Pike County: 'That's all we've got left. Just those kids.'
As authorities continue to investigate the Rhoden family slaying in Pike County, at least three families are beginning the laborious process to gain custody of the babies left behind.
Chris Graves, and Carrie Cochran
Cincinnati
- Eight bodies, four children; no answers
- Kylie's daddy
- A home and a daycare
Samantha Robinson still isn’t sure who handed Ruger Rhoden to her on the chaotic morning of April 22.
But she cradled the 6-month-old, covered in his parents' blood, for three hours on Union Hill Road. He drifted to sleep as his older brother — who is her grandson — played in the car’s backseat, before child protective authorities took him from her.
Perhaps, she ponders now, that was her purpose on the devastating day that left Ruger and his 5-day-old cousin, Kylie Rhoden, orphans.
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Gilley is so confident that he is Kylie's dad that he and an older sister, Meranda Gilley, have rented a four-bedroom house. They have painted it and fixed it up in hopes they will bring Kylie home one day soon along with Ruger Rhoden, he said. It's even near a daycare and not far from their jobs, he said.
Ruger's mom, Hannah Gilley, was their sister.
Meranda Gilley is also working with a lawyer in hopes of winning custody of her nephew, who was the light of her sister's life.
Hannah Gilley adored the baby and only once let someone watch him. She nursed Ruger and found leaving him nearly impossible, said her paternal grandmother Glenna Gilley.
"She absolutely adored him. He was just starting to sit up and crawl. She was so proud of him," she said.
Ruger visited her home with his mom and aunt on the Wednesday before the killings.
Hannah Gilley was "learning to be a mom" and doted on both him and his older half-brother Brentley, whom she considered her son as well.
Both grandparents worry the babies will forget them the longer the case drags out. They worry Ruger was having a difficult time adjusting to a bottle.
"Whoever has them, I just hope they show them picture of us," Glenna Gilley said. "I don't want him to forget us."
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Tony Rhoden can't help but worry about that, too. And he vowed he and all the Rhodens will remain involved in their lives.
Recently, he made a special trip out to visit Samantha Robinson, grandmother of Ruger's 3-year-old half-brother Brentley. Brentley is the son of Frankie Rhoden and Chelsea Robinson, who is Samantha Robinson's daughter.
Tony Rhoden asked her if he can remain in Brentley's life.
"That day, we talked for hours. We cried and we laughed,'' Robinson said. "Mostly we cried."
Tony Rhoden told her he would be there for Brentley: "He said he'll be even closer to him now," Robinson said.
And she said she would never keep her grandson from his great uncles, aunts or cousins.
"I told him don't be scared about that,'' she said.
"We are family,'' she said, "And no one can change that