The bodies of an Ohio woman, her young son and a family friend have been found by police, wrapped in garbage bags and stuffed in a hollow tree, authorities said today. 
 
 Knox County Sheriff David Barber said they were told where to find the victims by lawyers for Matthew Hoffman, who is in custody for kidnapping 13-year-old Sarah Maynard. 
 
 The victims included Sarah's mother, Tina Herrmann, 32; Sarah's younger brother, Kody Maynard, 10; and family friend Stephanie Sprang, 41. 
 
 "The discovery of these bodies was the result of information provided by Matthew Hoffman," Barber said. "We were optimistic a few days ago that there was a remote chance these persons were still alive. This is is a homicide investigation now." 
 
 Authorities said they had been contacted by Hoffman's lawyer but would not characterize the information as a confession. The county prosecutor would not say whether officials had cut a deal to encourage Hoffman to talk. 
 
 Barber said there were no other suspects involved and would not speculate on a motive. 
 
 The bodies were found near Apple Valley, Ohio, miles away from Hoffman's home where Sarah was found on Sunday by a SWAT team. The girl was bound and gagged in Hoffman's basement in rural Mount Vernon, Ohio. 
 
 Barber said he believed the victims were killed in their blood-splattered house in Howard, Ohio, about 10 miles from where Hoffman lived. The sheriff said Sarah was also at house at the time, but wouldn't say whether she witnessed the killings. The sheriff would not comment on the type of weapon used in the murder. 
 
 Hoffman is a 31-year-old drifter who had recently been released from a Colorado prison after serving a term for arson and burglary. 
 
 Hoffman has been in police custody since Sunday, but has not previously cooperated with investigators. 
 
 Barber said police had to cut into the tree to remove the three bodies. He said the victims were all wearing the same clothes they had last been seen in on Nov. 10. Barber suggested that Hoffman had hollowed out the tree himself saying, "Hoffman has worked as tree trimmer." 
 
 Knox County prosecutor John Thatcher said Hoffman would likely be brought up on addtional charges. 
 
 "I can't speculate on what those charges might be without knowing what the evidence is," said Thatcher. 
 
 Hoffman is scheduled to appear in court again Tuesday. 
 
 Both Barber and Thatcher appeared emotional at times, calling the case one of the worst they had ever encountered. 
 
 "The tragedy today is just devastating," said Thatcher. "The results aren't what we wanted them to be." 
 
 Rescued Girl Sarah Maynard Now With Father 
 
 Police immediately focused the search for Sarah's family members near Hoffman's home, homing in on a park a short walk from the house where he kept the girl confined. 
 
 Hoffman was arrested Sunday and charged with kidnapping. Police said he has been placed on suicide watch and has not been cooperating with their investigation. He appeared in court Tuesday wearing an anti-suicide gown, and his bail was set at $1 million. 
 
 Police said Sarah was in good health, staying with her father and cooperating with the investigation. 
 
 All four people were last seen Nov. 10 at the family home in Howard, Ohio, about 10 miles from Hoffman's house in Mount Vernon. Police were initially called to the family's home when Herrmann did not show up for work at a local Dairy Queen. When police searched the home, they found it splattered with blood. 
 
 Early on in the investigation, Police temporarily locked down nearby Kenyon College when Hermann's pickup truck was found parked on the campus one day after cops had observed it in the family's driveway. 
 
 Police said they believe Hoffman played a role in the family's disappearance, saying they were not "under their own power" when they were taken from their home. 
 
 Since finding Sarah alive Sunday, police warned the other family members may have been killed. 
 
 The only known connection between Hoffman and Maynard and her family is that Hoffman's parents live within walking distance of Maynard's mother's home. 
 
 Sarah Maynard and Family Disappeared Last Week 
 
 "At this time, whether he's connected to the family or whether he connected himself to the family … a lot of that remains to be seen," Sheriff David Barber said earlier in the week. 
 
 Neighbors described Hoffman's behavior as "bizarre," saying they would see him climbing trees, spying on them from the boughs, building fires on his front lawn and killing small animals. 
 
