The blue haze, it turned out, came from blue household ammonia; ammonia increases oxygen levels, and oxygen speeds up the aging process. I am not ashamed to admit that we were victimized. Dr. Hoffman serves as the Chief Research Information officer for Children's Mercy Hospital (CMH) and the Children's Research Institute. He was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). They have done the best they can with where they are, and I can now give them true love and compassion," says Olds, who works as a life coach and hypnotherapist. . I told myself that my survival and that of my family was the most important thing. Sep 1, 2016 - Jan 31, 2019. Fooling people gave me a sense of power and superiority.. He grew up with many hobbies, including magic, chemistry, and coin collecting, and that's when his need to deceive others in order to impress them began. Though she occasionally felt a vague unease about her husband's work, she acknowledges she asked few questions about his business. He was sentenced to a five-years-to-life prison term, but after a lengthy interview in 1988 the year he wrote the letter the parole board told him hell never get out of prison. "Unknown to me, Mark had forged his first coin at age 14, long before we were married," Olds told a recent gathering of women. Hofmann, for a while, shared a cell with another infamous Utah killer, Dan Lafferty, a religious zealot convicted of murdering his sister-in-law and her infant daughter in 1984. Collection: Photograph of the Mark Hofmann family | BYU Library However, on October 18, 1995, after Hofmann's arrest, Hinckley said, "I frankly admit that Hofmann tricked us. "[14]:254 Robert Lindsey has also suggested that Hofmann "stimulated a burst of historical inquiry regarding Joseph Smith's youthful enthusiasm for magic [that] did not wither after his conviction". In 1979, he married Doralee "Dorie" Olds, and the couple eventually had four children. Dorie Olds is the ex-wife of Mormon bomber Mark Hofmann, who killed two people on Oct. 15, 1985. Bringing in two people who have nothing to do with a man who murdered people to shit on them says more about you than them. ", 'Mark Hofmann was unquestionably the most skilled forger this country has ever seen,' said Charles Hamilton, a New York document dealer who is widely regarded as the nation's pre-eminent detector of forged documents. And now, with the three-part documentary series highlighting all aspects of his life, especially his relationship with his wife, it made us wonder more about his family. Mark Hoffman - Chief Research Information Officer (CRIO) - Children's In January1987, Hofmann pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder, one count of theft by deception for forging the Salamander Letter, and one count of fraud for the bogus sale of the McLellin collection. . When Olds awoke that morning, she says, her husband was already dressed and, strangely, in the backyard, wearing his green Olympus High letter jacket. News accounts reported the night of the murders that an eyewitness had a good look at the person who delivered the Christensen bomb, including a description of the letter jacket Hofmann wore. [42], The murders were also covered by a 1997 episode of Forensic Files, "Postal Mortem",[43] and a 2010 episode of Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry?, An Explosive Love.[44]. [5]:7071, Hofmann promptly dropped out of school and went into business as a dealer in rare books. You can watch Murder Among the Mormons on Netflix now. With the white salamander letter, he hoped to dismantle the LDS Church by changing its history. I don't believe in an afterlife. "I had to learn that I had value, a right to choose for myself what I felt to be right, and that my voice should be heard. As the witness detailed her experience of finding Steve Christensen, lying in the hallway, emitting moaning sounds like a little child crying, his wife began to weep quietly. Mark Hoffman - Wikipedia [5]:260,27071,27475 Investigators also found that a poem used to authenticate the handwriting in the Salamander Letter had been forged by Hofmann and inserted in a Book of Common Prayer once owned by Martin Harris. A life sentence After Hofmann pleaded guilty to the crimes in January 1987, Olds was left with four children ages 5 and under a third daughter was born between the bombings and sentencing and a million dollars of debt. As far back as I can remember I have liked to impress people through my deceptions, he wrote. When I say this was the most important thing I mean it literally. The LDS Church publicized this Hofmann creation through a press conference on August 23, 1982. Sometimes the church received these as donations, and others it purchased. Hofmann constructed his version to fit Anthon's description of the document, and its discovery made Hofmann's reputation. "She didn't speak her truth but would waffle all over the place when she spoke.". Here you have a nice plea bargain. The forger had promised various buyers and pocketed more than $100,000 from each a collection of journals and letters from an early Mormon apostate, William E. McLellin. Hofmann had no such collection, nor the time to produce one. A police officer searches Mark Hofmanns car after a bomb exploded, injuring Hofmann on Oct. 16, 1985. After Mark Hofmann married Doralee Dorie Olds on September 14, 1979, whom he first met while attending the Utah State University, they began a life together. Mark Hoffman told himself what he was about