Latest / Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast / The Leaf Killer - Matthew Hoffman
Transcript
- 0:06Speaker 1: True crime stories often talk about and show brutal cases
- 0:10Speaker 1: involving individuals who set out to take their victims down
- 0:13Speaker 1: before moving on to the next, and so on and repeating.
- 0:18Speaker 1: These horrific stories show murderers and monsters alike, many with
- 0:23Speaker 1: the same motive to hurt, to abuse, to mane, and
- 0:27Speaker 1: to kill. But we often forget that there are crimes
- 0:31Speaker 1: that get committed out there out of brash decisions, out
- 0:35Speaker 1: of panic, and out of fear. Today's case blurs those lines,
- 0:41Speaker 1: and it's up to you to decide just where on
- 0:44Speaker 1: the spectrum this story lays.
- 0:47Speaker 2: My name's Ben and I'm Nicole, and you're listening to
- 0:51Speaker 2: Wicked and Grim, a true crime podcast. The following podcast
- 1:00Speaker 2: in your audience, listener discution.
- 1:24Speaker 1: They're not getting in opening this time. No, it happened
- 1:26Speaker 1: on Patreon.
- 1:27Speaker 2: Sorry, it happened in the pre show.
- 1:29Speaker 1: It did, so I do have a drink. But you're
- 1:31Speaker 1: not getting a next time on Wicked and Great.
- 1:38Speaker 2: Well, lots of times, yeah all have one, or you'll
- 1:40Speaker 2: have one, But yeah, we got nothing today, we got nothing.
- 1:43Speaker 1: Which okay, Nicole just brought up a.
- 1:47Speaker 2: Jedious well, I don't know, Okay, there could be some
- 1:50Speaker 2: accounts that are listening to this that are just like, no.
- 1:52Speaker 1: But it's a possibility. It's a legitimate possibility.
- 1:55Speaker 2: I think I just blew Ben's mind because.
- 1:58Speaker 1: Before we reveal what it is, those accountants would have
- 2:01Speaker 1: listened to the show and would know that it is
- 2:04Speaker 1: a legitimate part of the episodes. Uh huh and our
- 2:07Speaker 1: brand and Wicked and grim. Yeah, so go ahead lay
- 2:10Speaker 1: this wisdom on us.
- 2:11Speaker 2: What did you say, Well, because we had discovered when
- 2:13Speaker 2: we were doing our taxes that we can write off
- 2:16Speaker 2: our purchased merch for ourselves because like we're basically like
- 2:19Speaker 2: a walking billboard.
- 2:21Speaker 1: We're wearing our merch like our uniform sort of thing. Yeah,
- 2:23Speaker 1: which blew my mind and I was so excited.
- 2:26Speaker 2: So then as Ben was literally doing his intro, I
- 2:28Speaker 2: don't even know what the fuck he said, because I
- 2:30Speaker 2: was just going off in my head here. Thanks, but
- 2:34Speaker 2: could we not write off alcohol? You know, like, could
- 2:39Speaker 2: we some brewskis a year?
- 2:41Speaker 1: Because well, think of it this way. If we open
- 2:44Speaker 1: up each if we each open up an alcoholic beverage
- 2:48Speaker 1: each episode, Yeah, one episode a week, there's two of us,
- 2:51Speaker 1: we could theoretically write off one hundred and four alcoholic
- 2:56Speaker 1: beverages per year, not not mentioning how week.
- 3:00Speaker 2: Or like our Patreon episodes, so exactly, I don't know.
- 3:03Speaker 2: I think we might be onto something here.
- 3:05Speaker 1: Can we write off booze?
- 3:08Speaker 2: Because you actually can though, because when you're doing your restaurants, right,
- 3:13Speaker 2: say you go out with like a client and you
- 3:15Speaker 2: have a glass of wine or something, Oh yeah, you
- 3:17Speaker 2: then go write that off. So I feel like writing
- 3:20Speaker 2: off alcohol is allowed.
- 3:22Speaker 1: But how much?
- 3:23Speaker 2: And I actually do write off alcohol too in another
- 3:26Speaker 2: sense because lots of times I'll give out like a bottle
- 3:28Speaker 2: of wine when I'm delivering a wedding, so like as
- 3:30Speaker 2: a client gift. So we need to talk to our
- 3:33Speaker 2: account I think we just solved it yet we can.
- 3:37Speaker 1: But yeah, So that's been our first week is talking
- 3:39Speaker 1: about business stuff, taxes, really trying to get the root
- 3:44Speaker 1: of all these things because I'm officially doing this now
- 3:46Speaker 1: full time. It's it's here, it's you're real, You're a weekend.
- 3:50Speaker 1: It's crazy and we haven't killed each other yet.
- 3:52Speaker 2: Yeah, we're going strong. We've done iemasks, spends trying to
- 3:55Speaker 2: get me to drink coffee. You know, it's just it's
- 3:58Speaker 2: going well.
- 3:59Speaker 1: Yeah, you'll be seeing all this stuff on Patreon if
- 4:02Speaker 1: you guys want to sign up. If not, though, that's cool.
- 4:04Speaker 1: You guys are here and we appreciate that. But we
- 4:07Speaker 1: do have people who have signed up for Patreon that
- 4:09Speaker 1: we have to thank we do. And how many people
- 4:11Speaker 1: did you say signed up this week?
- 4:13Speaker 2: Think were twelve? Were? They're just like pumping over there.
- 4:15Speaker 2: It's awesome.
- 4:16Speaker 1: Twelve people signed up this week, which is incredible, So
- 4:20Speaker 1: thank you so much. I'm probably gonna butcher some names
- 4:24Speaker 1: we actually do there too. We did, so we have
- 4:28Speaker 1: Christine Kennedy, Amanda Shory, Amber Lee, Marie Lafontaine, Timothy Stewart,
- 4:36Speaker 1: Laura Aldridge got to go over the next list here
- 4:40Speaker 1: Isabella Wall, Cecilia Ink, the cat Ty Colombo, Kyla Sparkman
- 4:46Speaker 1: and Jessica Watts. And Jessica Watts actually just won the
- 4:50Speaker 1: getaway too.
- 4:51Speaker 2: Yeah, just signed up. That's awesome, so.
- 4:53Speaker 1: Boom that easy. Just sign up for Patreon. You win something,
- 4:56Speaker 1: but you've done, You've win.
- 4:58Speaker 2: Okay when first, so well, thank you to all of
- 5:01Speaker 2: them that, like, yeah, it just blows our mind that
- 5:03Speaker 2: we're getting that much the word over there, so thank you.
- 5:06Speaker 2: But it's funny as you're reading the names. I can
- 5:09Speaker 2: see in your eyes, like as you're about to approach
- 5:12Speaker 2: a hard name, there's a little bit of fear, just
- 5:15Speaker 2: like coming out and I'm like, Okay, that last name
- 5:17Speaker 2: is gonna be hard.
- 5:18Speaker 1: Yeah, some of them are difficult. It's it's true. And
- 5:22Speaker 1: even if you try, and even if you pronounce it correctly,
- 5:26Speaker 1: like there's different enunciations something, there's different inflections and different
- 5:30Speaker 1: languages and heritage, and you don't know if you're actually.
- 5:32Speaker 2: Getting it right, and some words can literally be pronounced
- 5:35Speaker 2: like a few ways. Really yeah, that's yeah, it's basically
- 5:39Speaker 2: what you said. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so but you did good.
- 5:43Speaker 2: Thank you and thank you to all those people who
- 5:45Speaker 2: have signed up.
- 5:46Speaker 1: And our patrons are are awesome. They're getting some cool
- 5:48Speaker 1: content behind the scenes. If you want to sign up
- 5:50Speaker 1: join them, link is down below in the description of
- 5:52Speaker 1: this podcast. If not, you hear that's cool too, So
- 5:54Speaker 1: thank you.
- 5:55Speaker 2: We appreciate you either way.
- 5:57Speaker 1: But we also got to talk about fearful. So if
- 6:01Speaker 1: you don't know Jacko, who is a part of our
- 6:04Speaker 1: podcast and is who are EMC for Halloween week, yep,
- 6:09Speaker 1: he is coming out with his own podcast.
- 6:11Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't have we dropped that on here yet.
- 6:14Speaker 1: We dropped another thing was coming.
- 6:16Speaker 2: Oh, this is it.
- 6:18Speaker 1: It's Fearful. Jacko is hosting his own podcast called Fearful,
- 6:23Speaker 1: and it's all about paranormal mysteries and just creepy shit.
- 6:28Speaker 2: This is a big deal.
- 6:29Speaker 1: It's dropping on June first three, so coming up soon.
- 6:34Speaker 1: You guys can go check out Fearful people over on
- 6:37Speaker 1: Patreon again. Kind of get a little bit of heads
- 6:39Speaker 1: up on this, and they kind of got a little
- 6:41Speaker 1: bit of nose no on what's happening there.
- 6:43Speaker 2: So yeah, very exciting though.
- 6:45Speaker 1: Yeah, lots is happening for the world of Wicked and
- 6:47Speaker 1: Grim absolutely Anyways, shall we press forward?
- 6:52Speaker 2: I think so? Yeah, let's do it. Okay, it's gonna
- 6:55Speaker 2: be a total surprise since I was thinking about alcohol
- 6:57Speaker 2: during your intro.
- 6:58Speaker 1: So didn't listen to it.
