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

[Chris_p_bacon]

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.

Thanks for Sharing this. Very interesting, especially the interviews with people who did not testify at the trial.

 

[Johnny B Bad]

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

How many hours per-day will GW4 spend in his jail cell?

 

[Cool Cats]

How many hours per-day will GW4 spend in his jail cell?

Long time no see!

He is in Rhode Island Maximum Security Prison in Rhode Island. Terrible place! Maybe he has a job and gets out of his cell.

According to the Oxygen show (links above) Jake wrote Chris Newcomb a letter saying he (Jake) was locked up 23 hours a day.

Pike County convicted killer George Wagner IV no longer held in Ohio

Last November, the state of Ohio won a conviction of George Wagner IV in the 2016 Rhoden family killings. In May, Ohio shipped him out of state.

www.dispatch.com

Officials deny reports of hunger strike in ACI maximum security; advocates say it's real

Hunger strike? Advocates, families say yes. RIDOC says no. Inmates say conditions are inhumane, including sweltering temperatures inside this summer.

www.providencejournal.com

 

[BrownRice]

I found the 3 part docuseries interesting. My only critique is that there were so many interviews that were repeated from previous episodes, half of it could have been deleted.

Angela definitely appears to have been the ringleader. Billy looked like the meanest, unhappiest man in the world in all of the photos prior to the murders. Haha, hate to be him now.

The amount of sexual abuse in this family/friend group is extremely sad. Hope the little children in this new generation are protected. Also hope they can be loved and nurtured without the stigma of their tragic beginnings.

I still don’t understand why (in Angela’s mind, and then the other 3) they had to branch out from Hannah Rhoden’s trailer home to continue the murders of the extended family.

 

[Covert Operative]

I found the 3 part docuseries interesting. My only critique is that there were so many interviews that were repeated from previous episodes, half of it could have been deleted.

Angela definitely appears to have been the ringleader. Billy looked like the meanest, unhappiest man in the world in all of the photos prior to the murders. Haha, hate to be him now.

The amount of sexual abuse in this family/friend group is extremely sad. Hope the little children in this new generation are protected. Also hope they can be loved and nurtured without the stigma of their tragic beginnings.

I still don’t understand why (in Angela’s mind, and then the other 3) they had to branch out from Hannah Rhoden’s trailer home to continue the murders of the extended family.

Jake said it was because they (Billy) thought Chris, Frankie or Kenneth would kill them if they found out it was the Wagners.

 

[Betty P]

Jake said it was because they (Billy) thought Chris, Frankie or Kenneth would kill them if they found out it was the Wagners.

Very possible. They probably would have known immediately who was responsible. It would have been better if the Wagners had just moved to Alaska and left everyone alone.

 

[Betty P]

Interesting first episode.

Much of it was already known. Oxygen finally has to give up their bias in favor of the Wagners and against the Rhoden family and their relatives. That first Oxygen special that ran a few years ago was very biased against the victims, JMO.

There's still too many quotes that are accusatory against Chris Rhoden claiming he was involved in "drug" dealing. We now know for a fact that Chris only grew and sold marijuana, nothing else. Billy Wagner was the drug dealer. Chris was not involved in any of Billy's drug dealing. Chris didn't even use drugs. GW4's trial revealed that none of the murder victims had drugs in their system. Nothing stronger than caffeine. The only person who had drugs in his system was Gary Rhoden, whose struggles with addiction were known. Sorry, but I find the BCI agent's quote about Chris being involved in "marijuana drug" dealing to be inaccurate and offensive.

Billy, Jake and the other Wagners told whoppers to BCI for years and for a while BCI believed them. Crazy when you think about it - Billy had quite an extensive criminal record, even back then. Chris and Kenny didn't, nor did the Manleys.

Oxygen did skip some details and compressed the timeline of BCI's investigation of the Wagners.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

I found the 3 part docuseries interesting. My only critique is that there were so many interviews that were repeated from previous episodes, half of it could have been deleted.

Angela definitely appears to have been the ringleader. Billy looked like the meanest, unhappiest man in the world in all of the photos prior to the murders. Haha, hate to be him now.

The amount of sexual abuse in this family/friend group is extremely sad. Hope the little children in this new generation are protected. Also hope they can be loved and nurtured without the stigma of their tragic beginnings.

