she soon realized he had placed her in Stephanie’s Jeep. She was inside the Jeep
in the garage, and he had left to do something else. She could feel something in the
backseat next to her, but she didn’t know what it was. He came back and put blankets
over her, covering her up as best he could.

The man left again but returned a short while later. He climbed behind the wheel of
the Jeep and backed out of the garage. By now, it was totally dark outside. Sarah
could tell, even through her blindfold, which didn’t cut out all light.

The man drove for a time and then parked. He told her to stay where she was and that
he would be watching her. He then shut the Jeep door; and she heard him walk away.

Taking a chance, Sarah wiggled her arms and neck, and the blindfold came down a bit.
With a shock she realized she was now sitting in the Jeep at a baseball field she
recognized, one where her brother Kody had played ball. They were at the Pipesville
Road baseball fields. Sarah could also see that there were a lot of trash bags next
to her in the Jeep.

Suddenly the man came running back and growled at her, “I told you I was watching!”
He pulled up her blindfold and tightened it. Then he said, “If you do that again,
I’ll kill you!”

Sarah didn’t take any more chances. When he left this time, she just sat quietly in
the Jeep. Once again she thought about what she needed to do to stay alive. She had
no idea if he would take her into the woods somewhere or to a house. Whatever he did,
she would have to react to the situation when it came up. Thinking too far ahead wouldn’t
do her any good at all, she decided.

He was gone for what seemed like more than an hour. Sarah was beginning to get cold.
And she was hungry. She hadn’t eaten since lunchtime.

More questions raced through her mind. What was the man doing now? Where would he
take her? Once they got there, would he kill her? And most of all, once again: where
were her mom and brother?

* * *

As far as Matt Hoffman was concerned, everything had gone to hell as soon as the kids
walked into the house and started calling for their mom. In Hoffman’s mind, there
was nothing to do at that point but grab them. He’d tried grabbing both of them, but
the girl had been too fast, and managed to sprint by him.

The boy was not so lucky. He’d taken perhaps two steps toward the door before Hoffman
plunged his knife into the back of the boy’s head. The boy died almost as soon as
he hit the floor.

As with the two women, Hoffman was taking no chances. He stabbed the boy two more
times to make sure he was dead and then raced toward the room where the girl had gone.

He found her in there, trying to make a phone call. Hoffman snatched the phone out
of her hand and raised his knife to stab her. But then—he pulled back. Even later,
Hoffman couldn’t express why he did so. He felt a sudden impulse that he didn’t want
to kill her.

Instead, he cut a length of electrical cord and tied her wrists together, then told
her that if she screamed, he would kill her. He gagged her with some material, slung
her over his shoulder and took her to the basement. There, he found some rope and
bound her feet. Then he carried her back up to the kitchen and laid her on the floor.

It took several hours for Hoffman to dismember the bodies, put them into garbage bags
and pour motor oil on the bloody spots around the home. When he was finally done in
the house on King Beach Drive, Hoffman loaded the girl into the Jeep, along with several
of the trash bags. He knew what the trash bags contained, but the girl didn’t. She
was still securely tied up and blindfolded.

Hoffman drove the Jeep to an empty parking lot at the Pipesville Road baseball fields
near Howard. He told the girl not to peek, but she disobeyed him, and he caught her.
Telling her that he had someone who would be watching her, Hoffman then left the ball
field parking lot and walked to the Gap Trail parking lot where he’d left his Toyota
Yaris. This took longer than expected. His plan had gone off track very early on and
just kept getting worse, as far as he was concerned.

Hoffman got into his Yaris and drove back to where the Jeep was. Since he’d parked
it far back in the lot, no one had come by, and the girl and the trash bags were still
there, undisturbed.

Hoffman picked up the girl and deposited her into his Yaris. Once again he told her
to behave herself and she wouldn’t get hurt. He started the engine and drove back
to his own residence on Columbus Road. He parked the car in a small alley in back
and then, after making sure no one was watching, carried the girl into his house.

His luck was holding so far. No one had seen him bring the girl into the house. Once
he had her there, he again told her not to make any trouble for him. He told her there
would be someone outside the house watching to make sure she didn’t do anything foolish.

* * *

After what had seemed like a very long time to Sarah Maynard, the man finally came
back to the Jeep. He roughly picked her up and carried her into another vehicle. Even
though she couldn’t see, she knew they were traveling some distance from the ballpark.
It was more than just a few minutes to wherever they were going.

Once the man stopped the vehicle, he picked her up once again and carried her into
a house, took her into a room and removed her blindfold. Sarah saw that it was a bathroom,
but unlike any bathroom she had ever seen. There were dozens of weird drawings on
the walls. They were done mostly in black paint upon a white wall, with figures of
people and animals all jumbled together. There was a dog, a bird and a smiling man
with a yin and yang symbol on his shirt. There was also a truck that appeared to be
a vehicle used in tree trimming. But the strangest depiction of all was a large drawing
of a middle-aged balding man. Coming directly out of his mouth was the actual bathroom
faucet.