- 7:00Speaker 2: At all, hardly. I was very distracted.
- 7:04Speaker 1: Okay, Well, the intro didn't say a whole lot about
- 7:06Speaker 1: this episode. What it did say is that it kind
- 7:08Speaker 1: of blurs the line between those people who are very
- 7:11Speaker 1: much so murderers who go out to murder, okay, and
- 7:14Speaker 1: those who commit murders and crime via accident. And I'm
- 7:18Speaker 1: not saying accident per se but to self defense or whatever.
- 7:22Speaker 1: Something goes south. Right, Oh, so this is gonna be yeah,
- 7:25Speaker 1: so it's going to blur the line in between, and
- 7:28Speaker 1: I want you guys to decide where exactly this lies.
- 7:31Speaker 1: If it was more accidental, if it was more on purpose.
- 7:34Speaker 2: Interesting, Okay, Okay.
- 7:36Speaker 1: Now I will say right now it's definitely on purpose.
- 7:39Speaker 1: But I want to know how much on purpose? That's
- 7:42Speaker 1: the question.
- 7:42Speaker 2: Okay.
- 7:44Speaker 1: So this story takes us off or starts us off
- 7:46Speaker 1: with an individual by the name of Tina Rose Hermann. Now,
- 7:49Speaker 1: Tina was thirty two years old and living in Howard, Ohio.
- 7:53Speaker 1: She was described by her friends and family as a
- 7:55Speaker 1: loving mother. She that's a single mother, raised her two kids,
- 8:00Speaker 1: Sarah Maynard, who was thirteen and Cody Maynard, who was ten. Larry,
- 8:04Speaker 1: who was a kid's father, was unfortunately no longer in
- 8:07Speaker 1: the relationship with Tina, and you know, things just didn't
- 8:11Speaker 1: quite work out. So Tina lived with her two kids
- 8:14Speaker 1: alone at four eighty one King Beach Drive. Now, being
- 8:19Speaker 1: that Tina was supporting herself and her kids now without Larry,
- 8:23Speaker 1: she was a very diligent and dedicated employee where she worked,
- 8:27Speaker 1: which is why it was odd when she didn't show
- 8:29Speaker 1: up for her scheduled shift one day without calling in.
- 8:33Speaker 2: Uh oh.
- 8:35Speaker 1: So usually her day started at work near the evening
- 8:38Speaker 1: after her kids came home from school. Okay, she greet
- 8:42Speaker 1: him they come home from school, maybe even make him
- 8:44Speaker 1: a little dinner or something, and then she head off
- 8:46Speaker 1: to go punch the clock. Ok So, when she didn't
- 8:50Speaker 1: show up, her manager thought it was well, definitely.
- 8:53Speaker 2: Odd at a character.
- 8:54Speaker 1: Yeah, she didn't even hear from her, it's not right.
- 8:57Speaker 1: So she tried to call Tina, but she didn't answer
- 9:00Speaker 1: her phone. So, being as concerned as she was, this
- 9:05Speaker 1: really was out of character, as you said, she decided
- 9:08Speaker 1: she was going to call nine one one. So on
- 9:10Speaker 1: November tenth, twenty ten, she called and asked for a
- 9:14Speaker 1: welfare check on Tina at her home. So it's not
- 9:16Speaker 1: like it's a super emergency, but she's definitely concerned. This
- 9:19Speaker 1: is aut a character. Can we get a welfare check?
- 9:21Speaker 2: Okay? But I also have to admit, like, well done
- 9:23Speaker 2: on the boss there, definitely like realizing right away that
- 9:28Speaker 2: there could be an issue and actually going about doing
- 9:31Speaker 2: something about it. Like I actually loved that. That's good.
- 9:34Speaker 2: That's good.
- 9:35Speaker 1: Yeah, and that plays a very big part in this actually, Okay,
- 9:39Speaker 1: how quickly she was to respond. So the police stopped
- 9:44Speaker 1: by her home and made their way up to her door.
- 9:47Speaker 1: They knocked, but got no response.
- 9:51Speaker 2: No answer. Now the house kiddos should be there.
- 9:54Speaker 1: Well, exactly, the house was quiet. There was no sound
- 9:57Speaker 1: of Tina or her kids. Didn't seem like anyone was home,
- 10:02Speaker 1: so the police couldn't really do much. They assumed no
- 10:05Speaker 1: one was home, maybe she went out of state or something.
- 10:08Speaker 1: So they walked back down the driveway, got in their car,
- 10:10Speaker 1: and drove away without any information, which I mean rightfully,
- 10:13Speaker 1: So it's not like they can storm a house. They
- 10:15Speaker 1: don't have a warrant or anything. Right.
- 10:17Speaker 2: Oh, but yeah, you're like, hopefully everything's okay in there.
- 10:20Speaker 1: Yeah, and again they don't have suspicion, right, And I
- 10:24Speaker 1: think to do that just enter a home without a warrant,
- 10:27Speaker 1: they need suspicion of I'm not sure the exact term,
- 10:30Speaker 1: but they need suspicion without a reasonable doubt or something like.
- 10:32Speaker 2: That, like if a window was broken or the door
- 10:35Speaker 2: was kind of open, then they probably could, you.
- 10:37Speaker 1: Know, exactly, no search. But yeah, but it was a
- 10:40Speaker 1: sealed up house, just like any other down the street,
- 10:43Speaker 1: and nothing looked off exactly, so you can't just barge in.
- 10:47Speaker 1: So the next day would come around and a missing
- 10:50Speaker 1: person report would be filed, but not on Tina. Oddly enough,
- 10:57Speaker 1: it was forty one year old Sprang, who just so
- 11:02Speaker 1: happened to be Tina's neighbor and close friend. Now, the
- 11:05Speaker 1: last time anyone had heard from Stephanie, she was over
- 11:08Speaker 1: at Tina's house. Tina had been looking to move, ideally
- 11:13Speaker 1: a little bit closer to work, so Stephanie was there
- 11:16Speaker 1: helping her friend begin to process and organize and get
- 11:19Speaker 1: all the packagings together for starting to get things in boxes.
- 11:24Speaker 1: So she was there now. It was also noted that
- 11:27Speaker 1: this day, Tina's two kids, Sarah and Cody, never showed
- 11:31Speaker 1: up for school.
- 11:33Speaker 2: Holy shit, what's going on here?
- 11:36Speaker 1: The police were just beginning to get some information together.
- 11:40Speaker 1: They were drawing these two connections between Tina to Stephanie
- 11:44Speaker 1: and the missing school right when they received a phone call.
- 11:48Speaker 1: It was Tina's manager from work again. Okay, well, apparently
- 11:53Speaker 1: she wasn't satisfied with the well welfare check the police
- 11:56Speaker 1: did on Tina yesterday. Though she was aware they couldn't
- 11:59Speaker 1: enter the home without the warr int or anything. She
- 12:01Speaker 1: decided she didn't need a warrant to go into the home.
- 12:04Speaker 2: That's true. Yeah, yeah, she's just like make check in
- 12:08Speaker 2: as kind of a friend, making sure she's okay.
- 12:10Speaker 1: Exactly now, it is unclear how she exactly got into
- 12:13Speaker 1: the home. I have some guesses on a later part here,
- 12:16Speaker 1: but it's kind of irrelevant. Regardless, she let herself into
- 12:19Speaker 1: the home and when she did, she got inside and
- 12:23Speaker 1: was greeted with a gruesome scene. Oh no, and quickly
- 12:27Speaker 1: dialed nine one one.
- 12:28Speaker 2: Seriously, so it's Stephanie's the neighbor, right, correct? Did she
- 12:33Speaker 2: do some shit? Or maybe Stephanie's in there too, Okay,
- 12:36Speaker 2: I'm listening.
- 12:38Speaker 1: Well. On the nine one one call, she informed the
- 12:41Speaker 1: police who she was and that she's there regarding Tina,
- 12:45Speaker 1: and she was the one who called the day before,
- 12:47Speaker 1: and she told them she went to her house to
- 12:49Speaker 1: check and inside she found quote blood everywhere.
- 12:55Speaker 2: Oh jeez.
- 12:57Speaker 1: The police rushed to the scene, found a blood bath,
- 13:02Speaker 1: but no people, no one alive, and no one dead.
- 13:07Speaker 2: Holy okay. I was also expecting there to be like
- 13:10Speaker 2: three or four bodies in there.
- 13:11Speaker 1: No no one huh. So by the door, there was
- 13:15Speaker 1: a pool of blood and there was drag marks found
- 13:19Speaker 1: heading towards the bedroom.
- 13:20Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
- 13:21Speaker 1: And then inside the bathroom it looked like a scene
- 13:23Speaker 1: right out of a horror movie, as the tub had
- 13:26Speaker 1: blood spatters and smears all up the walls and along
- 13:29Speaker 1: the tub, and spray marks and flecks across the floor.
- 13:34Speaker 1: Even on the toilet right beside the bathtub had flex
- 13:38Speaker 1: of blood all around the bowl.
- 13:39Speaker 2: That makes my stomach just sink.
- 13:42Speaker 1: It was immediately clear to investigators what took place in
- 13:45Speaker 1: the bathtub dismemberment.
- 13:48Speaker 2: Oh okay, I don't know why I didn't go there,
- 13:51Speaker 2: but I had not gone there.
- 13:53Speaker 1: You did. Anytime there's a murder case and there's a
- 13:55Speaker 1: bloody bathtub, happens in the bloody bathtub.