I still don’t understand why (in Angela’s mind, and then the other 3) they had to branch out from Hannah Rhoden’s trailer home to continue the murders of the extended family.

Well, remember that the full audience may not know anything about the case. Not everyone has seen "previous episodes."

 

[pittsburghgirl]

Interesting first episode.

Much of it was already known. Oxygen finally has to give up their bias in favor of the Wagners and against the Rhoden family and their relatives. That first Oxygen special that ran a few years ago was very biased against the victims, JMO.

There's still too many quotes that are accusatory against Chris Rhoden claiming he was involved in "drug" dealing. We now know for a fact that Chris only grew and sold marijuana, nothing else. Billy Wagner was the drug dealer. Chris was not involved in any of Billy's drug dealing. Chris didn't even use drugs. GW4's trial revealed that none of the murder victims had drugs in their system. Nothing stronger than caffeine. The only person who had drugs in his system was Gary Rhoden, whose struggles with addiction were known. Sorry, but I find the BCI agent's quote about Chris being involved in "marijuana drug" dealing to be inaccurate and offensive.

Billy, Jake and the other Wagners told whoppers to BCI for years and for a while BCI believed them. Crazy when you think about it - Billy had quite an extensive criminal record, even back then. Chris and Kenny didn't, nor did the Manleys.

Oxygen did skip some details and compressed the timeline of BCI's investigation of the Wagners.

Nice analysis. I would say that given the passage of time and the legalization of marijuana in so many places, the fact that Chris and Kenneth were growing marijuana doesn't have the impact that it did when, in the first days after the murders, that fact was what many prominent people hung their investigative hats on. In a way, it's amazing that LE got past the "drugs and cockfighting" stage and looked at the obvious.

But it sure helped that Angela, Billy and Jake weren't as smart as they thought they were. For that matter, George too.

 

[Betty P]

I still don’t understand why (in Angela’s mind, and then the other 3) they had to branch out from Hannah Rhoden’s trailer home to continue the murders of the extended family.

I found that a little odd, too. It almost sounded like they were saying the Wagners decided to kill the others that night, but that sequence of murders is incorrect. The murders began at Chris Sr's trailer, not Dana's. It was: 1) Chris Sr. and Gary 2) Frankie & Hanna's home 3) Dana's home and 4) Kenneth's trailer

Maybe Oxygen was taking artistic license to describe how Jake and Angela decided to murder Hanna, then later decided the whole family had to be killed.

 

[justtrish]

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.

Or if they had a child together. Scary to think of what occurred before she met Jake.. had no clue and married him. She was brave to testify.

 

[justtrish]

I found the 3 part docuseries interesting. My only critique is that there were so many interviews that were repeated from previous episodes, half of it could have been deleted.

Angela definitely appears to have been the ringleader. Billy looked like the meanest, unhappiest man in the world in all of the photos prior to the murders. Haha, hate to be him now.

The amount of sexual abuse in this family/friend group is extremely sad. Hope the little children in this new generation are protected. Also hope they can be loved and nurtured without the stigma of their tragic beginnings.

I still don’t understand why (in Angela’s mind, and then the other 3) they had to branch out from Hannah Rhoden’s trailer home to continue the murders of the extended family.

I believe it was feared that Kenneth would know exactly who did this and he would come after them or that was the thought behind it. I believe Kenneth knew a lot about Billy and how he operated and also about Chris and the business. If I recall correctly, they might have been concerned that Kenneth had access to the cameras at Chris Sr. due to the marijuana plants.. I could be remembering that wrong, but I believe there was something said about this either in the trial or just in talking about it here.

 

[Cool Cats]

I believe it was feared that Kenneth would know exactly who did this and he would come after them or that was the thought behind it. I believe Kenneth knew a lot about Billy and how he operated and also about Chris and the business. If I recall correctly, they might have been concerned that Kenneth had access to the cameras at Chris Sr. due to the marijuana plants.. I could be remembering that wrong, but I believe there was something said about this either in the trial or just in talking about it here.

Jake:
Jake Wagner said he first suggested they kill Hanna May Rhoden and Corey Holdren and make it look like a murder-suicide. But Billy Wagner didn’t feel that was a good plan, the witness said.

