The Girl in the Leaves (8 page)

THIRTEEN

In the Dark

All during November 10 and most of November 11, Larry Maynard had no idea that anything
was amiss with his ex-wife, Tina, or their children, Sarah and Kody. He and his family
lived south of Columbus, more than fifty miles away from all the activity in Knox
County.

Larry’s first indication that something was wrong was when he received a phone call
from Tina’s boyfriend, Greg Borders. The phone call came in on a number he rarely
gave out, one he had not given to Greg, so hearing Greg’s voice on the line threw
Larry for a loop. Besides, Larry and Greg had not exactly gotten along over the years.

Larry said later, “Greg asked me where Tina and the kids were. I wondered, ‘Why in
the hell is he asking me? He’s the one who should know where they are.’ Then I asked
him how he got this number. He said he found it on a Rolodex. He said a few more things
and then hung up. I immediately became concerned, and wondered once again why he was
the one who didn’t know where they were. After all, they were living in his house!”

Larry turned on the local news and was stunned to see a report of four people missing
in Knox County from the Apple Valley area. That was of course where Tina, Sarah and
Kody lived; Larry didn’t know about Stephanie Sprang. As of that point, not one police
officer had contacted him. Larry was totally in the dark as to what was happening
except for the few details on the television news. But Larry Maynard’s sleepless nights
were just beginning.

There were sleepless nights for Tina’s brothers as well. Tracy Herrmann, who was married
to Tina’s brother Jason, later said, “It began for us when Jason got a phone call
that there was caution tape surrounding Tina’s house. I remember waiting until midnight
and praying that whatever happened was just a misunderstanding. Jason came home and
said he knew something was very wrong due to all of the law enforcement that were
present.”

The lack of information being dispensed by the police only added to Jason’s and Tracy’s
anxiety. Just like Larry Maynard, they were very much in the dark about the situation
concerning Tina, Sarah and Kody. And they didn’t yet know that Stephanie was missing
too.

* * *

In Knox County, the lockdown on the Kenyon College campus was finally lifted at 7:00
AM
on November 12. Anxiety remained high there, however, and Mark Ellis, spokesman for
the college, related, “There is still concern and our thoughts are with the families.”
The students on campus breathed a sigh of relief, but still they were on edge. Why
had the missing person’s vehicle ended up so close to the college? Was a student on
campus involved with whatever was going on? Or even a faculty member?

An initial article in the
Mount Vernon News
about the missing people was very brief, noting simply that KCSO detectives had searched
Tina Herrmann’s residence on King Beach Drive and found a “substantial amount” of
blood there. The article also reported that the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP) had
offered their services to KCSO and that the request had been accepted.

Sergeant Gary Lewis of OSHP told the reporter that OSHP’s role in the investigation
would be one of support, explaining, “We have use of a FLIR, which is a heat thermal
imaging instrument used from a helicopter. It is not uncommon for us to use this equipment
in these situations.”

The FLIR, or forward-looking infrared radar, would be used from the helicopter to
conduct a search from the air, and the information gathered would be coordinated with
ground crews, as well as with KCSO. A trunking system would allow communications between
all parties with no outside interference. In other words, no one would be able to
hack into the conversations, as could happen with someone using a police scanner to
scan normal police-radio traffic. This was important in case the perpetrator was trying
to listen in on such calls.

* * *

November 12, Larry Maynard could no longer stand the suspense of not knowing what
was happening, and he and his wife decided to travel the fifty-plus miles to the Knox
County Sheriff’s Office in Mount Vernon. At this point Larry had very little information
other than what Greg had said in their phone conversation and what he’d seen on the
television news.

After arriving at the sheriff’s station, Larry explained to the person at the front-desk
window who he was and why he had come and was then led back to a conference room.
He was accompanied by his wife, Tracy, and another couple, friends who’d come along
to offer moral support. There, they met with a detective and began to answer some
questions about Tina, Sarah and Kody. “All of it was very general, just getting background
information,” Larry said later. “The detective did not have a lot to say about what
the sheriff’s office was doing, other than it was a missing persons’ case. Then just
before we were about ready to leave, the detective told me, ‘Larry, we need to talk
to you alone.’

