More than six years after eight members of another Ohio family were slain in their sleep, a jury has convicted a man of murder in the Pike County Massacre.
George Wagner IV, age 31, was found guilty on Wednesday of all 22 charges he faced in Pike County, southern Ohio, including eight counts of aggravated murder in the 2016 killings of seven adults and a youngster from the Rhoden family.
Wagner sat still as the verdicts were read, occasionally closing his eyes or gazing below.
After evaluating Wagner’s denials and other testimony against that of his brother Jake and mother Angela, who had earlier pled guilty to their roles, the jury reached a decision.
The Wagner family allegedly grew “obsessed” with gaining custody of Jake’s then-three-year-old daughter with Hanna Rhoden because they feared the youngster would be molested by Hanna’s new boyfriend at the time of the slaughter.
Wagner denied any knowledge of his family’s involvement in the murders and stated that, had he been aware of the preparations, he would not have allowed it to occur.
In April 2016, the fatal gunshots at three mobile homes and a camper in Piketon horrified people and sparked one of the most exhaustive criminal investigations in the state.
Prosecutors assert that the murders, which first sparked rumors of drug cartel participation, were motivated by a custody dispute over Wagner’s niece.
They maintained that Wagner was responsible for the murders because he was aware of and engaged in the plans.
Although he was not charged of shooting anyone, it was said that Wagner accompanied his brother and father to the residences, entered with them, and assisted his brother in moving two bodies.
Edward ‘Jake’ Wagner, his younger brother, pled guilty to aggravated murder and other offenses and agreed to testify against George and their parents in exchange for a compromise to assist them avoid probable death sentences.
Their mother, Angela Wagner, pled guilty to planning the murders. Their father, George “Billy” Wagner III, has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial for the murders.
On the fifth anniversary of the murders, Jake Wagner pleaded guilty and apologized in court. Although he has not yet been sentenced, according to his attorney, he will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Angela Wagner was requested for a 30-year prison term by the prosecution.
George Wagner IV’s sentencing date will be scheduled at a later time. In addition to the counts of aggravated murder, he was found guilty on Wednesday of conspiracy, tampering with evidence, obstructing justice, and engaging in a pattern of corrupt behavior.
Moments after Wagner was carried away in handcuffs, members of the Rhoden family, who filled the courtroom in Waverly, around 80 miles east of Cincinnati, embraced and wiped away tears.
Tony Rhoden, whose brother Christopher Rhoden Sr. was among the dead, expressed sympathy for Wagner on the basis that he is human.
‘George Wagner is human. They simply did not demonstrate it that evening,’ Rhoden stated outside the courts. It should never have occurred.
The victims were Christopher Rhoden Sr., age 40; his ex-wife, Dana Rhoden, age 37; their three children, Clarence ‘Frankie’ Rhoden, age 20; Hanna Rhoden, age 19; and Christopher Jr., age 16; Clarence Rhoden’s fiancee, Hannah Gilley, age 20; Christopher Rhoden Srbrother, .’s Kenneth Rhoden, age 44; and a cousin, Gary Rhoden, age 38.
The majority of the victims were shot multiple times in the head.
Three other young Rhoden youngsters who were there at the scene were not injured.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, who handled much of the investigation as state attorney general, expressed his hope that the victims’ families can find solace in the fact that George Wagner IV will be punished.
DeWine stated, “From the day these killings occurred and throughout the lengthy investigation, I always thought we would discover the truth.” And I have always thought that the victims would receive justice.
“We are not yet finished,” he said. There will be one more trial.
In a statement issued following the verdicts, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost stated that investigators spent countless hours on the case, which’reinforces the team’s tenacious desire to obtain justice for the victims and their families.’
Prosecutors claim the Wagner family planned the murders for months, prompted by a custody struggle over Jake Wagner’s daughter with Hanna Rhoden. Authorities reported that the child was residing with the Wagners at the time of the murders.
The Wagners pressured the then-19-year-old Hanna to relinquish custody of Jake, but she reportedly stated on social media months before the murders, “they will have to kill me first.”
Jake testified last month that Hanna’s remark was the “tipping point” that made him fear for the safety of his little daughter.
Jake declared in the crowded courtroom, “I had no choice but to kill Hanna.”
