Pike County killings: Witnesses paint picture of Wagner family
Witnesses in the trial of George Wagner IV took jurors on a tour of Pike County pastimes and Wagner family dynamics during Monday testimony.
Wagner IV’s family spent their time fishing, hunting and riding four-wheelers – but also torching a home for insurance money and seeking information for a custody battle via Facebook, witnesses said.
Wagner IV, facing 22 counts related to the 2016 shooting deaths of Pike County’s Rhoden family, was bubbly and “always trying to make someone laugh,” long-time friend Samantha Staley said. That changed after the Rhoden deaths, Staley said. “He looked dead inside. He didn’t have the crooked smile he always had.” But he would not talk to her about the crimes. “I was pretty much told to shut the ---- up,” she said.
Wagner IV’s brother, Edward “Jake” Wagner, was a “momma’s boy” who did whatever his mother, Angela Wagner, wanted, Staley said. Jake Wagner acted like he was better than other people and tended to blame his brother for anything that went wrong, she said.
George “Billy” Wagner, Wagner IV’s father, was erratic and moody because he took pain pills that his mother supplied, according to Jeffrey Tackett, his longtime friend. The elder Wagner had guns and ammunition in his bedroom a week before the Rhodens were killed, Tackett said. He waited to alerted authorities about the stash until after the Rhodens were dead, he said, because “I was scared he might kill me.”
Earlier in the day, Tackett told jurors he wore a wire four or five times on behalf of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the agency that led what is considered Ohio’s largest criminal investigation. He was paid $100 for each attempt to capture information from Billy Wagner.
Wagner IV’s mother got much attention on Monday, with witnesses saying she called the shots in the family.
Angela Wagner quizzed Staley about babysitting the young daughter that Jake Wagner shared with victim Hanna May Rhoden, seeking information for a custody battle. The Wagners killed the Rhodens to try to win custody of the child, prosecutors maintain.
Angela Wagner ran the family household, said Tabitha Claytor, the woman Wagner IV married in 2012.
“It was Angela’s house so it was her rules,” said Claytor, who had a son with Wagner IV in 2013.
“It applied to basically everything – cooking, cleaning, laundry. It all had to be done the way she wanted it.”
Claytor was cut off from her family of origin – her own mother did not meet her son until he was a year and a half old – at Angela Wagner’s direction, Claytor said.
Angela Wagner also interfered in the couple’s sex life, gave Wagner IV nightly back scratches in bed and often insisted their child sleep with her and Billy Wagner.
Billy and Angela Wagner fought frequently and were headed for divorce, witnesses said. “It was a rocky situation,” Tackett said.
In a day marked by frequent objections from Wagner IV’s lawyers and nine sidebar conversations between lawyers and Judge Randy Deering, witnesses also told jurors that the Wagner family burned their home 845 Bethel Hill Road for insurance money. They collected $250,000, Tackett said.
The whole family was involved in the arson, Claytor said, moving furniture and valuables out in advance of setting the fire.
None of the day’s witnesses pinned any Rhoden killings on Wagner IV.
At the end of her time on the stand, defense attorney John Parker asked Staley: “It’s fair to say you don’t know what happened that day?”
Staley replied: “A tragedy. A tragedy for sure.”
The trial resumes Tuesday at 9 a.m.
Jeffrey Tackett on the stand this morning in #PikeCountyMassacre trial of #GeorgeWagnerIV. In cross examination from Wagner attorney John Parker, Tackett said he called authorities in Sept 2016 with a tip that the Wagners were behind the April 2016 shootings of the Rhodens. 1/6
— Patricia Gallagher Newberry (@pattinewberry) October 3, 2022
Tackett said he wore a wire 4 or 5 times, at the request of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, to talk with George "Billy" Wagner III about the Rhoden deaths. The conversations lasted about 30 minutes. "I felt like I was getting a cold shoulder from Billy," he said. 2/6
— Patricia Gallagher Newberry (@pattinewberry) October 3, 2022
Tackett testified that he saw a gun and ammunition in Billy Wagner's bedroom about a week before the crimes. "It made me very nervous," he said. "I told him 'You're getting ready to kill someone. They're dead.' " 3/6
— Patricia Gallagher Newberry (@pattinewberry) October 3, 2022
Tackett said he did not report his suspicions then for fear of his own life. "I was scared he might kill me," he said. He also said he did not know who Billy Wagner might have been targeting at the time. 4/6
— Patricia Gallagher Newberry (@pattinewberry) October 3, 2022
Tackett, 46, was a long-time friend of Billy Wagner and sometime-laborer at the Wagner family Flying W Farms horse and exotic animal breeding business. He mentioned the defendant, Wagner IV, the son of Billy Wagner, only once. 5/6
— Patricia Gallagher Newberry (@pattinewberry) October 3, 2022
Wagner IV and his brother, Edward "Jake" Wagner, burned down a family home for insurance money, Tackett claimed. Parker asked if Tackett earlier told BCI that Billy Wagner burned the house down. His reply: "It was Jake and George, Jake and George, 100% Jake and George." 6/6
— Patricia Gallagher Newberry (@pattinewberry) October 3, 2022
Here’s a Monday morning look ahead to #PikeCountyMassacre trial of #GeorgeWagnerIV for @Enquirer. pic.twitter.com/UR69iqDdjh
— Patricia Gallagher Newberry (@pattinewberry) October 3, 2022
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What was Pike County Wagner family like?