Two women and an eleven-year-old boy stabbed to death, butchered, stuffed in a tree

Two women and an 11-year-old boy were stabbed to death and dismembered before their remains were placed in a hollow tree, a coroner has revealed.

Tina Herrmann, her son Kody Maynard and her friend Stephanie Sprang were attacked with a knife and stabbed multiple times in the back and chest, Knox County Coroner Jennifer Ogle said.

'They were then placed inside large plastic garbage bags and later lowered into the hollow of a large tree,' Ogle added in a statement.

They were attacked on November 10 and there were no signs of sexual assault, she said.

The search began two days later after Herrmann failed to turn up for work and a co-worker who went to check on Herrmann at home found the place spattered with blood.

Three days later, Herrmann's 13-year-old daughter, Sarah Maynard, was found bound and gagged in the basement of a home.

Daily Mail