to do was for their good. He was born and raised by two incredibly faithful and conservative Mormons, William and Lucille Hofmann. Document examiner George Throckmorton analyzed several Hofmann documents that had previously been deemed authentic and determined they were forgeries. A scene from "Murder Among the Mormons" re-enacts when Mark Hoffman tested a homemade explosive. Attorney Ron Yengich,left, confers with Mark Hofmann in 1987. There was "no sign, no indication, no materials around" that would give her a clue about his crimes, she says. She had four children to rear and needed to re-establish her life. Normal.". You dont need to justify why you didnt cancel me (for thats what you mean, and she wants, by censoring); on the contrary, she needs to argue her case, which she hasnt. Hofmann spends his days behind bars in the state-of-the-art Ironwood unit, a facility remodeled with new safety features unveiled in 2017. [21], To make this sudden flood of important Mormon documents seem plausible, Hofmann explained that he relied on a network of tipsters, had methodically tracked down modern descendants of early Mormons, and had mined collections of 19th-century letters that had been saved by collectors for their postmarks rather than for their contents. He was revived, but not before spending twelve hours lying on his right arm and blocking its circulation, thus causing muscle atrophy. Mark Hofmann. Dr. Mark C. Hoffman is a Family Medicine Doctor in Poulsbo, WA. At that time, they were all five and under. Immediately after the third bombing, Hofmann became a suspect in the Oct. 15 pipe bomb murders. Sure enough, Olds "discovered" a piece of parchment gummed into the Bible, with Egyptian-looking scribbles on it. What the examiners noticed first, after putting his documents under ultraviolet light, was a blue hazing effect and ink that ran in one direction. [c][5]:58 Dorie Olds Hofmann filed for divorce in 1987, two years after Hofmann's crimes came to light, and became co-founder of a holistic medicine company.[11]. He sounded just as boyishly earnest when lying to the media about discovering valuable historic Mormon documents as he did when confessing to the police that he committed fraud and double murder in the 1980s. The most important thing to him was to keep from being exposed as a fraud in front of his family and friends. "But I never felt she had much interest in what Mark was doing and not aware of a lot of his work.". I felt like that was the end, Hofmann wrote. For a time, she grew her own food and tried her hand at selling magnetic beds. "I had to learn how to accept and love myself enough to keep a boundary, rather than shrinking in fear of authoritarian dictates, or passively going along with situations in which I saw no choice," she says. [14]:253[10]:104, During the early 1980s, a significant number of new Mormon documents came into the marketplace. On October 15, 1985, he first killed document collector Steven Christensen (as well as injuring a secretary in the leg with shrapnel). The modern corrections facility has updated security features, including the direct supervision management model where correctional officers interact directly with incarcerated individuals. Dr. Mark A. Hoffman is a Pediatrician in Los Angeles, CA. Without a college degree or means of supporting herself and her four children, Olds had to give up the house they lived in and eventually farmed out the youngest kids to relatives, when she felt the children no longer respected or listened to her. In the end, his goal was to save his reputation, he wrote. Good luck to you RR. On one side was Terri Christensen, widow of the businessman, who was murdered Oct. 15, 1985. The second bomb exploded about 90 minutes later, killing Holladay housewife Kathy Sheets when she picked up a package in front of her home. They began a relationship in April 1979, got engaged in July, and by the time it was September, they had tied the knot. Perhaps that is what he wanted to do and to get rich at the same time.". In 1985, Mark Hofmann became one of Utah's most prolific killers after spending years committing fraud that might have landed him a jail sentence, but wouldn't have put him in prison for the rest of his life. Many of Hofmanns forgeries focused on the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which he was a member but had stopped believing as a teenager. [m] In an effort to clear his debts, he attempted to broker a sale of the "McLellin collection" a supposedly extensive group of documents written by William E. McLellin, an early Mormon apostle who eventually broke with the LDS Church. I remember on the night before the first two bombings going into my childrens bed rooms (sic) and kissing them while they slept telling myself that my plot was for their best good. Required fields are marked *. Mark Hoffman | Profiles RNS His forging hand was thereby permanently disabled. Over the years, he writes articles on cinema - his second passion - as well as self-taught scripts. A few months later, he came home with a 17th-century Bible and urged her to look through it something he had never done before. All we know of Marks son and three daughters is that they have grown up without their biological father in their lives. That my victims might die that day in a car accident or from a heart attack anyway. [l][22], But Hofmann's grandest scheme was to forge what was perhaps the most famous missing document in American colonial history, the Oath of a Freeman. Go do something else with your time. Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune Within a few years, he had a booming business, "finding" little-known and remarkable documents with surprising frequency. Green copperas, said the front of the box one of the inks listed in an old book police had taken from Hofmanns basement. Thanks again for writing I appreciate anything that heightens my awareness. In the next eight years, they welcomed four children into their lives; one son and three daughters. Mark Hofmann - Wikipedia I am currently working as a children's book author/illustrator, editorial illustrator, and fine artist. But considering how they even refuse to acknowledge him publicly, it doesnt seem like it bothers them much. Investigators also began constructing a timeline, posting pieces of information on the blank walls of a war room. At first they couldnt figure out how the stuff on one wall related to stuff on another wall, remembers prosecutor Bob Stott. [5]:55 Hofmann and his friends were said to have made bombs for fun on the outskirts of Murray, Utah. [a][5]:41[6] He was a below-average high school student, but had many hobbies including stage magic, electronics, chemistry, and stamp and coin collecting. "I felt something was off, but I didn't know what it was.". She felt largely alone, rejected by many, including her in-laws and some of her own family members. Find Dr. Hoffman's phone number, address, insurance information, hospital affiliations and more. My philosophy is that they're dead. In 1980, Hofmann claimed that he had found a 17th-century King James Bible with a folded paper gummed inside. The model is shown to reduce violence in prison, the DOC said. Your email address will not be published. "He was acting the same. [b], Like many young men in the LDS Church, Hofmann volunteered to spend two years as an LDS missionary, and in 1973 the church sent him to its mission in Bristol, England. Mark Hoffman, PhD | Find A Researcher - Children's Mercy Kansas City The fact that Hofmann got off with a plea bargain instead of going to trial, where he would likely have faced the death penalty if found guilty, was quite puzzling to a reporter from the Los Angeles Times, who wrote, "In any other state, you'd see this thing go on trial, because that's how prosecutors reputations are made. [8][28] Hofmann initially maintained his innocence. In True Crime Series 'Murder Among the Mormons,' LDS Church Reckons 1988 letter to the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole. "When I first met Dorie, she was very mousy," McNeil says. Once Dorie had divorced her husband and reclaimed her maiden name, she received a lucrative deal to write a book about her ordeal, but she couldnt go through with it on her own. Hofmann agreed to confess his forgeries in open court, in return for which prosecutors in Utah and New York dropped additional charges against him. Assuming the document to be genuine, prominent Mormon academic Hugh Nibley predicted that the discovery promised "as good a test as we'll ever get of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon" because he thought the paper might be translated. "[9]:514. "He set me up. [5]:55 According to Hofmann, while still a teenage coin collector, he forged a rare mint mark on a dime and was told by an organization of coin collectors that it was genuine. The four-page, handwritten letter titled, A Summary of My Crimes, provides a chilling glimpse into what led Hofmann to fake hundreds of historical documents and kill two people with homemade bombs. .Officers and a dog check a parking lot during the Tuesday, Oct. 18, 1985, funeral of Kathy Sheets, who died in bomb blast. He also used the names Bill Edwards and Mike Hansen, his prison record shows. When McLellin was visited by this same Joseph Smith III, McLellin asserted: Emma Smith told him [McLellin] that Joseph was both a polygamist and an adulterer. Mormon document forger and bomber Mark Hofmann is no longer serving a lifetime prison sentence from a maximum-security prison cell. Finally, the reality of his murderous nature seeped in as she continued to meet with him, and she came to believe that he was guilty. Three letters purportedly written from an Illinois prison by Smith used different ink, paper, and writing instruments. ), Thats all for this week. Because the letters had been authenticated by different experts, the inconsistencies had earlier escaped detection. It recites Hofmanns story and the adverse impact his forgeries have had on the church. Olds, too, has regained and even deepened her Mormon faith. The third victim, injured but still alive, was Mark Hofmann, a man unknown to most Salt Lakers but a minor celebrity among Latter-day Saint historians and collectors. And ffffft, Shannon Flynn said, that thing just aged 100 years in 10 minutes. Hofmann also aged his documents by ironing them and letting weevils munch on them. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted. Heads up: I wrote 2,000 words today on Mark Hofmann, Mormonism, and 1980s America in advance of @netflixs documentary, which releases Wednesday. What youre implying is the absurdity that any criticism of someone not white is racist: a gross caricature even of identity politics, and a cheapening of criticism of authentic racism, which you should reflect on if you really care about it. Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune "During our nine-year marriage, he created historical documents and signatures, coins, antique Mormon money and much more selling them for millions of dollars.". Money was not the object.. Mark Hofmann was born in 1954 in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Lucille (ne Sears) and William Hofmann (19281993). In the picture are Mark and Doralee Hoffman and their children--Michael (3 1/2 years), Karen (2 years), and Lisa (3 months). Youre so perpetually awful that I avoid reading comments on this very well written blog because I know you will always be at the top. In October 1985 it seemed like everything started to collapse around me, Hofmann wrote in the letter. [u], A three-part documentary series about Hofmann's illegal activities, entitled Murder Among the Mormons, premiered on Netflix on March 3, 2021. The Savior was victimized. I thought about the Nazi Holocaust, the earthquake in Mexico, and other disasters, Hofmann wrote in a 1988 letter to the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole. I felt I would rather take human life or even my own life rather than to be exposed.. He was the first to determine that the widely publicized. In the early parts of Murder Among the Mormons, Hofmann is depicted as a devout Mormon. I believe that I was trying to convince myself of the worthlessness of life and of lifes unfairness, Hofmann wrote. Joseph Smith, who founded the religion in 1823, discovered the gold plates translated into the Book of Mormon in Manchester, New York. The suicide of Mark Madoff made news because he is the son of convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff. Hofmanns forgeries were intended to embarrass The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in hopes of extorting the church for money to keep the fake documents private. Disagreement without tantrum and cancellation is what intelligent society does. Fifteen years after Hofmann killed Steve Christensen and Kathy Sheets with nail-riddled pipe bombs in Salt Lake City, Hofmann's oldest son turned 19 and decided he wanted to serve a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "It is where she always wanted to be," McNeil says, "but didn't know it was possible.". You are racist. Explosions echoed across the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Monday as Ukrainian officials warned of a large-scale Russian missile attack. 30 years after Mormon bombings, Mark Hofmann's ex-wife finds peace and Jane Dorotik: Trotting in and out of Prison, MaryAnn Clibbery and George Hansen: Unsalvageable, Movies&Tv: Murder Among the Mormons, Netflix Think it aloud, 7 Unnerving Facts About the Lindberghs and the Kidnapping, The Lindbergh Kidnapping: Forensic Files Lost Episode, Dawn Fehring: A Missionary Dies Too Young, Daniel and Cynthia McDonnell: Good Cop, Bad Wife. Olds went into the hallway for a moment of prayerful silence. Two years ago, ForensicFilesNow.com published a recap and update on the episode. [5]:11819, After the letter had been purchased for the church and became public knowledge, LDS Church apostle Dallin H. Oaks asserted to Mormon educators that the words "white salamander" could be reconciled with Smith's Angel Moroni because, in the 1820s, the word salamander might also refer to a mythical being thought to be able to live in fire, and a "being that is able to live in fire is a good approximation of the description Joseph Smith gave of the Angel Moroni. "She was fairly outgoing, but didn't seem interested in Mark's document dealing.". The youngest was born after Mark had been charged and arrested with fraud, theft, and murder. Mark's parents, Lucille Sears Hofmann and William Hofmann, were horrified that his kids had a storybook with dinosaurs, which they considered too evolution-friendly Book available in stores and online 3. The kind of argument, indeed, that you say above you dont like. He doesnt have any behaviors that would indicate hed be a problem. [5]:56 He later told prosecutors that he had lost his faith in the LDS Church and become an atheist around age 14. Even though it would have solved all the money problems Mark had left their family in, she refused to put her children through it again. Police then began investigating Hofmann himself as a suspect, and, in one moment at the hospital, she looked up to see detectives on the TV screen going through "my messy house.". Murder Among the Mormons, a true crime docuseries about the Hofmann forgeries and bombings, was released on Netflix March 3. For a while, Dorie did feel like her children no longer respected or listened to her, which is why she had to separate and ship them away. [18][j] Document expert Kenneth W. Rendell later said that while there was "the absence of any indication of forgery in the letter itself, there was also no evidence that it was genuine. "[19]:130, No one is certain how many forged documents Hofmann created during the early 1980s, but they included a letter from Smith's mother, Lucy Mack Smith, describing the origin of the Book of Mormon;[k] letters from Martin Harris and David Whitmer, two of the Three Witnesses, each giving a personal account of their visions;[5]:95,97 a contract between Smith and Egbert Bratt Grandin for the printing of the first edition of the Book of Mormon; and two pages of the original Book of Mormon manuscript taken in dictation from Smith to Oliver Cowdery. Although Mark was secretly agnostic and betrayed his church, he was wearing a Mormon temple garment when he accidentally bombed his own car. As I look back on the decisions made during this time of panic, I can see many