All language subtitles for Signs.of.a.Psychopath.S09E04.1080p.WEB.h264-FREQUENCY_track3_[eng]

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[archived voices speaking]

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[man] The thing inside of me,
it's like the appetite.

It's like a wolf that's...

...feeling...

...the hunger.

[reporter] Two women and
two children are

reported missing, as Knox
County Sheriff's Office say

they found blood inside
this home.

While it's yet to be determined
whose blood was found,

investigators say Tina Herrmann
has seemingly vanished,

along with her two children,
13-year-old Sarah,
and 11-year-old Kody,

along with a family
friend, Stephanie Sprang.

A big development in this
missing persons case over

the weekend, though.

A 13-year-old girl who was also
missing found alive yesterday.

[reporter]
Police found 13-year-old Sarah
Maynard yesterday bound

and gagged in the basement of
this man, 30-year-old

Matthew Hoffman.

After getting a tip, SWAT team
members moved in,

rescuing the teen.

A massive search underway of
nearby woods and lake to find

Sarah's mother, Tina Herrmann,
her brother, Kody,

and family friend,
Stephanie Sprang.

They are still out
there missing.

As far as Sarah, she was taken
to a hospital where we're told

she's in good condition.

They enter Matthew Hoffman's
home and they find something

that's incredibly unusual.

There are piles of leaves that
go upwards of three feet high

throughout the house.

And most disturbingly
and concerning, one of the four

missing victims has now been
found, thankfully alive,

but she's been able to share
quite a bit of information with

law enforcement.

She's talked about the fact
that she's been repeatedly

sexually abused and traumatized
by Matthew Hoffman.

No doubt law enforcement were
preparing for a significantly

violent human being,
an impulsive human being,

and also not being clear on how
many victims, if any, are in

Matthew Hoffman's custody
and still alive.

[Dr. Saraiya] I think his
communication style

is his particular flavor
of control.

As psychopaths often do,
he's trying to control

the narrative and kind of
tell his story.

According to reports,
we know that he had recently

lost his job as a tree trimmer
and that his girlfriend had

broken up with him, at least in
part, because he had gotten

violent with her.

I think his pantomiming
the broken heart is definitely

an indicator of being connected
to this recent rejection.

It speaks to him not really
taking responsibility for

the situation and more so
emphasizing, this was something

that was done to me.

[Dr. Sahni] The detectives are
frustrated.

They want to find
these victims.

All that's doing is serving to
inflate his sense of ego.

He holds all of the authority
in this situation,

and that seems to actually be
something that's further

empowering him.

It's keeping him going,
and it's potentially serving as

stamina for him.

[Dr. Fox] He has
such stern convictions
to his willingness to wanting

to dominate over these
detectives, to his willingness

to say, you know,
I'm in control of this.

That that supersedes
even his impulsivity.

[Dr. Sahni] Every hour
that goes by, they don't
know if these

victims need medical attention,
if they're already dead.

They are completely at
the mercy of Matthew Hoffman.

[sniffs]

[Dr. Saraiya] Any
individual, sort of
psychopathic or not,

it's sometimes in their best
interest to leave open the idea

that, perhaps, there was
an aspect of mental illness

at play here.

He's clearly aware what people
are suspecting him of,

but it's like he's doing all
he can to distance himself from

every aspect of it.

He feels brazen and confident
enough to

challenge her credentials.

He's disrespectful,
and that's where you see

his narcissism starting to
come out.

Now it starts to lend a little
more weight to the fact that

this selective mutism is all
about power and control.

[siren wailing]

[Dr. Sahni] Maybe
the plan to go to Colorado
and ski was that

whatever lack of feeling
or emptiness he was

experiencing, this is somebody
who's showing an escalating

need for impulsive,
thrill-seeking behavior.

He needs more and more to
get that high.

So then he decides to turn
his attention to

thrill-seeking, that's
criminal behavior.

[sobbing]

[Dr. Sahni]
Hoffman's showing us some
displays of what we might

traditionally think of
as emotions.

He sounds like he's crying,
he's sniffling,

his voice is shaky.

But if we dig beneath that
surface, what we can't ignore

is that this is Hoffman

manipulating every single
one of them.

And he's getting the detective
to collude with this idea that,

no, you're not a monster,
you're misunderstood.

He's not showing any concern
for that 13-year-old victim.

As soon as this FBI agent turns
the conversation from being

about Matthew's emotions
and pushes him a bit about

giving some information that
could be useful in

the investigation, he needs to
literally leave the room,

go back, think of his next
batch of lies or how he's going

to handle it,
and then essentially decide

from there, OK,
what am I gonna do next?

[Dr. Fox]
Psychopaths tend to view things
in terms of transactions,

because they don't have any
other type of

connections or emotions.

So the only currency
they really understand is,

well, there's
something in it for me.

And so you see that on display
right here, where he's finally

willing to give up information,
but only under the condition

that he gets something
that he wants.

The case is closed after a man
admitted he murdered three

people in Knox County.

The bodies of Tina Herrmann,
her son Kody Maynard,

and neighbor Stephanie Sprang
were found inside

a hollowed-out tree.

This morning, Matthew Hoffman
admitted to killing them

and attacking
a 13-year-old girl.

I did not plan for any of
this to happen,

I did not want to kill anyone,

and I just tried to knock
the first woman out so that

I'd be able to escape.

This was not working,
and a second woman showed up,

and things quickly spiraled
out of control.

It kept escalating,
and I was panicking.

I only chose to process
the bodies to make

their disposal easier.

I instantly stabbed the boy.
At best a couple times.

I saw the girl was not
on the phone,

and I could not bring
myself to kill.

I bound her hands,
pillowcase over her head,

and led her into the garage.

[Dr. Sahni] This letter that is
wrought with details,

but also minimizations,
and a lack of really willingness

takes deep responsibility.

Matthew Hoffman has complete
detachment from the impact of

that reality,
the significance of his crimes,

and you don't hear any deep
remorse, any real remorse.

You hear nothing but, "I did
what I had to do because

the circumstances
kept changing."

I tried to comfort her,
and told her everything
would be fine.

I made her a bed out of leaves,
covered it with blankets,

and placed her onto the bed.

She liked the bed,
and it was extremely comfy.

I would not have hurt her.

I could not hurt her.

[Dr. Fox]
What happened to Sarah, I don't
even think he views as being

that bad, because he thinks
he treated her very well.

I think he even thinks that
she saw some

great things in him.

That's a lot of times what
narcissists believe.

Well, they think highly of
themselves, so why would

somebody else not?

So I think that he really
bifurcated this crime into

two elements.

And in one way,
he thinks he did really nothing

wrong to Sarah.

And for what he did to
her family, well, so be it.

[reporter]
30-year old Matthew Hoffman
entered the courtroom shackled

and shoeless,
facing a packed room of

still-mourning
family members --

and the 13-year-old victim
he let live.

The judge listened,
and her relatives weeped as

the prosecutor read a letter
the young girl wrote

to her attacker.

[Prosecutor] All I was thinking
about is if my family was OK

and if I was going to
be able to live.

Especially when he was putting

the ropes on me, I said,
"Ow, that hurts."

He said, "I don't care if your
arms and legs turn purple."

I want you to know
that you will never
be forgiven by me.

And I'm not scared of you,
Matthew.

I'm going to stand up for
myself and live my life.

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[killer speaking]