Man sentenced in death of Booker T. Washington teacher

Karen Hoffman stayed long after the last school bell rang at Booker T. Washington High School, tutoring students, doing extra work and leading scholastic clubs.

She boosted the confidence of struggling students and lifted the spirits of her colleagues, friends said.

"The school was her family away from home," said Booker T. Washington principal Kevin Monroe. "She truly touched the lives of those students."

Hoffman was found dead in her bedroom in March, stabbed dozens of times.

On Friday, Circuit Court Judge Mary Jane Hall sentenced her former boyfriend, Frederick Hoskins, to 28 years in prison for her brutal death. Hoskins, 38, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and grand larceny, for slaying Hoffman and stealing her car.

Hall said she received more than 40 letters from family, friends and former students praising Hoffman. "She had a much larger family than most of us," the judge said.

Prosecutors wrote in court filings that Hoskins boasted that he worked for the CIA and former defense contractor Blackwater. Hoskins never worked for those organizations, court records state.

Hoskins confessed to Norfolk police in May. He told detectives that he met Hoffman online and they started dating. They were a couple for about three months.

On March 4, the couple fought, Hoskins said. The dispute turned physical in the bedroom, and he picked up a knife and stabbed his girlfriend several times, he told police.

Hoffman's body was found days later in her bedroom. She was 41.

An autopsy showed Hoffman was stabbed 70 times, mostly in the torso, head and arms.

Prosecutor James Entas described Hoskins in court as an unemployed drifter, married four times and always dependent on his partners. Hoskins had a history of violence against women, he said.

Entas told the court that Hoskins' version of the death was "a fantasy version." The murder, Entas said, was "almost inhuman and sadistic."

Hoskins took Hoffman's car from her home on the 8300 block of Chesapeake Blvd. and drove to Florida. He was later arrested in Jacksonville and returned to Virginia, court records state.

Family, friends and colleagues remembered Hoffman on Friday in the courtroom.

She taught freshman English at Booker T. Washington for three years, Monroe said.

A memorial service drew 1,500 students and faculty, he said. Nine months after her death, Monroe said, students still come up to him every day to talk about her.

Robert Pennington, a friend who invited Hoffman to live with him as a housemate, remembered her coming home from tutoring at 11 p.m. She went to her students' homes in neighborhoods where, he said, "most people wouldn't even venture."

Robin Ford, one of Hoffman's two sisters from Maryland, said she wanted Hoskins to get a longer sentence. She spoke directly to him from the witness stand.

"You aren't sick," Ford said. "You are just pure evil."

Hoskins stared at the ground.

Hoffman's sister Tammy Lessig said the two spoke almost every day. Hoffman loved spending time with Lessig's daughter.

If her sister had a flaw, Lessig said, it was that she was too trusting. She warned her sister about Hoskins, but Hoffman told her the two had discussed marriage. It would have been her first.

On her birthday, Hoffman wrote on Facebook that she was so happy to spend the day with the man she loved.

Days later, she was dead.

Louis Hansen, (757) 446-2341, louis.hansen@pilotonline.com