Hodges Charged with First-degree Murder

A Sallisaw man was charged with first-degree murder Feb. 8 in Sequoyah County District Court, Sallisaw.

Rodney Hall Hodges, 40, is accused of the fatal stabbing of Kenneth Reed, 37, on Feb. 6.

Hodges is being held without bond in the Sequoyah County Jail in Sallisaw, and his arraignment on the charge is set for Wednesday (Feb. 14).

According to the Sallisaw police officer’s report filed with the charge, Hodges allegedly stabbed Reed in the chest during an altercation at the home of Jimmy Prater at 703 N. Main in Sallisaw. 

According to the report, Amber Hodges told investigators she and Reed were at Prater’s home where she had stayed “a couple nights.” She said she and her husband had been separated for about six months. 

Amber Hodges told police she spoke to Reed and asked him to bring her “a drink and some cigarettes.” She said she and Reed were sitting in the living room for about 20 minutes when Hodges sent her a message by Facebook that he was on his way to her location.

Amber Hodges said when Rodney Hodges came in, he began yelling at Reed, and she stepped between the two. She said Rodney Hodges had a knife in his right hand and a metal object in his left hand.

The report continues, “Amber said that Rodney then threw her to the ground and then Amber said that she got up and sat on Kenny to keep Rodney away. Amber advised that Rodney then began swinging the metal object and in doing so, struck her in the right hand. Amber then stated that Rodney grabbed her shirt and threw her back to the ground and attacked Kenny. She said that Rodney swung the knife striking Kenny on his left side. She stated that Kenny grabbed his chest. Amber then told Kenny to run while she stood in between them. Kenny took off running out the back door. Amber said that Jimmy (Prater) came into the living room and grabbed a hold of Rodney. Amber said that after Kenny left she and Rodney left out of the back door. She said that Rodney went one way and she went another.”

The report relates that Amber Hodges sat down a couple blocks away and Rodney Hodges found her and called her several names before he left.

At about 7:25 p.m. on Feb. 6, police were dispatched to 607 N. Walnut St. where they found Reed lying on the front porch. They report Reed did not have a pulse, and an officer began CPR. Reed was pronounced dead at the hospital at 8:13 p.m. with a stab wound to the chest. It was learned, according to the report, that Reed apparently went to the home and knocked on the door to ask for help.

The report says officers searched through the night of Feb. 6-7 looking for Hodges, but did not locate him. At 7:29 a.m. on Feb. 7 he called the police department to surrender. He was found at a trailer in the Sierra Vista Trailer Park in Sallisaw.

Sally Maxwell, Senior News Director

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