forms of rationalization. Hofmann injured himself with a third bomb. The facility uses the direct supervision management model, which allows direct interaction between officers and inmates. But when Mark confessed, and the reality of his actions dawned on her, Dorie filed for divorce. Mark Hofmann Today: Where Is He Now in 2021? | Heavy.com Back to the original subject matter: can anyone seriously be concerned about two $several millionaires recently interviewed about their suffering by a $2.7 billionaire? In 1979, he married Doralee "Dorie" Olds, and the couple eventually had four children. The five-years-to-life sentence was the minimum possible under Utah sentencing guidelines of the time; changes to sentencing guidelines have since increased the minimum sentence for murder to 15 years to life. I believe this is what led to my forging activities.. All Rights Reserved. The next day, Olds planned to clean her house, she says, when she got a call from Hofmann, telling her that she and the kids were in danger and that she should take them to her mom's house. New York prosecutors also sought an indictment for the fraudulent sale of Oath of a Freeman. Watch for it next week at @RDispatches, along with recaps of each of the three episodes. [40] The limited series debuted for the week ending March 7, 2021, as the third most streamed video on demand original-content program, according to Nielsen streaming ratings with 587 million viewer minutes. Police were on the lookout for a serial bomber when . But when a third bomb exploded the next day, suddenly the motive seemed less clear. [9]:7778 A former girlfriend believed Hofmann performed his mission only because of social pressure and the desire not to disappoint his parents. Four siblings. Olds, meanwhile, was the dutiful wife, caring for their home and growing family at that time a son and two daughters. By then he had already appeared in Time magazine as the young document dealer who had discovered a long-lost document of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Anthon Transcript, on which LDS Church founder Joseph Smith had copied Egyptian characters from the gold plates that were later translated into the Book of Mormon. The fact you think racism is literally only the dictionary definition is lord, man, its super embarrassing for you. That October morning By 1985, Hofmann had gotten himself into a financial tangle and needed a way out or at least buy some time. His institutional history is pretty clean. "[5]:378, After Hofmann was imprisoned, he was excommunicated by the LDS Church and his wife filed for divorce. Hofmann is serving a life sentence in prison in Utah. She believed he was, indeed, a liar and a cheat. 4. After Hofmann returned from his mission, he enrolled as a pre-med major at Utah State University. Rebecca: I should think so! I think life is basically worthless. Hofmann, 66, has revealed little about himself in the more than three decades since he started serving a life sentence at the Utah State Prison in 1987. Hofmann also piled up more than $1 million dollars in debt. Although police quickly focused on Hofmann as the suspect in the bombings, some of his business associates went into hiding, fearing they might also become victims. Toll records showed Hofmann placed several calls to Hinckley's office from his car telephone during the week before the bombings. ", She had no idea, she says, that her husband had been forging documents and counterfeiting coins since he was a teen, maybe younger. I hold no such belief and have not expressed such explicitly nor implicitly. The body of Steven Christensen is removed from the Judge Building in Salt Lake City in October 1986. I don't believe in God. Is Mark Hofmann Dead or Alive? Where is He Now? But Hinckley spoke of Hofmann as if he barely recognized his name. He obtained loans from local businessmen using real, rare books from his personal collection as collateral. In the end, of course, Hofmann did get caught because of the murders, but also because of his mistakes. Ive only watched it three times, so far. In fact, not even their full names are public knowledge. In the next eight years, they welcomed four children into their lives; one son and three daughters. Subsequently, while Dorie dropped out of school to support her husband, Mark left his pre-med education to become a full-time rare documents dealer. Netflixs Murder Among the Mormons is a limited docuseries that chronicles the life and actions of the criminal mastermind behind one of the most shocking crimes to have transpired in the Mormon community. Eventually, though, as she couldnt handle everything by herself, Dorie had to farm the youngest ones to relatives. Because *both* sides of an argument can deploy the kinds of terms you use to undermine my position, as I demonstrate here they are useless in advancing your argument. you want to argue everything you dont agree with Like a lawyer in court? 7. The forger is portrayed by Stephen Colbert. "She seemed to fill traditional if not stereotypical familial roles: primary caregiver to the children, made most meals [cleaned up afterward] overall errand runner," says Mormon researcher and Hofmann friend Brent Metcalfe. The Mormon world was rocked by Hofmann's double-dealing and deceit, but even more horrified by the deaths of Christensen and Kathleen Sheets, wife of Christensen's business partner, Gary Sheets. Sheets,[r] a child, a dog whoever" [was killed].
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