Family held in slayings of another family of 8

COLUMBUS, OHIO • A family of four was arrested Tuesday in the gruesome slayings of eight people from another family in rural southern Ohio two years ago, the first break in a case that left a community reeling and surviving family members wondering if answers would ever come.

Arrested were four members of the Wagner family, who lived near the scenes of the killing about 100 kilometres south of Columbus.

One of those arrested was Edward (Jake) Wagner, 26, once the boyfriend of one of the eight victims, 19-year-old Hanna Rhoden.

The others were Wagner’s father, George (Billy) Wagner III, 47; his wife, 48-year-old Angela Wagner; and George Wagner, 27. The Wagners had since moved to Alaska. No motive has been announced.

Police in Kentucky say the FBI tracked Billy Wagner to Lexington, where he was arrested Tuesday. Authorities said Wagner was arrested in a horse trailer that was pulled over.

It’s the culmination of a massive investigative effort since seven adults and a teenage boy were found shot in the head at four homes in April 2016.

A coroner said all but one of the victims was shot more than once, including two people shot five times and one shot nine times. Some also had bruising, consistent with the first 911 caller’s description of two victims appearing to have been beaten. The coroner’s report didn’t specify which victims had which wounds.

Authorities said marijuana growing operations were found at three of the four crime scenes. That’s not uncommon in this corner of Appalachia but stoked rumours that the slayings were related to drugs, one of many theories on possible motives that percolated in public locally.

Investigators scrambling to determine who targeted the Rhoden family and why had conducted over 130 interviews and processed over 100 pieces of evidence and 550 tips, while getting assistance from more than 20 law enforcement agencies.

Authorities in June of 2017 announced they were seeking information about the Wagners, including details on personal or business interactions and conversations that people may have had with the four.

None was named a suspect at the time. Investigators also said they had searched property in southern Ohio sold by the Wagners.

Jake Wagner was a longtime former boyfriend of Hanna Rhoden, one of the eight victims, and shared custody of their daughter at the time of the massacre.

The Wagner family lived in Peebles, Ohio, at the time of the killings but later moved to Alaska.

It appeared some were killed as they slept, including Hanna Rhoden, who was in bed with her newborn nearby, authorities said.