Earl Conrad Bramblett was born on March 20, 1942, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States. Very little is publicly documented about his early life, but accounts indicate that he had a history of deviant behavior and possible sexual interest in minors long before his notorious crime. In the 1970s, two women testified that Bramblett had given them alcohol and sexually abused them when they were just eleven and fourteen years old. Additionally, he was considered a person of interest in the 1977 disappearances of Tammy Akers and Angela Rader, both 14, who had worked for him and vanished under suspicious circumstances. Bramblett reportedly told acquaintances that he regretted “hurting Tammy” three years after she went missing. However, he was never charged in those cases, and both girls remain missing.

Bramblett eventually settled in Virginia, where he became close friends with the Hodges family — William “Blaine” Hodges, his wife Teresa, and their daughters Winter and Anah. The family viewed Bramblett as a trusted family friend, often welcoming him into their home. However, beneath this façade, Bramblett’s relationship with the family grew increasingly dark. He developed a sexual obsession with 11-year-old Winter Hodges, a fixation he would later openly discuss in disturbing audio recordings discovered by investigators.

At the same time, Blaine Hodges was facing serious legal and financial difficulties. A former U.S. Postal Service employee, Blaine had been convicted of embezzlement and was scheduled to begin a six-month federal prison sentence. He was also ordered to pay restitution that he could not afford. Bramblett, who felt betrayed by the family and paranoid that they were conspiring to frame him for child molestation to collect money, began harboring violent thoughts toward them. These festering resentments culminated in a carefully planned and brutal crime.

At around 4:30 a.m. on August 29, 1994, a passerby reported a fire at the Hodges residence in Vinton, Virginia. Firefighters and police arrived to find the house engulfed in flames. Upon entering, they discovered the bodies of the family members. Teresa Lynn Hodges, 37, was found on a couch. She had been strangled and doused with diesel fuel. In a bedroom upstairs, William Blaine Hodges, 41, was discovered dead next to a .22 caliber gun. He had been shot through the left temple. In another bedroom, the bodies of his daughters, Winter, 11, and Anah, 3, were found. Both girls had been shot, and Anah had some mild burns.

The investigation revealed several suspicious details. Telephone lines had been purposefully disconnected, and traces of petroleum-based accelerant were found in multiple areas of the home. Initially, police thought Blaine might have killed his family and then himself. This theory changed after they discovered that Blaine had been shot before the others and that the gun's barrel had been removed after his death.

Earl Bramblett, a close friend of the Hodges family, became a suspect. During an interview with police, he reacted with anger at the news of the family’s deaths, saying, “The sorry son of a bitch! Had a beautiful family. He did them and he did himself.” He then asked, “Are you going to charge me with murder?”

Witnesses reported seeing a vehicle like Bramblett's near the Hodges home at the time of the fire. Evidence collected from Bramblett's workplace included drawings that depicted stick figures with arrows indicating the Hodges' bullet wounds. His timecard showed he punched in eight minutes late, and he attempted to alter it after realizing the mistake.

Bramblett’s sister provided police with audiotapes he had left with her. In these tapes, he expressed sexual attraction to Winter Hodges and suggested the family was conspiring against him. DNA matching Bramblett was found on a hair in the girls’ bedroom. Also, jeans found at his workplace tested positive for the same flammable liquid used in the fire. Bullets found at the scene matched those from Bramblett's vehicle.

In addition to the Hodges case, Bramblett was also a suspect in the disappearances of two 14-year-old girls in 1977, Tammy Akers and Angela Rader. Although he was never charged in those cases, he reportedly mentioned wishing he had not “hurt Tammy” years later.

Earl Bramblett was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death on December 16, 1997. He was executed by electric chair at the Greensville Correctional Center in Virginia on April 9, 2003. At the time of his execution, he claimed he did not murder the Hodges family and stated he was leaving with a clear conscience.