What started as a desperate missing child search in Ohio quickly turned into a chilling nightmare.
After being missing for days, 13-year-old Sarah Maynard was found locked in the basement of a man named Matthew Hoffman. In a gruesome turn, police discovered that Hoffman had brutally murdered Sarah’s mother, her brother, and her mother’s friend. Their bodies were stuffed into garbage bags and hidden inside the hollow of a tree.
Hoffman, a tree cutter with an eerie obsession for leaves and trees, had his home littered with leaves—covering floors, walls, and even furniture. He pleaded guilty to the murders, as well as kidnapping and raping Sarah, and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
But Sarah’s nightmare didn’t end there.
Nearly three years later, after trying to rebuild her life, she was sent to live with her father and stepmother. According to court records, what awaited her there was more abuse. In May 2013, her father allegedly punched her. Five days later, her stepmother allegedly kicked her down the stairs.
For Sarah, survival meant escaping one horror only to face another.
