WOODLAND — Drowning in debt with the IRS looming, Robert William Hodges saw death as the only way out — not only for himself, but his wife and three children too, according to testimony Friday in Yolo Superior Court.
“He felt this was the best way to eliminate the entire family, and it would take care of all of their problems,” said Eric Palmer, the West Sacramento police detective who interviewed Hodges after the bodies of his three children — Kelvin, 11; Julie, 9; and 7-month-old Lucas — were discovered by their mother in their West Sacramento apartment.
It was the first public revelation of a motive in the shocking triple-homicide case, which baffled family, friends and neighbors who described Hodges as a kind, loving husband and father with no history of violence.
Kelvin, 11, Lucas, 7 months, and Julie, 9, were found dead in their apartment on Sept. 13. Their father is charged in their deaths. Courtesy photo
To Palmer, Hodges offered a full confession, describing an hours-long process during which he individually strangled each of his children, using a belt or his bare hands, taking breaks in between by sitting down with his iPad.
“He had indicated it was so physically draining, he had to have some time to recover and continue on with the next child,” Palmer said. Hodges admitted killing the baby first, then Julie and Kelvin from behind because “he didn’t want the children to see it coming.”
The detective was one of three officers to testify Friday at Hodges’ preliminary hearing, which ended with Judge David Rosenberg finding sufficient evidence to support the charges in the case — three counts of premeditated first-degree murder, as well as the attempted murder of his wife, Mai Sheng Vang, who was not at home during the killings.
Hodges, 32, also faces a special-circumstance allegation of lying in wait regarding the deaths of his two oldest children, which qualifies him for the death penalty. The District Attorney’s Office has not yet declared whether it intends to seek capital punishment.
Clad in a blue-and-white striped jail inmate jumpsuit, his hair disheveled, Hodges occasionally wiped his eyes with a tissue but mostly appeared stoic as witnesses testified about the events leading up to the Sept. 13 killings.
The day began typically with the two older children leaving for school at 7:30 a.m. and Hodges for work while Vang stayed home with the baby.
Hodges returned around noon with lunch, after which Vang left for her job at Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln.
When she returned home around 9:15 p.m., Hodges greeted her at the door.
“He kissed her, and then he leaned over and whispered into her ear to be quiet, because the children were sleeping,” said West Sacramento police Det. Ken Fellows, who interviewed Vang that night.
Smiling, Hodges then forcefully turned Vang away from him and wrapped his hands around her neck.
“He was squeezing very hard,” Fellows said. But Vang fought back, kicking and scratching at her husband until he released her, enabling her to flee the apartment.
With Hodges several feet behind her, Vang ran from the second-floor apartment to the landing below, where she collapsed to her knees and told a neighbor her husband “tried to kill me.”
Hodges, meanwhile, ran past Vang and fled the apartment complex in the couple’s vehicle.
That was when Vang returned to the apartment and found her children’s lifeless bodies — Lucas and Kelvin in the master bedroom, Julie in her own bed.
Palmer said Hodges placed plastic bags over the children’s heads after strangling them “to make sure they weren’t breathing anymore.”
He then waited for Vang, texting her around 7 p.m. — likely after carrying out the final killing — to ask for dinner from In-N-Out Burger, but later changed his mind.
“His ultimate plan was to kill Mai and then commit suicide,” Palmer said, but the plan began to fail when Vang turned around to face Hodges as he strangled her.
“Seeing her face, he didn’t have the courage to go on, to murder her face to face,” he added.
When officers apprehended him near West El Camino Avenue in Sacramento, Hodges’ clothing was soaked, apparently from jumping into a waterway in a botched attempt to end his life.
According to Palmer, Hodges told him he had planned the murders for about a year, nearly committing them two weeks earlier by killing his wife and baby first. But he abandoned the plan when he realized his two older kids, who had a short day at school, might come home and walk in on the act.
Hodges returns to court Nov. 3.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene
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