- 13:57Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm very aware now. Well, I was just, for
- 14:01Speaker 2: some reason, was in a happier mind frame than that.
- 14:05Speaker 1: You're a co host of a true crime podcast.
- 14:08Speaker 2: Yeah, and a barely body dismemberment is blowing my mind.
- 14:12Speaker 1: To day sunshine, lollipops and rainbows.
- 14:16Speaker 2: So yeah. People will sometimes ask how do you cope
- 14:18Speaker 2: with having to do these stories? And I'm apparently just
- 14:22Speaker 2: an oblivion over here.
- 14:23Speaker 1: Yeah, you block it out, that's how.
- 14:25Speaker 2: Wow.
- 14:27Speaker 1: So yeah, Unfortunately, this was a very real scene, not
- 14:30Speaker 1: sunshine and lollipops, and the bathtub was clearly used for dismounting.
- 14:35Speaker 2: Wow.
- 14:35Speaker 1: Yeah. Okay, So by the scene left the house, they
- 14:38Speaker 1: were not sure if anyone was going to be left
- 14:41Speaker 1: alive as a result, but they were able to figure
- 14:44Speaker 1: out a few things as far as how it could
- 14:46Speaker 1: have played out. First, there was bags of groceries that
- 14:50Speaker 1: were found in the kitchen, but they weren't put away,
- 14:53Speaker 1: still just sitting there in the kitchen.
- 14:56Speaker 2: Like someone had just gone shopping, like someone.
- 14:58Speaker 1: Had just come home from shopping. The receipt showed that
- 15:02Speaker 1: the purchase was made approximately around noon, so this meant
- 15:06Speaker 1: Tina most likely would have come home shortly after doing
- 15:09Speaker 1: some shopping and brought the groceries in and before she
- 15:12Speaker 1: had a chance to put them away, was interrupted when
- 15:15Speaker 1: she had entered her home.
- 15:17Speaker 2: Okay.
- 15:18Speaker 1: Then the bloodstains by the door also suggested someone was assaulted,
- 15:22Speaker 1: either as they entered the home or as they were
- 15:25Speaker 1: trying to leave.
- 15:26Speaker 2: Right.
- 15:28Speaker 1: They also found the garage door. It wasn't quite working,
- 15:33Speaker 1: it was left open partially, and even in the closed
- 15:36Speaker 1: position it was open enough for a person to crawl
- 15:39Speaker 1: under and enter the home if they wanted to, which
- 15:42Speaker 1: is partially why part of the reason why, I'm thinking
- 15:44Speaker 1: that that could have been how the boss entered the
- 15:46Speaker 1: home if necessary. Okay, but she might have had a
- 15:49Speaker 1: key to it's kind of a relevant.
- 15:50Speaker 2: Information, or the back door was unlocked or something.
- 15:54Speaker 1: Yeah, so this is how they presume the perpetrator would
- 15:58Speaker 1: have entered.
- 15:58Speaker 2: Okay.
- 16:00Speaker 1: Now, in the garage there was also more blood and
- 16:02Speaker 1: Tina's truck was also missing, which meant whoever was responsible
- 16:07Speaker 1: for this must have taken the truck away from the.
- 16:09Speaker 2: Scene with the bodies.
- 16:11Speaker 1: I'm imagining most likely with the bodies.
- 16:14Speaker 2: Wow.
- 16:15Speaker 1: Now there was one final thing they found at the
- 16:17Speaker 1: crime scene. It was a bag from Walmart. Now, a
- 16:21Speaker 1: bag in itself might not seem very conspicuous, but this
- 16:27Speaker 1: one had things in it. Tarps. Oh okay, multiple tarps.
- 16:35Speaker 1: Investigators then turned to Walmart for a history of their purchases.
- 16:38Speaker 1: They didn't have a receipt, but since they didn't have one,
- 16:41Speaker 1: they thought, let's look it up in their registry and
- 16:43Speaker 1: go do that and they can see what's been purchased.
- 16:46Speaker 1: So they managed to find out which Walmart. It was
- 16:49Speaker 1: purchased at what items were purchased, and amongst just the tarps,
- 16:53Speaker 1: there were several other like Latex gloves for example, being
- 16:56Speaker 1: on that list. And they also managed to find CCTV
- 17:02Speaker 1: security camera footage.
- 17:03Speaker 2: Hey, that's what I was wondering.
- 17:04Speaker 1: Yeah, so they found footage of a Caucasian mail approximately
- 17:09Speaker 1: in his thirties. He was very casual when he's walking
- 17:12Speaker 1: through the till, purchasing the items and just walking out
- 17:16Speaker 1: of the store on his merried.
- 17:17Speaker 2: Way, good god, with just like tarbs to go murder people.
- 17:20Speaker 1: That's he pretty much had a DIY murder scene kit. Yeah,
- 17:24Speaker 1: that he just purchased for.
- 17:25Speaker 2: More more and he's just yeah, just another day, just.
- 17:28Speaker 1: Lotty dotty dot not a big deal whatsoever.
- 17:30Speaker 2: Wow.
- 17:31Speaker 1: And he left a bag behind at what in Walmart?
- 17:35Speaker 2: No?
- 17:35Speaker 1: No, sorry, oh at the crime scene of the crime. Okay,
- 17:38Speaker 1: how do you like really?
- 17:40Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah? Actually, so he really wasn't too concerned about Well,
- 17:45Speaker 2: clearly he wasn't. I was gonna say cleaning up, but
- 17:47Speaker 2: clearly he fucking wasn't at all. There's like a shit
- 17:51Speaker 2: show in there.
- 17:52Speaker 1: Well, I just I don't know. I can see both
- 17:55Speaker 1: sides of this. Especially considering you just did something so
- 17:58Speaker 1: horrific your mind might be cloud and convoluted situations, it
- 18:01Speaker 1: might be hard to keep track of everything. You leave
- 18:03Speaker 1: something behind easy enough. Also in that sense, you're going
- 18:06Speaker 1: to commit something like this and you can't look after
- 18:09Speaker 1: a bag yeah of stuff.
- 18:12Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going to get away with it. Obviously it
- 18:15Speaker 2: was planned right to some degree.
- 18:17Speaker 1: So well, again, that's kind of where I want you
- 18:20Speaker 1: guys to figure out on your own. See where you
- 18:22Speaker 1: think it lays. If it was planned, if it was premeditated,
- 18:25Speaker 1: if it wasn't. Where on that.
- 18:26Speaker 2: Spectator, I mean, if someone's buying shit from Walmart like that,
- 18:30Speaker 2: I feel like, okay, no, I'll just listen and then
- 18:32Speaker 2: I'll decide.
- 18:33Speaker 1: Okay. Well, it didn't take long for police to be
- 18:36Speaker 1: able to take that footage of a rather rather normal
- 18:39Speaker 1: looking dude and actually find a name and identify him.
- 18:43Speaker 1: Oh wow, his name was Matthew Hoffman and not the
- 18:47Speaker 1: infamous BMX legend Matt Hoffman that has like video games
- 18:51Speaker 1: out there and stuff. Not that dude.
- 18:53Speaker 2: Okay, Well, because I was like, where I'm a recognizing
- 18:55Speaker 2: that name. That's not the same last name that she had, right?
- 18:58Speaker 1: No? No, uh, Tina Herman. Okay, yeah, so Hoffman Herman
- 19:02Speaker 1: different close but different. So it was yeah, like I said,
- 19:07Speaker 1: Matthew Hoffman. Now, not a lot is known about his
- 19:12Speaker 1: early bringing up, his childhood per se, but we are
- 19:14Speaker 1: going to touch on him and who he is a
- 19:16Speaker 1: little bit here. So we do know that by two
- 19:18Speaker 1: thousand and one, at the age of nineteen, Matthew had
- 19:21Speaker 1: taken to crime to try and support himself. He was
- 19:24Speaker 1: living in Steamboat Springs, Colorado at the time, and he
- 19:28Speaker 1: had just broken into a condo complex in hopes of
- 19:31Speaker 1: finding some stuff to steal.
- 19:34Speaker 2: Okay, he got what he.
- 19:35Speaker 1: Could, stealing anything that was worth something and was easy
- 19:38Speaker 1: to carry out Before he got out of there, he
- 19:41Speaker 1: was quick, quiet and left no witnesses, but Matthew was
- 19:46Speaker 1: still not quite happy with how it all played out.
- 19:49Speaker 1: He later said that he couldn't get the thought of
- 19:52Speaker 1: any fingerprints that he could possibly have left behind at
- 19:54Speaker 1: the scene out of his mind, and that he came
- 19:57Speaker 1: up with his own way to make sure that no
- 19:59Speaker 1: one would f in them.
- 20:01Speaker 2: Okay, what on earth did he do?
- 20:03Speaker 1: What do you think? What do you think he would
- 20:04Speaker 1: do to ensure that he erases all his fingerprints? That
- 20:07Speaker 1: could possibly be in an entire building.
- 20:13Speaker 2: Oh, burned it down.
- 20:15Speaker 1: He returned to the scene of the crime.
- 20:17Speaker 2: That took me way too long to figure out.
- 20:19Speaker 1: And set the complex on fire.
- 20:21Speaker 2: Do you know where my mind went first? Which is
- 20:23Speaker 2: so fucked what? As like he removed his fingerprints, That's
- 20:27Speaker 2: where it went first, And I was like, no, that's
- 20:29Speaker 2: not logical. What else could it be?
