Back in court in
#pikecounty where it appears the prosecution is beginning (??) the long process of tying the ends together in the
#georgewagnerIV trial in the 2016 slayings of the
#rhoden family.
Jurors this morning heard 13 recordings during which authorities either bugged the Wagner's vehicle and/or were intercepting their calls and text messages in May and June 2017.
The first and longest was captured in on May 21, 2017 after authorities stopped the Wagner at the Canada board with Montana to question the family. They also installed a body wire in the truck and a second device Ohio authorities could activate and record from Ohio.
This according to Julia Eveslage, BCI criminal intelligence analyst. The audio quality is poor; but George Wagner IV voices concern that his ex-wife saw their son at the border crossing. "I'm going to bring all hell ... " if that happened.
In the other calls, authorities were legally intercepting calls and text messages between the Wagners and in one case, the current owner of their former Peebles farm, where BCI agents were continuing to search.
George to his mother, Angela, in a call on June 15, 2017 at 5:44 p.m.: "Apparently, they are digging up the place." She asks him where and he responds, saying by the barn and house. Angela: "What the heck do you think they are looking for?”
That call is followed by a series between family members about the search, which a BCI agent testified last week uncovered spent shell casings that match several firearms on a list of guns found on Jake Wagner's phone. "They are a bunch of idiots," one of the Wagners said.
"It's a load of crap. How do they think they will get away with that?" Another responds. In calls placed later that same day, Angela Wanger talks to both her sons describing property she toured in Kenai, Alaska where the family moved in 2017.
She said that homeowner wants to sell the property, which includes a house built over a trailer for $180,000, but they will rent it first for $975/month in George's name and using his credit.
The next day, Angela Wagner's mother Rita Newcomb calls her daughter and tells her the evidence they have against the family (shoe prints and ballistics). She also discusses the forged custody documents.
Three days later, on June 19, 2017, Newcomb calls to tell her about the press release the Ohio Attorney general put out asking for information about the family. "Mom ... tell them we didn't do it ... they need to stop because they are ruining our lives."
Wagner tells Newcomb to call the BCI tip line and say Leonard Manley (the father of victim Dana Manley and grandfather to three other victims) was involved, implying he wanted $50,000 in insurance money.
https://twitter.com/chrisgraves
