Matthew Hoffman

"I would not have hurt her [Sarah Maynard]. I could not hurt her."

Matthew Hoffman is a sex offender and killer responsible for a triple homicide and the abduction and rape of a thirteen-year-old girl in November 2010.

History
Due to the lack of sources detailing him, no information about Hoffman's early life has been revealed, other than that he was born sometime in 1980. It also appears that an event in his life shaped him into a psychopath. On November 10, 2010, he randomly selected the Apple Valley, Ohio house of Tina Herrmann because it was more secluded and the garage door was always left slightly open. Hoffman bade his time, sleeping in the nearby woods. Finally, he sneaked into the home after the residents left, remaining inside for an hour until Tina and neighbor Stephanie Sprang unexpectedly returned. Surprised, Hoffman murdered both, and then attacked Tina's two children, 13-year-old Sarah and 11-year-old Kody, when they stumbled upon the scene. Killing Kody and holding Sarah captive, he then dismembered the bodies of his fatal victims, taking and disposing the parts into a hollow, 60-foot tree in the Kokosing Wildlife Area using his tree-climbing equipment. Hoffman then took Sarah to his Mount Vernon home and kept her tied up on a bed of leaves in the basement, where he sexually assaulted her repeatedly for four days.

Investigating authorities eventually classified Hoffman as a suspect and raided his home on November 14 as he slept on his couch; he was arrested and Sarah was safely recovered from the basement. In his incarceration, Hoffman wrote a four-page confession letter about his crimes and revealed the location of his victims' bodies to police. He also made claims that he intended to rob Tina Herrmann's house, was happy when Sarah was rescued by authorities, and treated her nicely, cooking her hamburgers and letting her play video games and watch movies, specifically Iron Man and Iron Man 2. The latter claim was proven false by Sarah and was also greeted with horrified shock from the general public. As for his initial motivation to rob the Herrmann house, it is disbelieved by Sarah's father Larry, and it is widely believed that the crimes were mere acts of random violence. He was charged with ten counts that included aggravated murder and rape, eventually found guilty, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on January 6, 2011. He had been able to avoid the death penalty by revealing where the bodies of his victims were located. Hoffman remains incarcerated to this day.

Modus Operandi
Hoffman most likely killed his victims by stabbing them with a knife he brought along during the home invasion. Afterwards, he dismembered the bodies and placed the parts inside a hollow tree in a wildlife area. When he kept Sarah Maynard captive, he tied her to a bed of leaves in his basement and continuously sexually assaulted her.

Known Victims

 * November 10, 2010: The 481 King Beach Drive attack:
 * Tina Herrmann, 32
 * Kody Maynard, 11
 * Stephanie Sprang, 41
 * Sarah Maynard, 13

On Criminal Minds
Hoffman was mentioned by Reid in the beginning of the Season Eight episode Through the Looking Glass, when he used him as an example of sex offenders after it was initially assumed the unsub was sexually motivated.