VERDICT WATCH OH - Pike Co - 8 in Rhoden Family Murdered - 4 Wagner Family Members Arrested #85

[Cool Cats]

Jake chose when to come clean and make his deal. It would land on or near then. As for the prosecution saying they chose that date, then if I were the victim's family, I'd not be happy about that.

Prosecution did it for the families, they told the families all about it beforehand. Jake came clean when his trial was only 4 months away not because of any anniversary. Prosecution got everything out of him they could then also consulted with the families and the families agreed with the plea deal, then the prosecution picked the 5th anniversary deliberately for the families to get some justice on a very significant date.

On Fifth Anniversary Of Horrific Pike County Murders, Jake Wagner Pleads Guilty

Prosecutor Junk said it was no coincidence they were in court for the guilty plea on this anniversary.

While members of the Rhoden family did not immediately react, Pike County Prosecutor Rob Junk said, “This has been a long time coming. They’re happy to get some justice, especially on this particular day.”

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/state/2021/04/22/jake-wagner-rhoden-family-homicides-pike-county-ohio-pleads-guilty/7333052002/

Pike County Prosecutor Rob Junk said the families of the victims agreed to the plea agreement.

Rhoden, Gilley and Manley families 'happy to get some justice'
"This has been a long time coming," Junk said. "They're happy to get some justice, especially on this particular day," he said of the Rhoden, Gilley and Manley families.

 

[Betty P]

Prosecution did it for the families, they told the families all about it beforehand. Jake came clean when his trial was only 4 months away not because of any anniversary.

They did mention this during the hearing when Jake confessed. AC talked about how the family wasn't sure they could handle the burden of 4 consecutive trials, possibly held in different parts of the state, year after year. They couldn't bear the stress and expense and there was probably some consideration for the poor health of some family members. We know that some passed away before the trial began.

Ohio man accused in killings of his ex and 7 of her family members: "I am guilty, your honor"

Edward "Jake" Wagner agreed to cooperate in the cases against his parents and brother, who are also charged in the Rhoden family slayings.

www.cbsnews.com

Pike County Rhoden murders: Baby's father pleads guilty, will testify against family

Edward "Jake" Wagner, father of the baby whose custody battle led to the slaying of eight members of the Pike County Rhoden family pleads guilty.

www.dispatch.com

 

[gizmobtj]

Obviously there is zero evidence against George.

So all we have is jake and Angie. Then we have George.

Angie cannot put George at the scene and admitted her and Jake planned and bought all the supplies. We did not hear or see her testimony so all we have is second hand accounts from reporters in the courtroom. We heard no reports where she said he was in on the planning or that he bought supplies. They reported that she said George told her he would take the fall for all of them and that he said the shoe print was his. We saw George refute that very convincingly. So Angie's testimony is worthless unless she said something else the reporters did not report on. I think if she had said something big the reporters would have tweeted about it. I don't think that jurors will even consider her testimony as evidence against George.

Jake. I watched as Jake pled guilty. All that smirking, smiling and laughing as he pled guilty to killing 8 people turned me off anything he had to say. Even though he was pleading guilty to something I knew for years he did, all that smirking caused me to think all is just a joke to him. I disliked him intensely for that attitude. I wonder if the jury felt the same way during his testimony in front of them. If so they are not going to believe what he said about George being there. Nothing that was tweeted out that Jake said about George was believable.

The disaster of the false bottom to the truck that BCI built a week after Jake's testimony hurt the state badly. It also hurt Jake's testimony. Pike county is rural so you know people there know about hauling hay. They are all probably a bit of a handyman also. So i am going to say that not a lot of them believed his testimony about that OSB board piled with at least 480 pounds of hay and it not bowing to the point that a 300 pound man could squeeze under it.

The two trucks. AC told us in opening to remember the two trucks that they would become huge later. Then she showed us a couple of videos where you could see the headlights of two vehicles. You could not determine if these were cars, SUVs or trucks. Neither one of them looked like a truck loaded with hay. She did not follow though with them and the huge part they played.

The shoeprint. Not even the expert of experts could clarify those shoeprints. And we never did learn what size shoe George wore, or Jake and Angie. One BCI agent thought the piles of size 12 boots were Billy's. I am more inclined to believe that because they were from the Peterson rd house that they were George's.

