OH - Pike Co - 8 in Rhoden Family Murdered - 4 Wagner Family Members Arrested #88

[BrownRice]

How to Watch The Pike County Murders: A Family Massacre | Oxygen Official Site

Learn more about the mass murder case that rocked small-town Ohio getting an in-depth look on Oxygen with The Pike County Murders: A Family Massacre.

www.oxygen.com

Nothing says Happy Holidays like watching a documentary about an entire family that was murdered by another family. Can’t even imagine being Angela Wagner this morning. Assume she used to prepare a big Thanksgiving every year for her family. And now they are in prison forever (Billy, you will be joining them soon). Her entire immediate family. In prison.

Cannot ever imagine my son coming to me about a custody issue with my grandchild and then having a family meeting with the decision to kill everyone. How does that even happen?

 

[pittsburghgirl]

Nothing says Happy Holidays like watching a documentary about an entire family that was murdered by another family. Can’t even imagine being Angela Wagner this morning. Assume she used to prepare a big Thanksgiving every year for her family. And now they are in prison forever (Billy, you will be joining them soon). Her entire immediate family. In prison.

Cannot ever imagine my son coming to me about a custody issue with my grandchild and then having a family meeting with the decision to kill everyone. How does that even happen?

I've got COVID (very mild case, last day of quarantine is Friday), so this will be a change from watching NCIS reruns and Dateline.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

Speaking of not deserving of getting out, Angela specifically said her reason for her plea deal was so she could "hold her grandbabies again "

She hasn't faced her reality yet that her 2 grandkids will be 35 and 36 years old when she ages out of her sentence at 78.

She will likely have great grandchildren by this time who do not know her whatsoever until they get older and look her up on the internet, which I'm sure they will do, in my opinion.

I wonder if George has finally accepted he will die in prison? He sure didn't accept it during his trial and arrogant testimony.

2 Cents

I feel certain that those two kids will want nothing to do with Angela or any other Wagner. The internet is forever.

 

[KentuckyMama]

I've got COVID (very mild case, last day of quarantine is Friday), so this will be a change from watching NCIS reruns and Dateline.

Hope you are over it quickly with no lasting effects. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone.

 

[meanmaryjean]

Nothing says Happy Holidays like watching a documentary about an entire family that was murdered by another family. Can’t even imagine being Angela Wagner this morning. Assume she used to prepare a big Thanksgiving every year for her family. And now they are in prison forever (Billy, you will be joining them soon). Her entire immediate family. In prison.

Cannot ever imagine my son coming to me about a custody issue with my grandchild and then having a family meeting with the decision to kill everyone. How does that even happen?

Exactly

 

[Betty P]

I've got COVID (very mild case, last day of quarantine is Friday), so this will be a change from watching NCIS reruns and Dateline.

Sorry to hear it. Hope you’re feeling better soon.

Glad Billy’s request for change of venue has been declined for now.

 

[Fat Old Man]

Glad Billy’s request for change of venue has been declined for now.

Maybe the Wagner family control in Pike county was some what a delusional thing to just the Wagner's in a few on the take.

 

[Betty P]

Maybe the Wagner family control in Pike county was some what a delusional thing to just the Wagner's in a few on the take.

I think the influence of the grandparents was very real, and to a much lesser degree still is. I think it protected them in the first couple of years until police finally accepted that it might be the Wagners.

 

[arielilane]

At the bottom of this article are 1077 pages of court proceedings/Jake's testimony during trial.

[Body Bags Special] The Piketon Massacre: 1 Night. 4 Crime Scenes. 8 Murders.

In a special episode of Body Bags, host Joseph Scott Morgan and co-host Dave Mack break down the senseless Piketon County murders, which left eight people dead, despite a close friendship between the suspects and victims. The Rhodens and the Wagners lived next to each other for years in Piketon...

www.crimeonline.com

From the article. Unbelievable to see so many caskets... and that's not all of them.

 

[Covert Operative]

From the article. Unbelievable to see so many caskets... and that's not all of them.

View attachment 463401

Yes that is an unbelieveable picture. I have read Jakes court transcripts from that article. It was interesting. Its a lot of reading though. I want to find Angela's court transcripts. On page 649 of Jake''s he said he had referred to Angela as an angel in the past and he believes that about her still. Wow.... Angel of Death maybe.

