A visibly shaken Hofmann paid the Tanners a personal visit. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. But to prove forgery they had to be able to duplicate these subtle mistakes. Olds quit school to support her husband, who claimed he was a pre-med student. 7. She believed he was, indeed, a liar and a cheat. .Officers and a dog check a parking lot during the Tuesday, Oct. 18, 1985, funeral of Kathy Sheets, who died in bomb blast. For example, for the first time in my life I took an interest in reading the obituaries. He obtained loans from local businessmen using real, rare books from his personal collection as collateral. [5]:37374 Hofmann also told investigator Michael George that he was bewildered by the attention paid to his murder victims: "I don't feel anything for them. 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. "I didn't feel loved, but I did think he would be my savior," Olds says now. Mark Hoffman, PhD, serves as the Chief Research Information officer for Children's Mercy and the Children's Mercy Research Institute. 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. All rights reserved. Since then, McNeil has seen Olds reach more deeply into her own psyche, past and needs, and come out in a better emotional and spiritual place. So he devised a scheme to kill two people as a "diversion," which he hoped would throw at least the LDS Church's attention off of him. Powered by. On March 3, the streaming giant debuted Murder Among the Mormons, a three-part series offering new interviews with victims and their families and more insight into how Mark Hofmann accommodated within his own soul a thieving terrorist and a respected husband and father of four. Boy you are embarrassing yourself here. She spoke about her life experience Thursday October 8, 2015. https://t.co/uxD6Jp1O6U, Benjamin Park (@BenjaminEPark) February 26, 2021. Steven Christensen was the son of a locally prominent clothier, On the afternoon following the bombings, Hofmann met with LDS Church apostle, "The massive overdose of antidepressants he took soon after Dorie Olds filed for divorce [in 1987] left him lying unconscious for twelve hours on his prison cot with his right arm trapped under him. What the examiners noticed first, after putting his documents under ultraviolet light, was a blue hazing effect and ink that ran in one direction. Dirt Cheap: Hoffmann, Mark: 9781524719944: Amazon.com: Books Hofmann is imprisoned at the Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison, Utah, in the Monroe unit, according to his inmate records. Eventually, though, as she couldnt handle everything by herself, Dorie had to farm the youngest ones to relatives. [14]:253[10]:104, During the early 1980s, a significant number of new Mormon documents came into the marketplace. Money was not the object.. That October morning By 1985, Hofmann had gotten himself into a financial tangle and needed a way out or at least buy some time. Mark Hofmann, the subject of Netflix 's new documentary, Murder Among the Mormons, was a prolific, master forger turned bomber who was convicted of killing two people in Salt Lake City . And there, in the science aisle, was a chemistry set. Furthermore, to use Fs argument, that if a black person alleges a white person is racist it must be so (because only black people are entitled to make that claim), is itself nonsense cos profoundly racist and a caricature of black rights. Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished forgers in history, Hofmann is especially noted for his creation of documents related to the history of the Latter Day Saint movement. The bomb that killed Christensen was to take the pressure off two fraud schemes he had involved Christensen in, he wrote. As I look back on the decisions made during this time of panic, I can see many forms of rationalization. Subsequently, the LDS Church raised higher barriers to scholars' access to church archives. 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. [p] Later the same day, a second bomb killed Kathy Sheets, the wife of Christensen's former employer. [n] Those to whom Hofmann had promised documents or repayments of debts began to hound him, and the sale of the Oath of a Freeman was delayed by questions about its authenticity. [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]. Hofmann spends his days behind bars in the state-of-the-art Ironwood unit, a facility remodeled with new safety features unveiled in 2017. In the early parts of Murder Among the Mormons, Hofmann is depicted as a devout Mormon. "I felt something was off, but I didn't know what it was.". American murderer who forged Mormon documents, For other people with this name or with similar spellings, see, That his grandmother "was the product of a, Hofmann decided that if experts said the coin was genuine, then it, Hofmann was a "hands-on father who pushed strollers, changed diapers, and attended local, "At seventy-two, Hinckley had begun filling the role that would increasingly dominate his life: His role as, Some LDS apologists dispute the fact that the church was deceived by Hofmann's forgeries. He called that bomb a pure diversion in the letter. For a time, she grew her own food and tried her hand at selling magnetic beds. Curt Bench, owner of Benchmark Books and a rare-book and document collector, concurs. Mark Hofmann attends a preliminary trial in April 1986. Across the aisle was a pregnant Dorie Olds, then-wife of Mark Hofmann, the LDS forger who was accused of the heinous act. Heads up: I wrote 2,000 words today on Mark Hofmann, Mormonism, and 1980s America in advance of @netflixs documentary, which releases Wednesday. Where is Mark Hofmann's Ex-Wife Now? - The Cinemaholic He estimated that he forged hundreds of documents with at least 86 signatures. [q] As Hofmann had intended, police initially suspected that the bombings were related to the impending collapse of an investment business of which Sheets's husband, J. Gary Sheets, was the principal and Christensen his protg. 