Murder, Espionage, and the Shadows of Nazi History: How Long Island’s Dark Past Inspired the Novel “The Ruins”

Murder, Espionage, and the Shadows of Nazi History: How Long Island’s Dark Past Inspired the Novel “The Ruins”

Edited by: Fern Sidman

It all began with a conversation with a killer—one that left an indelible mark on veteran Long Island journalist Steve Wick. His gripping new novel, The Ruins, which hit bookshelves on February 4, draws inspiration from his real-life interview with Rudolph Hoff, the cold-blooded murderer of Suffolk County housewife Kathryn Ann Damm. According to a report that appeared on Thursday in The New York Post, Wick’s encounter with Hoff—a towering, 6’4, 240-pound man convicted of one of New York’s oldest cold cases—served as the spark for a tale woven with murder, mystery, and espionage.

Damm’s mutilated body was discovered in a desolate field in October 1954, a crime so brutal that it shocked the small town of Lindenhurst. Yet, the case went cold for nearly three decades until Hoff was finally arrested in January 1979. As Wick recalled to The New York Post, law enforcement officials at the time said: “They said it was the oldest cold case that they knew of in New York state.”

For Wick, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and longtime Newsday journalist, the case remained more than just another crime story. It evolved into an obsession—one that led him to eight years of extensive research before finally culminating in The Ruins.

Wick’s interview with Hoff was chilling. As he recounted to The New York Post, the convicted killer had a presence that was genuinely terrifying. “He was just a scary man,” Wick said.

According to the information provided in The New York Post report, Hoff was a violent alcoholic who met Kathryn Ann Damm at the Alcove Bar and Grill on the fateful night in 1954. What happened next was a horror beyond words.

“What he did to this woman in Lindenhurst in 1954 was horrendous. He literally ripped her apart. She bled to death in a field.”

Despite his high-profile arrest in 1979, it appeared Hoff might walk free due to a lack of physical evidence—until an unexpected twist in the trial changed everything.

On a pivotal day in the courtroom, an elderly woman entered, and Hoff’s face went pale. As The New York Post report describes, it was his ex-wife, Gurli Hoff, who carried with her the key piece of evidence that sealed his fate.

Gurli had witnessed Hoff scrubbing blood from his clothes on the night of the murder. He had ordered her to take his blood-stained clothing into the basement and clean it. But instead of destroying all the evidence, she did something unexpected: “She saved a bloody belt and put it in a jar and buried it in the backyard,” Wick revealed to The New York Post.

Decades later, during the trial, a detective confronted Gurli: “Your husband is going to get off if you don’t help us.”

With that, the buried evidence was exhumed, and Hoff was convicted of the crime. He spent the rest of his life behind bars, dying in prison about a decade ago, as reported by The New York Post.

Wick’s post-conviction interview with Hoff proved as unsettling as it was revealing. The convicted murderer denied his guilt, as most do, but then he kept referencing a name that Wick didn’t expect: Hauptmann.

This reference pointed to Bruno Richard Hauptmann, the man convicted of kidnapping and murdering Charles Lindbergh’s infant son in 1932, according to The New York Post report. The Lindbergh baby case remains one of the most infamous crimes in American history, and Hoff’s insistence on mentioning Hauptmann only deepened the mystery surrounding his own past.

While Hoff never elaborated on his connection to Hauptmann, the eerie mention planted a seed in Wick’s mind. As the years passed, that seed grew into the storyline for “The Ruins”—a novel that blends true crime with historical intrigue, using elements from Hoff’s case and the Lindbergh kidnapping to craft a thrilling narrative of murder and espionage.

According to The New York Post report, Hoff insisted that, like Richard Hauptmann, the man executed for the Lindbergh baby’s murder, he too was “framed”. Wick was struck by Hoff’s repeated references to Hauptmann, and when he dug deeper, he uncovered an eerie connection—Hoff’s mother was a close friend of Hauptmann’s widow, Anna.

“Hoff wanted to compare himself as being framed like[he felt Hauptmann was,” Wick told The New York Post.

The more Wick learned, the more he saw a larger web of historical intrigue—one that linked Nazis on Long Island, suspected German spies, and an unresolved mystery surrounding the Lindbergh case.

As Wick developed his novel, he spoke with a New Jersey detective well-versed in the Lindbergh case, who shared a compelling theory: Hauptmann “couldn’t possibly have done it himself and there had to be at least two other people involved.”

This theory casts doubt on the long-accepted conclusion that Hauptmann acted alone. The report in The New York Post explained that the 1932 kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr. shocked the nation, not only because of the brutality of the crime but also because Lindbergh himself was one of the most famous figures in the world—the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

While Hauptmann was arrested, convicted, and executed in 1936, many have long speculated that he was not the only one involved. The New York Post report highlighted how Wick’s novel leans into this alternate theory, crafting a fictionalized narrative that suggests a broader conspiracy—a shadowy undercurrent that could tie Hoff’s own story to one of the greatest crimes in American history.

Wick’s novel doesn’t stop at the Lindbergh case—it also dives into Long Island’s Nazi and German Bund connections, a dark and often overlooked aspect of American history. According to the information in The New York Post report, Long Island in the 1930s and 1940s was home to several German Bund enclaves, including one in Lindenhurst, where Hoff murdered Kathryn Ann Damm.

“I thought, ‘Can I fictionalize the murder that took place just around the corner here and tie it into other things?’” Wick told The New York Post.

His research uncovered disturbing facts: Nazi rallies were held just steps away from the dive bar where Hoff and Damm met. German-American Bund groups, aligned with Hitler’s ideology, were highly active on Long Island, spreading pro-Nazi propaganda and organizing large gatherings.

One of the most notorious sites was Camp Siegfried in Yaphank, a Nazi retreat where Hitler loyalists gathered for training and propaganda. The New York Post reported that the Long Island Rail Road even ran a special train from Penn Station to Yaphank, carrying trainloads of uniformed Nazi supporters.

“You can’t really believe what you’re looking at,” Wick said of the historical photos and accounts of these rallies.

Wick’s research also led him to a fascinating real-life espionage story—the arrival of Nazi saboteurs on Long Island during World War II. As The New York Post reported, German spies landed in Amagansett as part of a covert mission to disrupt American war efforts.

“They came ashore under cover of darkness,” Wick told The New York Post, “with plans to sabotage key U.S. infrastructure.”

Though the mission ultimately failed, it stands as a chilling reminder of how close World War II actually came to American soil. Wick integrates this little-known espionage plot into “The Ruins” further intertwining fact and fiction into a gripping historical thriller.

With “The Ruins” Wick has crafted a novel decades in the making, one that combines true crime, historical conspiracy, and espionage intrigue. His years as a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist inform the rich historical detail of the book, and his real-life interview with Rudolph Hoff adds an authentic sense of unease to the story.

According to the report in The New York Post, the novel not only explores the twisted mind of a killer but also dives deep into history’s forgotten secrets—from the Lindbergh baby’s unsolved mysteries to Long Island’s Nazi connections and the chilling presence of German spies on U.S. soil.

For crime enthusiasts, history buffs, and fans of gripping thrillers, “The Ruins” offers a spellbinding journey into a world where past crimes never truly rest—and where every conversation with a killer might reveal more than we expect.