Instead, Jake Wagner said his father told him, that if he killed Hanna May Rhoden, he would also have to kill her father, Chris Rhoden Sr., her older brother, Frankie Rhoden, and her uncle Kenneth Rhoden, because they would also come after him “like a sniper on a hill.”

Wagner said he and his father also decided that Frankie Rhoden’s fiancée, Hannah Hazel Gilley, and Chris Rhoden Sr.’s cousin, Gary Rhoden, would also have to die so there wouldn’t be any witnesses.

Angela:
Angela Wagner said she proposed turning Hanna May Rhoden’s father, Chris Rhoden Sr., in to police for a marijuana growing operation because Chris made the decisions in the family. But, she said Billy told her that was not an option.

Angela said Billy spoke to her in the carport of the Peterson Road home and told her they would have to kill Hanna May, her father, Chris Sr., and her brothers Frankie Rhoden and Chris Rhoden Jr. All of them would have to die, Wagner said, because any one of them would come after Jake and kill him and possibly the rest of the Rhoden family.

Angela said she was glad that her husband and sons were not hurt. However, when news came of the murders, she was surprised and asked, “Why? Why so many?”

“Because they were there,” Billy responded, according to Angela’s testimony.

'I Had No Other Choice': Jake Wagner Goes into Chilling Detail About Pike Co. Massacre, Cites Child Molestation Fears as Motive

Jake Wagner claimed the tipping point came when he discussed his concerns with Hanna May Rhoden about their daughter possibly being molested.

lawandcrime.com

Wagner Family Matriarch Testifies at Son's Pike County Massacre Murder Trial: 'I Wasn't Raised to Believe in the Justice System'

Angela Wagner testified that she spoke to Jake and George Wagner about the murders beforehand — and she claimed they said their hearts weren't in it.

lawandcrime.com

Billy demanded she send text messages from George and Jake’s phones to a man named James Rhoten in Virginia to give them an alibi. Angela said she sent the message but didn’t know which James she sent it to. For years, questions have surrounded a text message that Jake Wagner’s phone sent the night of the murders to the phone of James Manley, victim Dana Rhoden’s brother.

 

[Covert Operative]

Jake:
Jake Wagner said he first suggested they kill Hanna May Rhoden and Corey Holdren and make it look like a murder-suicide. But Billy Wagner didn’t feel that was a good plan, the witness said.

Instead, Jake Wagner said his father told him, that if he killed Hanna May Rhoden, he would also have to kill her father, Chris Rhoden Sr., her older brother, Frankie Rhoden, and her uncle Kenneth Rhoden, because they would also come after him “like a sniper on a hill.”

Wagner said he and his father also decided that Frankie Rhoden’s fiancée, Hannah Hazel Gilley, and Chris Rhoden Sr.’s cousin, Gary Rhoden, would also have to die so there wouldn’t be any witnesses.

Angela:
Angela Wagner said she proposed turning Hanna May Rhoden’s father, Chris Rhoden Sr., in to police for a marijuana growing operation because Chris made the decisions in the family. But, she said Billy told her that was not an option.

Angela said Billy spoke to her in the carport of the Peterson Road home and told her they would have to kill Hanna May, her father, Chris Sr., and her brothers Frankie Rhoden and Chris Rhoden Jr. All of them would have to die, Wagner said, because any one of them would come after Jake and kill him and possibly the rest of the Rhoden family.

Angela said she was glad that her husband and sons were not hurt. However, when news came of the murders, she was surprised and asked, “Why? Why so many?”

“Because they were there,” Billy responded, according to Angela’s testimony.

'I Had No Other Choice': Jake Wagner Goes into Chilling Detail About Pike Co. Massacre, Cites Child Molestation Fears as Motive

Jake Wagner claimed the tipping point came when he discussed his concerns with Hanna May Rhoden about their daughter possibly being molested.

lawandcrime.com

Wagner Family Matriarch Testifies at Son's Pike County Massacre Murder Trial: 'I Wasn't Raised to Believe in the Justice System'

Angela Wagner testified that she spoke to Jake and George Wagner about the murders beforehand — and she claimed they said their hearts weren't in it.

lawandcrime.com

Billy demanded she send text messages from George and Jake’s phones to a man named James Rhoten in Virginia to give them an alibi. Angela said she sent the message but didn’t know which James she sent it to. For years, questions have surrounded a text message that Jake Wagner’s phone sent the night of the murders to the phone of James Manley, victim Dana Rhoden’s brother.