“I was escorted back into what I’d call an investigation room. There was a large mirror
on one wall, and I figured some other detective was behind that mirror, watching what
was going on. Two detectives started asking me questions. The questions were like,
when was the last time I’d seen Tina, Kody or Sarah. They asked how my relationship
was with Tina. I said that we got along and were civil to each other. There were times
when she’d call me if the kids were acting up and needed talking to. I’d say things
to Kody or Sarah like, ‘You can’t act that way. You have to treat your mom with respect.’
Things like that.

“They asked about the house, and their ears really perked up when I mentioned the
garage door. They wanted to know why I mentioned something like that. I said I knew
that it was broken and would not close all the way. The reason I knew that was because
Tina had called me one time and said that Greg had broken it. He’d been angry or something
and broken the garage door.

“The detectives asked me where I’d been on Tuesday and Wednesday, and I told them.
When it was all over they walked me out of the room, and one of them said to me, ‘Sorry
we had to do that, Larry, but we had to ask you those questions.’ I knew they were
checking me out and that was their job. All I wanted them to do was find Tina, Sarah
and Kody.

“On the way out to our car in the parking lot, I thought I saw Greg Borders sitting
in a vehicle there in the parking lot. He was in the passenger seat, and I think his
uncle was in the driver’s seat. I wondered what he was doing there.”

Greg Borders was indeed there, and detectives also interviewed him. Greg explained
that he, Tina, Sarah and Kody lived together at the crime scene address on King Beach
Drive. Greg said that both he and Tina had a mortgage on the residence, though he
added that, “Lately our relationship has not been the best.” He said that for the
last few days he had been staying at a friend’s house, because he’d gone golfing out
of town and it was far from Apple Valley. He’d stayed overnight at his friend’s house
on November 10, golfed the next day and hadn’t known anything was wrong at home until
he’d gotten a call from his uncle, who later told reporters, “I went past the house
and saw the yellow tape. I called Greg, and he was on his way back. He’d been out
golfing, [which was of course on November 11].”

Later that day, November 12th, WBNS News from Columbus spoke with Greg Borders. According
to the news account, “Borders said the couple was having trouble, but said he knows
nothing and has done nothing wrong. He said he last saw Herrmann and her children
around 4:00
AM
Wednesday, before he left for work at a Target distribution center in West Jefferson.
He received a message from her at 11:00
AM
. Borders said that was the last time he heard from her.”

WBNS News then spoke with Larry Maynard, and reported, “Larry Maynard said he is not
so sure [about Greg Borders’ involvement]. Larry related, ‘The boyfriend, the live-in
boyfriend, Greg—I don’t believe anything he says. My kids are my world. It’s like
somebody ripped the heart out of me. I don’t want to believe that something has happened
to them, but in my heart, I know something has happened to them.’”

Oddly, the local news stations were trying to get news out of Larry Maynard, even
though he was still depending on
them
for updates. Despite his interview at the sheriff’s office, that office was giving
Larry very little information. On the one hand, he understood that—they had an investigation
to do and didn’t want anything they said to him to jeopardize that. On the other hand,
it was very frustrating to be kept in the dark.

By now, even the national television news agencies were picking up on the story. ABC
News reported, “A spokesman for the FBI Field Office in Cincinnati said the agency
was aware of the incident but could not comment on whether it would cooperate with
the investigation.” And ABC News also broadcast a statement from Sheriff Barber that
“the search of the home has revealed it to be in an unusual condition for a place
where a woman and children lived.” Barber did not elaborate on what that meant.

* * *

In the meantime, tips had started coming in. At first they were just a trickle, but
soon they would become a flood. That trickle began on November 12th.

One was from a woman named Tammy R, who said, “I saw a male at an auction on Saturday
at Horn Road. He was wearing a yellow sweatshirt and approximately five-feet, eleven
inches. He had dark hair, facial hair and stood back away from the crowd smoking.
And on this same day I saw rolling black smoke coming from an area of the second barn
on a property nearby. Like someone was burning a tire. No one was supposed to be there.
Then later at night I saw a flash of light that came through my living room. I got
scared and went upstairs. There was pounding on that property for sale nearby, as
if someone was working on it. It sounded like it was coming from one of the barns.”

