At eight-year mark in Pike County killings, a final trial looms
The Pike County massacre has been in the news since eight residents of southern Ohio were found shot to death in their homes on April 22, 2016.
Seven members of the Rhoden family, along with one future family member, were killed in the dark of night, the first two just before 11 p.m. and the final one shortly before 4 a.m.
Four members of the Wagner family were indicted for the crimes two-and-a-half years later. All entered not guilty pleas, with two later admitting their roles and one found guilty in a jury trial.
The final Wagner – 52-year-old George “Billy” Wagner III – is now scheduled for trial in January.
As Pike County marks the eighth anniversary of one of Ohio’s largest and most gruesome murder cases, here is the timeline of major events from Enquirer reporting.
April 22, 2016
As the day began, six Rhodens and one future Rhoden were found dead in three different rural Ohio homes – two with addresses in Pike County and one in Scioto County. By afternoon, the eighth victim was discovered in a fourth location, also in Scioto County.
The first victims, Christopher Rhoden Sr. and his cousin Gary Rhoden, were awake when shot just near the front door of Chris Rhoden's trailer home on Union Hill Road.
Chris Rhoden's older son, Frankie Rhoden, was shot in his sleep at the trailer home next door, along with his fiancée Hannah Hazel Gilley, sleeping beside him.
A half mile away, Dana Manley Rhoden, Chris Sr.'s former wife, was the next victim, shot to death while scrolling through Facebook in bed in her trailer home. Her daughter, Hanna May Rhoden, was shot in a room across the hall and her son, Chris Rhoden Jr., in another room.
At the final scene, Kenneth Rhoden, brother to Chris Rhoden Sr., was shot in his camper home on Left Fork Road.
Three children were rescued from the crime scenes, unharmed.
Dana Rhoden's sister, Bobby Jo Manley, was the first to discover the homicides when she arrived at Chris Rhoden's home to feed his animals.
The rest of 2016
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation quickly took over the case. Within days, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, then the state's attorney general, announced that marijuana grow sites were found at properties owned by Chris and Kenneth Rhoden. Drug activity was considered a possible motive for the homicides, but later discounted.
The Hamilton County Coroner's Office reported the victims were shot between one and nine times each. That office completed autopsies of their bodies over the next three days and released them to the Rhoden and Gilley families.
The families mourned their losses at funerals and vigils. Chris and Dana Rhoden were buried at Scioto Burial Park in McDermott, Ohio, along with their children. Kenneth Rhoden was buried in Piketon, Ohio. Hannah Gilley was buried in Otway, Ohio. Gary Rhoden was buried in South Shore, Kentucky.
Property from the crime scenes – including their trailer homes and dozens of vehicles – was towed away, eventually to a Pike County Sheriff's Office impound facility.
Events of 2017
In April of 2017, DeWine and Charles Reader, then Pike County sheriff, told the media they had made significant progress in the case but reported nothing major. An emotional Reader promised the killers: "We will find you."
On the one-year anniversary of the homicides – with no arrests and no confirmed motives – the Rhoden and Gilley families marked the day with a memorial service at Union Hill Church in Pike County. DeWine and Reader attended.
That May, authorities descended on a 71-acre farm property in Adams County just vacated by the Wagner family. They also searched trailers and trucks where the Wagners had stored the contents of their home.
The Wagners relocated to remote Kenai, Alaska, for a year. Jake Wagner, who would later admit to shooting five of the eight victims, said the family wanted to escape scrutiny.
“Really the point to moving up here was to basically get into a better environment so they wouldn’t talk about us. Sophia is getting older, so she wouldn’t hear it,” Jake Wagner told The Enquirer in July 2017. “And then it followed us here.”
Sophia, 2 ½ years old in April of 2016, inspired the shootings, state prosecutors argued in court. The Wagners plotted the Rhoden killings, they said, believing the daughter of Jake Wagner and Hanna Rhoden was being molested when she spent time with the Rhodens.
Events of 2018-19
On the second anniversary of the homicides, investigators were putting together a case against the Wagners.
In November of 2018, authorities arrested the four in three different locations. Billy Wagner, wife Angela and sons Jake and George were each indicted on the same 22 charges – eight for aggravated murder and 14 for such offenses as conspiracy, burglary and tampering with evidence. Jake Wagner faced one additional charge, for unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, since Hanna Rhoden was underage when she became pregnant with Sophia.
The mothers of Billy and Angela Wagner were concurrently charged with obstructing justice and perjury in the case. The next year, charges against Fredericka Wagner were dropped, with charges against Rita Newcomb reduced to a misdemeanor.
Events of 2021
On the fifth anniversary of the massacre, in a stunning reversal, Jake Wagner admitted he shot and killed Dana Manley Rhoden, and her children, Frankie, Hanna and Chris Jr., along with Hannah Gilley.
Months later, Angela Wagner followed suit, admitting to a lesser role in the crimes.
As part of their plea deals, the state of Ohio agreed to drop the death penalty as punishment for them, along with Billy and George Wagner. Jake and Angela Wagner also agreed to testify in the trials of George and Billy Wagner as part of the deal.
Events of 2022
In August 2022, at the start of a 13-week trial in Pike County, lawyers for George Wagner said he was home on the night of the killings and only learned about them the next day.
Jake and Angela Wagner, as star witnesses among the 60 called to testify, contradicted that version of the night’s events. Jake Wagner said his brother joined him and his father at the crime scenes, but failed to fire his weapon as planned. Angela Wagner said her husband and sons left their home together that night and returned together early the next morning.
A Pike County jury found George Wagner guilty on all 22 counts against him after eight hours of deliberation, adhering to Ohio law on complicity to murder. Then-Judge Randy Deering sentenced Wagner to eight consecutive life sentences on aggravated murder charges and another 121 years for the other counts.
Noting Wagner's lack remorse during a three-month trial that ended Nov. 30, Deering said his sentences would “protect the public from future crime and punish the defendant.”
The verdict brought the Rhoden family some measure of peace, Tony Rhoden said outside the courthouse afterward. "I would like to thank the citizens of the state of Ohio for bearing this burden that should have never happened to this family in southern Ohio," said Rhoden, brother to two victims, uncle to three and cousin to one.
Events of 2023
Billy Wagner, sitting in the Butler County jail since 2018, returned to the Pike County Courthouse for hearings in his case in January, March and June. In November, his lawyers lost their motion to move the trial to another county.
In May, George Wagner was moved from an Ohio prison to one in Rhode Island for undisclosed reasons. He is appealing his conviction.
In September, Tony Rhoden dismissed a related wrongful death suit against the Wagners, filed on behalf of brother Chris Rhoden Sr., and his children, Frankie, Hanna and Chris Rhoden Jr. He withdrew the case because of tight deadlines imposed by the judge in the case and planned to refile it within a year, his lawyer said.
Events of 2024
On March 7, Billy Wagner returned to the Pike County Courthouse for his 15th hearing in the Pike County massacre.
At the hearing, Wagner’s attorneys said they needed more time to prepare for his trial, citing health issues of two members of the defense team and the heft of the transcript from George Wagner’s trial, at 15,000 to 16,000 pages.
Visiting Judge R. Alan Corbin granted a delay, making clear he would not continue the case beyond the new start date of Jan. 6, 2025.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What happened in Pike County in 2016?
