POLICE IN OHIO have discovered the bodies of a 11-year-old boy, his mother and a family friend in a hollow tree – ending a week-long search for the family.

The bodies of Kody Maynard (11), his mother Tina Herrmann (32) and family friend Stephanie Sprang (41) were discovered after Matthew Hoffman – arrested earlier this week after a SWAT team discovered Kody’s sister Sarah (13) alive in his basement – pointed the way through his lawyers.

Police say that all three had been killed at Herrmann’s home – a murder apparently witnessed by Sarah – but have not yet indicated how the three were killed.

Knox County sheriff David Barber said his staff were “inspired by Sarah’s bravery… what she saw, I can’t speak to that.”

All four were reported missing on November 10, when Tina failed to show up for work at a local Dairy Queen. When colleagues called around to their house to check on her, they discovered an “unusual amount of blood” on the floors.

Hoffman remains in police custody facing a kidnapping charge in respect of Sarah’s abduction; police say they are no other suspects in the case.

The woodland in which they were found was about 20 minutes’ drive from Herrmann’s home, and 15 from Hoffman’s.