 "He was killing the squirrels because he doesn't grocery shop," neighbor Kara Fowler told ABC News. "He would actually kill the squirrels and eat them." 

 An unemployed tree-trimmer — arrested after a teenage girl was found bound and gagged in his basement — pointed the way Thursday to a hollow tree where the bodies of her brother, mother and another woman were hidden in garbage bags. 
 
 The three victims and the rescued 13-year-old disappeared more than a week ago from a blood-spattered home. 
 
 Authorities said all three were murdered there, though they did not say how, and that the tree-trimmer, Matthew Hoffman, gave investigators information through his attorneys that led them to the bodies in woods in central Ohio. 
 
 "The tragedy today is just devastating," said Knox County prosecutor John Thatcher. "The results aren't what we wanted them to be." 
 
 Knox County Sheriff David Barber said part of the tree had to be cut away to remove the remains. 
 
 "The tree was hollow to a point," the sheriff said, adding it would be speculation to understand how the remains were put into the tree. 
 
 Only suspect in killings 
 
 Hoffman, an ex-convict who spent six years in a Colorado prison on arson and other charges, remained jailed on charges of kidnapping the girl, Sarah Maynard, and is the only suspect in the killings, Barber said. 
 
 The 30-year-old has appeared in court but has not entered a plea. 
 
 Sarah, 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. 
 
 A day later, a deputy found what authorities called an unusual amount of blood inside her home, and her pickup truck was found near the campus of Kenyon College. 
 
 Hoffman was questioned that same day — Barber said police found him sitting in his car near a bike trail near where the pickup was found. 
 
 Matthew Hoffman is charged with kidnapping a 13-year-old girl who went missing with her mother, brother and a friend. 
 
 A SWAT team found Sarah over the weekend in the basement of Hoffman's home in Mount Vernon, about 40 miles northeast of Columbus. 
 
 Investigators would not discuss details of her ordeal but have said she is doing well, considering the circumstances. 
 
 "We're inspired by Sarah's bravery," Barber said. He said Sarah 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, about a 15-mile drive from Hoffman's home and about a 20-mile drive from the Herrmann home. 
 
 The rural site is about a quarter mile from two churches, and an Amish horse-drawn buggy passed after three white hearses had driven away. 
 
 An officer remained at the site with a sheriff's cruiser and an Ohio Department of Natural Resources vehicle as darkness began to fall. 
 
 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. 
 
 County Coroner Jennifer Ogle said her office would conduct autopsies and that a preliminary report could be complete as soon as Friday. 
 
 Candle-lit vigil 
 
 At the Columbus home of the Maynard children's father, four men stood in the yard and asked a reporter to stay off the property. 
 
 Barber declined to speculate on a motive. It was unclear how well Hoffman knew the four, but the sheriff suggested that the defendant had been watching them. 
 
 He lived about 10 miles from Herrmann's home — a split-level house surrounded by a big yard, trees and two country roads — but his mother and stepfather own a home less than a mile away.
– The bodies of three missing people in Ohio have been found wrapped in garbage bags and stuffed into a hollow tree, MSNBC reports. Police had been on the hunt for Tina Herrmann, 32, her 10-year-old son, Kody, and a friend of Herrmann's, Stephanie Sprang, 41, since Nov. 10. They were apparently killed at Herrmann's home, investigators believe. Hermann's 13-year-old daughter, Sarah Maynard, is recuperating after being found bound and gagged in the basement of tree trimmer Matthew Hoffman, who remains in custody and charged with kidnapping. Police were directed to the bodies by lawyers for Hoffman, a 31-year-old drifter recently released from a Colorado prison after serving time for arson and burglary. Hoffman's parents live within walking distance of the Herrmann home, and investigators are probing whether there is any other connection between Hoffman and the murdered family, ABC News reports. Neighbors say Hoffman is a "bizarre" individual who climbed trees to spy on them, and killed squirrels for food.