By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post
The mother of a murdered Salina woman offered an impassioned plea this morning for people to come forward with information on the whereabouts of the man sought in the case.
"It's been two months ago since I last got to tell Courtney I loved her and gave her a big hug. It's been two months ago since she turned around to me and gave me a hug and said 'I love you, too, mom.' Shortly after that, her life was blown apart," Taphne Speilman said during a news conference Thursday in the Salina Police Department Regional Training Center.
At approximately 11:42 a.m. on Feb. 23, Salina Fire Department EMS and Salina Police Officers were dispatched to the 700 block of N. Fourth Street for a report of the sound of gunfire and someone screaming. Upon arrival, officers located Courtney Ann Hoffman, 36, of Salina, inside a vehicle at her residence at 731 N. Fourth Street. Hoffman, who had a gunshot wound, was pronounced dead by EMS personnel.
According to information from the Salina Police Department, probable cause established from the homicide investigation led detectives to obtain from Saline County District Court a murder in the first degree warrant for Nelson Gerrod Hull III, 35, of Salina.
Detective Jeff Vaughan said this morning that based on information obtained through interviews, Hoffman was in some sort of dating relationship with Hull.
Hull remains at large and is considered armed and dangerous.
"Please be assured that the men and women of the Salina Police Department are diligently working this case and will continue to seek justice for Courtney," Salina Police Chief Brad Nelson said this morning. "We are actively seeking any information regarding the whereabouts of Hull. In addition to his acquaintances in Salina, Hull does have family members and friends in both Kansas City and the Wichita area."
Nelson said the Salina Police Department had reached out to numerous law enforcement agencies in Kansas City, Wichita, and Texas.
"We are really trying to find Nelson Hull, and it's amazing to me that we haven't yet, but I feel comfortable that we will," Nelson said.
Her life mattered
Speilman said she didn't know why her daughter was murdered.
"I guess this individual thought that maybe her life didn't matter any more. But it did matter. It mattered to her four-year-old daughter who will never see her mother again. It mattered to her 11-year-old son who is now battling traumatic disorders. And her 16-year-old daughter who Courtney will never see walking up the steps to graduate or walking down the aisle to get married. She is missed by her brothers and her sisters, by aunts and by uncles, and by many people who totally loved her and knew that her life mattered," Speilman said.
She said Hoffman was a good person who had a lot friends and knew a lot of people.
"That is why I am here today, to reach out to each and every one of you who had some connection with Courtney, to come forth if you have any information on the individual that the Salina Police Department are looking for. It's not that bringing him in will bring Courtney back, because I know it won't. But, if we could protect any other young woman, sister, daughter, mother from the same thing happening to them, I know justice will be served then," Speilman said.
"So I am begging. I'm pleading. If you have any information at all, whether it's big. Whether it's small. Please come forth. Help our family put a closure to this horrific deal," she said.
Nelson said that anyone with information about Hull's whereabouts is asked to call 911 or the Salina/Saline County Crimestoppers at 785-825-TIPS.
"You may receive a cash award for up to $2,500 and you are not required to provide your name," Nelson said.
One person already arrested
On March 1, police announced that Clarence Darnyl Brown, 34, of Salina, had been arrested in connection with the Hoffman murder.
"We had information that he assisted in Mr. Hull's absconding afterwards and also certain actions that occurred that I can't go into because we're still in the process of this activity," Detective Sergeant David Villanueva said this morning.
Information about Brown's alleged involvement has been forwarded to the Saline County Attorney's Office, Villanueva said.