Tabbi added nothing as far as the murders were concerned. Neither did Sammatha S. These two women did not really have anything bad to say about George. Most of their testimony was against Angie.

Beth testified that she heard George talk about the murders. Not unusual as jake and Angie was telling him BCI was trying to frame jake and also the fact that they thought BCI was following and listening to them. Other than that of course they talked about the murders. Everyone in Pike county was talking about the murders. Indeed the whole country and most of the world was talking about the murders. We were talking about the murders on here. So I do not find it unusual that George and Jake and Angie talked about the murders in front of Beth. Note that Beth did not have anything really bad to say about George. Note also she never heard George make any statements that he was involved in the murders.

If Canepa comes in with a closing that is as bad as her opening, the state would do well to walk in with a motion to dismiss all charges against George and save Ohio more expense and the jurors time.

JMO

Well, since testimony is evidence, what Jake and Angela said is evidence against George. So is the shoe. There is a ton of consciousness of guilt comments in his recorded statements and what EW said. Might not be enough for you, but it is all evidence. There is the fact he knew of all of their crimes or was involved in them, except, of course, supposedly, the most high risk and complex one.

Even DNA requires inference -- that it did not come earlier, that it wasn't incidental, etc.

But, a question for you. If you were a juror, what motive could you imagine for Jake and Angela to lie? If it was for consideration in their own cases, they could have just put it on Billy. Putting away two instead of one might might might have helped Angela, but what are the odds her story would be perfectly synchronized with Jakes? Jake obviously did not do it to get out of death (he had two others beyond George to throw over the fence) and it certainly did not reduce his sentence.

Edited to make one more point: All the things you are saying, @RAISINISBACK , that make Jake (smirking, etc.) or Angela (a guy on trial saying it didn't happen) appear incredible is much weaker, from my perspective, than the evidence against George

 

[Puzzles8]

But that mountain of evidence was against jake and Angie.

They really convicted their star witnesses of killing 8 people while not presenting any evidence against george other than the two witnesses they proved beyond a shadow of a doubt killed 8 people.

The jury will have to grapple with confessed and convicted murderers testimony to convict someone who the prosecution has no evidence against. Tough call.

JMO

IMO, the strongest charge against George is #22, the Conspiracy Charge. That is the integral charge that connects the other 21 charges together. And I do believe that is the charge that will bring him down, he was clearly a part of a long exisiting family conspiracy. IMO that has been proven in court.

Prosecution has never needed to do anything more than link him to his participation in that life-long conspiracy. In fact, they did much more with evidence and JW's & AW's testimony. Not only did the evidence and Jake and Angie confirm George's integral part in the long time family conspiracy but Jake's testimony also placed him at the scene of the crimes.

To charge him as part of a conspiracy, the Prosecution has had to build a strong case that he was in fact an integral part of a well defined conspiracy. That is why the evidence and testimony of JW and AW is so relevant and has dominated the trial so far.

IMO, whether he shot anyone or not, he was 100% part of his family's conspiracy and had been for all of his life.

All for one, one for all. Let them all go down forever.

JMO





JMO

 

[blackbeary]

Hopefully the jury realized that the wiretaps shown GW and AW's true colors, and didn't buy the meek acts in the courtroom. I still feel that this whole situation was created by AW so her family would be living high on the Flying W, without having to share inheritance. It confirmed my belief when GW said his name is already on the deed.
Didn't AC ask GW on the stand about AW wanting to burn another place down, possibly Pug's?
I respect you all, and enjoy how your opinions are intriguing, it inspires me to think. I admire those who dig up facts about case's that I hadn't read before.
Your Amazing!

 

[gizmobtj]

This is true. If we take all the news articles and pre trial motions we saw out what really is left to convince us of guilt?

JMO

A decent point but remember the jurors did not need to be unexposed from the case, they just needed to agree to be impartial and decide based on the evidence in court. If only the human mind were that robotic...

 

[gizmobtj]

Did Canepa ever prove he was up until midnight? If she did I missed it.