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. Dr. Mark C. Hoffman is a Family Medicine Doctor in Poulsbo, WA. Your email address will not be published. I should have figured that out thanks for the tip-off! Dr. Mark C. Hoffman, MD | Poulsbo, WA | Family Medicine Doctor | US I felt I would rather take human life or even my own life rather than to be exposed.. Sometimes the church received these as donations, and others it purchased. "She was fairly outgoing, but didn't seem interested in Mark's document dealing.". That night I also chickened out of the suicide attempt and made the final selection who my victims would be.. [8][28] Hofmann initially maintained his innocence. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on December 7, 1954, Mark William Hofmann was the second of three children and the only son in a strict and religious household. Books by Mark Hoffman (Author of Spiritual Navigation) - Goodreads [u], A three-part documentary series about Hofmann's illegal activities, entitled Murder Among the Mormons, premiered on Netflix on March 3, 2021. Direct supervision has been shown in other correctional settings to increase the safety of facilities and reduce violent incidents., Murder Among the Mormons: TV Review https://t.co/4HRXTB4jpn, The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 2, 2021. [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. It was more than 30 years ago that he sent Salt Lake City into a state of chaos, setting off three bombs over a two-day period with no clear motive. Eventually, though, they zeroed in on the apparent motive: a tangled web of lies and debts, forgeries and frauds, that had made Hofmann feel backed into a corner, stalling for time. As the familys primary caregiver, Dorie didnt want their lives to be anything but stereotypical, so she tried maintaining that as much as possible. I don't believe in an afterlife. You also called a woman who has called herself a black woman a dual race which isnt a thing. Sep 1, 2016 - Jan 31, 2019. Going to trial and getting bad guys, big splashes, lots of exposure. Total price: This item: Fruit Bowl. But Ill not be subscribing to Netflix given that Prince Hapless and Migraine are being paid $$$$$$$ by it for their nauseating dross. I am also a professor at Montserrat College of Art in the illustration department. A fifth indictment, containing an additional five counts of theft by deception, was added later in January. Hofmann excitedly identified it as a copy of the so-called "Anthon Transcript," with hieroglyphic markings that LDS Church founder Joseph Smith said he copied from gold plates in the 1820s. 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. A 2003 BBC documentary about Hofmann is entitled "The Man Who Forged America".[45]. He forged a blessing Joseph Smith purportedly gave to his son Joseph SmithIII designating him as his fathers successor. Such self-awareness is far from where she began. Under the microscope they noticed that the ink was cracked. Youve chased off other people from this blog cause you want to argue everything you dont agree with (to death) and I a black woman am saying you a white man are racist. It is not the first time the Church has found itself in such a position. Olds, meanwhile, was the dutiful wife, caring for their home and growing family at that time a son and two daughters. 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. Netflix Solemnly Dishes on the Con Man and Bomber(Murder Among the Mormons, Netflix). . But once they divorced, he cut off any contact with her. A genuine example was probably worth over US$1 million in 1985, and Hofmann's agents began to negotiate a sale to the Library of Congress. "I always liked Dorie. [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 missiles . Chief investigator Jim Bell said, "They're hiding something; the church is doing everything it can to make this as difficult as possible. Find Dr. Hoffman's address, insurance information, hospital affiliations and more. Within the hour the board, citing Hofmann's "callous disregard for human life", decided that he would indeed spend the remainder of his "natural life in prison". Children's Mercy Research Institute Leadership He wrote that he chose to commit murder and die in favor of being exposed, The Salt Lake City Tribune reported after obtaining his letter in 2011. His institutional history is pretty clean. Prison sentences have a minimum and maximum time frame; offenders must serve their entire sentence unless the Utah Board of Pardons opts to grant them parole sooner. In 1988, Olds filed for and was granted a divorce. Although Mark was secretly agnostic and betrayed his church, he was wearing a Mormon temple garment when he accidentally bombed his own car. However, on October 18, 1995, after Hofmann's arrest, Hinckley said, "I frankly admit that Hofmann tricked us. I've never seen anything like this in a homicide