Richard Hoff

Tiffany Hoff's Story

UPDATE: Parole has been denied for baby killer Richard Hoff. Hoff will not have another hearing until July 2028. Thank you to everyone who submitted a petition to oppose this baby killer’s parole. Rest In Peace Tiffany Hoff. You will never be forgotten.

Born To Suffer

Tiffany Amber Hoff was 19 inches tall, weighed 15.4 pounds and spent the short 49 days she lived on this earth being abused by her parents. Her abuse culminated on November 16, 1988, when her father beat her unmercifully. Tiffany suffered for two days before being brought to Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Akron by her parents, Richard and Cynthia Hoff.

Upon arrival, Tiffany was admitted to the intensive care unit suffering from shock, respiratory failure, multiple fractures, multiple bruises and a distended abdomen. Further tests revealed hematomas of the bowel and liver, multiple healing rib fractures, and a traumatic injury to Tiffany’s mouth.

Tiffany was put on a ventilator and never regained consciousness. She died at 11:05 PM on November 18, 1988. The cause of death would be cardiovascular collapse due to hypovolemic shock, a result of multiple traumatic injuries involving the liver, spleen, distal esophagus, stomach, duodenum, pancreas, small and large bowels, and region of her anus and distal rectum.

An Inconsistent Story

When questioned about her death, Tiffany’s parents reported to police that she was alone with her father, Richard Hoff, the night that she was brought to the hospital. Hoff’s statements to Cuyahoga Falls Detective T. Tipton varied with each retelling. The basic story from Mr. Hoff was that he was working at home on the computer with Tiffany lying on the floor on a blanket, with a full grown doberman pinscher lying between Tiffany and the computer desk. According to Mr. Hoff, “something or someone spooked the dog, he lunged and landed on top of the baby, knocking the baby into the computer table.” He stated Tiffany had no breathing problems at that time. Mr. Hoff stated he checked and fed the baby at 10 PM, however, by 11PM, the baby was having difficulty breathing, and he took her temperature, which was two degrees colder than usual. Rather than take Tiffany for medical assistance, Mr. Hoff decided to wait for his wife to return home, approximately a half hour later, “to see if she thought the baby was having problems.” Mrs. Hoff arrived home, but waited two days to get Tiffany help. She eventually wrapped the baby in a blanket and took her to the hospital.

Both parents explained away many of the injuries as happenstance. The bruise on Tiffany’s eye was from falling in a bathtub. The injury to her mouth was from Tiffany scratching herself. The vaginal and rectum injuries were from bouncing Tiffany on their knees and from the rectal thermometer. According to hospital personnel, none of their explanations were consistent with the massive injuries Tiffany suffered.

Richard Hoff was held by police under suspicion of child abuse and Cynthia Hoff was released.

Richard Hoff eventually admitted to Detective Tipton that he jumped up and down on Tiffany’s body. He stated, “I lost control of myself and I caused my daughter’s death, but there was no sexual conduct whatsoever.”

A Pattern of Abuse

Summit County Coroner William Cox stated Tiffany died from internal bleeding after suffering blows to her stomach. The blows caused bleeding in her liver, spleen, stomach, pancreas and bowels. The autopsy also revealed older injuries, including multiple broken ribs. Dr. Cox also stated. “These are not recent rib fractures – they were in the process of healing.” He also said the injury to Tiffany’s mouth was “several days old.” The autopsy revealed there was damage to Tiffany’s rectum and vagina. Dr. Cox stated the rectum had been penetrated, although it did not appear that she had been raped.

A Hoff family neighbor would later admit that she had seen Tiffany two days before her death, and that she had a battered and bruised face at the time. She said she knew something was wrong with her, but did not know who she should contact and consequently did nothing to help her.

A Child Killer Gets Life

Richard Hoff was charged with murder, involuntary manslaughter, felonious assault, felonious sexual penetration and child endangering. Cynthia Hoff was later charged with child endangering since she did not immediately transport her daughter to the hospital for her injuries. She surrendered to police a short time later.

Richard Hoff would plead innocent and innocent by reason of insanity to his charges; Cynthia would plead innocent as well. Richard Hoff, likely facing certain conviction, pled no-contest for murder and felonious sexual penetration, meaning he admitted the truth of the allegations without pleading guilty. He was required to serve concurrent sentences of life for felonious sexual penetration and 15 years to life for murder.

The charges against Cynthia Hoff were dismissed. She would never be held accountable for her actions.

No Remorse

Although Hoff continues to deny sexually assaulting Tiffany, in 1999, Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove determined there was enough evidence to rule Hoff a sexual predator, the most dangerous of all sex offender classifications.

Although it has been just under 30 years since Tiffany’s murder, Hoff still has no remorse for what he did to Tiffany. Parole documents from Hoff’s last parole hearing in 2014 state, “Offender Hoff has served over 25 years for the horrible and senseless murder of his seven-week-old daughter. He shares no remorse for his crimes.” The records conclude by noting, “There is substantial reason to believe that due to the serious nature of the crime, the release of the inmate into society would create undue risk to public safety, or that due to the serious nature of the crime, the release of the inmate would not further the interest of justice or be consistent with the welfare and security of society.”

No Parole

Richard Hoff is a vicious child killer who sexually assaulted and murdered his defenseless, seven-week-old daughter. He is a dangerous predator who has shown no remorse for his actions. Granting Hoff’s request for parole would be a serious miscarriage of justice and would demean Tiffany Amber Hoff’s suffering. Additionally, Hoff’s release would pose a serious risk to the community, especially young children.

Based on Richard Hoff’s horrific crimes, we believe he should be required to fulfill the full two life sentences he agreed to when he pled no-contest to murder and felonious sexual penetration. To further the interest of justice and protect society, we urge the Ohio Parole Board to deny parole and give Hoff the maximum 10-year continuance at all future parole hearings.