Netflix Solemnly Dishes on the Con Man and Bomber
(Murder Among the Mormons, Netflix)
Mark Hofmann had both a Jekyll and a Hyde inside him, but outwardly he had only one persona: polite young man.
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.
Catch the stream. 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.
Two years ago, ForensicFilesNow.com published a recap and update on the episode.
Now, Netflix is getting in on the act. 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.
Flimflam nonfiction. Here are seven facts from the series, which was co-produced by Joe Berlinger (Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich):
1. There was at least one polygamist in the family — Mark’s grandfather.
2. 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
3. A trip to Manchester, England, first got Mark interested in Mormon documents. Joseph Smith, who founded the religion in 1823, discovered the gold plates translated into the Book of Mormon in Manchester, New York.
4. Mark made photocopies of the fake documents he created to prevent the church from doing catch-and-kills.
5. He violated his religion’s ban on alcohol at least once — drinking hard liquor with a pal and promptly throwing up.
6. One of his forgeries involved a vacuum cleaner used to suck paint to the back side of a document to mimic what happens naturally over time.
7. Although Mark was secretly agnostic and betrayed his church, he was wearing a Mormon temple garment when he accidentally bombed his own car. (He survived and is still in prison).
You can watch Murder Among the Mormons on Netflix now. Although it’s stopped offering free trial subscriptions, the service has a deal for $8.99 a month with no contract or cancellation fee. (And while you’re on Netflix, you can also stream American Murder: The Family Next Door. I’ve only watched it three times, so far.)
That’s all for this week. Until next time, cheers. — RR
Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube or Amazon Prime
