Mark Hoffmann

Mark Hoffmann is a murderer and forger, currently serving two life sentences in Utah. He was a rare documents dealer and collector as a student at Utah State. Among other things, he claimed to have found a Lucy Mack Smith letter, the Charles Anthon Transcript, E.B. Grandin contract, two pages of the original Book of Mormon transcript, the Salamander Letter, a blessing that designated Joseph Smith III to be prophet (as opposed to Brigham Young), the Book of Lehi, and copies of the McEllin collection as well. During his heyday, he also forged documents of letters of Emily Dickinson, Abraham Lincoln and the pilgrims.

He grew up in an LDS family and served a mission. However, he started to doubt the truthfulness of the church and presented copies of forged documents to the church in order to support his doubts.

While he made some money on the collections, he nevertheless suffered financial difficulties. He, with the help Of Hugh Pinnock, had obtained a loan for $185,000, but was unable to pay it off. He detonated two bombs in Salt Lake City, killing Steve Christensen, his business partner, and Kathy Sheets, the wife of another business partner. Hoffman detonated a third bomb, which injured him.

In 1987 Hoffman was sentenced to two life sentences in the Utah State Prison, where he presently resides. He has twice attempted suicide and no longer speaks to the media. Mark Hoffmann has since gone down in history as a murderer and enemy of the Church, and as one of the greatest forgers in American history. Some of Hoffman's forgeries are collectors' items in their own right, being of sufficient quality to fool even seasoned experts.

In the aftermath, several books were written regarding the incident, most of them hostile to the Church. Steve Christensen's father, Mac, gave an exemplary forgiveness, which has often been quoted by the media and the Church.