investigation. RR, Watch theForensic Filesepisode onYouTubeorAmazon Prime. He was sentenced to five years to life, but the judge recommended that Hofmann never be released. I felt like that was the end, Hofmann wrote. As the news unfolded on the nation's television screens, reporters camped out on her lawn in Millcreek, peering in the windows at the distraught woman, trying desperately to care for her young children. Thanks, Rebecca: An interesting story, this. Finally, after consulting with Ph.D. chemists and trying formula after formula, (Salt Lake City forensic examiner George) Throckmorton was at a toy store one day buying a present. In 1997, the Forensic Files episode Postal Mortem told the story of how Mark used ancient ink recipes and other trickery to create forgeries like the White Salamander Letter which retold Mormon history in a way that rattled the church and then killed two people so he could evade suspicion and continue to bilk collectors. Mark Hofmann, left, and wife Doralee attend a Board of Pardons hearing in January 1988, before their divorce. "[9]:514. Mark Hofmann was the mastermind behind deadly bombings that served as the focal point of the new Netflix docuseries, Murder Among the Mormons. Mark Hoffman told himself what he was about to do was for their good. But Hinckley spoke of Hofmann as if he barely recognized his name. On its website, the church recently added an entry titled Hofmann Forgeries in its section on church history topics. Mark Hofmann had both a Jekyll and a Hyde inside him, but outwardly he had only one persona: polite young man. She felt she received a divine message: "It will be all right.". The modern corrections facility has updated security features, including the direct supervision management model where correctional officers interact directly with incarcerated individuals. Twice a week, she went to see her husband in prison once alone and once with their kids. At that time, they were all five and under. In August1987, the sensationalist aspects of the Hofmann case led apostle Dallin H. Oaks to believe that Mormons had witnessed "some of the most intense LDS Church-bashing since the turn of the [20th] century. They also found the engraving plant where the forged plate for Oath of a Freeman was made. On one side was Terri Christensen, widow of the businessman, who was murdered Oct. 15, 1985. By the end of that third day of the April 1986 preliminary hearing about the crimes, Hofmann's wife fled the courthouse and never returned. In 1981, Hofmann presented the LDS Church with a document which supposedly provided evidence that Smith had designated his son Joseph Smith III, rather than Brigham Young, as his successor. Toll records showed Hofmann placed several calls to Hinckley's office from his car telephone during the week before the bombings. McLellin described Joseph Smith "as a corrupt, even murderous, Hofmann had made two significant errors in his. 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. His behavior in prison did not throw up red flags, prison spokesman Steve Gehrke told Fox 13, but they had plans to keep tabs on Hofmann at the lower security facility. Thanks again for writing I appreciate anything that heightens my awareness. Well look at it on a continual basis, Gehrke said in 2016. She divorced Hofmann in 1988 and took back her maiden name. All four of Mark Hofmanns children prefer to stay away from the media and the spotlight. Sure enough, Olds "discovered" a piece of parchment gummed into the Bible, with Egyptian-looking scribbles on it. You are racist. During the investigations, many of the prosecution team became convinced that they were being stonewalled by leaders of the LDS Church. "[37], A student of Mormonism, Jan Shipps, agreed that press reports "contained an astonishing amount of innuendo associating Hofmann's plagiarism with Mormon beginnings. I don't believe in God. In Stock. Because the letters had been authenticated by different experts, the inconsistencies had earlier escaped detection. The kind of argument, indeed, that you say above you dont like. [30], As a master forger, Hofmann deceived a number of renowned document experts during his short career. Marc Hoffmann - IMDb (And while youre on Netflix, you can also stream American Murder: The Family Next Door. She spoke of her life and what has happened in the 30 years since one of Utah's most infamous crimes, Thursday October 8, 2015. Since the 1980s the church has published extensively on its early history, helping to foster a greater understanding of some of the obscure historical episodes that Hofmann exploited in his forgeries to shed a negative light on the church.. 2. Now, 30 years of tortuous living later, Olds is finally at peace with herself and all that happened. Go do something else with your time. 