JMO

I believe he was unsure and she did not. She used his timeline to suggest it was implausible that Billy could have also been at the house with him (as GW said in the BCI interview) and committed the murders in such a short time period -- aka, "why are you trying to cover this up if you are innocent?"

 

[justtrish]

I'm In agreement with you. We only know what's in the Montana interview via Canepas questions. That's not good enough for me.

George's defense attorney also quoted the interview when he referenced something about the agent asking George if he was a witness or a suspect (something like this might not be the exact phrase). So both sides have asked questions about it and read from it, if what she asked wasn't a statement he said in that interview, I am sure the defense would have objected to it.

 

[gizmobtj]

If a juror did something as prejudicial as snickering or doing eyerolls during testimony of any kind they would be thrown off the jury by the judge. that would be grounds for mistrial.

JMO

Why? Would snickering, laughing, gasping or crying violate their oath?

 

[Caylee Advocate]

True, all parents were aware the girls were underage, (as was GW at one point) however only one family consistently made ugly claims about s-abuse against everyone and their brother while allowing it to blossom & grow under their own roof. AND, only one ENTIRE family lost their lives over those claims.

That's how we can blame them.

Agree to disagree because there was a lot more than just the W's claiming abuse. I am not throwing shade on the murder victims but JW also spent time on UHR sleeping with a minor with her parents consent. JMO.

I will not keep debating about it, as it is minors.

 

[gizmobtj]

Or he was drunk.

Caffeine intoxication, according to him

 

[Betty P]

Caffeine intoxication, according to him

JMO, meth or his diet pills and a great disrespect for women in general.

Did Canepa ever prove he was up until midnight? If she did I missed it.

JMO

He gave Canepa an answer that was different from the one he gave BCI. Different times he allegedly "went to bed" different activities he was allegedly engaged in at home. He lied like a rug, couldn't keep his answers straight. Jury now knows that he's lying about what he was doing the night of the murders and that his story can't be trusted.

 

[Cool Cats]

They did mention this during the hearing when Jake confessed. AC talked about how the family wasn't sure they could handle the burden of 4 consecutive trials, possibly held in different parts of the state, year after year. They couldn't bear the stress and expense and there was probably some consideration for the poor health of some family members. We know that some passed away before the trial began.

Ohio man accused in killings of his ex and 7 of her family members: "I am guilty, your honor"

Edward "Jake" Wagner agreed to cooperate in the cases against his parents and brother, who are also charged in the Rhoden family slayings.

www.cbsnews.com

Pike County Rhoden murders: Baby's father pleads guilty, will testify against family

Edward "Jake" Wagner, father of the baby whose custody battle led to the slaying of eight members of the Pike County Rhoden family pleads guilty.

www.dispatch.com

Thanks. I did not see this part where the families said:

"AC talked about how the family wasn't sure they could handle the burden of 4 consecutive trials, possibly held in different parts of the state, year after year. They couldn't bear the stress and expense"

 

[Tillicum]

It makes you wonder if he and his family have been "give a pass" on this activity for many years, at least locally. It's apparent the extended family of Wagners doesn't see anything wrong with this criminal behavior. Maybe LE and the criminal justice system have overlooked it, too, for whatever reason.

The excessive poaching, hunting out of season, etc. is surprising. Do they not have any game wardens down there?

My uncle was a game warden for decades in an area like this. He knew who everyone was and what they were up to. He had some great stories to tell of busting the locals for poaching, seining fish, etc. With the poachers and spotlighting criminals, he worked at night and set up traps for them. He knew some guys were spotlighting deer by driving a tractor pulling a trailer slowly around a field in the middle of the night. He hid in the woods one night and when they drove by, he hopped up on the trailer and said "Hey boys, hows the hunting? You're under arrest".

The game warden bought our farm just before the murders. Poaching is very common down there and they have a huge area to cover. The game warden can't be everywhere at once and IMO most people don't report it unless it happens on their property.

 

[silenced]

Until this trial I had no doubt all four Ws were guilty. Not a doubt! I even stopped following this case, figured it was done after the evidence presented at GWIV’s bond hearing and the confessions. This trial has been bizarre, though, AC opening statements, day after day, week after week with no mention of GW. Bizarre. For me, GW testimony made me think he may be guilty. Too well coached, but his anger showed. He did well on cross, believable, good answers, didn’t let AC put words in his mouth. If he is innocent and the jury believes him, he has a right to be angry at this point. OTOH, if the jury doesn’t believe him, believes JW, then his anger makes murder plausible.

