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ELLIS COUNTY, Texas (TCD) — A 31-year-old man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for tying up, strangling, and fatally beating his friend with a hammer before hiding his remains in a trash can.
Ellis County and District Attorney Ann Montgomery announced Jan. 29 that a jury convicted Trenton Adams of the capital murder of Jordan Von Hoffman, and a judge subsequently sentenced him to life in prison without parole.
On March 24, 2021, Von Hoffman failed to show up to work and didn’t return home, so his sister and friends became concerned. They knew, however, that he had recently met up with Adams to return a truck. Prosecutors said the victim’s sister and friends went to the location where they believed Adams had been staying on Ensign Road outside of Ennis, and while searching the area, they noticed the truck.
According to Montgomery, the sister and friends got permission from the property owner to search further. They went inside a shed and discovered a body in a trash can that had been wrapped in contractor plastic and a tarp and covered in paint. Additionally, prosecutors said they found another trash can that appeared to be hidden, and they called 911.
The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the remains in the trash can were those of Von Hoffman, and an autopsy determined he died due to compression of his neck and “blunt force trauma consistent with being hit in the head with a hammer.”
Von Hoffman sustained severe trauma to his head and body. According to Montgomery, he had also been “‘hog-tied’ with his arms and legs bound behind his body.”
Inside the other trash can, investigators reportedly located a hammer believed to have been used on the victim, as well as bloody gloves and other related items.
The Ellis County Sheriff’s Office located products bought at Home Depot, and investigators recovered surveillance video from the store showing Adams and another individual buying items the day before and the morning of the slaying, such as trash cans, paint, contractor plastic, and gloves.
Montgomery said Adams’ DNA was found on the gloves and hammer at the scene. Investigators examined phone and Facebook records, confirming that Adams and the other individual messaged and called Von Hoffman to get him to come over around the same time they went to Home Depot.
Officials obtained a warrant for Adams’ arrest, but he had fled the area. The Ellis County Sheriff’s Office eventually located him in an apartment complex in Houston and took him into custody nearly two weeks after the slaying, on April 8, 2021.
According to prosecutors, as officials searched for Adams, he had called dispatch numerous times and admitted to killing his friend. Additionally, he reportedly confessed on Facebook, posting that he carried out the slaying because he believed Von Hoffman hurt a child. However, Montgomery said the allegations against Von Hoffman have not been substantiated.
Following his arrest, Von Hoffman reportedly told investigators that he didn’t kill the victim, but that a South American cartel was responsible, and they made him move the body. In a letter, Adams later admitted again that he killed his friend. He reportedly wrote he “‘worships death’ and that he carries out ‘’rites and rituals of Satanic worship, including blood sacrifices.'”
Further investigation revealed the defendant allegedly believed Von Hoffman and Adams’ girlfriend had engaged in a “sexual encounter” prior to the victim’s death.
Montgomery called Von Hoffman’s killing an “extraordinarily brutal crime.”
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