Ohio Town Grieves After 3 Missing Are Found Dead

After more than a week of searching and hoping, members of a tiny central Ohio town began grieving as they learned that the bodies of a missing mother, her 11-year-old son and a family friend were found stuffed into garbage bags and hidden in a hollow tree.

The discovery came Thursday, four days after authorities found the mother's 13-year-old daughter bound and gagged, but alive, in the basement of a home about a 15-mile drive from the wildlife area where the bodies were discovered.

PICTURES: Missing Ohio Girl Found Alive

Hours later, a vigil that had been planned near the family's home to support search teams became, instead, a memorial.

Rita Bates, 60, who lives nearby, asked the question on the minds of many: "Why?"

Authorities couldn't provide the answer amid an ongoing investigation.

Knox County Sheriff David Barber said investigators were led to the bodies by an unemployed tree-trimmer accused of kidnapping the girl and keeping her for nearly four days in the basement of his home in Mount Vernon, about 40 miles northeast of Columbus.

"We were optimistic a few days ago that maybe there was a remote chance that these folks were possibly still alive," the sheriff said. "This is a homicide investigation now."

(Scroll down to watch a video of the sheriff's press conference)

The girl, Sarah Maynard, her mother Tina Herrmann, her 11-year-old brother Kody Maynard, and family friend Stephanie Sprang were reported missing after Herrmann failed to show up for work at a local Dairy Queen on Nov. 10.

Barber said the three dead were killed in Herrmann's home in Howard, though he did not say how, and that the tree-trimmer, Matthew Hoffman, gave investigators information through his attorneys that led them to the bodies, which were removed after part of the tree was cut away.

"This is probably the saddest day in Knox County history that I can remember," Prosecutor John Thatcher said. "As elated as we were Sunday morning when Sarah was rescued, I think the tragedy today is just devastating."

Barber declined to speculate on a motive, and it was unclear how well Hoffman knew the four. The sheriff has suggested that he had been watching them.

At the Herrmann home Thursday, three purple, star-shaped helium balloons had been left in the yard and two bouquets of flowers were resting against a tree.

At the vigil, Paul Manter, a friend of Hoffman's mother and stepfather said they "can't believe that their son did this"' Manter attends the same church as the couple and said they had wanted to help with the searching but he advised against it.

"I wouldn't have suspected that he would do something like this," the 58-year-old Manter said of Hoffman.

Hoffman spent six years in a Colorado prison on arson and other charges. He remained jailed on the kidnapping charge, and is the only suspect in the killings, Barber said.

The 30-year-old has appeared in court but has not entered a plea. Knox County Public Defender Bruce Malek, who is representing Hoffman, said Thursday that he could not comment.

A day after the four went missing, a deputy found what authorities called an unusual amount of blood inside Herrmann's home, and her pickup truck was found near the campus of Kenyon College. Hoffman, whose home is about 10 miles from Herrmann's, was questioned that same day Barber said police found him sitting in his car near a bike trail not far from where the pickup was found.

Investigators would not discuss details of the surviving girl's ordeal but have said she is with her father and doing well, considering the circumstances.

"We're inspired by Sarah's bravery," Barber said. He said she was home at the time of the killings but added, "What she saw, I can't speak to that."

A day after finding Sarah, authorities conceded that the others were likely dead. Still, volunteers and authorities on the ground and in the air continued to search ponds, vacant buildings and bike trails for Kody, 32-year-old Herrmann and 41-year-old Sprang.

The remains were found in a wildlife preserve in Fredericktown, a rural site about a quarter mile from two churches where an Amish horse-drawn buggy passed after three white hearses had driven away.

County Coroner Jennifer Ogle said the bodies have been taken to the coroner's office in neighboring Licking County and that results would be released from her office as early as Saturday.

At the vigil, more than 100 people circled around a bonfire and sang hymns, white helium balloons were released and candles lined the water.

"It gives us closure, but sad closure,'' Manter said. ``You always want someone to come home."