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Nearly 25 years after Mark Hofmann murdered two people, the story of the Utah bomber is featured in an episode of the TV series "Who the Bleep Did I Marry?"
The half-hour program, which airs tonight on the Investigation Discovery channel, looks at the events of 1985 through the eyes of Hofmann's then-wife, Dorie Olds. On the show, Olds said she had no idea that her husband was not only forging documents but building bombs.
"There was never a moment that I thought that he had done this," she says. "I didn't think he was capable of it. That wasn't the person I married."
Facing exposure as the forger of historical documents, Hofmann planted bombs that killed Steve Christensen and Kathy Sheets on Oct. 15, 1985. A day later, Hofmann himself was seriously injured when a third bomb went off in his car.
In predictably ominous tones, "Who the Bleep Did I Marry?" briefly recounts the sensational events. Much is made of the Hofmanns as a "great Mormon family," while detailing the principle of eternal marriage practiced by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "It is important to marry within the church," as Olds says on camera. "It's not just till death do you part. It's for time and all eternity."
The story is accompanied by some archival photos and video, along with sometimes unintentionally funny tabloid-esque re-creations. Local viewers will note that the actor who's supposed to look like Hofmann really doesn't.
There are also a few factual mistakes — such as exterior shots of the Salt Lake County Sheriff's building that wasn't built until years after Hofmann went to prison.
There's also a disclaimer: "Some of the dialogue has been fictionalized for dramatic purposes."
But the story might still be shocking to anyone who isn't familiar with the tragic episode of Utah contemporary history. And a quarter of a century later, Olds still sounds surprised at what her ex-husband was capable of.
"I was shocked that he had killed two people," she says. "There's a part of me that wants to say, 'No, that isn't true,' because that wasn't the person I knew."
'Who the Bleep Did I Marry?'
P The half-hour program featuring Dorie Olds, the ex-wife of Utah bomber Mark Hofmann, airs today at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. on the Investigation Discovery channel.