State releases redacted autopsies for 8 slaying victims

COLUMBUS >> The attorney general’s office on Friday released heavily redacted copies of the final autopsy reports in the unsolved slayings of eight family members this year.

The documents from the office of Attorney General Mike DeWine confirm earlier accounts that all but one victim was shot multiple times in the head but otherwise provided few new details in the investigation entering its sixth month.

The release came shortly after the Ohio Supreme Court ended settlement talks between DeWine and The Columbus Dispatch, which sued the Pike County coroner for the complete reports and had opposed those talks. DeWine released the documents at the request of several media organizations, including The Associated Press.

DeWine said the documents “were prepared to balance the current needs of the active investigation with transparency of the law enforcement process.”

The fight for the full records is likely to continue in the state Supreme Court, where the Cincinnati Enquirer filed a similar lawsuit.

The slayings’ investigation is ongoing and active, DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said Friday.

Seven adults and a teenage boy from the Rhoden family were found shot to death at four homes near Piketon in southern Ohio on April 22.

As has previously been reported, one victim, 44-yearold Kenneth Rhoden, died of a single gunshot wound. Rhoden’s body was the last found by investigators. The shootings happened at four locations in rural southern Ohio.