Ohio girl held captive by killer of 3 speaks out

NEW YORK (AP) — A 13-year-old Ohio girl kidnapped by an out-of-work tree-cutter who killed three other people says she’s coming forward to show that she’s a survivor.

The girl said on NBC’s “Today” show today that she got through her four days as Matthew Hoffman’s captive by listening to everything he told her to do. Police found her bound and gagged in his basement in Mount Vernon in central Ohio.

Hoffman has pleaded guilty in the November killings and to kidnapping and raping the girl. The remains of the two women and 11-year-old boy who died were found stuffed in a hollow tree.

Hoffman was sentenced last month to life in prison without parole. In his confession he said he made the girl hamburgers, but she says he didn’t feed her or let her shower.