Ernest George Burkhart was born on September 11, 1892, in Greenville, Texas, to a poor cotton farmer. In 1912, he moved to his uncle William King Hale's ranch in Fairfax, Osage County, hoping to find fortune after oil was discovered there. In 1917, he married Mollie Kyle, an Osage woman.

Burkhart and Mollie had three children: Elizabeth, James "Cowboy," and Anna. Seeking to inherit the Kyle family's valuable headrights and oil money, Burkhart plotted to kill Mollie. The wealth from the oil was worth a staggering $7 million at the time, which is equivalent to $166 million today.

Ernest Burkhart was involved in a scheme with his uncle, William Hale, to kill several Osage people to gain their valuable headrights. Ernest married Mollie Kyle, an Osage woman, as part of this plan. The murders began on May 27, 1921, when Mollie's sister, Anna Brown, was killed. Her body was found near a ravine, and a man named Kelsie Morrison confessed to the murder, saying Hale had hired him.

Shortly after Anna's death, Mollie's cousin, Charles Whitehorn, was also killed. In July 1921, Mollie's mother, Lizzie Q, died under suspicious circumstances, likely poisoning. In late 1921, another Osage, Joe Grayhorse, died immediately after a land deal with Hale. The murders continued with Anna Sanford in March 1922 and Mollie's sister Minnie Kile in 1922.

On January 15, 1923, Mollie's cousin Henry Roan was found shot in the head in his car. Hale held a life insurance policy on Roan. In March 1923, Reta Smith, Mollie's sister, her husband, and their housekeeper were killed in a bombing. Mollie then discovered that Ernest was poisoning her, leading her to move away and recover.

A warrant for Hale and Ernest's arrest was issued on January 4, 1926. Ernest was quickly caught and later confessed after being confronted by a known criminal. Hale and an accomplice, John Ramsey, were tried for Henry Roan's murder in July 1926. Ernest was sentenced to life imprisonment, while Hale was sent to Leavenworth Penitentiary.

Ernest was paroled in 1937 but was soon involved in a burglary, leading to another prison sentence. He was paroled again in 1959 and pardoned in 1966. After his release, he lived in Oklahoma and died on December 1, 1986, at the age of 94. His will requested cremation and scattering of his ashes around the Osage Hills, but his son disposed of them differently.