Turning in Chris might lead right to Billy also in trouble, so I am sure he did not want that.

 

[Cool Cats]

Or if they had a child together. Scary to think of what occurred before she met Jake.. had no clue and married him. She was brave to testify.

Pike County murder trial: 'I was afraid they were going to kill me' Jake's ex-wife testifies

She married Jake Wagner after he had fled to Alaska. After just three months of living with him and the family, she fled.

www.wcpo.com

Elizabeth meets and marries Jake.....

Elizabeth Armer said she grew up in a Mennonite community in Tennessee before moving to Alaska where she met Jake at church. She caught Jake noticing her and not long after that he contacted her on Facebook to ask her out.

She told him she wasn't comfortable going on a date with someone she didn't know, so Jake made a more concerted effort to speak with her at church, taking walks, eating out, getting ice cream, etc...

Armer said she didn't know anything about what the Wagners had left behind in Ohio, until the church's pastor addressed it to the congregation. Jake told her his ex-girlfriend in Ohio was murdered and that people thought he did it because he'd dated her and that, after being "hounded" by the media, the family moved.

Nine months after the two met Jake proposed and the plan was to remain engaged for two years while they got more comfortable with one another but Jake kept changing the terms. Eventually, Armer said she was walking down the aisle just one month after Jake's proposal.

The wedding was calm, held in a friend's cabin but George and Billy spent the reception skulking. Before the pair were married, Armer said she'd only met the rest of his family once or twice; Jake told her he wasn't on good terms with them, but that they'd fallen on hard times so he was renting space to them in his home. That night, Jake and Armer were taken to a hotel room.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

Nice analysis. I would say that given the passage of time and the legalization of marijuana in so many places, the fact that Chris and Kenneth were growing marijuana doesn't have the impact that it did when, in the first days after the murders, that fact was what many prominent people hung their investigative hats on. In a way, it's amazing that LE got past the "drugs and cockfighting" stage and looked at the obvious.

I found that a little odd, too. It almost sounded like they were saying the Wagners decided to kill the others that night, but that sequence of murders is incorrect. The murders began at Chris Sr's trailer, not Dana's. It was: 1) Chris Sr. and Gary 2) Frankie & Hanna's home 3) Dana's home and 4) Kenneth's trailer

Maybe Oxygen was taking artistic license to describe how Jake and Angela decided to murder Hanna, then later decided the whole family had to be killed.

You'd have to start with Chris, Sr. He might have been alone in the trailer and Billy could use a ruse to get him to open the door. If Chris had heard or seen a problem at Dana's house, he would have gone over there.

 

[Cool Cats]

You'd have to start with Chris, Sr. He might have been alone in the trailer and Billy could use a ruse to get him to open the door. If Chris had heard or seen a problem at Dana's house, he would have gone over there.

Billy did use a ruse to get in, it was planned ahead of time that he would have a meeting with Chris to discuss business. Chris opened the door and was in control of his dogs, thus, the Wagners were able to get past the dogs.

Gary was with Chris that night, he was sitting in a recliner in the living room. Billy shot Gary when Gary started to get up from the recliner. Chris's house is listed in the evidence as crime scene #1.

Jake said George was suppose to shoot Chris but froze, so Jake said he shot Chris in the arm then Billy went in and did the rest of the shooting. Later Billy went into Kenny's camper and shot him.

Prosecutors lay out possible new evidence in Pike County massacre trial

Prosecutors in the Pike County massacre case laid out new evidence to paint the Wagner family as a "criminal enterprise" during a hearing on what could be allowed at trial Monday, including that the family allegedly took a vote to commit the murders and then set up a fake drug deal as an ambush.

www.wcpo.com

Canepa said the Wagner patriarch, Billy, set up a fake "lucrative" drug deal meeting with Christopher Rhoden Sr. at his Union Hill Road property, but it was an ambush.

"Chris Sr. expected to see Billy Wagner that night," Canepa said. "He did not know Jake and George were present, because they were hidden in the car."

That new fact squares with what Leonard Manley told reporters:

“Whoever done it know’d the family because there were two dogs there that would eat you up, but I ain’t gonna say no more,” Manley said at the time.

