Pike County, Ky. shootings called similar

Official says link to 2 incidents ‘related to drug dealing.’

Kenton County, Kentucky officials said a double fatal shooting in their county two weeks before the Pike County shootings have “similarities” to the killings of members of the Rhoden family, according to a new report from WSYX in Columbus.

“There were similarities between both,” Kenton County Commonwealth Attorney Rob Sanders told WSYX. “I think the situations are related to drug dealing, not how the victims were killed.”

Kenton County is located about 100 miles from Pike County.

According to the report, Kenton County authorities said a well-known drug dealer and his girlfriend were discovered shot to death execution-style in their bed, two weeks before eight members of the Rhoden family were killed execution-style in Pike County.

“I am sure our investigators have looked at that case,” Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine told WSYX. “I have not looked at it and I am not going to comment further on it.”

DeWine has previously declined to say if an illegal marijuana operation found on the property of one of the Rhoden victims is the reason for the Pike County killings

In the Kenton County killings, the couples’ children were left unharmed by the killers, who police said were familiar with the house, WSYX reported.

In Pike County, DeWine has said the majority of the victims were killed while sleeping in their beds, and Hannah Gilley was found just inches from her newborn. DeWine, too, has said it appeared the suspects were familiar with the crime scenes.

DeWine said they do not know how many suspects are out there in connection to the Pike County shootings and so far no arrests have been made.

Authorities in Kentucky are still searching for killers in the Kenton County shootings as well.

A township board TOLEDO — broke the law by removing a member deployed with the Ohio National Guard and replacing him with a trustee who had just lost a re-election bid, the state Supreme Court said Tuesday.

The unanimous ruling said Spencer Township’s trustees violated a law that says a township office can’t be deemed vacant when an official is in active military service.

The township board near Toledo called an emergency meeting on New Year’s Eve to vacate the seat of the deployed trustee, Shawn Valentine, who was serving in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Board member D. Hilarion Smith was about to lose his own seat after being defeated in December’s election. He and another trustee, Michael Hood, voted during the emergency meeting to appoint himself to Valentine’s seat.

Smith and Hood said they vacated Valentine’s seat because he had been absent from the township for 90 consecutive days.

Smith said Valentine did not tell the board about his deployment or say how long he would be gone, and Hood questioned whether Valentine was in the military. Valentine said he informed both the board and county prosecutor’s office about his deployment.

Messages seeking comment on the court’s decision were left with Smith and Hood on Tuesday.

The county prosecutor took the case against the board to court after Smith refused to resign. The state Supreme Court’s decision said Valentine was the rightful holder of the seat, and it invalidated board actions taken by Smith since the beginning of the year. It said Smith should no longer be allowed to stay in the office.

Smith submitted a resignation in February, but it came after a court deadline.

The court said the meeting where Valentine’s seat was vacated violated the state’s Open Meetings Act because not enough public notice was given.