This was the Hodges family a year before they were murdered. Blaine Hodges worked for the US Post Office for sixteen years and was a window clerk at the Vinton, VA post office. Why he started stealing money from his postal drawer was never asked at his trial in Federal Court. He had stolen the same amount three months before but  replaced it before it was discovered. There was an audit made outside of the routine and this is how it was caught.
From the time Blaine was fired to the time of the murders, Blaine's life changed very little. It was the rest of the family that suffered for his criminal act, and their friend, Earl Bramblett, paid for Winter's baton lessons and occasional brought roasts and other food . Earl Bramblett was furnishing the materials and painting the Hodges house free because Winter told him, "only trash lives in places that look like this." School was starting Monday morning and Earl had given Teresa two hundred dollars to buy Winter new school clothes. Teresa and the kids were seen in Goody's, a discount store, that night.

The logical assumption is Teresa is the lynchpin of this crime. The above reports came from the FBI Freedom of Information Files and were made by Keesee. Teresa was killed after some argument; her were shorts across the room and she was wearing only a pair of turquoise panties. The police found the blouse and bra under her burnt-out corpse. She was choked and someone was mad enough to pour kerosene and benzine on her body and set it on fire. Teresa may have been entertaining one of her boyfriends downstairs while Blaine was drunk upstairs. It was known he was a sound sleeper even without alcohol. Children would sleep soundly after a day of traveling and play on the Parkway. Teresa was comfortable enough to be nearly naked in front of this person, or persons. None of the other victims suffered  desecration of their corpses. She must have gotten mad at this person,or persons, and started to wake Blaine. She was pulled down the stairs, a handful of her hair was found on the stairway, and then she was strangled  and the rest of the family shot. The killer(s) got the coal oil and benzene from the backyard building and saturated only Teresa. Notice the wording of the above record about Teresa. "had been involved in extra-marital affairs SINCE being married to Blaine."
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There are many people that might have a reason to kill Blaine Hodges, Earl Bramblett was not one of them. For instance, Michael Fulcher was a major drug dealer in the Southwestern Virginia. He was/is serving a long prison sentence right now for stealing lawn and garden tractors. Mike Fulcher and Blaine Hodges were in business together outwardly selling water softeners. Both worked for the DEA and had pilots licenses and knew the drug business. It was testified that Mike Fulcher made thirty thousand dollars working for the DEA. Ten thousand dollars for one flight. Mike Fulcher is Teresa Hodges half-brother. How many drug dealers could Hodges and Fulcher have pissed off? Fulcher's mother and sister were arrested for bringing drugs into  prison for him. Fulcher had a drug ring in prison.