Heather Hoffman is a killer from North Dakota who was convicted of the murder of her ex boyfriend Alex Eckert
According to court documents Heather Hoffman and Alex Eckert were having a disagreement over child support payments that went way too far. The two would be in and out of court arguing over child custody and payments
When Heather Hoffman learned that Alex Eckert was getting more access to the child she would go over to his home where he would be fatally shot in the back of the head
Heather Hoffman would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole
Heather Hoffman Case
Life in prison without the chance of parole.
That’s the sentence handed down today in an hours-long sentencing, for the woman convicted of fatally shooting the father of her child in 2022.
In September a jury convicted Heather Hoffman of murder in the April 2022 shooting death of Alex Eckert, her ex and the father of her child.
For the first time, Eckert’s parents spoke out, telling the judge how their son’s death impacted their lives during victim impact statements Friday.
”I can easily tell you that Alex was one of the most intelligent people that I’ve ever met, I humbly ask the court that Ms. Hoffman, a murderous child abuser, receive the just sentence of life in prison without parole,” said Ryan Eckert, father of Alex Eckert.
Prosecutors say Hoffman and Eckert were in dispute over child custody and investigators say Hoffman fatally shot Eckert in the entryway of his northwest Minot apartment while confronting him on the matter. When given the chance to talk, Hoffman maintained her innocence, claiming others were responsible for Eckert’s death.
She pointed to the man who investigators say drove Hoffman to Eckert’s residence and who investigators say was unaware of her intentions.
”Claiming he’s stupid is the only way to cover why he is not also incarcerated in the discovery. He was told they’d rather him be a witness than a suspect and coerced and coached him until the story match the script,” said Hoffman. ”I am not the monster that everybody’s painting me to be,” he added.
Hoffman’s attorney acknowledged she was facing prison time but called for her to serve 35 years.
”Frankly judge, this is one of the strangest sentencing hearings I’ve ever participated in the 44 years I’ve been doing this,” said Steven Mottinger, attorney for Heather Hoffman.
Judge Gary Lee went with the state’s recommendation of life without parole.
”The facts as presented to the jury and as I briefly touched on above, pointed to an intentional premeditated planned attack on Alex Eckert and that attack ultimately took his life,” said Lee.
Hoffman’s attorney indicated she has already asked him to file for an appeal.
The child is in the care of Eckert’s family.
Heather Hoffman News
A North Dakota jury only needed two hours Tuesday to find a woman guilty of felony murder after the father of her child was found shot through his brainstem at his home amid a custody dispute.
The jury was persuaded by prosecutors in the Ward County State’s Attorney’s Office who said that Heather Renee Faith Hoffman, 26, was “desperate” during a child support dispute and wanted 22-year-old Alex Eckert dead. Prosecutors said she bragged about that openly at work — even saying that she could simply claim self-defense.
“I would submit to you, ladies and gentlemen, that this was murder, beyond a reasonable doubt. This was [the defendant’s] plan. You saw the escalation. She was getting more desperate, more desperate. She was saying it at work, ‘Be better off if he’s gone, better off if he’s dead. I can say that it was self-defense,’” State’s Attorney Roza Larson said, according to the NBC and Fox affiliated local station KMOT.
In the lead-up to trial, prosecutors reportedly said that Eckert was found after midnight on April 21, 2022, shot in the face in the doorway of his Minot residence. The timing of the slaying was notable, as a judge had “recently ordered Hoffman to stop restricting Eckert’s access to his child and it upset Hoffman,” a probable cause affidavit detailed, The Dakotan reported.
Prosecutors alleged that there was evidence Hoffman explored buying plane tickets for two: herself and her infant daughter — Eckert’s child. The state further alleged that Hoffman attempted to shore up an alibi before the murder by downloading the family tracking app Life360. The defendant later offered up that the app’s data as ostensible proof that she couldn’t have been at the murder scene.
At the scene of the crime, cops found a shell casing for a .45 caliber round. Investigators also found a .45 caliber firearm around a block away — and authorities concluded that was the same gun Hoffman bought at gun show in Minot weeks before the shooting.
While prosecutors reportedly hammered away at the argument that Hoffman had every motive to kill, citing her own words, the defense floated an alternate suspect — the prosecution’s star witness — claiming Hoffman “was not in the vicinity when the shot was fired” but was instead at her sister’s residence.