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July 30, 2022 at 8:00 a.m. EDT<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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A faded flier with photos of eight members of the Rhoden family is tacked to a barn on the family\u2019s property on Union Hill Road near Piketon, Ohio. It asks: \u201cDo you know who murdered us on April 22, 2016?\u201d (Ty Wright\/The Washington Post)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Comment on this story<\/title><path d=\"M14 14V2H2v9.47h8.18L12.43 13ZM3 10.52V3h10v9.23l-2.5-1.66Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p>Comment<\/p>\n<p><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"teaser-content grid-center\">\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">PIKE COUNTY, Ohio \u2014 Weather has worn the name \u201cRhoden\u201d from the mailbox on Union Hill Road here in the rural, rolling hills of southwest Ohio.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Six seasons of snow and rain and sun have grayed the outbuildings; faded the \u201cno trespassing\u201d and \u201cprivate property\u201d signs meant to keep out the curious and the true-crime gawkers. A sole ribbon of once-yellow tape is illegible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">All that remains of evidence that a family once lived \u2014 and died \u2014 here is a faded poster tacked to a barn and showing photos of smiling faces and a question:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\"><i>\u201cDo you know who murdered us on April 22, 2016?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Prosecutors say they know exactly who executed the eight family members, and they are gearing up to present their case to a jury when the first trial in Ohio\u2019s most costly and complex criminal investigation starts in late August. The trial will give onlookers a front-row view into a corner of America known more through stereotypes than complex realities: a place where, often, family protects family at all costs and where love and loyalty trump all else.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">\u201cA lot of this, and I don\u2019t mean this in any kind of derogatory way, is the code of the hills,\u201d said Mike Allen, a Cincinnati-based criminal defense lawyer who has monitored the case from the start. \u201cFamily sticks together.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md font-copy drop-cap\">More than six years and thousands of pieces of evidence later, prosecutors are expected to unfurl a diabolical scheme by four members of one family to kill eight members of another.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">The alleged motive: to obtain sole custody of a shared daughter, who was a toddler at the time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">George Wagner IV, 30, faces 22 charges alleging that he was part of his family\u2019s criminal enterprise in the planning, plotting, execution and coverup in the shooting deaths of Christopher \u201cChris\u201d Rhoden Sr., 40; Chris Rhoden\u2019s former wife, Dana Manley Rhoden, 37; their children, Clarence \u201cFrankie\u201d Rhoden, 20, Hanna May Rhoden, 19, and Christopher \u201cChris\u201d Rhoden Jr., 16; Frankie\u2019s fiancee, Hannah Hazel Gilley, 20; Christopher Sr.\u2019s brother Kenneth Rhoden, 44; and their cousin Gary Rhoden, 38.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">They were each shot in the head at close range, most multiple times, while some slept in three trailers and a camper in three locations on family land about an hour south of Columbus. A toddler and two infants \u2014 both found beside their dead mothers \u2014 were unharmed. The killers fired a total of 32 times.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">The mass homicide mystified Ohioans and amateur sleuths around the world until authorities arrested Wagner and his family members in November 2018. The family of four had moved to Alaska in the spring of 2017 amid the investigation and returned in the spring of 2018.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p><span class=\"font--article-body font-copy hide-for-print ma-0 pb-md db italic interstitial\"><a target=\"_blank\" data-qa=\"interstitial-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/post-nation\/wp\/2016\/04\/22\/multiple-fatalities-being-investigated-in-ohio\/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_17\" rel=\"noopener\">Eight killed in \u2018execution-style\u2019 shootings in Ohio, some while sleeping, authorities say<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Also <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov\/Files\/Briefing-Room\/News-Releases\/Special-Prosecutions\/PikeCountyMurderIndictments.aspx\" rel=\"noopener\">indicted<\/a> on the same charges \u2014 including eight counts of aggravated murder, aggravated burglary and conspiracy to commit aggravated murder \u2014 were George Wagner IV\u2019s father, George \u201cBilly\u201d Wagner III, 51; his mother, Angela Wagner, 51; and his brother, Edward \u201cJake\u201d Wagner, 29 \u2014 who is the father of the child at the center of the custody dispute. In addition, Jake Wagner was indicted on a charge of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">A gag order remains in the case, barring anyone involved, including all lawyers, from publicly discussing it. All but one of the police reports, and all of the dozens upon dozens of search warrants and court orders, remain sealed. However, details of the crime and the family dynamics that allegedly fueled it have come to light in motions and related hearings in Pike County Common Pleas Court that ramped up after <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wvxu.org\/local-news\/2021-04-23\/after-guilty-plea-jake-wagner-faces-life-without-parole-and-the-daughter-he-killed-for\" rel=\"noopener\">Jake Wagner pleaded guilty<\/a> on April 22, 2021. The hearings stretched through that spring and summer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Special prosecutor Angela Canepa has portrayed the Wagners as an insular family that lived together their entire lives, worked together, were home-schooled together, commingled their money and voted as a group on everything, including the decision to kill Hanna Rhoden, the mother of Jake Wagner\u2019s young daughter, and seven of her family members.