OH - Pike County: 8 people from one family dead as police hunt for killer(s) #6

[Betty P]

Thanks for the description of coon dogs, lonesomepaws. My grandfather raised them out in the Ozarks. It's also important to note that 'coon hunting is an old sport. In the 1800's early 1900's, people in rural areas hunted or trapped raccoons for their fur. It was a way to supplement your income in areas where extra income was hard to come by. It was very common. In later years, it became a hobby. My gf spent quite a bit of money on dogs, pens, expensive food, etc. He trained those dogs at least a few times a week. The locals would hold "hunts", usually at someone's hunting cabin, at night. They would bring their dogs, women would cook a lot of food and the dog owners would compete to see whose dog could find and "tree" a coon fastest. I recall more than once driving around back roads with him the next day as he hunted for a lost dog, they are expensive and the owners are very attached to them. Still have photos of him posing with the dogs and all the ribbons and trophies he won. IIRC, they're very friendly dogs, but hyper.

 

[Smugshots]

Well they said three of the four locations and something was posted indicating not one at Dana's. Also with Dana having her nursing license, Kenneth's would be better.

I don't think Dana was and RN, she was an aid.

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[SurfieTX]

I think the motive is greed. Who gets the land now that Christopher Rhoden and "et al" are all probably among the deceased?

 

[Pheasant]

I think the motive is greed. Who gets the land now that Christopher Rhoden and "et al" are all probably among the deceased?

I believe Chris has two surviving siblings who are probably "et al". The land he owned personally would be dictated by his will, if he had one.

 

[Ann99]

Off topic? Speculation. My dreams were of this.


The recent posts about the vehicles and salvage and titles, etc. made me remember something.


I read a mystery (fiction) a few years ago.
Set in a small town, and a neighboring small town, a story was woven around a tangled web of people who owned and worked in - car repair shop, car dealership, car insurance, and local bank. Maybe a local politician was involved.
All upstanding citizens.


Certain operatives of this "group" would cause accidents thru strategic dis-repair of vehicles or forced road incidents that appeared to be small accidents. Vehicles were moderately damaged, but declared Salvage (no questions asked) by the insurance inspector, sold for pennies within the group, repaired and then resold out of area for much more money. It was a big money making operation.
As usual the group became more and more bold and eventually caused several deaths...and had to resort to more planned murders to keep people quiet...


I'm not suggesting this is what was going on, but it is a way to make money most would not realize.


Any kind of tangled web involving any money making scheme could be at core of these murders.


What made me dream of it was the report that D.R.' S boyfriend died in a car accident. (?)
I was thinking about that late last night.


Not making any accusations - just made me remember the mystery story.

 

[KKearns]

I don't think Dana was and RN, she was an aid.

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No she wasn't an RN, but there is still licensing and Healthcare licensing is really particular about things. You can be done for good with the wrong thing on your record.

 

[cady]

I thought so too - but why would they quote Gary's father as saying that?

Gary's fathers name is Kenneth and Chris Rhoden sr is his nephew. He was correct, but the Dayton paper is wrong. JMO

 

[Ann99]

http://www.cincinnati.com/topic/c19...82d77be49755/enquirer-massacre-in-rural-ohio/

compilation on of most stories, videos, 911 audio and transcripts.

 

[Damarna]

I want to talk about Coon dogs. Someone on the thread earlier said these folks abused their animals because they were tied up. Wrong. A Coon dog is called that as they hunt for animals- racoon and such. They will hear a noise, follow that noise, use their sense of smell and find the animal and chase it up a tree. Then they'll wait there for the hunter to arrive. They can work in packs or alone.

It looks to me like the Rhodens had Walkers. These dogs are expensive, but not the type of dog you would have hanging out in your house or roaming the yard for protection. They do not bark- but rather it is more of a "baying at the moon" noise and they do it off and on all the time. Not really to alert that a person is around- just cause they feel like it. They are not territorial. You would not use one for a guard dog.

Now. The nature of the breed is to hear and noise and follow it. If you leave them to roam- they WILL roam and you will lose them. They put their nose to the ground and follow a noise. Then they hear another noise and follow that noise and before you know if they're in the next county and don't know how to get home. We have them lost here ALL THE TIME. If anything moves- a rabbit, a mouse, a cat- they're going after it. It is their NATURE.

If you think it's "abuse" to chain the dog, I'm sorry. These are not family pets. They are working dogs with a purpose.

You could crate the dog- but they require a LOT of exercise and an owner would have them off leash and training daily until they were tired. Then they would be leashed while they slept. And they require expensive feed- not dollar store dog food.