- 20:31Speaker 1: Actually that that is logical as long as there's not
- 20:33Speaker 1: fingerprints already on file. If he removes his, they can't
- 20:36Speaker 1: match him.
- 20:37Speaker 2: Yeah, but that's pretty like that's affecting your way of living.
- 20:42Speaker 1: Not necessarily you just have like burn scars or something
- 20:47Speaker 1: like burn the shit and the tips of your fingers.
- 20:48Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess it could work.
- 20:50Speaker 1: Yeah, that's actually not about it. That'd be much.
- 20:52Speaker 2: Easier than burning the place to the ground. Yes, it's
- 20:55Speaker 2: only affecting you, yeah, versus everyone in that apartment exactly.
- 21:00Speaker 1: And I mean he did target just the condo he
- 21:03Speaker 1: broke into specifically, but however, all sixteen residents met units
- 21:12Speaker 1: I guess within this complex were affected.
- 21:14Speaker 2: Absolutely.
- 21:16Speaker 1: The whole thing ended up burning down, and he caused
- 21:18Speaker 1: over two million dollars worth of damages.
- 21:21Speaker 2: Holy shit.
- 21:22Speaker 1: Yeah, So he actually wasn't caught, but he did eventually
- 21:26Speaker 1: turn himself over to the police and confess his crimes.
- 21:29Speaker 2: Okay, and he was.
- 21:31Speaker 1: Sentenced to eight years in prison, but only served six
- 21:34Speaker 1: before he was released and moved to Howard, Ohio.
- 21:37Speaker 2: Okay, Okay, that seems I'm like, I mean, a lot
- 21:41Speaker 2: of shit was went down there, which sucks, But like
- 21:43Speaker 2: the fact that he was remorseful and turned himself in
- 21:46Speaker 2: and then served like a decent amount of time.
- 21:49Speaker 1: Yeah, So I mean there is that there's some consolation
- 21:52Speaker 1: prizes there. Yeah. But now in twenty ten, Matthew had
- 21:56Speaker 1: just turned thirty and mainly kept to himself. A little
- 22:00Speaker 1: bit more on him now. In twenty ten, he first
- 22:03Speaker 1: found work as a tree trimmer, but he was rather odd,
- 22:06Speaker 1: and by the October of twenty ten he had lost
- 22:08Speaker 1: his job and was collecting unemployment benefits. A lot of
- 22:12Speaker 1: people really found him odd. In fact, neighbors often saw
- 22:15Speaker 1: him out in his garden, lying in his hammock under
- 22:18Speaker 1: the two trees he had in its property. But they
- 22:21Speaker 1: also reported that Matthew resorted to shooting and eating squirrels
- 22:25Speaker 1: in his yard. I mean, this could be because he
- 22:28Speaker 1: just didn't want to go to the supermarket, or he
- 22:30Speaker 1: couldn't afford anything at the store, or who knows what,
- 22:33Speaker 1: but either way, he was eating squirrels.
- 22:36Speaker 2: Hum At first, it was like, what the fuck's aught
- 22:38Speaker 2: about laying your hammock under your trees? That sounds amazing.
- 22:42Speaker 1: No, it's not just laying in your hammock. It's an
- 22:44Speaker 1: accumulation of other things, like laying in the hammock and
- 22:48Speaker 1: looking up and shooting a squirrel and then eating inside
- 22:50Speaker 1: and cooking it.
- 22:52Speaker 2: Yeah, that's something. How did they know for sure that
- 22:54Speaker 2: he was cooking it and eating eating it? They disassumed.
- 22:59Speaker 1: I guess when some one's shooting squirrels and taking him inside.
- 23:02Speaker 2: Maybe he didn't like squirrels and he just wanted them dead.
- 23:06Speaker 1: Maybe, but who knows.
- 23:08Speaker 2: Most likely not just playing Devil's ad Forhgate, fair enough,
- 23:12Speaker 2: I do that on a regular basis, so it's refreshing
- 23:15Speaker 2: for you to play that part.
- 23:17Speaker 1: So something else did happen in October of that year
- 23:19Speaker 1: that may have tipped the scales from Matthew, if you
- 23:22Speaker 1: want to put it that way, And it was at
- 23:23Speaker 1: his girlfriend had left him. Now we're not exactly sure why,
- 23:26Speaker 1: but there is a police report out there reportedly that
- 23:30Speaker 1: she claimed Matthew was becoming violent and choked her during
- 23:33Speaker 1: a domestic incident.
- 23:34Speaker 2: Wow.
- 23:35Speaker 1: So this left Matthew jobless, collecting benefits and needing squirrels
- 23:39Speaker 1: all in isolation.
- 23:41Speaker 2: Huh. I mean that sounds pretty rough. I'm not gonna lie.
- 23:44Speaker 1: Yeah. So now this brings us to November fifteenth, twenty ten,
- 23:50Speaker 1: five days after Tina had first failed to show up
- 23:53Speaker 1: for her scheduled workshift. The police remember that they had
- 23:56Speaker 1: actually met Matthew recently on the eleventh fact, when they
- 24:00Speaker 1: were investigating Tina's home. He had actually pulled up in
- 24:04Speaker 1: his vehicle outside the home.
- 24:06Speaker 2: Really yep, okay.
- 24:09Speaker 1: So as he drove up, deputies noticed him immediately and
- 24:13Speaker 1: they asked why he was visiting and what looked like
- 24:16Speaker 1: a murder scene basically, and Matthew was rather quick in
- 24:21Speaker 1: his feet. He told the officers right then and there
- 24:24Speaker 1: that he was there to pick up his girlfriend from
- 24:25Speaker 1: work just down the street. Matthew wasn't a suspect, but
- 24:29Speaker 1: the officers did question him and press him.
- 24:32Speaker 2: Well, yeah, they.
- 24:33Speaker 1: Asked whose girlfriend was and where she worked, and Matthew
- 24:36Speaker 1: was quick again. He told the officers that she worked
- 24:39Speaker 1: at a nearby inn, and that he said that he
- 24:42Speaker 1: wasn't sure about her last name because they only recently
- 24:45Speaker 1: just started dating, pretty new to each other still, but
- 24:49Speaker 1: he could tell them her first name though, and her
- 24:51Speaker 1: first name was Sarah.
- 24:53Speaker 2: So that's so he's referring to the neighbor. Was that
- 24:56Speaker 2: the neighbor's name.
- 24:57Speaker 1: Sorry, her neighbor was Stephanie.
- 24:58Speaker 2: Oh shit, sorry, I'm getting like h's and s's.
- 25:02Speaker 1: And Sarah was. However, the daughter's name. Oh yeah, I
- 25:08Speaker 1: wasn't gonna say anything, but you kind of started linking it.
- 25:11Speaker 2: I'll give you that it was the daughter again.
- 25:14Speaker 1: Thirteen Okay, okay, yeah.
- 25:19Speaker 2: This is just getting a little bit more interesting here.
- 25:23Speaker 1: So, believing his story, the officers let him go, which
- 25:28Speaker 1: I mean at that time, they have no suspicion of him.
- 25:30Speaker 1: He's just some dude driving up by a crime scene.
- 25:33Speaker 1: I mean obviously, like any nosy neighbor would probably be
- 25:36Speaker 1: doing the same thing. You watch any movie Hollywood, they
- 25:38Speaker 1: have like the whole neighborhood standing on the street staring
- 25:40Speaker 1: and gawking, right.
- 25:42Speaker 2: And if anything, it's almost kind of like, oh, this
- 25:44Speaker 2: guy doesn't realize what happened here. But then someone like me,
- 25:50Speaker 2: I'm like, that guy's freaking guilty. He's showing up to
- 25:53Speaker 2: the crime the day after it happened.
- 25:55Speaker 1: But you have hindsight. That's that's a big part of exactly right.
- 25:58Speaker 2: Yeah, so they did.
- 26:00Speaker 1: Know something serious was going on. When they drew these
- 26:03Speaker 1: lines between it, they realized he was at the scene.
- 26:05Speaker 2: There.
- 26:06Speaker 1: He's now the one scene on CCTV footage purchasing the
- 26:09Speaker 1: items found in the home. They also linked the vehicle
- 26:14Speaker 1: they saw when he pulled up this crime scene to
- 26:16Speaker 1: the one parked outside of Walmart when the purchase were made.
- 26:19Speaker 1: So it is confirmed. Okay, so they got a warrant
- 26:23Speaker 1: to search his home. When they got there, they were
- 26:27Speaker 1: ready and they were prepared to find anything. When they
- 26:29Speaker 1: entered the home, they burst in and they found something
- 26:34Speaker 1: they weren't expecting.
- 26:36Speaker 2: Okay, what on earth would they not be expecting? I
- 26:38Speaker 2: feel like they'd almost be expecting anything.
- 26:41Speaker 1: Well, let me tell you, would you expect this?
- 26:44Speaker 2: Everyone is alive.
- 26:45Speaker 1: When they burst open the door, they found leaves.
- 26:50Speaker 2: What do you mean? Just like a shit ton of
- 26:52Speaker 2: leaves everywhere.
- 26:53Speaker 1: There were bags of leaves, loose leaves spread all over
- 26:57Speaker 1: the floor like two feet deep, through throughout the house.
- 27:00Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, I definitely would not have been expecting that. Yeah,
- 27:03Speaker 2: there's no way.