Hanna was not the only victim of the atrocity; eight members of the Rhoden family were shot in the head while sleeping in their homes.
Christopher Rhoden Sr., age 40, his ex-wife Dana Manley Rhoden, age 37, and their three children, Christopher Rhoden Jr., age 16, Hanna May Rhoden, age 19, and Clarence ‘Frankie’ Rhoden, age 20, were the victims.
Frankie Rhoden’s fiancee Hannah Gilley, age 20, Christopher Rhoden Srbrother .’s Kenneth Rhoden, age 4, and Frankie’s cousin Gary Rhoden, age 38, were also killed.
Prosecutor Angela Canepa stated that the Wagner family plotted the slaughter for about three months and purchased masks, ammo, and a gadget to block phone signals.
On the night of the slaughter, George, Jake, and Billy traveled to four rural Ohio homes where the victims were murdered and transported their bodies.
Hanna was the primary target of the Wagners, but Hanna’s brothers Chris and Frankie, as well as their father, Chris Rhoden Sr., were also on their hit list.
She was shot numerous times while sleeping near to her sharing child with another man.
Jake stated that he had previously considered blaming Hanna’s boyfriend, Corey Holdren, for the deaths.
Earlier in the trial, the matriarch of the Wagner family who participated in the Pike County Massacre testified against her son, alleging that her husband conceived of the plan.
Angela Wagner, 52, said that her husband George ‘Billy’ Wagner III proposed murdering the Rhoden family out of fear that they would seek retribution if their son Jake, now 29 years old, murdered his baby’s mother.
Angela Wagner stated that her younger son, Jake, intended to murder his child’s mother, 19-year-old Hanna May Rhoden, but her husband Billy, 50, protested because he feared the woman’s family would seek retribution.
They will discover, and then they will come for Jake. If not all of us, they would kill him,’ Angela Wagner’s husband informed her. She claimed that he also stated that the rest of the woman’s family “had to be slain.”
The killings were the result of a custody dispute between another of Angela’s sons and one of the victims, according to officials.
Angela said that they suspected Jake’s daughter Sophia was being sexually abused because she would return home with a’red’ and’strongly smelling’ vaginal area.
Fox19 claimed that she testified that the murders were committed to protect the child. Angela reportedly responded that she did not know why the family did not contact Child Services when questioned why they did not.
Angela Wagner, who was asleep but aware of the murders, pled guilty to 14 counts and promised to testify against her older son and her husband in September 2021.
In exchange, the prosecution decided not to pursue the death penalty and withdrew eight counts of aggravated murder.
According to investigators, the family prepared for the crimes by purchasing ammo, a magazine clip, brass catchers, and a bug detector.
Allegedly, they utilized a homemade silencer in the shootings, as well as “counter-surveillance devices” on the homes and tampered with phones, cameras, and components of the home security system.
On the computer were forged documents claiming that Hanna Rhoden had agreed to share custody.
Six of the victims’ cell phones were taken by the Wagners, along with a recording device and trail cameras.
Angela apparently revealed that the family voted on whether to perform the murders, and her husband and two boys voted in favor.
Prosecutors assert that Billy lured Christopher Sr to his death by arranging a fictitious ‘lucrative’ narcotics transaction on the Union Hill Road Property prior to Christopher Sr’s murder.
George and Jake are suspected of ambushing Hanna’s father before proceeding to three more homes along the road while concealed in a car.
A woman sounded out of breath as she urgently told a 911 dispatcher, “I believe my brother-in-law is dead… There is blood everywhere in the home.’
“There is blood everywhere in the house. My brother-in-law is in the bedroom and he appears to have been severely beaten.
The first time crime scene investigators were dispatched to Union Hill Road was at 8:21 a.m., when seven victims were discovered.
The first three residences where bodies were discovered are located within a few miles of one another on a sparsely inhabited stretch of road, while the eighth death was discovered in a property within 30 miles shortly before 2:00 p.m.
After the murders, the Wagners relocated to Kenai, Alaska, but returned to Ohio in 2018 after they ran out of money. That year in November, they were arrested.
The family stated at the time that they were relocating to avoid what they deemed to be unfair speculation that they were involved for the deaths.
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