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. In late 2015, the prison moved Hofmann out of maximum security in Draper to the Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison. The most important thing to him was to keep from being exposed as a fraud in front of his family and friends. He violated his religions ban on alcohol at least once drinking hard liquor with a pal and promptly throwing up. 30 years after fatal bombings, Dorie Olds manages to leave the past behind. These deceived not only members of the First Presidency notably Gordon B. Hinckley, then the de facto president of the church due to the poor health of more senior leaders[d] but also document experts and distinguished historians. In a forged cover letter, purportedly written by Thomas Bullock and dated January 27, 1865, Bullock chastises Young for having all copies of the blessing destroyed. From 1980 to October 1985, forgeries were almost his exclusive source of income, Hofmann wrote. Slowly, though, Olds developed a few close friendships, a deep mysticism and a knack for analysis and therapy. [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. Two Mormon wives sat on opposite sides of the Salt Lake City courtroom, staring intently at images on a screen as a witness described Steve Christensen's body after a pipe bomb shredded it. 4. [5]:8081, During the race by the Utah and Missouri churches to acquire the blessing document, Hofmann discovered "a lever to exercise enormous power over his church", a power to "menace and manipulate its leaders with nothing more sinister than a sheet of paper". As far back as I can remember I have liked to impress people through my deceptions, he wrote. According to Lindsey, the Hofmann affair emboldened many scholars to penetrate deeper into Mormon history that its most conservative leaders wanted left unexplored, and that church leaders were unlikely to be able to fully contain the fires of intellectual curiosity that Hofmann helped fan. You wouldnt need to go on these kinds of flip-outs if it werent based in racism. "He was acting the same. At the time, Hofmann was a well-known figure in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he would soon become known to a much wider audience as a murderer in the Mormon church. With the white salamander letter, he hoped to dismantle the LDS Church by changing its history. Far more important than those is the outrageous relative poverty in the US of black people the astonishing gap between rich and poor and its vastly deleterious effect on them and in the administration of justice affecting them (a matter the poster in question might care to note Ive raised several times in my many posts over the last couple of years), https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/racism, a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race, also : behavior or attitudes that reflect and foster this belief: racial discrimination or prejudice. False assumptions inspired by Hofmann documents or citations that eventually lead back to his fabricated evidence still distort some depictions of Latter-day Saint history, according to the church. You are diminishing her blackness in order to say youre talking about two millionaires. "He set me up. He was the first to determine that the widely publicized. [5]:6566 The document seemed to be the transcript that Smith's scribe Martin Harris had presented to Charles Anthon, a Columbia classics professor, in 1828. [41], The events were a part of the series, City Confidential in the 1998 episode, "Faith and Foul Play in Salt Lake City". Pediatricians treat children, infants, and . Olds went into the hallway for a moment of prayerful silence. Dr. Hoffman serves as the Chief Research Information officer for Children's Mercy Hospital (CMH) and the Children's Research Institute. Mormon document forger and bomber Mark Hofmann is no longer serving a lifetime prison sentence from a maximum-security prison cell. Collection: Photograph of the Mark Hofmann family | BYU Library He had recently broken his engagement, and the two became friends. [5]:55 Hofmann and his friends were said to have made bombs for fun on the outskirts of Murray, Utah. [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. "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. All we know of Marks son and three daughters is that they have grown up without their biological father in their lives. Two years ago, ForensicFilesNow.com published a recap and update on the episode. DORALEE Olds was married to Mark Hofmann from 1979 to 1987. Mark Hofmann survived injuries from a suicide attempt and went on to face trial in the 1985 Salt Lake City bombings that killed two people. Hofmann also piled up more than $1 million dollars in debt. Mark Hofmann Today: Where Is the Murder Among the Mormons Subject Now in 2021? Bullock writes that although he believes Young to be the legitimate leader of the LDS Church, he would keep his copy of the blessing. 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. If the dictionary definition of racisms not what racism is, what is it? "Why you of all people?" Joseph Smith, who founded the religion in 1823, discovered the gold plates translated into the Book of Mormon in Manchester, New York. 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. Two Mormon wives sat on opposite sides of the Salt Lake City courtroom, staring intently at images on a screen as a . Hofmann's crimes are fictionalized in the episode "The Saint", Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2004). 'Murder Among the Mormons' review: Forgery scandal turns fatal on 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. He promised investors high returns on their investments in rare documents but took their money to repay earlier investors. Ive only watched it three times, so far. Mark Hofmann, a reputed trader of documents and artifacts within the church, turned out to be the one whod planted the bombs in an attempt to hide his forgeries. Here you have a nice plea bargain. Mark HOFFMAN | Chief Research Information Officer | Ph.D. | Children's
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