All the drawings and writings looked crazy to Sarah. Obviously this man was crazy
as well. Just how crazy, she didn’t know. She wondered once again what his plans were
now that he had her here. Would he keep her for a while? Would he kill her right here?
Or would he take her someplace else in his car?

* * *

Hoffman was far from through for the evening. He had the blond girl in his house,
but now he had to go back and get rid of all those trash bags sitting in the Jeep
he’d stolen and left at the ballpark. Making sure the girl was safely tied up in the
bathroom, with duct tape and rope, Hoffman got back into his Yaris and took his tree-trimming
climbing gear with him. He had a spot in mind where he could deposit the trash bags,
and if he was lucky, they might never be found.

Hoffman drove to a Walmart near Mount Vernon and bought some blue tarp and large plastic
garbage bags. He also bought a turkey sandwich, and on impulse, a Halloween T-shirt
because it was on sale for a dollar. There was hardly anyone in the store at that
hour, which was around midnight. Hoffman paid for his purchases with cash and walked
out to the parking lot. All of it had gone smoothly, and no one had been suspicious
about his activities.

Hoffman drove away and at around 12:30
AM
, parked his Toyota Yaris at a canoe access parking lot on a river. He started walking
toward the Pipesville ball field parking lot where he’d left the Jeep, quite a distance
away. Once again, all of this was taking longer than planned. He didn’t get there
until around 2:30
AM
.

Hoffman started the Jeep and drove to a nature preserve miles away. Once there, he
had a very good hiding spot. He was sure no one would ever find where he was about
to put all those trash bags. If his luck held, no one was ever going to know exactly
what had happened at that home on King Beach Drive. And in one regard he had been
lucky: Greg Borders was gone all day and night. After work on November 10, Greg spent
the night at a friend’s house, and on November 11, the two went golfing.

For Hoffman, meanwhile, time was moving on. After getting rid of the trash bags, he
drove the Jeep back to the house on King Beach Drive and swapped it for the pickup
truck that was there. His intention was to get a couple of gas cans, fill them with
gasoline and bring them back to the Herrmann house. For some reason, he left the extra
trash bags and blue tarp that he’d just bought at Walmart in the garage. This may
have been because he intended to come back and burn the whole place down, but that
part of his plan did not work out. The pickup truck was having problems and would
not stay in gear. It bumped and jerked down the road, and Hoffman didn’t want to be
pulled over by some policeman.

Finally, in frustration, Hoffman abandoned the pickup truck in a parking lot near
a place called the Brown Family Environmental Center, close to Kenyon College, in
the small town of Gambier. From there he started walking once again and did not reach
his Toyota Yaris until around dawn.

Instead of going back to burn down the house on King Beach Drive, Hoffman returned
home. He was exhausted by now. Hoffman went inside his house and looked in the bathroom.
The girl was still tied up and lying on the bathroom floor. It was time to deal with
her.

NINE

A House of Leaves

When Tina Herrmann did not show up for her job at Dairy Queen in Mount Vernon on the
afternoon of November 10, 2010, her friend and manager at the restaurant, Valerie
Haythorn, called the Knox County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO). Not showing up to work was
unheard of for Tina; she was very responsible, and had never done anything like this
before. Valerie was sure that something bad had happened to her.

Valerie talked to a dispatch operator at KCSO in the early evening hours and explained
her concern. The operator told Valerie that a sheriff’s deputy would go by Tina’s
house to do a welfare check, to determine if anything seemed out of place, or whether
a dangerous situation might have occurred.

Knox County Sheriff’s Deputy Charles Statler was contacted about Valerie’s call and
told to do a welfare check on Tina Herrmann on the 400 block of King Beach Drive.
Statler in his report noted, “Valerie advised that Tina did not show up for work today,
and she is concerned that something may have happened to her because Tina was going
to break up with her boyfriend Gregory Borders.”

Deputy Statler drove by the house shortly after 8:00
PM
and noticed that there was no vehicle in the driveway and no lights on in the house.
He rang the doorbell, but no one answered. Since he didn’t have a search warrant to
enter the house, and nothing outside seemed amiss, he noted the situation—the lack
of a vehicle in the driveway and the lights off in the house—but didn’t see further
cause for investigation.

Though he didn’t have to, Deputy Statler made a second welfare check at around 11:15
PM
. This time, he noted the interior lights of the house were on and that a blue 2004
Ford pickup was parked in the driveway. Once again, however, nothing seemed to be
amiss at the residence.

Deputy Statler didn’t know it at the time, but the man who lived with Tina, Sarah
and Kody, Greg Borders, was out of town for the night. And as far as Stephanie Sprang
went, apparently, no one in her household was concerned for her safety at that point.
They may have thought that she was spending the night with Tina, or perhaps was even
out of town with her. No one reported Stephanie as missing.