 

[Covert Operative]

This is Jake's court transcripts on scribd. It is a lot of reading but it is interesting.

https://www.scribd.com/document/686257537/Jake-Wagner-Court-Docs-Hearing-Excerpts

 

[pittsburghgirl]

Sorry to hear it. Hope you’re feeling better soon.

Glad Billy’s request for change of venue has been declined for now.

If you don't want to be tried in the county where you commit a heinous crime, don't commit the heinous crime.

 

[meanmaryjean]

I have only been a casual follower of this case- but felt Part One last night was extremely well done in terms of explaining who all the players are in a very complex situation. The person that really struck me was the Wagner cousin (I think he's a cousin) who did commentary with his blond fiancé. Willing to changes his mind when presented with facts. And his reaction when the producer talks off-camera about rape and the lack of control women feel was so genuine and so thoughtful.
Anxiously awaiting Part Two.

 

[Covert Operative]

I have only been a casual follower of this case- but felt Part One last night was extremely well done in terms of explaining who all the players are in a very complex situation. The person that really struck me was the Wagner cousin (I think he's a cousin) who did commentary with his blond fiancé. Willing to changes his mind when presented with facts. And his reaction when the producer talks off-camera about rape and the lack of control women feel was so genuine and so thoughtful.
Anxiously awaiting Part Two.

I agree. It was good. Part 1 and 2 come on Oxygen again today at 2 pm. I did not care very much for the cousin when he was testifying in court for various reasons. In the documentary he came off better for me.

 

[arielilane]

The "cousin" featured in yesterday's show is AW's half-brother CN. They have the same mother/different father. He stated, living in AW's home now. He is also the one who testified @GW4 trial in 2022.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

This article has a picture of when Billy, Angela, George and Jake were younger. I had never seen this pic before.

Documentary Series The Pike County Murders: A Family Massacre Examines the Depravity That Shook Ohio to Its Core | Oxygen Official Site

Learn more about The Pike County Murders: A Family Massacre, Oxygen's deep dive docuseries into how and why eight Ohio family members were viciously slain.

www.oxygen.com

I thought they photographs were very compelling.

 

[Covert Operative]

The "cousin" featured in yesterday's show is AW's half-brother CN. They have the same mother/different father. He stated, living in AW's home now. He is also the one who testified @GW4 trial in 2022.

I guess he is actually the uncle/half uncle of George and Jake. That home is Rita's home I believe but her son and his g/f live in it and I think she has at times. She and Pug owned it together somehow or last I looked at the county records it was that way and was hers when he died. I even called the county one day to check that because it seemed strange. I believe there is a medicaid lien on it also. Tony Rhoden may own it eventually if that civil trial ever goes anywhere.

Rita's mother lives right beside that house or at least she did. Her mothers house caught on fire a few years ago, they may have repaired it by now.

Property Number 02-1383.000 Owner Name CARTER EDWARD V.JR.+RITA J. J/S Owner Address PO BOX 67 SOUTH WEBSTER OH 45682 Tax Set 02 SOUTH WEBSTER CORP BLOOM-VERNO School District 7301 BLOOM-VERNON LSD Neighborhood 00200 SOUTH WEBSTER CORP Use Code 511 1-family unplatted 0-09.99 acs. Acres 0.60000 Description SW SW .60A RTS 19-4-14 MAP 04-004 52 HAVENER LN

 

[Covert Operative]

This is episode 1 that was on oxygen if anyone has not been able to watch it. Have not found episode 2 and 3 on youtube to watch yet.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

Sometimes TV shows about true crime cases are disappointing, but I found the Oxygen 3-parter on this case to be more informative and interesting than I expected. Probably most of it is familiar to people who watched most or all of George's trial (or someone who read here about what was said and done), but it was helpful to hear what they said without all of the interruptions of a trial.