 

[Piffcat]

hello all long time no see. ive just turned off the oxygen program after georges "attorney" started spewing his nonsense. i am so dissapointed in this program and the sanitization of this crime by the media. even beyond the wagners- the first year after these murders every single person involved with this crime let the rhoden family down and smited the deaths of their loves ones. from announing the pot and roosters, to the ridiculously horrible interviews blaming the victims in the first months after the crime. ripping the manleys out of bed for polygraphs, blaming them for the murders culminating with arresting danas brother!!! the only person who actually helped the victims- sherrif reader-- has also been scrubbed from the story!! the wagners were leading everyone around by the nose causing more pain to the families, attending the funerals, filing for custody- all of this with no resistance or investigation. i am very grateful bci got their *advertiser censored* together and arrested these horrible wagners. but the story being told is not what happened.
you cannot tell this crime in a program rated tv-pg. i like chris newsome and all, but im not interested in angelas boo hoo hard life. hearing the interviewer make excuses for angelas actions controlling the children due to her "trauma" misses the entire point. angela controls because it makes her feel powerful she gets a rush. theres no sob story here. its 4 people who are sub human did not respect the rhodens lives. i want to here about the rhodens and i want to see the crime scenes. the mayhem these animals unleashed on 4 house holds needs to be seen. not the bodies- but the aftermath. the details of this murder are so disturbing with the babies in their parents blood. innocent honest people killed in their sleep with no chance to defend themselves or even have last words or a good bye.

 

[Betty P]

hello all long time no see. ive just turned off the oxygen program after georges "attorney" started spewing his nonsense. i am so dissapointed in this program and the sanitization of this crime by the media. even beyond the wagners- the first year after these murders every single person involved with this crime let the rhoden family down and smited the deaths of their loves ones. from announing the pot and roosters, to the ridiculously horrible interviews blaming the victims in the first months after the crime. ripping the manleys out of bed for polygraphs, blaming them for the murders culminating with arresting danas brother!!! the only person who actually helped the victims- sherrif reader-- has also been scrubbed from the story!! the wagners were leading everyone around by the nose causing more pain to the families, attending the funerals, filing for custody- all of this with no resistance or investigation. i am very grateful bci got their *advertiser censored* together and arrested these horrible wagners. but the story being told is not what happened.
you cannot tell this crime in a program rated tv-pg. i like chris newsome and all, but im not interested in angelas boo hoo hard life. hearing the interviewer make excuses for angelas actions controlling the children due to her "trauma" misses the entire point. angela controls because it makes her feel powerful she gets a rush. theres no sob story here. its 4 people who are sub human did not respect the rhodens lives. i want to here about the rhodens and i want to see the crime scenes. the mayhem these animals unleashed on 4 house holds needs to be seen. not the bodies- but the aftermath. the details of this murder are so disturbing with the babies in their parents blood. innocent honest people killed in their sleep with no chance to defend themselves or even have last words or a good bye.

Welcome back! I agree 100%. Thanks for saying it. This was a horrible crime that should have been solved much sooner, without inflicting so much damage to the victims family members.

Those survivors ended up forgiving the investigators as they continued to seek justice. Once BCI accepted that the Wagners were the most likely suspects, they worked hard to find the evidence. There are important lessons to be learned from acknowledging those mistakes. They shouldn’t be ignored. Lets hope there will be others who will document the events honestly, giving credit where it’s due, but also revealing missteps and the harm done to innocent family members.

JMO

 

[arielilane]

Watched first episode only, could not stomach CN and his 15 minutes of fame or the commercials. Don't care for him at all and show a huge disappointment.

Really wish BW3 would show a sliver of good character and give up the chaos. Give the families the peace they deserve. He's done enough damage to last for the rest of their lives. BW3 is pure evil.

Not believing the W's were worried about the children being sa as they claimed. Remember JW wanted visitation w/HMR’s child after he murdered her. Were they wanting to collect children, JW married quickly once in AK.

Also, AW claim of raped - wasn’t too believable either - it was an excuse by a master manipulator as a way to be released from the USAF.

AW & JW wanted control of the child and would stop at nothing for full control.

Finally, something else disgusting is AW light sentence.

All is speculation, with a bit of moo