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 found fire burning throughout the house. Gaining entry, authorities found 37-year-old Teresa Lynn Hodges' body on a couch, still burning—she had been strangled and doused with diesel fuel. Further inspection of the Hodges house revealed purposefully-disconnected telephone lines and the presence of a petroleum-based accelerant in several areas. Soon police gathered additional incriminating evidence against Bramblett. A witness had seen a
vehicle similar to Bramblett's driving past the Hodges home during the fire, without stopping. Drawings of stick figures with arrows that corresponded to the Hodges' bullet wounds were found at Bramblett's place of employment. Bramblett had claimed to his boss that he had slept in his truck, but his clothes were clean and his hair was not unkempt at all. Bramblett had punched his timecard at work eight minutes late and, after realizing his error, attempted to black out the entry on his timecard. Bramblett's sister provided police with a box he had left with her, which contained several
audiotapes in which he spoke of his sexual attraction to 11-year-old Winter Hodges, and of his belief that the family, including Winter, was conspiring to set him up for
child molestation charges in the hopes of earning enough money from the case to pay the restitution Blaine (whom he referred to as "backstabbing" and "cheap") owed. A
DNA test on a
pubic hair found in the bedroom where the girls were found was matched to Bramblett. A pair of
Lane Bryant jeans were found soaking at his place of employment, discovered by another employee after noticing water leaking through the door, and were determined to contain stains of the same
flammable liquid used to start the fire at the Hodges's home. The
bullets used to kill the victims were determined to be of the same composition as bullets found in a vehicle belonging to Bramblett. In addition, two women testified that, in the 1970s, Bramblett had given them
alcohol and raped them when they were eleven and fourteen years old. == Arrest and conviction ==