They are VERY friendly. They like people and they like attention. They would not bite you if you were a stranger- they'd want to be petted. If you had a treat you'd be in the gravy. But if they were chained, they would not have acted any differently if strangers showed up.

Okay- I'm off my soap box. If you do not understand how Appalachia people farm, use their animals, relate to other people etc. you should really not say anything ugly and untrue about them.
Now maybe we should talk about pit bulls- as they are a totally different breed, with a different purpose.

Thank you! I'm a hound person. This is good info!

 

[adot0902]

I want to talk about Coon dogs. Someone on the thread earlier said these folks abused their animals because they were tied up. Wrong. A Coon dog is called that as they hunt for animals- racoon and such. They will hear a noise, follow that noise, use their sense of smell and find the animal and chase it up a tree. Then they'll wait there for the hunter to arrive. They can work in packs or alone.

It looks to me like the Rhodens had Walkers. These dogs are expensive, but not the type of dog you would have hanging out in your house or roaming the yard for protection. They do not bark- but rather it is more of a "baying at the moon" noise and they do it off and on all the time. Not really to alert that a person is around- just cause they feel like it. They are not territorial. You would not use one for a guard dog.

Now. The nature of the breed is to hear and noise and follow it. If you leave them to roam- they WILL roam and you will lose them. They put their nose to the ground and follow a noise. Then they hear another noise and follow that noise and before you know if they're in the next county and don't know how to get home. We have them lost here ALL THE TIME. If anything moves- a rabbit, a mouse, a cat- they're going after it. It is their NATURE.

If you think it's "abuse" to chain the dog, I'm sorry. These are not family pets. They are working dogs with a purpose.

You could crate the dog- but they require a LOT of exercise and an owner would have them off leash and training daily until they were tired. Then they would be leashed while they slept. And they require expensive feed- not dollar store dog food.

They are VERY friendly. They like people and they like attention. They would not bite you if you were a stranger- they'd want to be petted. If you had a treat you'd be in the gravy. But if they were chained, they would not have acted any differently if strangers showed up.

Okay- I'm off my soap box. If you do not understand how Appalachia people farm, use their animals, relate to other people etc. you should really not say anything ugly and untrue about them.
Now maybe we should talk about pit bulls- as they are a totally different breed, with a different purpose.

Thank you for this!!! I wanted to say the same thing but couldn't do it near as eloquently. I think it's easy for me to understand as I grow up in Central Pennsylvania in the country, but after graduation immediately moved to the city, now I'm a suburban mom. People always question my accent it's dutchified from birth mixed with city slang with 6 years of college thrown in. I assume it's probably funny to hear me talk at times.
I don't think "city people" understand the concept of working animals. Nothing wrong with it they just don't understand why a dog would be anything other than a companion, because they have no need to know. Plus rescues and "pounds" in the city don't really have coon dogs for adoption so their is a chance this case is the first time they have heard of this.
My uncle had a bagel for this purpose, he lived outside because he was miserable indoors. He was off his chain and hunting and exercising more then he wasn't but at night he was chained. We all loved him and played with him but his purpose wasn't so much a pet as a hunting tool.

 

[cady]

I think the motive is greed. Who gets the land now that Christopher Rhoden and "et al" are all probably among the deceased?

I sort of thought that too, but Chris sr has two living brothers and I think 4 sisters. So all of Clarence's family is not wiped out and Frankies sons survive as well as Hanna's children. JMO..................guess it depends on who et al is..........

 

[adot0902]

One more thing I wanted to add that I didn't see brought up. A few years ago the area my grandparents live in was "re-addressed" for fire and emergency purposes. They still don't know their new address after 10 years they still say the old one, which is named after a road that doesn't even exist. Since this area is so remote I wonder if something like this didn't happen recently, and that was the confusion with not knowing addresses. It's hard to imagine not having "real addresses" but on this type of land that has multiple houses it could be that they had one address for the whole plot and when grandfather died it was reassessed giving multiple new addresses for multiple new pieces of land.

 

[Damarna]

I'd like to just say something about BJM and her 911 call. Relate a story....my dear friend found her husband laying in the barnyard. He'd had a massive heart attack. Sometime later she was talking about her call to 911 and the strange things she told them. Like he ate breakfast ok. He woke up as usual. She said at the time she was just saying anything to try to make sense of what she was experiencing.

I'm not saying there isn't reason to be suspicious about BJM .... just that those words may not have been that unusual with what she was facing.