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Canepa has painted the family as controlling to the point of violence toward anyone \u2014 notably the three women involved with the two Wagner sons \u2014 who threatened to disrupt the family\u2019s intimate bond. Jake Wagner\u2019s former wife, whom he met and married in Alaska, is expected to testify for the prosecution in the trial, as is George Wagner\u2019s ex-wife, who relinquished full custody of their son years before Jake\u2019s daughter was born. Both women, Canepa alleges, fled for their lives from the Wagner family.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Canepa also contends that as a family, the Wagners committed crimes including arson, drug dealing and theft.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">\u201cThey were raised in the ways of committing crimes to survive; to lie, cheat and steal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Angela Wagner also hacked into social media accounts, which is how the homicide plot first surfaced, according to the indictment. Canepa said Angela Wagner found a private Facebook message that Hanna Rhoden wrote to George Wagner\u2019s former mother-in-law saying the Wagners would have to kill her before she would ever relinquish custody of her daughter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Then, Canepa alleges, came that fateful family vote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Once the Wagners voted to kill the Rhodens, Canepa alleges, they spent about four months methodically plotting and planning the executions to guarantee custody of the then-2\u00bd-year-old daughter of Jake Wagner and Hanna Rhoden. They all conspired to cover up the killings, she alleges, making a plan for the custody of the children in the event the adults were killed or arrested on the night of the killings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">\u201cThey each had a role to play,\u201d Canepa said. She alleges the following:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<ul class=\"font--article-body font-copy gray-darkest mt-0 mr-lg ml-lg mb-md list\">\n<li class=\"pb-xs\"><span>Angela Wagner bought athletic shoes from Walmart for her sons to wear on the night of the killings. The shoes, which prosecutors allege left bloody footprints at one of the crime scenes, were bought the month of the homicides.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"pb-xs\"><span>George Wagner bought the \u201cmurder truck,\u201d which was to be used only that night in an attempt to avoid detection.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"pb-xs\"><span>Jake and George Wagner hid in the truck together when their father went to the home of Chris Rhoden Sr. \u2014 the first victim \u2014 on the night of the killings on a ruse to involve Rhoden in a lucrative drug deal.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"pb-xs\"><span>The sons had fired weapons under various scenarios to test whether shots could be heard.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"pb-xs\"><span>Jake Wagner bought a silencer in March 2016 and bought parts to build silencers.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">\u201cIt was all for one and one for all,\u201d Canepa said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Mass killings are rarely connected to custody issues, said James Alan Fox, a professor of criminology, law and public policy at Northeastern University in Boston who maintains a database of 498 mass killings in the United States since 2006. He says that the Rhoden family massacre is just one of six mass killings in the past 16 years motivated by child custody.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md font-copy drop-cap\">In a case with more twists and turns than a mountain road, perhaps the most shocking came in 2021 when Jake Wagner and his mother broke their silence after sitting in jail for 2\u00bd years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Jake Wagner provided a proffered statement, meaning prosecutors cannot<b> <\/b>use his statements against him in any future criminal proceedings. In exchange, he pleaded guilty to all 23 charges and agreed to testify against each of his family members. As part of the plea deal, if he testifies truthfully, he and his parents and brother would be spared the death penalty if they are convicted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Until Jake Wagner stood in court for his plea hearing on the fifth anniversary of the killings and said he was guilty, he and his family vehemently denied involvement in one of the largest mass homicides in Ohio\u2019s history. For years, he and his mother expressed sorrow, repeatedly saying they wanted nothing more than for authorities to arrest the killers of the Rhodens, whom they considered friends and business associates. Angela Wagner said that her husband and Chris Rhoden Sr. were like brothers and that she considered Hanna Rhoden a daughter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Then Jake Wagner told a judge that he had killed five of the eight victims. He will be sentenced to eight consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">According to Canepa, Jake Wagner corroborated the evidence investigators had gathered in the case. He also led investigators to the guns used in the killings and the truck the prosecutor alleged his brother bought solely to be used the night of the killings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-body grid-center\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ideastream.org\/news\/angela-wagner-pleads-guilty-in-rhoden-family-murders\" rel=\"noopener\">Five months later, in September 2021,<\/a> murder charges against Angela Wagner were dropped. Prosecutors said she was at home with her two grandchildren \u2014 including the child in the custody dispute \u2014 when the crimes were committed. She pleaded guilty to 14 lesser charges and will be sentenced to 30 years in prison.<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Still, Jake and Angela Wagner are only half of the story.<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">George Wagner and his father, Billy Wagner, have maintained not-guilty pleas in the case. Although Billy Wagner\u2019s trial is tentatively set for October, authorities have said they do not expect it to begin until 2023.