- 27:04Speaker 1: It was leaves just everywhere, a shit ton of leaves.
- 27:08Speaker 1: It's kind of nice though, No, I mean it was
- 27:10Speaker 1: the end of autumn, so I mean leaves were in abundance,
- 27:12Speaker 1: which completely makes sense. But why they're scattered in the home.
- 27:16Speaker 2: Like raking them up and bringing them in their house
- 27:17Speaker 2: for some decor.
- 27:19Speaker 1: It's beyond decor, but he was. He was raking them
- 27:23Speaker 1: up and bringing them into his home.
- 27:25Speaker 2: Really Okay.
- 27:27Speaker 1: So needless to say, though, it was a tactical nightmare
- 27:32Speaker 1: for police trying to this. Oh gosh, they didn't know
- 27:36Speaker 1: what was in those piles of leaves. Oh man, there
- 27:39Speaker 1: could have been drug paraphernalia, say needles, for example. They
- 27:42Speaker 1: were afraid that Matthew would actually set traps within the
- 27:45Speaker 1: leaves or potentially the bodies.
- 27:47Speaker 2: Of the victims.
- 27:48Speaker 1: Yeah, laying in these.
- 27:50Speaker 2: Where I had gone. Okay, that's terrifying.
- 27:53Speaker 1: Yeah. So they were ready for anything, but they were
- 27:56Speaker 1: not ready for that.
- 27:57Speaker 2: No, No, you would not be. Wow. Okay.
- 28:02Speaker 1: So when they entered the home, Matthew was sleeping on
- 28:04Speaker 1: his couch in the living room, so they burst in
- 28:08Speaker 1: they raid and they take him, and he doesn't really
- 28:11Speaker 1: say anything. He just watches the police slowly make their
- 28:14Speaker 1: way through his home and try and process what the
- 28:17Speaker 1: fuck is going on in this house. Not even when
- 28:21Speaker 1: they finally noticed a cabinet pushed up against a door
- 28:25Speaker 1: leading to the basement, did he say a word.
- 28:27Speaker 2: Oh gosh, they.
- 28:29Speaker 1: Noticed this cabinet, they moved it aside and it was
- 28:32Speaker 1: blocking the access, and they opened the door and they
- 28:36Speaker 1: slowly made their way into the basement.
- 28:38Speaker 2: I like, still some serious hope that these this family's alive.
- 28:42Speaker 1: Well, they did find thirteen year old Sarah Maynard downstairs
- 28:46Speaker 1: in the basement, tied up to a bed made of leaves,
- 28:50Speaker 1: with her hands completely bound in a plastic bag around
- 28:53Speaker 1: her waist, almost like it was a diaper. Whoa Sarah
- 28:57Speaker 1: when she saw the police went into absolute shock. She
- 29:02Speaker 1: began panicking and rambling and telling the police that she
- 29:05Speaker 1: was late for school and she had to get to school.
- 29:07Speaker 2: Huh, well, she's just terrified of her fucking mind.
- 29:13Speaker 1: She also told police that Matthew had killed her dog
- 29:17Speaker 1: and she was very worried about her dog, which is
- 29:20Speaker 1: a portion I have so far left out.
- 29:22Speaker 2: But he did oh Okay, I hate him. I mean
- 29:26Speaker 2: he already did.
- 29:27Speaker 1: He later admitted to killing the dog because it wouldn't
- 29:31Speaker 1: stop barking.
- 29:32Speaker 2: Wow. Yeah, because you're an asshole. Yeah, that's why I
- 29:35Speaker 2: didn't stop barking.
- 29:37Speaker 1: Yes, okay. Oh so Sarah, though, did have suspicions of that,
- 29:41Speaker 1: she didn't have any idea of what happened to her mother, brother,
- 29:44Speaker 1: or Stephanie. According to Sarah, Matthew had explained that he
- 29:49Speaker 1: was waiting for ransom money to come in from her parents,
- 29:52Speaker 1: and that he was going to return her home. He'd
- 29:54Speaker 1: even promise that she'd be home by Christmas.
- 29:57Speaker 2: Huh okay, so like she like he was basically like
- 30:02Speaker 2: abusing her down there.
- 30:05Speaker 1: We'll get into that a little bit, but.
- 30:06Speaker 2: Yes, okay, yes wow.
- 30:10Speaker 1: Matthew, however, wasn't quite as forthcoming to the police when
- 30:14Speaker 1: they questioned Sarah. She told him everything, of course, right,
- 30:16Speaker 1: but Matthew was lips tight.
- 30:20Speaker 2: This guy is so interesting, how I just like im
- 30:22Speaker 2: picturing this person that just is not affected by anything,
- 30:25Speaker 2: and just like going through this the motions and the
- 30:28Speaker 2: steps and just like like a straight line. And maybe
- 30:34Speaker 2: maybe it's very odd.
- 30:36Speaker 1: Things might change in that opinion. Here this is a
- 30:38Speaker 1: there's a little bit of different insight to this case,
- 30:40Speaker 1: which is why again I want you to kind of
- 30:42Speaker 1: draw your opinion on where and the spectrum it lies. Okay,
- 30:46Speaker 1: So he didn't say a word during any of the interviews.
- 30:48Speaker 1: Only once he pounded his chest with his fists and
- 30:51Speaker 1: signaled as something breaking with his hands. He didn't even
- 30:55Speaker 1: answer when the police asked him if that meant that
- 30:57Speaker 1: his heart was broken. Just silence. But everything did change.
- 31:01Speaker 1: A few days later, his tune changed and he began
- 31:05Speaker 1: to talk. Matthew went into another interview and asked if
- 31:09Speaker 1: the camera was on, and the officers told him that
- 31:12Speaker 1: it wasn't. Yeah, sure right, No, of course we're not
- 31:17Speaker 1: recording here in this interrogation room. So he did believe
- 31:22Speaker 1: them and he started talking.
- 31:24Speaker 2: That's lying, though, I feel like you have to I
- 31:26Speaker 2: mean maybe there was a few years ago, but like
- 31:28Speaker 2: you have to state if something is recording like that.
- 31:32Speaker 1: Do you not no, because I mean you're still talking
- 31:35Speaker 1: to police, which is like witness. I don't think so.
- 31:38Speaker 1: I don't know. I'd have to look into it.
- 31:39Speaker 2: I feel like you would have to be like full disclosure,
- 31:43Speaker 2: but I don't know.
- 31:44Speaker 1: I don't know it's not like this is a you're
- 31:46Speaker 1: calling into a phone line or something. This call may
- 31:50Speaker 1: be recorded for a company policies.
- 31:52Speaker 2: Sure tell us, and it's recorded like this is obviously
- 31:55Speaker 2: recorded by YEA.
- 31:57Speaker 1: So he started talking, and he said that he had
- 32:00Speaker 1: the same nightmare for a second time and he needed
- 32:03Speaker 1: to talk about it. He said that in his dream,
- 32:06Speaker 1: he'd been in a food processing plant and when he'd
- 32:08Speaker 1: opened the bag in front of him, it was filled
- 32:11Speaker 1: with human body parts. He took that to mean that
- 32:15Speaker 1: he had to come clean, so he decided to tell
- 32:18Speaker 1: the police what he'd done. He did, however, have one condition.
- 32:25Speaker 1: He would tell the police where to find the bodies
- 32:28Speaker 1: if they agreed to allow him to escape.
- 32:31Speaker 2: Oh no, but this, I'm okay, this isn't good.
- 32:34Speaker 1: Well, this wasn't going to be a real escape though.
- 32:36Speaker 1: Well yeah, his plan was only a cover up of
- 32:39Speaker 1: a falsified escape. Here. He was going to pretend to
- 32:44Speaker 1: run away so that the police could shoot and kill him.
- 32:49Speaker 2: That's what he wanted, That's what he want.
- 32:50Speaker 1: He's like, just just let me run away and then
- 32:52Speaker 1: you can be like, oh no, he's getting away, shoot
- 32:54Speaker 1: him and then you can kill me.
- 32:56Speaker 2: Well, so that's almost kind of like a suicide planet.
- 33:00Speaker 1: It is only after that his lawyer would release the
- 33:04Speaker 1: information on where the bodies would be found. That's what
- 33:07Speaker 1: he wanted.
- 33:08Speaker 2: Huh.
- 33:09Speaker 1: The police, of course didn't agree. They're not going to
- 33:11Speaker 1: just kill him at his wish, right, Yeah, and Matthew
- 33:16Speaker 1: stopped talking again.
- 33:17Speaker 2: Frag but the lawyer knows where the bodies are.
- 33:21Speaker 1: I don't know if the lawyer does yet or what.
- 33:23Speaker 2: He was going to tell him.
- 33:24Speaker 1: Okay, but it would be only two days later that
- 33:27Speaker 1: he changed his mind all over again. Matthew told investigators
- 33:32Speaker 1: where to find the bodies under the condition that the
- 33:35Speaker 1: prosecution wouldn't press for the death penalty.
- 33:39Speaker 2: Okay. I just have like this terrible thought though, that
- 33:42Speaker 2: like he was using food grinder of sorts without people knowing.
- 33:47Speaker 2: And now what's been going on for those past four
- 33:52Speaker 2: days or whatever.
- 33:53Speaker 1: There's no cannibalism.
- 33:54Speaker 2: Okay, No, you're good, Okay, Okay, Well I guess I
- 33:57Speaker 2: mean I'm not doing the case. I'm the only one that.