 

[Mistree]

Or maybe the "Gamefowl Mafia"...

Aw ha! You found that too huh?

 

[lonesomepaws]

Knowing the area where this happened, poverty is overwhelming. I can't help but wonder if the younger son possibly "bragged" to a friend and maybe even showed the friend the "set up" and that friend shared with a relative (innocently, just gossiping) and this who,e thing was set into motion.... I keep thinking it was about the money. $100,000 in this community would be like a million some place else. Would love to know if they had safes with cash, could explain the beating.

Just for the heck of it, I compared Pike County with my county (Gilmer County Georgia). We have the exact same population- actually we have 200 more people- but we have 12 more square miles We are in the mountains of Appalachia. Our high school graduation % is the same, average yearly income is the same. These people do not consider themselves to be poor. They don't really have aspirations to "make more, go father or rise above." A lot of people here are land rich- but cash poor. Properties have been in certain families for years and years. If you get into a real jam, you can section off a piece and sell it. You can also call the lumber people and sell your timber off your land (which has a big payoff) To offset your taxes, you can declare your land as a tree farm where you plant trees and they are harvested after so many years- these are usually done in cycles. If you don't have it- your neighbor will provide it- and then when they need something, you will provide it. It's a very give and take society.

Now, the problem I see with young Chris- is that he was young Chris. He probably went around with a lot of bravado. He had a brother, cousins, a dad and uncles to back up his mouth. You are generally taught very young that what's in the family- stays in the family- but he could have trusted the wrong person. The same would be true for Frankie- young and full of piss and vinegar- which is why I think he is at the center of this. By the time you reach your 30's you've mellowed out and while you still are going to be doing some wheeling and dealing- you've established a series of friends and families to get you through whatever comes your way. In my opinion the senior members may have had beefs that were very long standing. The younger generation would have newer beefs. I think whatever set this off is a result of whichever one of those boiled over.

The women in the family pretty much know everything that's going on- but they don't talk except amongst themselves. I think the women all knew what was going on- but HG's family would not have known- she would not have talked to them about anything going on at the Rhodens.

 

[CSIDreamer]

I think the motive is greed. Who gets the land now that Christopher Rhoden and "et al" are all probably among the deceased?

I wondered that myself a thread ... or 3 ... back.

 

[Smugshots]

No she wasn't an RN, but there is still licensing and Healthcare licensing is really particular about things. You can be done for good with the wrong thing on your record.

There is a difference between being a licensed and being certified, especially in pay. I don't believe DR held any license, only cerificate.

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[CSIDreamer]

I was trying to make a logic problem style chart last night. Trying to figure out what we know they all had in common. We've got pot grows, dogs, roosters, land, cars, derby. I'm just wondering if Kenneth was killed because he would know who killed the others.

I was wondering when Hanna (Hannah, can't keep it straight) R came home from the hospital. I can almost imagine the killer(s) waiting on her to have that baby before they moved in and silenced them.

I don't think BJ had anything to do with it. Statistically, from a little study I did myself, and what's out there ... it's one or more males between the ages of 20 - 40. That's just the biggest % of mass murderers come from that group. I know there's exceptions.

 

[lonesomepaws]

Thanks for the description of coon dogs, lonesomepaws. My grandfather raised them out in the Ozarks. It's also important to note that 'coon hunting is an old sport. In the 1800's early 1900's, people in rural areas hunted or trapped raccoons for their fur. It was a way to supplement your income in areas where extra income was hard to come by. It was very common. In later years, it became a hobby. My gf spent quite a bit of money on dogs, pens, expensive food, etc. He trained those dogs at least a few times a week. The locals would hold "hunts", usually at someone's hunting cabin, at night. They would bring their dogs, women would cook a lot of food and the dog owners would compete to see whose dog could find and "tree" a coon fastest. I recall more than once driving around back roads with him the next day as he hunted for a lost dog, they are expensive and the owners are very attached to them. Still have photos of him posing with the dogs and all the ribbons and trophies he won. IIRC, they're very friendly dogs, but hyper.

yes, I forgot to mention that these dogs would NOT be raised for dog fighting as some have mentioned. They are clumsy, and trip on their own feet. I have never seen one that is aggressive in any manner towards people or another dog. They usually start training them to hunt at 8-10 months old. You'll be happy to know they still have the same "contests" here They also use them here in packs to hunt black bear.

 

[lonesomepaws]

I think the motive is greed. Who gets the land now that Christopher Rhoden and "et al" are all probably among the deceased?

I seriously doubt the "et al" are dead.