Following the 2 bombs that went off in 1985, I asked Dorie Olds if she was worried for her safety. At the time, she didn’t know that her husband, Mark Hofmann was planting the bombs…. Was Dorie really in danger?
GT: Let’s go back to the awful October of 1985. So, I’ve talked with several people that have known Mark and they were all, they were all looking for bombs under their car.
Dorie: Yeah, it frightened a lot of people.
GT: Curt Bench, Shannon Flynn, even Michael Quinn. Were you concerned for your safety? Because none of these people believed that it was Mark initially either.
Dorie: Yeah.
GT: Were you concerned?
Dorie: I wasn’t until Mark called me. He called me and said, “You need to leave the house because you may be in danger.” So he’s telling me this big old lie, scaring me….I remember just running out so fast that I didn’t even close the dishwasher. I remember just running, leaving so fast. And then [I was] talking to Mark later and he laughed when I told him, “Yeah, I left. I grabbed everything.”
“Well you didn’t really need to,” or something like that. He laughed at me because I got scared. I remember that.
GT: That struck you as pretty odd?
Dorie: Yes. It was like, “What? And why did you tell me? Why are you telling me I need to leave? If you didn’t want me to leave? Why are you? Why? What?”
Because I did not understand him. What’s going on? And it’s like, if I’m not in danger, why are you telling me I’m in danger? But yeah, he laughed. I remember that.
Find out more of Dorie’s perspective!
Dorie Olds tells her recollections of the preliminary trial, Mark’s plea bargain, and her 5-minute divorce to bomber Mark Hofmann. It’s a fascinating conclusion to our conversation with Dorie.
GT: And then the plea bargain comes I guess. What did you think?
…
Dorie: The plea bargain. He was telling his dad. He was telling me, and he was telling his dad “I’m innocent, I’m innocent, I’m innocent.”
And, his dad’s like, “Why are you going to plead guilty to this if you’re innocent? You don’t plead guilty.”
And I’m going, “What is it?” Same thing. “What is it you’re doing?”
And he told both of us a story, which didn’t make sense to me, but i was like, “I don’t understand this. I don’t understand it. I can do nothing.” I could never make him do anything. And that’s the truth. I could never make him do anything. So, again, I [had this] out of control, powerless feeling with him.
And so what he told his dad and I, what he said was, “There’s a reason why I’m doing this. It’s going to protect you and the kids from being killed.” That’s what he said. I don’t know. See, it’s dramatic enough that it’s like, okay. “But I can’t talk about it. I can’t tell you. I can’t.” See. It’s another big story, you know? “But I’m innocent. But I’m going to plead guilty. But I’m doing it to protect my thing. I’m a such a good guy. I’m doing it to protect my family.” That’s the story. So yeah. So that’s what he said.
What are your thoughts on the Hofmann bombings, and Dorie’s experiences?
Wheat & Tares 
I believe Hoffman was guilty, but innocent people plead guilty all the time; especially if they’ve never been in trouble before.
If you were accused of tax fraud, you could seek advice from a CPA. You might get told that pleading guilty will get you out of it with minimal damage. However, taking a chance on a jury trial might cause you to lose everything. What would we do?
Plea bargains to lawyers are like extended warranties to salespeople. They’re pure profit; with no labor involved.
Hoffman should have gotten the death penalty.
He killed a bishop ( Mr Mac’s son) and a stake president’s wife, if I recall. Prominent decent people in the community.
He did it in a cold calculated manner to cover his lies and forgeries.
His third bomb was intended for another person, perhaps Gordon B. Hinckley?
He tried to alter the history of his own people with lies and deceit.
The disruption and damage he did to the public is astonishing.
The only defense is if you are against the death penalty in general. Otherwise who else deserves it?
I think the prosecutors were weenies. Hoffman got off easy. Second degree murder, my ass. Sentence of 5 years to life. The only thing keeping him in prison now is the parole board.
I wonder if there might have been a problem with the idea of putting apostles on the witness stand to explain their part in their hidden dealings with Hoffman. And subject them to cross-examination by Hoffman’s attorney Ron Yengich, a known vocal Mormon critic. They might have come off as somewhat less than inspiring. It doesn’t exactly fit the definition but is smells of obstruction of justice.
Speculation: Hoffman worsened the then future “faith crisis” in the LDS church. Quite a bit of new information was coming out back then and it was difficult for orthodox people to process. Then we find out there are hundreds of forgeries out there. It became easier to ignore the unsettling historical facts for more than a decade before the Internet made it easy to search for the least bit curious person.
I am so sorry for the suffering Hoffman put his wife through and wish her only the best. She was dealt a hard hand in the card game of life and she has played it well.