- 34:00Speaker 1: Exactly that'd be you. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. I do find
- 34:03Speaker 1: this super interesting though, because Matthew a started with I
- 34:08Speaker 1: will tell you where the bodies are if you kill me. Basically, Oh,
- 34:13Speaker 1: and now he's like, I'll tell you where the bodies
- 34:15Speaker 1: are if you don't kill me.
- 34:17Speaker 2: That's very interesting. He's a lot going on in his head.
- 34:21Speaker 1: He has a lot going on in his head.
- 34:23Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 34:25Speaker 1: So he would then write a four page confession detailing
- 34:29Speaker 1: his crimes, but he left out one very important part.
- 34:32Speaker 1: According to Matthew, he'd only ever been nice to Sarah.
- 34:36Speaker 1: He apparently had gave her a copy of Treasure Island.
- 34:40Speaker 1: They'd watch movies together, he'd cook burgers for her, and
- 34:43Speaker 1: he'd even fall asleep with her in his arms. His
- 34:48Speaker 1: exact words are quote, I would not have hurt her.
- 34:53Speaker 1: I could not hurt her. I planned on giving her
- 34:56Speaker 1: more and more freedom until she ran away.
- 35:00Speaker 2: Hmm.
- 35:01Speaker 1: Sarah, however, told a very different story. According to her,
- 35:05Speaker 1: in the four days that Matthew had had tied her
- 35:08Speaker 1: up in the basement, he'd repeatedly sexually assaulted her.
- 35:12Speaker 2: Holy shit.
- 35:14Speaker 1: This claim was backed up by the physical evidence and
- 35:16Speaker 1: evaluation on Sarah the abuse on her body.
- 35:19Speaker 2: Wow.
- 35:21Speaker 1: So a charge of rape was added to nine other
- 35:24Speaker 1: accounts that Matthew was facing.
- 35:26Speaker 2: What the actual hell, Oh my gosh, I'm like, is
- 35:30Speaker 2: he just like delusional? And like, what's happening in his world?
- 35:33Speaker 2: Or is he just stretching the truth to make himself
- 35:36Speaker 2: seem better and not like a complete ass or more
- 35:39Speaker 2: than an ass and disgusting monster.
- 35:42Speaker 1: Well, luckily, Matthew, like I said, did write a four
- 35:46Speaker 1: page confession.
- 35:46Speaker 2: Okay, yes he did, so we do.
- 35:48Speaker 1: Have accounts for his side of the story, and by
- 35:53Speaker 1: all accounts, it sounds like this is the truth. I'm
- 35:56Speaker 1: not trying to sit here and say, oh, it's just
- 35:58Speaker 1: his side of the story. No, I think this is
- 36:00Speaker 1: is most likely how it played out by the sounds
- 36:02Speaker 1: of it.
- 36:03Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 36:04Speaker 1: So, after Matthew was left jobless and single, he went
- 36:08Speaker 1: back to his old ways.
- 36:09Speaker 2: Theft right.
- 36:11Speaker 1: According to Matthew, he picked a house at random. That
- 36:15Speaker 1: one is up for debate. He found one in the
- 36:17Speaker 1: neighborhood that didn't have any other houses too close. In fact,
- 36:21Speaker 1: this one was kind of on a block on its own,
- 36:23Speaker 1: with kind of forested area around it, so he waited.
- 36:28Speaker 1: He camped in the surrounding bushes near the home, sleeping
- 36:31Speaker 1: only in his sleeping bag to try and fight off
- 36:33Speaker 1: the cold, and finally, after a time period that isn't
- 36:36Speaker 1: quite clear, assumed a few days I've heard three days,
- 36:41Speaker 1: but again not confirmed, but it was a few days
- 36:45Speaker 1: before he made his move. Matthew approached the home now
- 36:50Speaker 1: that it seemed to be empty. He tried the front door,
- 36:53Speaker 1: but it was locked, and from there he went around
- 36:54Speaker 1: to the back and found the partially open garage door,
- 36:58Speaker 1: and he slid inside. All he had to do now
- 37:02Speaker 1: was look for anything worth stealing, grab it, and be
- 37:04Speaker 1: on his way. He was looking for the same things
- 37:07Speaker 1: as he did back in two thousand and one. He
- 37:09Speaker 1: wanted something that was light, easy to carry, like money
- 37:12Speaker 1: or jewelry, but he had a hard time finding anything
- 37:15Speaker 1: worthwhile in this house. He searched the home for about
- 37:18Speaker 1: an hour when suddenly he heard the sound of a
- 37:22Speaker 1: car pulling up into the driveway.
- 37:24Speaker 2: Oh man, So.
- 37:27Speaker 1: He had a choice to make. He could either sneak
- 37:30Speaker 1: out or he could hide. He knew that if he
- 37:36Speaker 1: tried to sneak out, he probably was going to get caught,
- 37:40Speaker 1: so he chose to hide. He ran into a bedroom,
- 37:43Speaker 1: closed the door and waited. Ideally, whoever it was would
- 37:47Speaker 1: come back and pick something up before heading out again.
- 37:50Speaker 1: So he sat silently waiting, But then the bedroom door
- 37:56Speaker 1: started to open. In walked Tina and the whole situated
- 38:02Speaker 1: situation escalated incredibly quickly. Matthew came prepared to defend himself
- 38:08Speaker 1: or to attack whichever situation he found himself in. He
- 38:12Speaker 1: had a hunting knife and a sap, which a sap
- 38:16Speaker 1: is a small little leather pouch filled with like metal bearings,
- 38:19Speaker 1: so think like a leather coin pouch. Basically, it was
- 38:23Speaker 1: like hit and okay, bludgeoning. Yeah, So he ordered Tina
- 38:28Speaker 1: to lie in the bed, bearing both the weapons and
- 38:30Speaker 1: fearing for her life. Tina listened. So as Tina laid
- 38:34Speaker 1: face down the bed, Matthew hit her across the back
- 38:37Speaker 1: of the head with the sap. His intent was to
- 38:40Speaker 1: knock her out, but all he ended up doing was
- 38:42Speaker 1: injuring her. Realizing that she was still conscious, Matthew hit
- 38:47Speaker 1: Tina across the head again, but then he heard the
- 38:50Speaker 1: bedroom door swing open behind him. Oh no, He turned
- 38:54Speaker 1: around a look, and this time he saw forty one
- 38:57Speaker 1: year old Stephanie Sprang, Tina's neighbor and best friend. Okay,
- 39:01Speaker 1: the pair of them locked eyes as Matthew stood over Tina,
- 39:05Speaker 1: who was still conscious and laying in the bed. Stephanie
- 39:08Speaker 1: panicked and ran, but Matthew didn't want either of the
- 39:11Speaker 1: women to escape or call for help, so with his
- 39:15Speaker 1: knife in the other hand, he quickly stabbed Tina in
- 39:17Speaker 1: the back twice. Oh geez, before he took off after
- 39:20Speaker 1: Stephanie through the house.
- 39:22Speaker 2: Ohly shit.
- 39:23Speaker 1: He managed to catch up to her before she got
- 39:26Speaker 1: to the front door, and he stabbed her twice in
- 39:29Speaker 1: the chest. He then ran back to the first bedroom,
- 39:32Speaker 1: stabbed Tina another couple of times, and realized they were
- 39:37Speaker 1: both dead.
- 39:38Speaker 2: Well.
- 39:38Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'm not too sure where it is. I
- 39:43Speaker 1: avoided researching this part because I love dogs, but somewhere
- 39:48Speaker 1: and around here he would have went after the dog
- 39:51Speaker 1: with a knife as well.
- 39:52Speaker 2: The dog was barking at this guy. Yes, Okay, first
- 39:56Speaker 2: of all, so I'm assuming he was like camped out,
- 39:59Speaker 2: kind of like figure out their schedules, right, So he
- 40:02Speaker 2: was probably really thinking like no one was going to
- 40:04Speaker 2: be home at that time.
- 40:05Speaker 1: That's what he was aiming for. Definitely that.
- 40:07Speaker 2: Okay, this whole thing is freaking terrifying. But it is
- 40:10Speaker 2: so unbelievably terrifying to think that someone is just like
- 40:13Speaker 2: camping out behind your house, like just watching you.
- 40:17Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 40:18Speaker 2: Oh, I don't know, like that just makes me feel
- 40:21Speaker 2: like shit.
- 40:23Speaker 1: Gross.
- 40:24Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, like, go check your backyards, but also don't
- 40:28Speaker 2: because it's scary.
- 40:30Speaker 1: Go do it, but don't lock your doors.
- 40:32Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. Wow.
- 40:35Speaker 1: Yeah. So, according to Matthew, killing anyone was never part
- 40:40Speaker 1: of the plan, and the fact that he now just
- 40:42Speaker 1: killed two women put him into a daze. He said,
- 40:45Speaker 1: he kept walking around the house trying to figure out
- 40:48Speaker 1: what to do, and then he came out with an idea.
- 40:51Speaker 1: He took their bodies to the bathroom placed them in
- 40:55Speaker 1: the tub.
- 40:56Speaker 2: Wow.
- 40:57Speaker 1: He collected bins from around the house and started dismembering
- 41:01Speaker 1: the bodies into pieces.
- 41:02Speaker 2: I I am sorry, but that's really fucked up.
