In surprise move, man pleads guilty in 8 Pike County deaths
On the fifth anniversary of the day that Edward “Jake” Wagner killed eight members of the Rhoden family in Pike County, Wagner planned to admit to what he had done and plead guilty to eight counts of aggravated murder.
In exchange, prosecutors have dropped the possibility of a death penalty, sparing the 28-year-old his life.
In perhaps the most-stunning development of the surprise plea, which took place in a hastily scheduled hearing in Pike County Common Pleas Court with nothing listed on a public schedule until the last minute, Wagner agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in the cases against his parents and older brother, also all charged in the murders.
Pike County Prosecutor Rob Junk said the families of the victims agreed to the plea agreement.
A frantic family member called with a report of the first slaying at 7:49 a.m. on April 22 and alerted authorities.
The killings set the southern Ohio Appalachian community on edge, thrust it and the surviving Rhoden family into an international spotlight and set a criminal case in motion that went unsolved for more than two-and-half years.
Killed were Dana Manley Rhoden, 37; her ex-husband,
Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40; their sons, Christopher Rhoden Jr., 16, and Clarence “Frankie” Rhoden, 20; their daughter, Hanna Rhoden, 19; Frankie’s fiancée, Hannah Gilley, 20; Kenneth Rhoden, 44, a brother to Chris Sr; and Gary Rhoden, 38, a cousin to Kenneth and Chris Sr.
Chris Sr. and Gary were found in Chris Sr.’s house trailer on Union Hill Road.
Killed in a second trailer on the property were Frankie and Hannah Gilley.
In a trailer just up the road, authorities found Dana, Hanna and Chris Jr.
Kenneth’s body was found later in the day in his camper on West Left Fork Road several miles away.
All were shot to death, six of them while asleep in bed. Three children, including a
newborn, were found alive and physically unharmed at two different scenes.
Jake Wagner, along with George “Billy” Wagner III; his wife, Angela Wagner; and their other grown son, George Wagner IV, were arrested. The family had moved to Alaska after the killings, but had returned to this part of the country, and all were from the nearby Scioto County village of South Webster.
All were taken into custody in coordinated arrests on Nov. 13, 2018.
Billy Wagner was arrested in Lexington, Kentucky, where he had taken a horse from the family farm for treatment.
Angela Wagner was arrested at her home in Scioto County, and Jake and George Wagner — who had been traveling together as a long-haul
semi driving team — were arrested together in a traffic stop in Ross County.
All pleaded not guilty. All could receive the death penalty if convicted.
Since the family was arrested, investigators and prosecutors have painted a picture of a clannish family, one so insular and loyal to one another that they threatened every outsider who infiltrated the circle.
The surviving members of the Rhoden family filed into the courtroom Thursday with their civil lawyer, who is handling the lawsuit the family has filed against the Wagners for the immeasurable pain they have caused.