Ohio lays murder charges in deaths of eight people in rural family feud
(Reuters) - Four members of one family were charged on Tuesday with the April 2016 execution-style shooting deaths of eight members of another rural Ohio family, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced.
Four members of the Wagner family were charged with murdering seven members of the Rhoden family and a fiancée of one of the victims, DeWine said by Twitter.
In April 2016, Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader and DeWine said it was clear the victims, ranging in age from 16 to 44, had been deliberately singled out for attack at four different crime scenes, most of them while they slept.
No motive for the killings was mentioned by DeWine in his tweets. In 2016, investigators told Reuters there was evidence that cockfighting had been taking place on the Rhoden property, plus evidence of commercial marijuana cultivation at three of the four crime scenes.
A press conference will be held later Tuesday on the arrests in relation to the murders in Pike County in the Appalachia foothills about 95 miles (150 km) east of Cincinnati.
A phone call to the attorney who the Cincinnati Enquirer said was defending the four Wagners was not immediately returned.
At the time of the killings, DeWine said, this was "a pre-planned execution of eight individuals. It was a sophisticated operation. And those who carried it out were trying to do everything they could do to hinder the investigation and their prosecution."
Last week, DeWine was elected governor of Ohio.
Three small children including a 6-month-old and a 3-year-old were spared on the night of the killings. One woman was killed while sleeping with her 4-day-old baby.
The Cincinnati Enquirer has reported that members of the two families were once linked in a business venture that soured. The paper also reported that one of the three women victims had a child with one of the four arrested on Tuesday and were at odds over custody.
DeWine said those charged were George "Billy" Wagner, Angela Wagner, George Wagner IV, and Edward "Jake" Wagner.
The victims included Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40; his ex-wife, Dana Rhoden, 37; and their three children, Hanna, 19, Christopher Jr., 16, and Clarence, 20.
Three others were identified as Christopher Sr.'s brother, Kenneth Rhoden, 44; a cousin, Gary Rhoden, 38; and Clarence Rhoden's girlfriend, Hannah Gilley, 20.
(Reporting by Bernie Woodall in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