- 41:08Speaker 1: He put their body parts into a bag and started
- 41:11Speaker 1: loading them into Tina's truck, which was now in the garage.
- 41:14Speaker 1: But during one of these trips, he heard the front
- 41:17Speaker 1: door to the house open up the sun. He was
- 41:22Speaker 1: not faced with two women this time, but Tina's two.
- 41:24Speaker 2: Children, both kids.
- 41:26Speaker 1: They had both just come home from school and walked
- 41:30Speaker 1: in the front door.
- 41:31Speaker 2: And saw Matthew and blood.
- 41:35Speaker 1: Blood. Sarah bolted and managed to make it to her room,
- 41:40Speaker 1: but Cody wasn't so lucky. Matthew swung his knife and
- 41:44Speaker 1: stabbed Cody in the chest, killing him almost right away,
- 41:48Speaker 1: but Matthew didn't stick around to check and see how
- 41:51Speaker 1: long he was alive for he was worried that Sarah
- 41:54Speaker 1: went to a room and was calling the police with
- 41:56Speaker 1: a phone in there, so he came in, bursting and
- 41:59Speaker 1: found her there. She wasn't calling for help, and Matthew
- 42:02Speaker 1: later said that he saw her he couldn't kill her. Instead,
- 42:06Speaker 1: he ripped the cord from an electrical fan and tried
- 42:09Speaker 1: to tie tie Sarah up. He then would drag her
- 42:13Speaker 1: to the kitchen while he got back to work taking
- 42:16Speaker 1: out the rest of the bins, dismembering his victims, including
- 42:20Speaker 1: eleven year old Cody.
- 42:22Speaker 2: Oh brutal. Why could he not kill Sarah though? Do
- 42:28Speaker 2: we talk about that later or just like he just.
- 42:31Speaker 1: All he said is that he couldn't.
- 42:33Speaker 2: He couldn't. Huh.
- 42:35Speaker 1: Matthew then came back and bundled Sarah up into the truck,
- 42:38Speaker 1: and Sarah had no idea that she was now within
- 42:41Speaker 1: a vehicle that contained her completely dismembered family and neighbor
- 42:45Speaker 1: shoved inside of bins. All she did know was a
- 42:51Speaker 1: man was taking her somewhere and there was nothing she
- 42:53Speaker 1: could do about it.
- 42:54Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a lot, it is this is a lot.
- 42:58Speaker 2: This is very very disturb and I already have my
- 43:01Speaker 2: answer in my head.
- 43:02Speaker 1: So Matthew ended up taking her to his home, led
- 43:07Speaker 1: her to the basement, tied her up to the bed
- 43:09Speaker 1: before getting back to his work. He knew he had
- 43:12Speaker 1: to get rid of the bodies. He thought about driving
- 43:14Speaker 1: his truck to the lake and swimming it and swimming
- 43:16Speaker 1: ashore from there. So driving it right into the water,
- 43:19Speaker 1: letting it set swing your shore. Yeah, but it was
- 43:22Speaker 1: November and he was afraid that he wouldn't be able
- 43:23Speaker 1: to swim because of the cold. So he thought a
- 43:27Speaker 1: bit more and he figured out a place that he
- 43:29Speaker 1: thought would be perfect. He knew a sixty foot tree
- 43:33Speaker 1: in Cocosing Wildlife Area, and he knew this tree just
- 43:37Speaker 1: so happened to be hollow. So he hauled bags body
- 43:41Speaker 1: parts over several different trips and used his climbing equipment
- 43:44Speaker 1: from previous jobs that he had as a tree turmer
- 43:47Speaker 1: to haul him up the tree and dump them inside
- 43:49Speaker 1: the tree. He did this using multiple different vehicles to
- 43:53Speaker 1: attempt to cover his tracks. He used his own truck, Tina's,
- 43:57Speaker 1: he used Stephanie's jeep. He even took his bike once
- 44:01Speaker 1: and walked back and forth twice.
- 44:03Speaker 2: Holy frig Okay, so he's like really thinking this part
- 44:09Speaker 2: through now, I guess he is.
- 44:11Speaker 1: So with the bodies hidden, Matthew again reverted back to
- 44:14Speaker 1: his old ways. The next evening, he went back to
- 44:18Speaker 1: Tina's house ready to burn it to the ground. Oh okay,
- 44:23Speaker 1: but that's when he discovered the police had already found
- 44:25Speaker 1: the scene.
- 44:26Speaker 2: As he was pulling, he wasn't going to be able
- 44:28Speaker 2: to yep.
- 44:29Speaker 1: So when he had talked to police, he was there
- 44:32Speaker 1: to burn the house down.
- 44:33Speaker 2: Okay, So he realized that he left shit there that
- 44:37Speaker 2: needed to be destroyed. Yeah, the bag or why did
- 44:41Speaker 2: he have that bag?
- 44:43Speaker 1: He would have in the process of dismembering the bodies
- 44:48Speaker 1: gone to Walmart to get some supplies.
- 44:50Speaker 2: Holy shit. So he literally went to Walmart after yes,
- 44:54Speaker 2: and was just like calm as a cucumber. Yes, that's disturbing, Yes,
- 45:00Speaker 2: really disturbing.
- 45:02Speaker 1: Yes. So January of twenty eleven, Matthew would have his trial.
- 45:08Speaker 1: He pled guilty to all ten charges, three accounts of kidnapping, kidnapping,
- 45:14Speaker 1: for abducting the three victims, three accounts of abuse of
- 45:17Speaker 1: a corpse, for dismembering the bodies of victims and scattering
- 45:20Speaker 1: the remains, and one account of sexual assault regarding Sarah.
- 45:25Speaker 1: He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility
- 45:29Speaker 1: of parole.
- 45:30Speaker 2: Right, and that's.
- 45:31Speaker 1: When the press had dubbed the leaf killer the leaf killer.
- 45:36Speaker 1: He was the leaf killer and he will remain in
- 45:39Speaker 1: prison till he dies. Okay, So one final little note here.
- 45:45Speaker 1: Sarah did move in with her father, Larry, who said
- 45:48Speaker 1: that she went back to school and worked very closely
- 45:51Speaker 1: with therapists to deal with this tragedy.
- 45:53Speaker 2: Well, yeah, that is some trauma.
- 45:56Speaker 1: Larry also said that regarding Sarah, quote, she is strong
- 46:01Speaker 1: and has gotten through this with her faith in God
- 46:03Speaker 1: and the love of her family.
- 46:05Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. Okay, that's good. That, oh that she's
- 46:10Speaker 2: like doing well. But gosh, just what she's having to
- 46:13Speaker 2: deal with.
- 46:14Speaker 1: I imagine that she might be doing well, but I don't
- 46:18Speaker 1: think I think this is going to affect her for.
- 46:21Speaker 2: Oh, of course, for her entire life.
- 46:23Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, But the conversation I do want to have
- 46:29Speaker 1: is do you think he's just a cold blooded murderer?
- 46:32Speaker 1: Do you think it's something that just got out of
- 46:35Speaker 1: hand an accident and he just covered his tracks. What
- 46:38Speaker 1: what do you think? You said? You have your answer?
- 46:41Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, well I do. Okay, So I think
- 46:45Speaker 2: that he's a terrible person. I think that he's a
- 46:49Speaker 2: criminal for sure, Like he definitely is a criminal. But
- 46:53Speaker 2: I do I don't know, because it seems so weird
- 47:00Speaker 2: to me, Okay, Like I'm still processing. It seems very
- 47:02Speaker 2: weird to me that he saved or he didn't do
- 47:05Speaker 2: this to Sarah, but then he did it to the
- 47:06Speaker 2: other three. So could he not have easily just have
- 47:09Speaker 2: not killed all of them? You know? So that's why
- 47:15Speaker 2: I'm kind of like, well, did he intend to murder someone?
- 47:17Speaker 2: Like he came prepared with some series weapons and stuff.
- 47:20Speaker 1: He had a hunting knife in his hand. Yeah, right,
- 47:24Speaker 1: And when he did have Tina, she was on the
- 47:27Speaker 1: bed and he just began assaulting her with that SAP
- 47:30Speaker 1: the weapon. Right, if he's going to ensure this doesn't
- 47:34Speaker 1: happen or you know, doesn't no one squeals or something,
- 47:39Speaker 1: He's not gonna be assaulting her. He's gonna tire up
- 47:42Speaker 1: make sure she can't see shit.
- 47:44Speaker 2: Well, because even as you were kind of presenting the story.
- 47:47Speaker 2: I was like, there's opportunities for him to like get away, Yes,
- 47:51Speaker 2: in that in that scenario there.
- 47:53Speaker 1: In an hour in someone's home. That's a long time.
- 47:57Speaker 2: And you did say that he potentially was abusive to
- 48:01Speaker 2: his girlfriend.
- 48:02Speaker 1: Potentially, yes, So.
- 48:05Speaker 2: I don't know, you know, maybe he was going to
- 48:07Speaker 2: be escalating to be doing murders and this is this
- 48:11Speaker 2: is the time the one maybe.
- 48:14Speaker 1: I I mean, clearly there's definitely some of my undiagnosed
- 48:18Speaker 1: mental disorders or something going on there, because he's is
- 48:23Speaker 1: not quite there now. There there was reports after searching
- 48:27Speaker 1: his home with the search warrent and everything, police did
- 48:29Speaker 1: find his freezer which apparently contained squirrels and popsicles. Wow,
- 48:35Speaker 1: so that was his diet apparently. And there is also
- 48:39Speaker 1: a lot of allegations around this case regarding him being
- 48:44Speaker 1: very what's the best way to say, sexualizing trees.