<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">***<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Before the trial of George Wagner IV begins on Aug. 29, lawyers must narrow a jury pool in Pike County, where nearly 20 percent of its 27,900 residents live in poverty, according to the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/development.ohio.gov\/static\/community\/redevelopment\/The-Ohio_Poverty-Report-June2020.pdf\" rel=\"noopener\">2020 Ohio Poverty Report<\/a>. Many could face two months without pay if the trial stretches as long as 60 days, as some estimate it could. The county summoned 1,000 potential jurors who were expected to answer a detailed questionnaire. Lawyers narrowed their pool and will continue questioning individual jurors on Aug. 8.<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">\u201cWe were told \u2026 that approximately 20 to 25 percent turnout is typical of those summoned to appear for jury duty,\u201d said John Patrick Parker, one of George Wagner\u2019s attorneys. \u201cThat\u2019s simply not acceptable if we\u2019re going to have a fair cross section of the community. And when you factor in how notorious this case is \u2026 we anticipate there are going to be several factors that are going to make it difficult, if not impossible, to get a fair jury in this county.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Even Gov. Mike DeWine (R) attended the hearing where Jake Wagner pleaded guilty, Parker added.<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">\u201cWhen\u2019s the last time that happened? Of course, he was the attorney general at the time of the investigation,\u201d Parker said. \u201cBut, nonetheless, this case has garnered tremendous attention.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Pike County Common Pleas Judge Randy Deering denied Parker\u2019s motion to move the trial.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Some wonder whether a fair and impartial jury can be chosen at all, given the pretrial publicity \u2014 including one multi-season podcast about the case that has been downloaded millions of times.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Allen, the Cincinnati lawyer who also has been a prosecutor and a municipal judge, said he is not convinced that the case will end up being tried in Pike County\u2019s Civil War-era courthouse in Waverly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">\u201cI\u2019m still of the opinion that there\u2019s a good chance they\u2019ll all end up pleading to something,\u201d he said. \u201cIt seems like the prosecution really has its act together and has all the evidence to convict all of them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">\u201cBut again, in this thing, there have been so many twists and turns,\u201d he added. \u201cYou never know.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">If George Wagner\u2019s case does go to trial, it remains unclear exactly what his defense will be.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Parker has repeatedly argued in motions that his client should not have been charged with aggravated murder and should not face the death penalty because he did not kill the Rhodens. The attorney maintains that his client was not supposed to go on the killing spree.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">\u201cGeorge did not shoot or kill anybody. He did not pull the trigger once,\u201d Parker said during a motion hearing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">In his argument to drop the murder charges, Parker said: \u201cWhen the state has made a bargain with the killer of at least five people in this case, when the state has decided that <i>he <\/i>doesn\u2019t deserve the death penalty \u2014 we believe it\u2019s unconstitutional, improper and an abuse of power to pursue the death penalty against George, when they admitted he didn\u2019t shoot anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-body grid-center\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Parker said in a motion that Jake Wagner \u201cclearly stated that George did not shoot anybody \u2026 was not supposed to go with Jake and Billy on this murder spree, and only went at the last second to protect Jake from Billy, who it was thought might kill Jake at the end of the series of aggravated murders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Ohio law holds, however, that someone involved in a conspiracy to commit murder is as guilty as the person who actually carries out the killing.<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">\u201cEven if he didn\u2019t pull the trigger, even if he were not there, he can still be convicted on a complicity theory or an accessory theory,\u201d Allen said.<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Ohio, like other death-penalty states, has had difficulty obtaining lethal-injection drugs. DeWine has put executions on hold until state legislators approve another method. Ohio\u2019s last execution was in 2018.<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">George Wagner\u2019s attorneys contend that their client should not be tried on the basis of his family\u2019s past.<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">\u201cA large part of the state\u2019s argument we anticipate is: \u2018He\u2019s a Wagner, and this is how the Wagners operate,\u2019 \u201d Parker said. \u201cThe jury needs to understand the basic premise of our criminal justice system is as follows: Our law punishes people for what they do, not [for] who they are, and so the jury will need to focus their attention on what the evidence proves that George did or didn\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Parker continued in court: \u201cAnd he can\u2019t be convicted on what his other family members may have done, or may have testified about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">***<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md font-copy drop-cap\">Jurors are expected to visit the property where the homicides occurred, although authorities towed away the trailers and camper in 2016. They have been stored in police custody since.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Deering approved a prosecution motion to allow jurors to view other properties that police repeatedly scoured for evidence, including a farmhouse in Peebles, Ohio, where the Wagners lived and where they allegedly voted to kill the Rhodens.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">That was news to the new owner, Dwayne DeWeese, 53, who bought the 71\u00bd-acre property in 2017, just before the Wagners moved to Alaska.