SIX ARRESTED IN PIKE COUNTRY KILLINGS
Eight people were found slain in four mobile homes in 2016. Attorney general speculates slayings were over child custody.
Six people were WAVERLY — arrested Tuesday in connection to the 2016 slaying of eight people in Pike County. Those arrested include a man who is the father of a 2-year-old girl whose mother was one of the victims.
The family of slaying suspects was “obsessed” with custody of the child, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said in announcing the charges at a press conference Tuesday, signaling for the first time in the 2½-year-long case a possible motive for the murder of eight people.
“There certainly was an obsession with custody. An obsession with control of the children,” said
DeWine, adding that this is “the most bizarre story I have ever seen being involved in law enforcement.”
Four are charged with forging custody documents, among numerous other charges in 52 pages of indictments filed in Pike County Common Pleas Court.
The child’s father is Edward “Jake” Wagner, 26. He was arrested along with his father, George “Billy” Wagner III, 47; mother Angela Wagner, 48; and brother George Wagner IV, 27.
Also arrested were Jake Wagner’s grandmothers: Rita Newcomb and Fredericka Wagner. Both are charged with attempting to cover up the crime.
Jake Wagner is the father of Sophia, who was 2 years old when her mother, Hanna Rhoden, was shot to death in her Pike County home. Sophia was with the Wagners when Rhoden was killed.
DeWine said the child is being cared for by Children Services.
There were three other children — ages 3, 6 months and 4 days — found alive in the carnage in two of the four mobile homes where eight bodies were found in rural Pike County.
Killed were Hannah Rhoden, her parents Dana Rhoden and Christopher Rhoden Sr.; her brothers Christopher Rhoden Jr. and Clarence “Frankie” Rhoden; Frankie Rhoden’s girlfriend Hanna Gilley; and Christopher Rhoden Sr.’s brother Kenny Rhoden and cousin Gary Rhoden.
Before addressing the media, Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader and DeWine met with surviving family members, who were seen afterward outside the sheriff ’s office in Waverly.
“Pike County is a resilient community, very small. I know it’s been very tough to be known as the place where people were murdered,” Reader said. “But we are much, much more than that. We are a place that doesn’t let cowardly murderers get away with their crimes under the cover of darkness. We’re the place that finds justice for victims, and today’s a big step on that path.”
Court records provide new details about what investigators have found in the 935-day investigation — what DeWine called the largest and most complex in state history.
The last piece of key evidence came less than a week ago, DeWine said, when authorities confirmed the existence of a homemade silencer allegedly built by the suspects.
He described a sophisticated scheme, saying the suspects bought ammunition, a device to catch spent shell casings, a “bug” detector, and specific shoes from Walmart in preparation for the crimes.
He alleged they monitored the victims — including illegal monitoring of social media accounts — and planned the attack, then tampered with evidence to avoid detection.
“The Wagners were friends with the Rhodens and had been for years. They knew the layouts of the Rhodens’ homes, and they knew the victims’ routines,” DeWine said. “It is our belief that the suspects used this knowledge to meticulously plan these horrendous, cold-blooded murders.”
When a reporter asked DeWine if the entire family was killed in order to prevent survivors from claiming custody of Sophia, DeWine said, “Draw your own conclusions.”
Jake Wagner is also charged with unlawful sexual conduct with a minor for having sexual contact with Hanna Rhoden when she was 15 years old and he was 20 years old.
Wagner family attorney John Kearson Clark issued a statement, saying: “The Wagners eagerly look forward to their trials and to have their day in court so they can vindicate their names. The Wagners are also ever so hopeful that in the ensuing months there will be a thorough vetting of all the facts. We look forward to the day when the true culprits will be discovered and brought to justice for this terrible tragedy.”
DeWine emphasized that he doesn’t believe there are any other suspects at large.
“We have absolutely no evidence that anyone else is involved except the individuals who were arrested today,” he said.
George “Billy” Wagner III was arrested in Kentucky and is facing extradition. The others were arrested in Ohio and are being held in jails in Pickaway, Franklin, Ross, and Delaware counties, officials said.
Given the small size of Pike County and the international media attention given to the killings, Pike County prosecutor Robert Junk said he did not know if it would be possible to impanel a jury in the county. He said a judge would make that determination.
It was not clear Tuesday when any of the arrested individuals would appear for their initial court appearance.
DeWine said Tuesday that authorities have been looking at the Wagner family for many months, and said investigators went to 10 states — including to Alaska, where the family moved before reportedly returning to Ohio this spring — combed through 1,100 tips and conducted 550 interviews.
Kelly Cinereski, a pastor and friend of the family who lives in Seward, Alaska, said Tuesday that the Wagners “were trying to run from the story so they could live a normal life, but everywhere they went it wasn’t normal.”
Cinereski, who knew the family in Ohio before he moved to Alaska, said the Wagners were “just a downto-earth, good wholesome family.”
“These people wept over dogs. I can’t imagine them taking people’s lives,” he said when told of the charges. “If they did it, I hope they get tried to the max. If they didn’t, I hope they get pleaded.”
Junk cautioned that Tuesday’s arrests are only the beginning of what could be a years-long court process before all the facts are made public.
“There is a lot of hard work ahead of us, I cannot emphasize that enough,” he said.