It’s possible he wasn’t there that night and didn’t participate in the planning. But hard to believe he didn’t know until JW’s proffer. We still don’t know what happened that night. JW’s proffer was coached to fit the evidence. AW’s too.

State has not proven its case. For weeks I wondered who was on trial, this week I wonder what are the charges? And I don’t think the W family is as enmeshed as we’ve been told.

 

[Dudly]

Ask any abused child why they stay. Ask any abused female or male why they stay in horrible living conditions? It takes seven attempts, at least, for a woman to leave her abuser IF they ever do. Now think about being raised from infancy in that home. It's all they were taught. Both of those boys were abused at the very least mentally, for most of their childhood and into adulthood. As a friend once told me, until she was in high school she thought all homes operated the way hers did. Her father had sex with her from the time she was about three.

GWIV knows right from wrong. He even justified their thievery by saying they only stole from big companies. If he wanted to change why continue to be with the people you don’t want to be like? His situation wasn’t like an abused spouse where they believe they can change the abuser or at least stop the abuse by staying with them. For him, staying was the easy way to go with cheap diesel fuel and a built in babysitter.

 

[Dudly]

I appreciate your opinion. If I may politely ask, why do you say there is zero evidence? JW testified that George 4 was at the murder scene, armed, and protected JW with a gun in the event one of the victims woke. (or to protect JW from his father) JW testified that he and George 4 destroyed evidence.

AW testified she saw George 4 leave and return with Jake and their father. AW testified that George 4 admitted to her the bloody prints were his. That is direct evidence.

The jury decides the credibility of witnesses. Their decision should be based on the evidence. If a person wants to not believe JW's testimony that is one thing, however evidence was provided. JW described what happened that horrible night, he had to be there, IMO, to know the details. It would not be reasonable, to me, to believe Jake simply added his brother for the fun of it. It could/would take the DP off the table for JW and his mother if JW were to lie. I can think of no reason JW would risk the DP back on the table.

All my opinion with respect to other's opinions.

I see no reason to think GWIV is more credible than JW and AW.

JMO, meth or his diet pills and a great disrespect for women in general.


He gave Canepa an answer that was different from the one he gave BCI. Different times he allegedly "went to bed" different activities he was allegedly engaged in at home. He lied like a rug, couldn't keep his answers straight. Jury now knows that he's lying about what he was doing the night of the murders and that his story can't be trusted.

also said he had no TV in his room then said the kids were in his room watching cartoons that morning after the murders when they cane home from working on the shed.
MOO

 

[ohioexpat63]

So can anyone tell me how Jake used a Chicken to burn the house!
And George sure made look like he had nothing to do with it also

Well, if I was a fire bug wanting to collect on insurance fraud, I'd boil a big ole pot of oil, throw in a yard bird and watch the grease fire consume everything. Good luck to the fire Marshall's. Just MY opinion

 

[pcrum12]

They did not have to answer questions and could leave at anytime so it was not a custodial interrogat

can't get him on forgery because he cannot forge his own signature. he didn't even back date it. Angie put the date in after he signed it.

JMO

and it was worthless if not filed in court

 

[pcrum12]

BBM

Can you please clarify what you mean about drugs, especially "Wagner's drugs definitely"

IMO, how can we blame just the Wagner's for underage minors sleeping together? There were 2 sets of "parents" allowing it. JMO.

As to drugs, I mean the rumors and all and the back lash about the Rhodens as drug kings - not safe for SW due to the drugs and trafficking. The Wagners and carters were also trafficking and selling and also ON drugs and autopsies proved none of the Rhodens except Gary had any drugs or alcohol in system. And I totally agree with both sides guilty of allowing these young girls being with those boys as I've stated all along. What parents allows there 11=12 year old girls move in with their boyfriend???? Crazy on both sides. But the other side Rhodens wasn't using it against the wagners to get custody of child or kill them. The Wagners sure did. Pot calling the kettle black so to speak.