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">It\u2019s not the first time he has been surprised.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">DeWeese said that he and his wife, Kim, were set to unload their first trailer of household goods on May 10, 2017, when hundreds of police officers swarmed the area with four-wheelers, metal detectors and a search warrant that included a long list of items that investigators were seeking: firearms, bullets, burglary tools, soil samples, vehicle tire impressions, electronic devices, and illegal drugs including marijuana, pharmaceuticals, heroin, cocaine, MDMA \u2014 also called ecstasy \u2014 and any evidence of drug trafficking.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">That was the first of six searches at his property; the last was in the spring of 2021. DeWeese said investigators took at least three guns, bullet fragments and casings from a wooded area behind the house where, he said police told him, the Wagners practiced shooting. Investigators also cut down trees and hauled away sections with bullet fragments in them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">DeWeese said investigators searched a pond on the property, looked in two cisterns \u2014 emptying one \u2014 and told him they found parts of a homemade gun silencer during one search. He also said they dug holes and left metal fragments all over the property and never put anything back the way they found it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">\u201cThe first few times they were here, they were looking for the guns,\u201d said DeWeese, who is fed up with the police, the onlookers and the attention. \u201cThey said they thought those guns were buried here.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">DeWeese is also upset that authorities never told him that the Wagners moved back to the area from Alaska. He found out from someone else that they were back in Ohio and working at a trucking company.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">An investigator testified this spring that authorities put listening devices in the driving and sleeping cabs of the R & Carriers trucks the Wagners drove and monitored their conversations. He also testified that they tapped the Wagners\u2019 phones. He declined to elaborate on what, if any, information of investigative value they gleaned from the surveillance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">The DeWeeses say they do not keep up with the case. They said they are private people and don\u2019t want to be bothered. But, gawkers have filmed the house, and one man even trespassed, taking photos of the outbuildings and vehicles and posting videos on Facebook pages dedicated to the case.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">DeWeese said he\u2019s sure the attention will intensify again in August.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md font-copy drop-cap\">Court personnel are gearing up as well, including by trying to accommodate the families, the news media and the public in the courtroom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Families will get priority seating in the courtroom. A Rhoden relative has always attended the hearings. Family matriarch Geneva Rhoden, 79, who has been ill, hasn\u2019t been able to attend all the hearings. But when she does, she sits in the front row, often with an oxygen tank, flanked by some of her children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">She was in the courtroom when Jake Wagner pleaded guilty, and when he turned to the family and apologized.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-body grid-center\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Leonard Manley, the outspoken father of Dana Manley Rhoden and one of the first to point a finger at the Wagner family as possible suspects in the early days of the investigation, attended that hearing as well. He died one month after Angela Wagner admitted her involvement.<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">And as the criminal cases continue, an unlawful-death lawsuit is pending against the Wagner family, including its matriarch, Fredericka Wagner, 80, whose horse-breeding business and more than<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cincinnati.com\/story\/news\/crime\/crime-and-courts\/2018\/11\/28\/pike-county-massacre-look-fredericka-wagners-businesses-rhoden\/2127584002\/\" rel=\"noopener\"> 2,000-acre property<\/a> in the area is worth an estimated $4 million. Authorities initially charged her with helping her family plot a coverup, but prosecutors dismissed the charges. She has denied any involvement in the killings.<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">The Rhoden family intends to use any damages awarded in the civil case for the benefit of Hanna Rhoden\u2019s two children and Frankie Rhoden\u2019s two children, said Brian K. Duncan, the attorney representing the family in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p><span class=\"font--article-body font-copy hide-for-print ma-0 pb-md db italic interstitial\"><a target=\"_blank\" data-qa=\"interstitial-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/crime-law\/2018\/11\/13\/four-arrested-execution-style-shootings-eight-family-members\/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_100\" rel=\"noopener\">Nearly three years after \u2018execution-style\u2019 killing of family, four charged with murder<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">He said the arrests brought family members some peace of mind, but little else.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">\u201cThey are exhausted,\u201d Duncan said. \u201cThey have to relive these events almost on a daily basis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">\u201cAnd every time there is another court hearing or court proceeding, or it is brought to their attention, they relive it again.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body grid-center grid-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\"><i>Chris Graves is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2022\/07\/30\/rhoden-family\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] July 30, 2022 at 8:00 a.m. EDT A faded flier with photos of eight…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34295,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34293\/revisions\/34295"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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