• I was surprised to see both Angela Canepa and the defense attorney John Parker, doing interviews at this point, not to mention the current governor of Ohio. It would have been easy to use news footage instead. The interviewer(s) did a good job getting all of them to show their emotions about the murders themselves.
• Parker is very adamant that there is no evidence that George was even at the crime scene. That of course is not the same as saying he wasn't there or explaining why the signal blocker was on his credit card or why his marriage was so much like Jake's marriages. Listening to him defend George without really defending him shows how closely we have to listen to what attorneys say and don't say.
• It was interesting to hear an investigator talking about following the evidence trail, especially what put them on the trail of the Wagners.
• The documentary made clear the patterns of childhood sexual abuse of Hanna, Tabitha, and Elizabeth and of sexual assault/rape of Angela although without exploration of how far back all of this behavior went or how the Wagners were able to so easily gain control of three young women who turned out to be real fighters. But all the red flags of domestic violence were flying--isolating the girls from their families, selecting vulnerable victims with a history of abuse, controlling access to money and other resources, preferring victims with limited education and opportunities for independence. using threats of violence as a means of control.
• The argument between Jake and his mother in which he reminded her she was the grandmother, not the mother of his daughter, as well as seeing where Angela shared the bedroom with the kids, exposed how truly delusional she is. It was also interesting to see that even the murderous Jake chafed under her control--and clearly knew how wrong she was to be doing what she did with the grandchildren. There's physical sexual abuse and then there's the emotional incest Angela engaged in, using these vulnerable young women to produce babies that she could then take from them, physically and emotionally. If Angela saw herself as the mother of her grandchildren, what does that say about her view of her sons, who were their fathers?
• Interesting to think again about how brave Hanna Rhoden was to leave Jake, to refuse to fall for Wagner custody schemes. It's painful to consider what might have happened if she had got to court to secure custody, or whether the marijuana angle made her wary of using the government, which might have meant causing trouble for her father. And it shows how true it is that leaving a controlling man (and in this case, a whole controlling family) puts a woman and her bio family at risk.
• I wonder again if law enforcement was less enamored with Wagner power than the media suggested ordinary people in the area were.

 

[Covert Operative]

Sometimes TV shows about true crime cases are disappointing, but I found the Oxygen 3-parter on this case to be more informative and interesting than I expected. Probably most of it is familiar to people who watched most or all of George's trial (or someone who read here about what was said and done), but it was helpful to hear what they said without all of the interruptions of a trial.

• I was surprised to see both Angela Canepa and the defense attorney John Parker, doing interviews at this point, not to mention the current governor of Ohio. It would have been easy to use news footage instead. The interviewer(s) did a good job getting all of them to show their emotions about the murders themselves.
• Parker is very adamant that there is no evidence that George was even at the crime scene. That of course is not the same as saying he wasn't there or explaining why the signal blocker was on his credit card or why his marriage was so much like Jake's marriages. Listening to him defend George without really defending him shows how closely we have to listen to what attorneys say and don't say.
• It was interesting to hear an investigator talking about following the evidence trail, especially what put them on the trail of the Wagners.
• The documentary made clear the patterns of childhood sexual abuse of Hanna, Tabitha, and Elizabeth and of sexual assault/rape of Angela although without exploration of how far back all of this behavior went or how the Wagners were able to so easily gain control of three young women who turned out to be real fighters. But all the red flags of domestic violence were flying--isolating the girls from their families, selecting vulnerable victims with a history of abuse, controlling access to money and other resources, preferring victims with limited education and opportunities for independence. using threats of violence as a means of control.
• The argument between Jake and his mother in which he reminded her she was the grandmother, not the mother of his daughter, as well as seeing where Angela shared the bedroom with the kids, exposed how truly delusional she is. It was also interesting to see that even the murderous Jake chafed under her control--and clearly knew how wrong she was to be doing what she did with the grandchildren. There's physical sexual abuse and then there's the emotional incest Angela engaged in, using these vulnerable young women to produce babies that she could then take from them, physically and emotionally. If Angela saw herself as the mother of her grandchildren, what does that say about her view of her sons, who were their fathers?
• Interesting to think again about how brave Hanna Rhoden was to leave Jake, to refuse to fall for Wagner custody schemes. It's painful to consider what might have happened if she had got to court to secure custody, or whether the marijuana angle made her wary of using the government, which might have meant causing trouble for her father. And it shows how true it is that leaving a controlling man (and in this case, a whole controlling family) puts a woman and her bio family at risk.
• I wonder again if law enforcement was less enamored with Wagner power than the media suggested ordinary people in the area were.

I thought the series was done well and accurate.

I got tired of Parker saying there was no evidence of George at the crime scene. There was no physical evidence of any of them at the crime scene as far as DNA,prints etc., so that makes no difference to anyone except Parker I think.

Beth might have ended up dead if the heat had not been on the Wagners so heavily.