Another tip came in to KCSO about a bloody tarp out in some woods in the area. Detective
Sergeant Brown and Agent Winterich, who had been processing the crime scene, went
to the patch of woods off of Beaver Road. Winterich documented later, “The tarp was
determined to be home wrap [typically used in construction projects], and it was located
approximately fifty feet from the roadway. A reddish-brown stain was visible and it
was presumptively tested for the presence of blood using the chemical Tetramethylbenzidine.
A positive reaction occurred.” But although there was certainly blood on the tarp,
Winterich went on to say that “a HemDirect Hemoglobin test was then performed on the
stain and this indicated that the blood was not human in origin.”

One tipster, a woman named Patricia C, related, “My son called me and said Trisha
[Stephanie’s daughter] was looking for Stephanie. Said she has been missing since
Wednesday the 10. I went to the Dairy Queen to see if her friend Tina had seen her.
I found out that Tina was missing too. I talked to Tina’s supervisor at work. We went
to a rental where Tina and Stephanie went to look for a place to rent. No luck.”

Soon there was another tip by a man named Brian K who contacted KCSO. Brian said,
“As far as Stephanie’s vehicle being found in Tina’s garage, that is not unusual because
she would put it there.”

A tipster named Felicia W contacted KCSO on November 12 and related, “I last spoke
to [Stephanie] on Sunday and she sounded fine. I was supposed to call her back Monday
evening, but didn’t get a chance. She would never leave her home and kids.”

* * *

By now the FBI was involved, and the lead agent on the case was Special Agent Harry
Trombitas of the Columbus, Ohio, office. His main activity on November 12 was interviewing
people who lived close to the scene of the crime. Trombitas contacted neighbors on
Magers Road and noted that although they were very cooperative, none of them had seen
anything or heard anything suspicious before or during the time the crime was thought
to have happened.

Trombitas then contacted Mike Sprang, Stephanie’s ex-husband. Mike was also cooperative
and said that he and Stephanie had been married for three years, but there had been
“issues between them” and they got a divorce. Mike said that he had no animosity toward
Stephanie and hadn’t seen her recently. He was worried about her disappearance.

Next on the list were Ron Metcalf, Stephanie’s boyfriend, and Michael Kupiec, her
older son, both of whom lived with Stephanie on Magers Road. Ron was noted as being
“cooperative” and stated that Stephanie had stayed home on Tuesday night into Wednesday
morning, November 10, and said that they had had coffee together around 6:00
AM
. Trish, Stephanie’s daughter, was in the house as well, but she was still asleep
in the morning hours.

Ron said that he’d left for his job at Rolls Royce Energy Systems in Mount Vernon
at 6:30
AM
and that everything was fine with Stephanie at that time. Around 12:26
PM
, he received a text from Stephanie that indicated she was “in town.”

Ron had been having a problem with a credit card account and he was having Stephanie
help him with it. She called him on his cell phone at 12:46
PM
to tell him that she didn’t have that account number and couldn’t help him at present.
The call lasted four minutes and seventeen seconds. Ron told Agent Trombitas that
was the last he’d heard from Stephanie.

Ron also told Trombitas that he’d heard Stephanie had called a friend of hers named
Forrest Frazee at 12:17
PM
that same day. Forrest had not answered, and apparently Stephanie hadn’t left a message.
Forrest thought this was unusual, because Stephanie had only texted him in the past
and generally did not talk to him on the phone. Ron had gotten all this information
secondhand from a person who knew Frazee.

Ron then told Trombitas that he’d heard that Stephanie and Tina had planned to go
to a tanning salon in Mount Vernon around noon on November 11. Ron didn’t know if
that had occurred or not. And he’d also heard they might be going out to look for
a place for Tina in the afternoon. Ron added that he returned home at his usual time
of 4:00
PM
and was surprised when Stephanie was not there. It was very unusual because as Ron
put it, “She was always there to greet her kids when they got off the school bus.”