Overview of Rewind with Karen & Georgia - 108: “King of Police”
This “Rewind” episode revisits a February 15, 2018 episode of My Favorite Murder with fresh commentary, updates, and the hosts’ usual mix of dark humor and pop-culture detours. The episode centers on two disturbing true-crime stories: Matthew Hoffman’s 2010 Ohio murders, known for their bizarre leaf-filled crime scene, and the long-running French case of “Little Gregory,” a decades-old family mystery that remains infamous in France.
Episode Highlights
- The intro is full of classic Karen/Georgia banter:
- Christian rock songs in Uber rides
- Bowling obsession and “bowling socks”
- Ted Bundy casting talk, especially Zac Efron’s portrayal
- A shoutout to the podcast Someone Knows Something
- The hosts also reflect on how this era of the show balanced live-show friendliness with the difficulty of covering especially horrific cases.
- In the “Recommendations Corner,” they share a few things they genuinely love, including What We Do in the Shadows and products from Love Heals Thistle Farms.
Story 1: Matthew Hoffman and the 2010 Tree Murders
Karen tells the horrifying case of Matthew Hoffman in Mount Vernon, Ohio:
- Tina Herman’s boss discovers she has missed work and finds her house covered in blood and littered with beer cans.
- Tina, her 11-year-old son Cody, her 13-year-old daughter, and Tina’s friend Stephanie Spring are all missing.
- Police trace a Walmart receipt and surveillance footage to Hoffman, an unemployed tree trimmer driving a Yaris.
- When police raid his home, they find:
- the living room filled with leaves
- walls of the bathroom lined with bags of leaves
- Tina’s daughter alive in the basement, bound, gagged, and placed on a bed of leaves
- Hoffman confesses to:
- murdering Tina, Stephanie, and Cody
- kidnapping and imprisoning Tina’s daughter
- hiding the bodies in a hollow 60-foot tree in a wildlife area using a rope-and-pulley setup
- He also killed the family dog and apparently planned to destroy the house and erase evidence.
Key takeaways
- The leaf obsession makes the crime scene uniquely unsettling and suggests a severe psychological disturbance.
- The police say they likely would never have found the bodies without Hoffman’s confession.
- Hoffman ultimately pleads guilty to multiple felonies, including aggravated murder and rape, and receives life without parole.
Story 2: The Case of Little Gregory
Georgia covers one of France’s most famous unsolved cases, the murder of four-year-old Gregory Villemin:
- The Villemin family receives years of threatening calls and letters from an anonymous figure known as “the Raven.”
- In October 1984, Gregory disappears while playing outside and is later found dead in a river, bound and fully clothed.
- The initial investigation is badly mishandled by a young magistrate who fails to secure the scene and order a full autopsy.
The family becomes the focus
- Suspicion turns inward toward Gregory’s extended family.
- A teenager, Muriel, accuses her brother-in-law Bernard LaRoche of abducting and killing Gregory.
- Bernard is arrested, then later released.
- In a moment of rage and grief, Gregory’s father Jean-Marie kills Bernard.
- The case spirals further when investigators begin targeting Gregory’s mother Christine, who is later cleared.
Decades of renewed scrutiny
- In 2000, the case is reopened after DNA testing on the threatening letters.
- Years later, modern handwriting and linguistic analysis, plus an AI-assisted review of evidence, lead to new arrests.
- The case remains deeply tangled in family conflict, accusations, and mistrust.
Why this case stands out
- It’s a classic example of a case where family dynamics, media frenzy, and poor early investigation made the truth harder to find.
- Like the JonBenét Ramsey case, it became a national obsession fueled by rumors, suspicion, and endless speculation.
Updates and Current Status
Matthew Hoffman
- Hoffman is still serving life without parole at Toledo Correctional Institution.
Little Gregory
- In the episode’s update section, the hosts note that the case continued to generate legal action and media coverage.
- They mention:
- charges being dropped against some relatives due to legal technicalities
- Muriel publishing a book about the case
- further rulings affecting what evidence can be used
- continuing suspicion around members of the extended family
- The case has also inspired documentaries and dramatizations, reflecting how culturally significant it remains in France.
Recommendations Corner
The episode ends on a lighter note with two standout recommendations:
What We Do in the Shadows
- Karen and Georgia rave about the vampire-roommate comedy.
- They highlight:
- Jermaine Clement
- Taika Waititi
- Rhys Darby’s werewolf joke, “We’re werewolves, not swearwolves”
- They call it one of the funniest and most delightful movies they’ve seen.
Love Heals Thistle Farms
- Georgia recommends products from Thistle Farms in Nashville.
- The company makes lotions, lip balm, soaps, and body butter.
- Important detail: the products are made by women survivors of trafficking, domestic violence, and incarceration, giving the purchase a strong social impact.
Overall Takeaway
This rewind episode is a mix of classic My Favorite Murder humor and two especially grim true-crime cases. The standout themes are:
- how bizarre and memorable crime scenes can be
- how family conflict can distort investigations
- how early mistakes can derail justice for decades
- and how the hosts balance horror with community, recommendations, and comedy at the end