I was the witness and entangled in it," Olds says. Utah Department of Corrections Smith had given a page with such script to an early Mormon convert, Martin Harris, to show to Charles Anthon, a scholar of ancient languages. I believe this is what led to my forging activities.. he asked. 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. Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune A young entrepreneur sets out to earn some money and discovers the value of a dollar (and of dirt)! Powered by WordPress.com VIP. 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. He's mean.". Olds, meanwhile, was the dutiful wife, caring for their home and growing family at that time a son and two daughters. 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. 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. 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. She spoke about her life experience Thursday October 8, 2015. 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. "But I never felt she had much interest in what Mark was doing and not aware of a lot of his work.". Like Steve Christensen and Kathleen Sheets. Hofmann hinted that the McLellin collection would provide revelations unfavorable to the LDS Church. 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. DORALEE Olds was married to Mark Hofmann from 1979 to 1987. While there, she heard that her husband was wounded and rushed to the hospital after a bomb went off in his car. What youre logically implying is precisely what I said was wrong with Fs argument that racism is what you say it is. Hofmann had the signature authenticated by Charles Hamilton, the contemporary "dean of American autograph dealers", sold the letter to the church for $15,000, and gave his word that no one else had a copy. "It is where she always wanted to be," McNeil says, "but didn't know it was possible.". Stay-at-home mom, who baked bread and quilted. 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. Find Dr. Hoffman's address, insurance information, hospital affiliations and more. [7][8]:20506,316 He had learned that his maternal grandparents had continued to secretly practice polygamy for more than a decade after the church publicly ended the practice (it was not fully renounced until 1904). In the end, of course, Hofmann did get caught because of the murders, but also because of his mistakes. Mark Hofmann Today: Where Is the Murder Among the Mormons Subject Now in 2021? The ascription of (nauseating) foolishness is not racist: anyone and everyone could be a fool. Normal.". The missiles . In the early parts of Murder Among the Mormons, Hofmann is depicted as a devout Mormon. Her children visited their father from early on and continue to do so regularly. Martin Luther King: I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. He was right. The Monroe unit, which includes the 192-bed Ironwood housing unit, adds a new intake and transportation building and a dog kennel for up to 12 K9s, the DOC wrote. Marks parents, Lucille Sears Hofmann and William Hofmann, were horrified that his kids had a storybook with dinosaurs, which they considered too evolution-friendly. But when Mark confessed, and the reality of his actions dawned on her, Dorie filed for divorce. In 1979, he married Doralee "Dorie" Olds, and the couple eventually had four children. 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. 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. [20], In 1983, Hofmann bypassed the LDS Church's historical department and sold to Hinckley an 1825 Smith holograph purporting to confirm that Smith had been treasure hunting and practicing magic five years after his First Vision. Thanks again for writing I appreciate anything that heightens my awareness. "[5]:75 When the archivist balked at the price, Hofmann offered it to the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church; now known as the Community of Christ), which had always claimed that the line of succession had been bestowed on Smith's descendants but had never had written proof. On its website, the church recently added an entry titled Hofmann Forgeries in its section on church history topics. Chief investigator Jim Bell said, "They're hiding something; the church is doing everything it can to make this as difficult as possible. "She was fairly outgoing, but didn't seem interested in Mark's document dealing.". Total price: This item: Fruit Bowl. He started collecting coins when he was 12 and soon figured out ways to fool other collectors by altering coins to make them appear more desirable. "I always liked Dorie. I don't believe in God. He was revived, but not before spending twelve hours lying on his right arm and blocking its circulation, thus causing muscle atrophy. They also found the engraving plant where the forged plate for Oath of a Freeman was made. 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 1988, Olds filed for and was granted a divorce. He was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The youngest was born after Mark had been charged and arrested with fraud, theft, and murder. Hofmann pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated murder in January 1987, avoiding the death penalty in exchange for revealing information on his forgery techniques and knowledge of Mormon history. When she arrived, his parents were already there. But considering how they even refuse to acknowledge him publicly, it doesnt seem like it bothers them much. He doesnt have any behaviors that would indicate hed be a problem. 