* * *

Back at Matthew Hoffman’s house, Sarah tried to stay awake during the night, but the
whole ordeal had been too exhausting. She found herself drifting in and out of a nightmarish
sleep. Already her sense of time was starting to slip away. After what she guessed
must have been many hours, the man who had kidnapped her returned to the bathroom
where she lay on the floor.

He made sure that her restraints were still in place, and Sarah began to put into
practice what she knew would be a very delicate but important fight for her life.
She decided that she had to befriend him. “I have to get him on my side,” she thought,
realizing that might be the only way to keep him from killing her. By this time, she
had suspicions about what exactly he’d done to her mom and Kody. She was unaware,
however, that Stephanie Sprang had also been in her mom’s house and had been murdered
as well.

After some innocuous chitchat, Sarah asked Hoffman about the strange drawings on the
wall. His answers didn’t make much sense to her, but she tried to follow what he said.
He tried to explain to her about the characters drawn on the wall, some of them human,
some of them animals, and some half-human, half-animal. She asked if he was an artist.
He did not reply.

After a while the man took Sarah out of the bathroom; she was not blindfolded at that
point. She looked around and was stunned. There were bags and bags of leaves stacked
up in every room, and a layer of leaves was spread out on the floors of the rooms,
almost like a carpet.

Sarah asked, “Why are there so many leaves in the house?”

The man replied, “I use them to keep the house warm. They’re insulation.”

Sarah didn’t know if he was lying about this or not, but it seemed like a very odd
way of insulating a house.

Changing gears, Sarah asked, “Did you break into our house before?”

The man answered no.

“How did you get to our house?” She wanted to know this, because obviously he had
not driven her away from the house in his own car, but rather in Stephanie’s Jeep.

The man answered, “I had someone drop me off there.”

Sarah did not quite believe him, but she didn’t press the issue.

She then asked, “Did you kill my mom and Kody?”

The man said, “No.”

She was very skeptical about this as well but didn’t question him further about it.
Instead she asked, “What did you do to my dog?”

The man said, “I let it out of the house.” This, of course, was a lie. The dog was
dead, its body parts stuffed into bags along with those of Tina, Stephanie and Kody.

By now Sarah was starving. She asked if he could feed her something. His answer surprised
her. “I have some dead squirrels in the freezer. Do you want me to cook you up one?”

Sarah replied, “No!” She would rather go hungry than eat squirrel.

Finally he made a bowl of cereal for her. But the milk was sour, and it took a lot
of control on her part not to gag and spit out the awful stuff. If this was all he
was going to give her to eat, she knew she had to make the best of it.

Hoffman would say later that he was exhausted, so he tied the girl to him and fell
asleep on a couch. Sarah adamantly denied this account, saying that Hoffman once again
gagged her and kept her tied up where she could not get away. He also stuffed her
in a closet at some point, though later on, both Hoffman’s and Sarah’s memories were
so disjointed, it was hard to know when certain events had happened. Whatever the
case, Hoffman took a much-needed nap to recoup after all his excursions during the
night. He knew he’d need his strength to perform the many tasks necessary to keep
himself in the clear.

* * *

When Tina Herrmann failed to show up to work on Thursday, November 11, her friend
and manager Valerie Haythorn was so concerned that she again phoned KCSO. Sergeant
Al Dexter learned from a phone call to Sarah and Kody’s school that they had not shown
up either that day. All of this was becoming more worrisome. It was not like the kids
to skip school.

A short time later, Valerie phoned KCSO once more and told them that she’d just learned
that Tina’s friend and neighbor, Stephanie Sprang, was also missing. Valerie had phoned
Stephanie’s house because she knew that Tina and Stephanie were such good friends.
It was at that point that Valerie learned Stephanie was missing as well. Sergeant
Dexter did a welfare check at Stephanie’s residence and another check outside of Tina’s
residence. No one was at home at either place when he arrived. Sergeant Dexter also
noted that the blue Ford pickup that Deputy Statler had seen in the driveway the night
before was now gone from the area.

Around 4:00
PM
, Valerie managed to contact Stephanie Sprang’s live-in boyfriend, Ron Metcalf, and
they agreed to meet and check Tina’s residence. Ron lived with Stephanie on Magers
Drive, only a few houses down the road from Tina’s place. When Valerie got there,
she and Ron talked for a while, and then Valerie decided to enter the house. She removed
a rear window screen, raised a window and climbed through. Everything was very still,
quiet and spooky. Valerie went farther into the house, and what she saw terrified
her: there were bloodstains on the living room and hallway carpet, a lot of blood.
It looked as if someone had been dragged along the carpet. Valerie, now frantic, quickly
left the house and phoned the sheriff’s office once more.

Previously, the officers had been sent to do only “welfare checks,” but now it was
clear there was something seriously wrong at the house on King Beach Drive. This time,
when KCSO sergeants arrived at the residence, they were determined to go inside and
figure out just what had happened there.