SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ A November 2016 photograph on Mai Hodges' Facebook page shows her smiling as she stands alongside her husband, Robert, with their two beaming children at their side. Mai Hodges holds a hand over her pregnant belly, a few months before she gave birth to their third child.
The page is filled with photos of the smiling couple and their children at various outings, including one of the two older kids sitting on Santa's lap.
Ten months later, the idyllic scene was shattered by what West Sacramento police describe as an attack on Mai Hodges by her husband and the slaying of the three children.
Authorities would not give details Thursday of the assault or the deaths of the children, but neighbors say Robert Hodges, 32, choked his wife until she ran out of their second-floor apartment, then smothered the children inside the home.
Police were called to the scene at the Timbers Apartments in the Southport neighborhood Wednesday night on a domestic violence call.
When they arrived, they found Mai Hodges, 30, hysterical and begging them to go inside the apartment.
Officers went in and attempted life-saving measures, West Sacramento Police Sgt. Roger Kinney said. Firefighters who arrived soon after took over, but the three _ a boy described as being 10 or 11, a girl 7-8 and an infant _ were later declared dead.
Hodges was gone, and authorities issued an alert to regional law enforcement, leading to a California Highway Patrol officer pulling him over around midnight at Interstate 80 and West El Camino Avenue. Hodges, who surrendered without incident, was later booked into the Yolo County Jail on three charges of homicide and one felony domestic violence count.
Police continued to swarm over the crime scene Thursday, and Kinney, the department spokesman, said the discovery of the dead children had affected even veteran officers.
"It's been pretty impactful for all of us," he said. "It's gut-wrenching for the officers and firefighters who responded to the call."
Hodges had no previous criminal history in the area, according to online court records, and neighbors said he seemed like a friendly and outgoing person.
"He always seemed like a good father, outgoing," said William Crawford, who lives in the apartment complex. "The kids seemed to love him."
Betty Scott, a five-year resident of the complex, said she lives in the unit underneath the victims and saw Mai Hodges sitting outside Wednesday night.
"He was choking her and she called the police for domestic violence," Scott said. "She was sitting out in front of the apartment on the ground, she was sitting there crying."
At some point, she went upstairs, entered the apartment, and discovered her children were dead, Scott said. That's when she began to scream.
"It was like a good family," she said. "You couldn't even tell (anything) was wrong."
Neighbor Teresa Bustamante lives across from the unit that she said police officers were walking in and out of throughout the night. She said she first heard about the homicide when an officer came to her door and told her three children died after being suffocated.
"All of West Sacramento stands together in profound heartbreak, shocked by the vile domestic murder of three children in our community," Kinney said.
Yolo County Superior Court records show no significant criminal history for Hodges. He was ticketed in 2007 for a defective windshield, though the fine was later dismissed. He paid off a speeding ticket given to him in 2004, as well as one given to him a year later after he failed to stop at an intersection with a broken traffic signal. In the 2005 case, Hodges was also cited for driving an unregistered car.