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. Hofmann agreed to confess his forgeries in open court, in return for which prosecutors in Utah and New York dropped additional charges against him. It is not the first time the Church has found itself in such a position. Boy you are embarrassing yourself here. Across the aisle was a pregnant Dorie Olds, then-wife of Mark Hofmann, the LDS forger who was accused of the heinous act. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. He was the first to determine that the widely publicized. 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. Dorie Olds is the ex-wife of Mormon bomber Mark Hofmann, who killed two people on Oct. 15, 1985. [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. Scope and Contents This collection contains one portrait of Mark Hoffman's family in 1984. For years, it turned out, Hofmann had been producing phony signatures and documents and photos and coins, successfully convincing handwriting experts and forgery detection machines that all of it was authentic. 3. the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a mythical being thought to be able to live in fire, "Dealer in Mormon fraud called a master forger", "Early years: Mark Hofmann, the Salamander Letter, and the bombings", "30 Years After Mormon Bombings, Mark Hofmann's Ex-Wife Finds Peace and Herself", "Mark Hofmann tape-recorded RLDS scam while it was in progress", "Mormon document raises doubts on succession of church's leaders", "1985 CES Doctrine and Covenants Symposium", "Recent events involving church history and forged documents", "The Truth is the Most Important Thing: A look at Mark W. Hofmann, the Mormon salamander man", "Introduction to the Signature Books edition of the McLellin Papers", "Mormon leaders suppress 'key' item in murder case", "Mac Christensen, founder of Utah-based Mr. Mac men's clothing chain, dead at 85", "Notorious bomber Mark Hofmann moved to Gunnison prison", Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research, "Recent Events Involving Church History and Forged Documents", "Netflix Sets 'Murder Among the Mormons' Docuseries on 1985 Utah Bombings (Exclusive)", "Fraudulent documents from Forger Mark Hofmann noted", "Mark Hofmann letter to the Board of Pardons", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mark_Hofmann&oldid=1147137236, American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Improvised explosive device bombings in the United States, People excommunicated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Utah, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2021, Articles with incomplete citations from May 2020, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox criminal with motive parameter, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 29 March 2023, at 02:14. Devout grandparents. [5]:298 Salt Lake County District Attorney's investigator Michael George believed that, after Hofmann had successfully forged the blessing, his ultimate goal was to create the lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon, which he could have filled with inconsistencies and errors, sell them "to the church to be hidden away" and then as he had done often with embarrassing documents "make sure its contents were made public. 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. [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. 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. That was how she could testify that he was home that day and pass several lie-detector tests. They could have died just as easily in a car accident. To add more books, click here . Criticism of the words/attitudes of two people, one of whom is white, the other of dual heritage, is not in any way, shape or form necessarily and not in fact racist. Until next time, cheers. I am not ashamed to admit that we were victimized. Hes made racist comments on here before and you dont seem to care. Why a racist British guy would troll this site is beyond me. Four siblings. After Hofmann returned from his mission, he enrolled as a pre-med major at Utah State University. shelved 1,705 times Showing 30 distinct works. But in the letter, Hofmann wrote that he intended to kill himself. According to the Ostlings, "The church publicized some of the acquisitions; it orchestrated public relations for some that were known to be sensitive; others it acquired secretly and suppressed."[g][14]. 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. However, in 2016, he was transferred to Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison. Joseph Smith, who founded the religion in 1823, discovered the gold plates translated into the Book of Mormon in Manchester, New York. If You Come to Earth. 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. ", "Early in the investigation friends of Mark Hofmann and Steven Christensen repeatedly told the detectives that they had been present when Hofmann and Christensen received telephone calls from Gordon Hinckley. "She didn't speak her truth but would waffle all over the place when she spoke.". It was long believed that the third explosion was an accident. 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. 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. He was arrested for the bombings three months later, and in 1987 pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder, one count of theft by deception and one count of fraud. 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 . In 1979, he married Doralee "Dorie" Olds, and the couple eventually had four children. Mark Hoffman told himself what he was about to do was for their good. Go do something else with your time. The updates include a new intake area and transportation building, plus a facility to house up to 12 K-9s. 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.
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