- 48:50Speaker 2: Okay, so that.
- 48:51Speaker 1: The leaves, for example, in his home, the tree that
- 48:56Speaker 1: he hid the remains in apparently was a tree that
- 48:59Speaker 1: he was very fond of. I mean, he climbed it often,
- 49:04Speaker 1: most likely, especially if he knew all the way up
- 49:07Speaker 1: and it was hollow in there in the specific tree.
- 49:10Speaker 1: So there is allegations of sexualizing trees.
- 49:13Speaker 2: Interesting, I never heard of that.
- 49:15Speaker 1: I mean to each the row, and I'm not going
- 49:19Speaker 1: to knock someone for something like that, right, but yeah,
- 49:22Speaker 1: I will knock you if you go ahead and like
- 49:23Speaker 1: start murdering people.
- 49:24Speaker 2: Not illegal to sexualize trees, yeah, I mean lots of
- 49:27Speaker 2: people like wood. Right, Holy shit, you went there. Oh
- 49:33Speaker 2: my gosh. But yeah, to say he's like a cold
- 49:36Speaker 2: blooded murder my gosh.
- 49:39Speaker 1: I mean he is definitely a cold blooded murderer for sure, yes,
- 49:44Speaker 1: But is he intentionally a cold blooded murderer? Is the question?
- 49:52Speaker 2: Man? Okay, okay, I'm going to say.
- 49:57Speaker 1: No, no, he's not.
- 50:00Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I'm going with I think for all,
- 50:05Speaker 2: But that just destroys me to say that.
- 50:07Speaker 1: So then here's my question that I want to beg
- 50:08Speaker 1: you with this one. What was he going to do
- 50:11Speaker 1: with Sarah?
- 50:13Speaker 2: I know that's like there's just so, but like you said,
- 50:16Speaker 2: so he has some mental health stuff that he's dealing with.
- 50:22Speaker 2: Maybe he just like saw her and was just like
- 50:24Speaker 2: had some sort of like connection, was like, oh my gosh,
- 50:28Speaker 2: like this this this girl's like an angel or whatever,
- 50:31Speaker 2: like I need to save her.
- 50:32Speaker 1: He sexually abused her. Oh fuck, he was charged with
- 50:37Speaker 1: with sexual abuse.
- 50:39Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I don't know. Okay, no this, Oh okay,
- 50:42Speaker 2: you are asking.
- 50:43Speaker 1: Me, I'm asking you impossible questions.
- 50:45Speaker 2: Possible questions. This guy is literally like the biggest douce
- 50:49Speaker 2: crew ever. Like he's discussing he's a nasty motherfucker.
- 50:52Speaker 1: Because I do think he's not intentionally a cold blooded killer,
- 50:57Speaker 1: but I think he got way in over his head
- 51:00Speaker 1: and he's just going to roll with those punches, which
- 51:03Speaker 1: turns him into one after the fact.
- 51:06Speaker 2: Well, the whole Sarah thing, Well, this would be easier
- 51:09Speaker 2: to answer kind of if he had murdered her as well.
- 51:12Speaker 2: But the fact that he kept her is just continuing
- 51:15Speaker 2: the abuse.
- 51:16Speaker 1: Is it is horrible because put it this way, if
- 51:18Speaker 1: he keeps her in his basement, there's one of two
- 51:22Speaker 1: things that's going to happen here. Either he continues to
- 51:23Speaker 1: keep her and continues to abuse her, or he's going
- 51:26Speaker 1: to continue to abuse her and eventually she will die
- 51:29Speaker 1: as a result. Yeah, those are the two options.
- 51:32Speaker 2: But then didn't he say that she was going to
- 51:34Speaker 2: let her go at some point? Well that's what he said,
- 51:36Speaker 2: he claimed.
- 51:37Speaker 1: Yeah, Now, I'm not not not to throw the idea
- 51:41Speaker 1: out the window that she could escape, that's definitely a possibility.
- 51:44Speaker 1: But before that happens, those are the only two things
- 51:47Speaker 1: that are going to occur. Is either she's going to
- 51:49Speaker 1: continue being abused or continue being abused until he kills
- 51:53Speaker 1: her or she dies as a result. Yeah, so he
- 51:56Speaker 1: is letting this happen, letting this continuing continue to happen,
- 52:00Speaker 1: knowingly that there makes him a cold blooded criminal murderer
- 52:05Speaker 1: in my opinion.
- 52:06Speaker 2: Yeah, like he I don't think if he didn't get caught,
- 52:10Speaker 2: I don't think Sarah would have gotten out of that
- 52:12Speaker 2: situation alive. Right, So then, how remorseful was he for
- 52:17Speaker 2: murdering the other three and when he was literally going
- 52:19Speaker 2: to be doing that to Sarah. Yeah, like he did
- 52:21Speaker 2: turn into a cold blooded murderer.
- 52:23Speaker 1: Yeah, I think with the other three, Yeah, you can
- 52:26Speaker 1: make the argument of he panicked, he snapped, and he
- 52:28Speaker 1: didn't know what to do, and he dismembered and hit them,
- 52:30Speaker 1: and sure, okay, not that it's okay to do that,
- 52:32Speaker 1: it's still fucking horrific.
- 52:34Speaker 2: He went next level.
- 52:35Speaker 1: Yeah, However, the whole idea of snapping or not knowing
- 52:40Speaker 1: or going into a haze as he put it. Sure,
- 52:44Speaker 1: you can make that argument for three. You can no
- 52:46Speaker 1: longer make that argument for Sarah because now you have
- 52:48Speaker 1: four days of sitting on this yeah and continuing Yeah,
- 52:54Speaker 1: that's that's the part that makes it worse.
- 52:57Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I'm glad that he is in jail
- 52:59Speaker 2: and that he's going to be in there for the
- 53:01Speaker 2: rest of his life, because I mean he's already I've
- 53:08Speaker 2: been in and out of jail previously to this, right,
- 53:10Speaker 2: and now his crime has just like escalated to the nines.
- 53:16Speaker 2: So that is kind of where he needs to be.
- 53:19Speaker 1: So what happens if he got away with us, if
- 53:21Speaker 1: he did have Sarah still, do you think he would
- 53:23Speaker 1: have done it again to someone else? Yep, I think
- 53:25Speaker 1: he would have. Yeah, if he got to burn the
- 53:27Speaker 1: house down, then they never did find the Walmart bag
- 53:30Speaker 1: and never got to put anything together, I think he
- 53:32Speaker 1: would have done it.
- 53:33Speaker 2: Again, Oh yeah, because I think that this was just
- 53:36Speaker 2: like almost I don't want to say natural, but like
- 53:38Speaker 2: a progression of his like his criminal.
- 53:41Speaker 1: Activity, because that's what he did. He broke into a
- 53:45Speaker 1: place looking for things, left, burned it down. He tried
- 53:49Speaker 1: to do the exact same thing here, only this time
- 53:51Speaker 1: the people came home, and he would have killed them,
- 53:54Speaker 1: taken one of them and gotten away with it, and
- 53:58Speaker 1: he would have liked it, and he would have done
- 53:59Speaker 1: it again.
- 54:00Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, it would have just become like almost a
- 54:04Speaker 2: new fetish or obsession for him.
- 54:08Speaker 1: Yep, which is where I think it's just escalating. It's escalating.
- 54:13Speaker 1: He's letting it escalate. He's enjoying the escalation. He's he's
- 54:19Speaker 1: a cold blooded killer in my opinion. Yeah, we just
- 54:22Speaker 1: so happened to be just at the start of it
- 54:23Speaker 1: that he was caught.
- 54:25Speaker 2: Yeah. Brutal. Wow, that is That is a brutal case
- 54:30Speaker 2: and one that I have never heard.
- 54:33Speaker 1: Yeah, So I've been researching that one for a few
- 54:36Speaker 1: weeks now.
- 54:37Speaker 2: It kind of seems like it was a dozy it research.
- 54:41Speaker 1: And it was very difficult to try and tell the
- 54:43Speaker 1: story not as Matthew's story, which a lot of articles
- 54:50Speaker 1: do talk about that out there, and I mean there's
- 54:53Speaker 1: there's a lot of information on Matthew, so it's kind
- 54:55Speaker 1: of hard not for it to be his story. But yeah,
- 55:00Speaker 1: I just want to highlight his victims more so Cody, Sarah, Tina,
- 55:05Speaker 1: and Stephanie. Yeah. Fuck Matthew.
- 55:08Speaker 2: Yeah, totally fuck him for sure.
- 55:11Speaker 1: Well, thank you guys for being here, thank you for
- 55:13Speaker 1: sticking through this whole episode. And yeah, hopefully there's not
- 55:18Speaker 1: someone camped out your backyard for the next three days.
- 55:21Speaker 1: Why that's creepy, just bugging you, but we do appreciate you.
- 55:26Speaker 1: If you want to check out our social media links,
- 55:27Speaker 1: they're all in the description of this podcast below. We
- 55:30Speaker 1: have Facebook, Instagram, you name it, Patreon, YouTube. You can
- 55:33Speaker 1: go ahead and give us a rating that means a
- 55:35Speaker 1: lot you really appreciate. Yeah, So until next time
- 55:40Speaker 2: Though, stay wicked.