Killer of Mount Vernon family: House was random target

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio (AP) -- An Ohio man who killed two women and an 11-year-old boy during a home burglary and dropped their dismembered bodies down a hollow tree confessed their house was a random target. 30-year-old Matthew Hoffman added that he picked the residence because no neighbors were nearby and because the garage door was left slightly open.

The Columbus Dispatch obtained Hoffman's confession through a public records request.

Hoffman is serving life in prison. Prosecutors told him they wouldn't seek the death penalty if he revealed where the bodies were and explained in detail what happened.

Hoffman was charged with the kidnapping of 13-year-old Sarah Maynard; and the murders of Tina Herman, her son Kody Maynard and Herman's family friend Stephanie Sprang in November.

The newspaper says most of the four-page confession focuses on four days Hoffman spent at his Mount Vernon home with Sarah Maynard. He describes how he cooked her hamburgers, slept with his arm around her and bound her hands and feet.

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